The bas - Reliefs

The Wall to wall of Reliefs

Chandi Borobudur is constructed in such a way that it reveals various levels of relief sculptures on the walls, showing the intricate architecture that shows the reliefs from being heavily ornamented with bas-reliefs to being plain in Arupadhatu circular terraces.

The famous renderings of an 8th-century Southeast Asian double outrigger ship is Borobudur Ship Samudra Raksa, sailed from Indonesia to Africa.

Source: Balai Konservasi Borobudur - Guiding Technique Candi Borobudur - arisguide. 

Chandi Borobudur contains approximately 2,670 individual bas reliefs (1,460 narrative and 1,212 decorative panels), which cover the façades and balustrades. The total relief surface is 2, 500 square meters (27,000 sq. ft.), and they are distributed at the hidden foot (Kāmadhātu) and the five square platforms (Rupadhatu).

The archeologists discovered color pigments of blue, red, green, black, as well as bits of gold foil, and concluded that the monument— a dark gray mass of volcanic stone, lacking in color — was probably once coated with varjalepa white plaster and then painted with bright colors, serving perhaps as a beacon of Buddhist teaching. The same vajralepa plaster can also be found in Sari, Kalasan and Sewu temples. It is likely that the bas-reliefs of Borobudur were originally quite colorful, before centuries of torrential tropical rainfalls peeled-off the color pigments.

Narrative panels on the wall read from right to left, while those on the balustrade read from left to right. This conforms with pradaksina, the ritual of circumambulation performed by pilgrims who move in a clockwise direction while keeping the sanctuary to their right.

The following summary shows how the various series of reliefs are arranged.

Wall of hidden foot -- Karmavibhangga - 160 panels.

First gallery--main wall: a) Lalitavistara -120 panels. b) Jataka/Avadana--120 panels. --balustrade : a) Jataka/Avadana -372 panels. b) Jataka/Avadana-128 panels.

Second gallery--main wall: Gandavyuha - 128 panels. --balustrade: Jataka/Avadana - 100 panels.

Third gallery -- main wall : Gandavyuha - 88 panels. --balustrade : Gandavyuha - 88 panels.

Fourth gallery -- main wall : Gandavyuha - 84 panels. --balustrade : Gandavyuha - 72 panels.

Total : 1460 panels

–Karmavibhangga—

The reliefs on the ‘hidden foot’ are devoted to the inevitable law of karma. The 160 panels do not relate a continuous story, but each provides one complete illustration of cause and effect.
Source: Guiding Technique Candi Borobudur - arisguide. 

The first 117 panels show various actions producing one and the same result, while the remaining 43 demonstrate the many results that can follow from one kind of act. Blame worthy activities, from gossip to murder, with their corresponding purgatorial punishments, and praise worthy activities, like charity and pilgrimages to sanctuaries, and their subsequent rewards, are both shown. The pains of hell and the pleasures of heaven, and scenes of daily life are represented in a full panorama of samsara, the endless cycle of birth and death, the chain of all those forms of delusional existence from which Buddhism brings release. The encasement base of the Borobudur temple was dissembled to reveal the hidden foot, and the reliefs were photographed by Casijan Chepas in 1890. During the restoration, the foot encasement was reinstalled, covering the Karmawibhangga reliefs. Today, only the southeast corner of the hidden foot is revealed for visitors.

First gallery -- main wall : Lalitavistara

King Suddhadana and Queen Maya
Source: Guiding Technique Candi Borobudur - arisguide. 

The series does not provide a complete biography of the Buddha. It starts with the glorious descent of the Lord Buddha from the Tushita heaven, and ends with his first sermon in the Deer Park near Benares. Showing the birth of the Buddha as Prince Siddhartha, son of King Suddhodana and Queen Maya of Kapilavastu (in present-day Nepal), is the southern staircase.

The Lalitavistara is a fundamental text of Mahayana Buddhism, which the title of the Sutra means The Elaboration of the Buddha and refers to the idea that the Buddha‘s last incarnation was a performance intentionally given to enlighten mankind. The 120 panels which illustrate the Lalitavistara cover the upper half of the main wall around the first gallery, and are some of the best-preserved reliefs;

-- balustrade :jatakas and avadanas--

true love for Manohara
Source: Guiding Technique Candi Borobudur - arisguide. 

Jatakas are stories about the Buddha before he was born as Prince Siddhartha. They have for main theme the meritorious acts which distinguished the Bodhisattva from any other creature. The accumulation of virtue is the characteristic of the preparatory stages to the attainment of Buddhahood. The hundreds of times the Bodhisattva was born and reborn, either as an animal or in a human form.

Jatakas and avadanas are treated in one and the same series without any evident distinction in the reliefs of Chandi Borobudur. No particular system of alternation is evident. The lower row of reliefs on the wall of the first gallery, mostly depicts avadanas. Some jatakas are included by way of variation. The system in its upper row of the series on the balustrade is quite different. The reliefs are practically all jatakas, with just a few avadanas.

The first 20 panels in the lower series on the wall on the first gallery depict the Sudhanakumaravadana (The Saintly Deeds of Prince Sudhanakumara), derived from the Divyavadana. The story starts with the rivalry of two kingdoms: the prosperous kingdom of North Panchala, and the poverty stricken kingdom of South Panchala.

Bodhisattva was born as a hare
Source: Guiding Technique Candi Borobudur - arisguide. 

--main wall : Gandavyuha

Gandavyuha is the story told in the final chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra about Sudhana's tireless wandering in search of the Highest Perfect Wisdom. It covers two galleries (third and fourth) and also half of the second gallery, comprising in total of 460 panels.

Buddha's samadhi in the Garden of Jeta at Sravasti.
Source: Guiding Technique Candi Borobudur - arisguide. 

The principal figure, the youth Sudhana, son of an extremely rich merchant, appears on the 16th panel. The preceding 15 panels form a prologue to the story of the miracles during Buddha's samadhi in the Garden of Jeta at Sravasti.

During his search, Sudhana visited no fewer than thirty teachers meet the monk Megasri, where he was given the first doctrine. As his journey continues, Sudhana meets Supratisthita, the physician Megha (Spirit of Knowledge), the banker Muktaka, the monk Saradhvaja, the upasika Asa (Spirit of Supreme Enlightenment), Bhismottaranirghosa, the Brahmin Jayosmayatna, Princess Maitrayani, the monk Sudarsana, a boy called Indriyesvara, the upasika Prabhuta, the banker Ratnachuda, King Anala, the god Siva Mahadeva, Queen Maya, Bodhisattva Maitreya and then back to Manjusri. Each meeting has given Sudhana a specific doctrine, knowledge and wisdom. These meetings are shown in the third gallery.

The preceding fifteen reliefs form the miracles produced by the Buddha’s samadhi (deepest meditation) on the assembly of a hundred disciples in the Garden of Jeta at Sravasti. Upon his arrival at the sanctuary of Vichitrasaladhvaya the people of the town rush out in large numbers to hear the Bodhisattva describe the wonderful deeds performed by the Buddha. After a brief meeting with Manjusri, Sudhana proceeds to the residence of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra (fourth gallery of Chandi Borobudur).

source : Guiding Technique Candi Borobudur arisguide.