BOROBUDUR
by SMITA and SANJEEV CHANDRA
Our first glimpse of Borobudur took our breath away. Nothing had prepared us for the sheer expanse and grandeur of the largest Buddhist temple in the world as we approached through the park that surrounded it. Situated on a lush plateau on the Indonesian island of Java, the immense pyramid looks like a colossal rock that erupted from the earth. It is easy to understand why local people created legends of a great giant conjuring up the massive structure out of thin air. These myths were born in the centuries when the shrine was abandoned, its origins and purpose forgotten, while the religion it served disappeared from the surrounding lands as Indonesia went from being devoutly Buddhist to a largely Muslim country. Borobudur was built in the ninth century by the Buddhist Shailendra dynasty that ruled Java at the time. India has had close relations with Southeast Asia throughout history and Indian culture and religions, both Buddhism and Hinduism, were widely adopted across the region. Kings competed to create enormous temple complexes, such as those at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Bagan in Myanmar and Ayutthaya in Thailand, to display their piety and wealth. Borobudur was designed to rank among the greatest of these. ENSEMBLE VACATIONS WINTER 2020 73
