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Circumambulatory path and narratives at Borobudur

Keywords : Shailendra dynasty, Borobudur

Site common nameBorobudur
Type of artworkArchitecture
Village-
Province/City-
StateCentral Java
CountryIndonesia
Geographic Coordinates
Decimal degree		Lat : 7
Long : 110

History of productionBorobudur is the loftiest stupa in Mahāyāna Buddhism in Indonesia. The stupa was commissioned during the reigns of Śaidendra kings who followed Mahāyāna Buddhism. It is contemporaneous to Candi Mendut and Candi Pawon.
ArtThe stupa comprises five multi-angled terraces, each of them provides the circumambulatory path and the narratives of Mahāyāna Buddhism. The themes of the narratives derive from several scriptures. The narratives at the lower terrace depict the stories from Lalitavistara, Jātaka and Avadāna while the upper 2nd-4th terraces depict the story form Gandhavyuhasūtra. Devotees who circumambulated the stupa would be able to be educated from these narratives. Moreover, these narratives are also the iconographic symbol of the cosmological program conceived at Borobudur.
PeriodHistorical Period
Art periodMid Central Javanese Art
Age8th-9th Century A.D.
ReligionBuddhism
SectMahayana

Type of LicenseAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)
RightsPrincess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre
Date of record creation2015-02-00
Record creatorChedha Tingsanchali