Who is not fascinated by staring at the beauty of Borobudur temple in Magelang, Central Java?
Built during King Samaratungga from Wangsa dynasty in the year 824, composed of 1460 panels of Borobudur reliefs and 504 stupas. However, panels that are seen were not complete. There are panels that are deliberately backfilled soil because relief is considered vulgar and obscene. The panels were located on the bottom, called Kamadhatu.
Part hidden foundation that consists of 160 relief scenes Karmawibhangga Sutra or the law of cause and effect. The panels that depict acts that follow the human passions, such as: gossiping, murder, torture and rape. There are also scenes of sex in different positions.
Professor of Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Indonesia, Edi Sedyawati argued, Karmawibhangga reliefs depict people's lives when the temple was built.
There are a number of opinions why relief is backfilled. Could be due to inappropriate exhibited to the public, but some are expected this closure solely for the sake of stability of the position of the temple - so as not to disappear.
Regardless of the debate, reflecting the overall relief at Borobudur Mahayana Buddhism: the more upward the reach perfection. The bottom or Kamadhatu fully describe the behavior of insolence and lust that causes people to enter hell.
The middle (consisting of four levels) is called Rapadhatu, where the man freed from lust and earthly things. While the top - including the three circular terraces that lead to the center of the dome-called Arupadhatu, where the gods dwell, or nirvana.
The existence of Borobudur in fact been known to local residents in the 18th century. Had the material buried Mount Merapi, this temple and then rediscovered by Sir Stanford Raffles in 1814. Subsequently, in 1885, archaeologists JW Yzerman document and record the relief. At that moment, his team found the hidden reliefs at the very bottom.
Around the year 1890-1891, the closed section was opened entirely by Kasiyan Chepas photographer to photograph one by one. Volume of 13,000 cubic meters of stones are lifted, then returned to its original position. To this day, that part under the soil so that no one could see. There are three panels in the southeastern part of the temple is open - allegedly because of the closure process again that is not perfect.
Chepas shots later recorded in 1931. Original book is now in the National Museum, Jakarta. While the original cliche stored in Tropen Museum, Amsterdam by the Dutch government-owned status. The Indonesian government has a replica of the whole picture.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Hidden Relief Borobudur Top Down
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Mount Karakatau
10 Volcanic Eruptions in The World's Greatest
In this world, many volcanoes that have erupted and caused no casualties fell slightly in number, and even some never recorded until thousands of souls who are victims of malignancy of the stomach of this nature. But although there are hundreds of volcanic eruptions on the whole earth, we note there are 10 terdahsyat eruption that caused heavy casualties (note, 4 of which exist in Indonesia).
Krakatoa, also known as Krakatau, the volcanic island that still-dangerous, is located in the Sunda Strait, Indonesia. August 1883, a series of horrific explosion with the power of 13.000 times larger than the Hiroshima bomb. The explosion was heard up to Perth, Australia.
Vomit more than 21 cubic miles of rock and dust rising up to as high as 70 miles. Officially, more than 37,000 people dead. However, with the resulting tsunami, the victims seem to be even bigger.
Mount Vesuvius
The volcano has become number two to cruelty, causing death to 25,000 lives. When Vesuvius with an all-powerful eruption in the year 79 BC, was entirely buried beneath the city of Pompeii with spewing 'entrails' for 20 hours nonstop. Since then, the volcano erupted dozens of times and the last in 1944 some nearby villages have been destroyed.
