There is nothing quite like circumambulating Borobudur or Prambanan temples. I’ll start with Borobudur because it was built first and we visited it first. Borobudur was built sometime between the 8th and 9th centuries. That fact alone makes this an exciting adventure.
This temple was imagined as a Buddhist vision of the entire cosmos in stone. The idea is that you circle it slowly (going clockwise only) moving up one level at a time. It has nine levels and each represents the phases of life starting from everyday life and spiraling up to enlightenment. The reliefs carved into the stone depict these concepts for you as you slowly walk past them. At the bottom we saw ships, elephants, trees, dancing women, musicians and warriors. As we circled to the top we saw more and more images of the Buddha and stupas with the Buddha inside of them, not to mention Indonesians hoping for photos with Bules in them. Yes, that was us, the Bules (“foreigners”). I think the number of photos in which we appeared during this trip may have been equal to the number of minutes on bus and plane rides combined. [As a side note we figured out that we flew on 15 different planes at the completion of this journey]. It is difficult to accurately describe the size of this temple -- it was built from 2 million enormous block stones in the form of a massive symmetrical stupa. The individual stupas were significantly higher than Mr. Fricke is tall (his height was a frequent source of amazement for the Indonesians, who are much shorter than Americans, on average). These stupas (of which there are 72) represent the life and then death of Buddha and the ascent into the highest state of mind. This entire temple was built on a hillside, giving it spectacular height, and apparently from above it resembles a three-dimensional tantric mandala. It was also built in the form of a lotus flower sitting on a pond. The view and the breeze from the top was invigorating and provided an excellent photo opportunity for Indonesians and Bules alike.
Prambanan was built in the middle of the 9th century. This cluster of temples was built to represent three very important Hindu gods. For those of you that have studied Hinduism the preferred named of this religious tradition is actually Sanatana Dharma. “Hindu” is a Persian term from the 19th century and was used by Persians and meant “Indians”. It was not intended to designate a religion and was applied to all people in India in the 19th century under British rule for census taking purposes. The term that approximates what Westerners call Hinduism is Sanatana Dharma which is translated into ‘eternal religion’. Though scholars have debated its accuracy and usefulness, the term “Hinduism” can function as a useful term commonly known to all of us, but we might use with caution, remember its meaning and tell this story. Anyway, back to Prambanan. The largest temple is Shiva, the Destroyer. For SD followers in Indonesia, he is the most commonly worshipped God -- those that worship him are called Saivites. There are vibrant scenes decorating its base: a collection of half-bird and half-human creatures and scenes from the Ramayana-the eternal play of good and evil.
The Ramayana depicts the responsibilities of relationships by using “ideal” characters who show how people are supposed to act. Vishnu incarnates as the virtuous prince Rama in order to kill Ravana, the ten-headed demon king. Rama is the heir to his father’s throne, but the mother of his stepbrother compels the king to banish Rama. He is accompanied by Sita. Sita is eventually kidnapped by Ravana (more of this story to come with the performing arts section of this entry). Back to Shiva—he sits on a huge lotus pedestal. Ganesha is also seen on this temple. Ganesha is the spectacular elephant headed icon that you may have seen before. He is the son of Shiva and Parvati (the eternal parents). The temple to the south of Shiva is Brahma. The final scenes of the Ramayana are carved on Brahma, the God of Creation. Devotion to Brahma is called bhakti.
To the north is the temple dedicated to Vishu-the preserver. Reliefs on this temple tell the story of lord Krishna (one of Vishnu’s incarnates) from the epic Maharabharata- a Sanskrit poem of more that 100,000 verses. In contrast to the idealized characters in Ramayana, the Mahabharata shows all sides of human nature. Worshippers of Vishnu are commonly known as Vaishnavites. Behind each of the temples we saw the vehicles that each of the Gods are most known to travel on. Again the size of these spectacular monuments was awe inspiring. The level of disrepair was notable -- it wasn’t until 1937 that reconstruction was attempted. It had been damaged by a number of earthquakes.
We were blessed with the opportunity to attend the Ramayana Ballet. This was the entire epic condensed into 2 hours. The orchestra was spectacular Javanese Gamelan and the theatre was full of school aged children which gave the theatre a warm, energetic feel. The other notable characters in the indoor/outdoor theatre were dozens of live flying bats…this was only one of many things that reminded us we weren’t in the U.S. The costumes were lavish and the dancing concise and at times humorous. Hanuman and his monkey army (played by many very young dancers) were colorful and bouncy. Rama and Sita danced carefully and slowly while Rama’s brother Leswana helped him battle the evil demon Ravana. This play was only one example of spectacular performing arts that we witnessed. As we were climbing Borobudur a few days earlier we were lucky enough to meet the entire troop of lion boys who were performing the Barong (lion dance) in enormous lion shaped puppets. One of our participants (Michael Kozuch from the Newton Schools) just happened to have a huge stack of valentines to hand these smiling boys. The Barong was performed outside of Borobudur and featured dozens of boys from about the age of 8 up to about the age of 20 years old. Again, this performing dance art was colorful, energetic and exciting to witness. Kristen Iverson and I watched it with a group of Indonesian families that were casually eating their lunches.
Now to the markets. One of my favorite things about visiting Indonesia. These traditional marketplaces are nothing like the shopping malls that we have in the states. Much of what is sold in these markets is produced by the people selling the goods. Families do not hire laborers to sell their goods. The night markets in Indonesia are ones that many foreigners don’t have access to and aren’t aware of, this makes these markets more valuable for the local people. The night markets are important because locals won’t have to compete with foreigners in the bargaining process. Bargaining is a key feature of traditional marketplaces. The longer you spend speaking to a person about their goods and the more tea you drink with them the lower your purchase price becomes. In many cases the purchase price has no real meaning and it is the relationship between the buyer and seller that matters. Vendors and shoppers develop personal ties that then keep the market system functioning. For example a vendor relies on a specific buyers to come each day in order to keep production moving. Their commerce is not about making a profit necessarily but rather about keeping the fruit trees well maintained or the rice production moving. These sellers also rely on other folks in the marketplace to provide them with goods that they can’t or don’t produce themselves. In many cases this is done through exchange of goods and rather than exchange of cash. Now this does not normally hold true for tourists traveling through the market. The less you know about bargaining and the less Indonesian you speak the more you will pay for your goods. Interestingly enough, if you sit and keep a woman company while she is sifting through her peanuts (without speaking her language) you will indeed begin to develop a relationship with her and she might consider trading with you. No matter who you are in the marketplace you are frequently met with big smiles and great offers. This is one of the best places to learn about the culinary choices in Indonesia. We saw hundreds of fruits and vegetables that were not identifiable in our country or language…the only way to learn about them was to try them…this was the exciting part.
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