San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-11-13
BORO BOEDOR.
A Great Buddhist Ruin in JAVA That
Rivals the Pyramids.

Rivals the Pyramids.
Miss E. R. Scidmore has written an ac-
count of visit to the Buddhist ruins /
in Java, under, the title of prisoners of
State at Boro Boedor." Miss Scidmore |
says of the great temple:
"A gray ruin showed indistinctly on
a hilltop, and, after a run through a
long, arched avenue, we came out sud-
denly at the base of the hill-temple. In
stead of a mad triumphal sweep around
the great pyramid, the ponies baked,
rooted themselves past any lashing or
'Gr-r-ree-ing,' and we got out and
walked under the MONDAY sun, around
the hoary high altar of ,Buddha, down
an avenue of tall kanari trees, lined
with statues, gargoyles, and other such
recha, or remains of ancient art, to the
passagran, or government resthouse-
1.-THE deep portico of the passagran
commands an angle and two sides of
the square temple, and from the mass
of blackened and bleached stones the
eye finally arranges and follows out
the broken lines of the terraced pyra-
mid, covered with such wealth of or
nament as no other structure in the
world presents. The first near view
is almost disappointing. In the blurof
details it is difficult to realize the vast
proportions of this twelve-century-o
structure, a pyramid, the base plat
form of which is 500 feet square, the
first terrace walls are 300 feet square,
and the final dome rises to height of
100 feet. Stripped of every kindly re-
lief of vine and moss, every gap and ru-
ined angle visible, there was some
thing garish, raw, and almost disor-
dered at the first glance, almost as jar
ring as newness, and the hard black
and-white effect of the dark ichens
on the gray trachyte made it look like
a bad photograph of the pile.
"The temple stands on broad plat
form, and rises first in five square ter
races, inclosing galleries, or process
sional paths between their walls, which
are covered on each side with bas-re-
lief sculptures. If placed in single line
these bas-reliefs would extend for three
miles. The terrace walls hold 436 inches
or alcove chapels, where life-size Bud
dhas sit serene upon lotus cushions.
Staircases extend in straight lines from
each of the four sides, passing under
stepped or pointed arches the keystones
of which are deliberately carved masks,
and rows of sockets in the jambs
show where wood or metal doors once
swung.
"Above the square terraces are three
circular terraces, where 70 latticed
dagobas (reliquaries in the shape of
the calyx or bud of the lotus) inclose
each seated image-72 more Buddhas
sitting in these inner circles of Nirvana,
facing great dagoba, or final cupola,
the exact function or purpose of which
as key to the whole structure is still
the puzzle of archaeologists. This final
shrine is so feet in diameter, and either
covered relic of Buddha, or central
well where the ashes of priests and
princes were deposited or is form sur
viving from the tree temples of the earli.
est primitive east, where nature worship
prevailed. The English engineers made
an opening in the solid exterior, and
found an unfinished statue of Buddha
on a platform over a deep well-hole,
and its head, half-buried in debris,
still smiles upon one from the deep cav
ern. A staircase has been constructed
to the summit of this dagoba, and from
il one looks down upon the whole struc-
ture as on a ground-plan drawing, and
out over finely cultivated fields and
thick palm-groves to the matchless
peaks and the nearer hills that inclose
this fertile valley of the Boro Boedor-
the very finest view ever saw wrote
Marianne North.
"Three-fourths of the terTace chapels
and the upper dagobas have crumbled;
hundreds of statues are headless, arm
less, overturned, missing; tees, or fin |
ials, are gone from the bell-roofs; ter
race walls bulge, lean outward, and
have fallen in long stretches; and the
circular platforms and the professional
paths undulate as if earthquake-waves
were at the moment rocking the mass.
No cement was used to hold the fitted
stones together, and other Hindoo pc
culiarities of construction are the en-
tire absence of a column, a pillar, or an
arch. Vegetation wrought great ruin
during its buried centuries, but earth
quakes and tropical rains are work
ing now n slow but surer ruin that |
will leave little of Boro Boedor for the
next century's wonder-seekers, unless
the walls are soon Strengthened and
braced. Century.