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In the most remote past the island of Java was floating in the ocean, and had to be nailed to the centre of the earth before it could be inhabited. The huge nail became a small hill, called Tidar, at the southern outskirts of the present city of Magelang. And only some fifteen kilometres south of Tidar hill is Chandi Borobudur situated. The region around the ‘Nail of Java’, better known as the ‘Kedu Plain’, forms the geographical centre of the island. Its extreme fertility, and very
industrious population, explain why it is often called the Garden of Java. The undulating plain is bordered on practically all sides by rugged mountain ranges. And as if to beautify the landscape, two sets of twin volcanoes soar into the sky: the Merapi (2911 m) and the Merbabu (3142 m) at the northeast, and the Sumbing (3371 m) and the Sindoro (3135 m) at the north-west. The Merapi alone is now active. A wreath of smoke is the daily embellishment of its conical top, and the small eruptions that occur every two or three years, are a reminder that it is still active. The western and the southern sides of the plain are closed by a long chain of hills, that form a rugged skyline of towering masses of indefinite shape. Hence the denomination ‘Menoreh range’ (menoreh stands for menara and means ‘tower’). Especially interesting is a particular hill south of Chandi Borobudur (for the use of the word ‘chandi’, see page 13). Viewed from the monument it looks very much like the profile of a man lying on the ridge of the hill. The nose, lips and chin are clearly delineated. This peculiarity has not escaped notice. The story goes that the ridge depicts Gunadharma, architect of Chandi Borobudur according to tradition, who is believed to keep watch over his creation through the ages. The south-eastern corner of the plain is the only one not blocked by a mountain range; at this point, the Menoreh chain bends southwards before
reaching the foot of the Merapi. And it is through this passage that the waters of the Kedu region leave the plain and flow to the Indian Ocean. The Kedu plain is intersected by the two main rivers of the region: the Progo and the Elo. Both run nearly parallel from north to south, forcing their way through narrow but deep trenches. Arrested by the slopes of the southern ridge of the plain the two rivers flow together, after which the Progo carries the waters to the ocean alongside the southward-bending Menoreh range. The area around the confluence of the Progo and the Elo rivers was in ancient times a holy place of particular significance. A considerable number of the Kedu plain monuments were founded here. Hindu and Buddhist sanctuaries were, so to speak, packed together within a radius of less than three kilometres from the point where the two Kedu rivers meet. It is remarkable that, whereas the Buddhist monuments are relatively well preserved, the Hindu tempIes have all disappeared. Of Chandi Banon (which has given the Central Museum in Jakarta its best specimen of classical sculptural art) for instance, nothing at present remains but a rice-field dotted with broken bricks. The scanty remains of Chandi Ngrajeg, scattered among the fields and the village houses, give little idea of the vast compound it originally constituted. The Buddhist ruins were rediscovered in better condition, so that the restorations attempted in the beginning of the present century were able to rescue them from total loss. From west to east, the main Buddhist monuments of the area are: Chand Borobudur, Chandi Pawon, Chandi Mendut, and the Chandi Ngawe compound which consists of five structures. The first three sanctuaries arc assumed to have formed one compound also; though standing at a considerable distance from each other, a straight line drawn from Chandi Borobudur
to Chandi Mendut through Chandi Pawon suggests the unity of the triad. A chandi compound is normally laid out as a whole. The structures are built close together, the main building being clearly distinguished from the ancillary temples. A surrounding wall borders the common courtyard. This kind of lay-out, however, is not to be found at Borobudur. Chandi Mendut is some three kilometres from Chandi Borobudur, while Chandi Pawon is approximately half that distance away. It is hard to imagine a common courtyard covering so large an area. No traces have ever been found of any enclosure keeping the triad together and bordering the common courtyard. Nevertheless, there is good reason to assume that the three monuments belong to one single grand design. According to oral tradition the triad was once linked by a paved processional
path, flanked by richly decorated balustrades. Unfortunately, land and aerial surveys so far carried out have produced no convincing evidence of this. Some hewn stones found in the fields east of the village of Borobudur many decades ago are supposed to be remains of the pavement. Further evidence is still lacking. The exceptional composition of the triad has led to much speculation about the relation between Chandi Borobudur, Chandi Pawon and Chandi Mendut. The most plausible link is religious, if the denomination ‘compound’ is interpreted in a particular way; the three monuments can be taken as a whole to represent one religious conception. Chandi Borobudur has no inner space, no place where devotees could worship. Most likely it is a place of pilgrimage, where Buddhists can seek after the Highest Wisdom. The passages all around the edifice, successively mounting to the uppermost terraces, are evidently meant for ritual circumambulations. Guided and instructed by the narrative reliefs, the pilgrim proceeds from one terrace to another in silent contemplation. Chandi Mendut, on the other hand, does seem to have been a place of worship. In semi-darkness, the Buddha is represented by a formidable
monolith, seated with hanging legs on a throne and flanked by the accompanying Boddhisattvas Avalokitesvara and Vajrapani. The depiction of the Buddha preaching the first sermon in the deer-park at Sarnath is apparently meant to recall right conduct in life to those who seek their
refuge in the Compassionate Buddha. The very small Chandi Pawon also has an inner space, but it does not reveal what deity might have been the object of worship. Not a single statue has been found, not the slightest indication that could be traced back. It is therefore impossible to say what was the actual function of the temple in relation to Chandi Mendut or to Chandi Borobudur.
The assumption that the pilgrim had to pass Chandi Pawon as he made his way from Chandi Mendut to Chandi Borobudur along the paved processional path might suggest that Chandi Pawon was a kind of station on the long journey; after being purified through the required ceremonies of
worship at Chandi Mendut, Chandi Pawon allowed him to pause and reflect before proceeding on the pilgrimage to Chandi Borobudur where a tiresome series of circumambulations awaited. The sequence followed by the pilgrim in ancient times remains the same for the present-day visitor. The normal route to Chandi Borobudur, either from Yogyakarta or from Magelang, passes Chandi Mendut anyway, so that the first monument which emerges before reaching Chandi Borobudur
is Chandi Mendut. Chandi Pawon, however, is reached by a side-way, since the present road does not follow the ancient processional path. The popular belief in the existence of a processional path does not tally with the hypothesis, put forward by Nieuwenkamp in 1931, that the Kedu plain
was once a huge lake. He suggested that Chandi Borobudur originally represented a lotus flower floating on the surface of the lake, the mythical lotus from which the future Buddha will be born. This idea was based on his discovery that the ground-plan of the monument depicted a lotus rosette and petals around a circular flower-bed, while its situation on top of a hill suggested a lotus floating in the air. Moreover, soundings and levellings indicated that villages in the area that had names commencing with the word tanjung (‘cape’) are all located just above a common elevation line, viz. 235 m above sea-level. And so, remarkably enough, are the monuments Chandi Pawon and Chandi Mendut. Nieuwenkamp came to the conclusion that the Kedu plain beneath the 235 m elevation line was once a lake on which the Borobudur monument. ‘floated’. Chandi Pawon and Chandi Mendut were situated on the banks of the lake. The identification of Chandi Borobudur with a lotus flower floating in the middle of a lake sounds fantastic, but there was in fact a lake near the monument. Fierce opposition to Nieuwenkamp’s hypothesis provoked further geological investigations in the area around the monument which produced some further evidence in favour of the hypothesis, though not in regard to the extent of the lake. In this respect, a final conclusion still awaits more extensive and specific research.

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