Located at
2 km of Borobudur, this small temple was used as door of entry for the access
to Borobudur. This monument was built towards 800 above the basis of an older
monument. It is of cruciform plan and includes a cella of square form. It has
the same orientation as Candi Mendut.
The walls
are decorated with great images representatives of the trees of knowledge, the
famous gunungan of the javanese shadow
theatre , with patterns of Kinnara,
semi-human semi-birds beings, musicians and guards of the gods, and vegetable
designs. One distinguish Kinnara, male,
from Kinnari, female.
On each side of these large panels are images of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and of his prajna Tara.
At
side of Candi Pawon was Candi
Banon, a complex dedicated to the Trimurti
of which there remain nothing, but which one found the statues of
the three gods, which are today with the National Museum of
Jakarta.
Mendut
is the name of a sticky rice pudding stuffed with coconut,
surrounded by a sheet of banana tree. Located at 3 km of
Borobudur, this temple which measured 27 m top in the beginning
is a place of prayer and not a monument devoted to a king. Built
on a cruciform plan in two stages, the first at the end of the 8th
C., and the second, with the recasting of
the access towards 850 at the time of the resumption of Borobudur
by Sanjaya. It was released in 1836, and was restored between
1897 and 1904.
On its walls, 30 carved panels are among most beautiful of indo-javanese art .
Here,
carriers of offerings.
A marvellous panel representing
the ancien Yakshi (ogress) Hariti, who became converted to Buddhism.
One finds
Avalokiteshvara there on the central panel surrounded by two female divinities,
also eight Bodhisattva in the angles.
At the interior of the cella, an immense Buddha Cakyamuni of 3 m high , one of the most beautiful buddhistic sculptures which exist, sit enthroned, in the" European" position. Next to him, on both sides, and quite as large, are Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of compassion symbolizing the law, on the left, and Vajrapani symbolizing Sangha, the community, on the right.
These three statues thus represent "the three jewels" of Buddhism. On the pedestal is engraved the wheel of the Law surrounded by two gazelles, allusion to the first sermon of Sarnath.
The top of Candi Mendut was to comprise a stupa surrounded by three lines of 8, 16, and 24 stupika.
On the wings of the great rise of
staircases are ten panels on four levels illustrating Tantri
stories.
Candi Selogriyo is really a place to visit. Located at about thirty kilometers only from Borobudur, it is a small sanctuary perched on one of the blanks of the mount Gangu, one of the buttresses of the Sumbing mount, in the west of Magelang. To reach it, it is necessary, while coming from Yogya, to turn left at the entry of Magelang in direction of Bandongan, then on the right in this village, in direction of Windusari. From there, to approximately 8 km, towards the village of Kembangkuning, a road moves towards the hamlet of Selogriyo. It should be taken until the end. For having parked its car in the hamlet, it is still necessary to continue with foot or in a motor bike taxi on approximately a good kilometer of a narrow and sinuous path which rises in a splendid decoration of plantations with a background of high mountains.
The monument which one can see (in September 2003) is not in its place
of origin which is located at 20 m from there on a platform today in work. Indeed,
in 2002, of large rains caused a slip of the ground on which the temple was
posed, strongly degrading this last. Following this catastrophe, it was decided
to dismount the temple and to build it again a little downwards in order to
be able to consolidate the carrying ground. Once the completed work, Candi
Selogriyo will be rebuilt in its place of origin.
Built in 8th century, Candi Selogriyo is a small hinduist sanctuary
of 5 m X 5 m at its base for 5 m height also. Its principal interest is to have
still all its statues in its niches: the two guards - Nandisvara and Mahakala
- on both sides of the door, Durga Mahishasuramardini on the left face of the
temple, Ganesha to the back, and Agastya on the right of the sanctuary. On the
other hand, the lingga of the cella disappeared.
Bronze bowls placed in stone baskets were hidden in the four corners of the base of the temple.
