Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-05-28

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Oriental religions have remarkable
| exposition in the Trocadero garden at
the Paris exposition. Ii is by accident
rather than by design that the gods
and temples of the east have been
brought together in the worldly capital
OF the occident. With the villages OF
the colonies and the empires of Asia,
| Africa and the isles of the sea have
come the visible tokens of the faiths
of their native races, and the variety
of these cults is in thorough keeping
| with a universal exposition. Many
and strange are the forms of the appur-
| tenances of these religions, says the
Paris correspondent OF the Chicago
Times Herald. Cambodia's tomb and
| Dahomey's tower of sacrifice stand for
some of the primitive superstitions of
| the race at time when it ascribed the
work of the elements to spirits and
| fastened TO propitiate the evil genii
| with the blood of the innocent On the
| one hand are the ancient shrines of the
| Flowery Kingdom, with train of al
| mond eyed deyotees to give the final
touch of realism. Near by are the
| mosques and the minarets of Islam,
with shriIl muezzins to call the follow
ers of the prophet to face Mecca and
their numerous prayers. Buddhist and
Brahman have affairs at which they
may practice the ceremonies of their
forbearS, and the faithful ShintoiSt
has no good excuse for not going to
church Even the sacred shrines hid
den away in the caves of the marble
mountains of Anam have their coun-
terpart in this wonderful melange. In
the "aIl together" it is such a congress
of religions as the world probably new
or saw before, and yet it is only an in
cidental feature of the gathering of
many strange races and habitations
within the park of the Trocadero.
1t is one of the striking contrasts of
this oriental group that the most re-
markable example of a heather temple
is exploited by Christian Holland. In
its colonial section it exhibits repro
duction of the temple of Tjandi-Sari OF
Java. In the days of old, before hiSto-
ry had fairly begun its dawn, Il Hindoo
invasion swept over Java, built shrines
to the Indian gods, lived, died and left
little but scattered piles of ruins as a
record for posterity. Tradition has
preserved faint reports of this epoch,
and the Tjandi-Sari is the most won
derful monument of its art and reli-
gion. So many centuries have passed
since the dying race forsook it that the |
jungle has reasserted its rights, and the |
temple is an isolated ruin in the wilds. |
The base of its grand portico has dis
appeared, for the Chinese employed it's |
stones in the construction of fortifica |
tons during Il war against the Prince |
of Sverakarta, but it has been possible |
TO reproduce the ancient building in |
the full glory OF its architecture by |
copying the base of Il similar temple, |
the Tjandi-PlaoSan, which has been |
brought to light by the enthusiasm of /
Dutch eXcavators. The Tjandi-Sari as /
shown in Paris is no commonplace imi- /
tation, for the statues and baS-reliefS /
are made from molds taken direct from /
the originals in Java. The visitor to
Paris may therefore see a replica of |
this famous relic of Hindoo art and /
civilization lost in the mists of antiqui-
ty and that without the journey to the
far east.
The temple is 40 feet high and sur
mounts two terraces richly ornamented |
with sculptures from the other ruined |
temples in Java. On the face of the
first terrace as one approaches may be
seen the bas-reliefs of Pramnbanam.
The front of the second temple is COW
cred with the scriptures of the cele-
brated temple of Boro- Boudhour. This
frieze is 1872 feet long. 1t consists of a
remarkable series of scenes from the
life of Buddha, beginning with the an
nunciation of his life and continuing up
to his last hours. 1t is a mute but elo-
quent witness TO the charac ter and reli-
gion Of the Hindoo invaders, and the
sculptured figures indicate an advanced |
stage OF art.
The temple OF Tjandi~Sari is covered
from base to pinnacle with figures In
high relief representing the ancient
gods and ceremonies. This profusion
of statues is set of with a rich orna-
mentation in early oriental style, and
the combined result is 4 copy of the
masterpieces of Hindoo architecture in
Java. No replicaS of these famous
pieces have hitherto been shown in
Europe, and exposition visitors will be
the first to be favored with these evil
dences Of a great prehistoric civiliza-
ton, an epoch that has enlisted the in
terest of many arcbeoIogists.
In the interior of this temple will be
found reproductions of n number of the
most highly priced examples of Hindoo
ART found in Java. Among these is the
grand portico of the temple of Boro- I
Boudhour- II is % feet broad. and its ,
graceful rich ornamentation makes it .
an object of much interest. On either :
side of this portico in bas-reliefs and ! 4.
inches are statues representing Buddha ,
in various attitudes. These also are
copies from BorO-Boudhour. One of ,
the partition walls bears 4 fragment / ,