Borobudur

Borobudur, also known as Barabudur, is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple located in Magelang Regency, Central Java, Indonesia, near Muntilan and northwest of Yogyakarta. Built from gray andesite-like stone, it features nine stacked platforms—six square and three circular—topped by a central dome. The structure holds 2,672 relief panels and originally 504 Buddha statues, with 72 of those statues seated inside perforated stupas surrounding the dome. Pilgrims navigate an extensive system of stairways and corridors, where 1,460 narrative reliefs line the walls and balustrades, making it one of the world’s largest collections of Buddhist reliefs.

Constructed under the Sailendra Dynasty, the temple’s design blends Javanese Buddhist architecture with indigenous ancestor worship and the Buddhist pursuit of nirvāṇa. It serves as both a shrine to the Buddha and a pilgrimage site. Evidence suggests it was built in the 8th century and later abandoned after the 14th-century decline of Hindu kingdoms in Java and the region’s conversion to Islam. In 1814, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, then British ruler of Java, learned of its location from native Indonesians, sparking worldwide awareness. Several restorations followed, the largest completed in 1983 by the Indonesian government and UNESCO, after which it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple globally, alongside Bagan in Myanmar and Angkor Wat in Cambodia as a major Southeast Asian archaeological site. It remains a popular pilgrimage destination, with Indonesian Buddhists celebrating Vesak Day there, and it is the most-visited monument among Indonesia’s tourist attractions.

In Indonesian, ancient temples are called *candi*, so locals refer to it as Candi Borobudur; the term *candi* also loosely describes ancient gates and baths. Dutch scholar J. L. Moens noted that court poet Mpu Prapanca mentioned a holy sanctuary at “Budur” in 1365. Raffles wrote about “Bóro Bódo” in his 1817 book on Javan history, stating in a footnote that “Bóro” is the district name and “bódo” means ancient, also suggesting it could derive from *boro* (big) and *Budur* (Buddha). Most *candi* are named after nearby villages; following Javanese conventions, if named after the village of Bore, it would be “BudurBoro.” Soekmono thought Raffles believed *Budur* might correspond to the Javanese word *Buda* (“ancient”), meaning “ancient Boro,” or from *boro* (“great” or “honorable”) and *Budur* (Buddha). Another archaeologist proposed *Budur* comes from the Javanese *bhudhara* (“mountain”). Dutch archaeologist A. J. Bernet Kempers suggested Borobudur is a corrupted local pronunciation of *Biara Beduhur*, from Sanskrit *Vihara Buddha Uhr*, where “Buddha-Uhr” could mean “city of Buddhas,” and *Beduhur* might be an Old Javanese term meaning “a high place,” from *dhuhur* or *luhur* (high), implying the temple is a vihara of Buddha on a hill.

Two inscriptions from Kedu, Temanggung Regency, may reference the temple’s construction. The Karangtengah inscription (824) mentions a sacred building named *Jinalaya* (realm of those who conquered worldly desire), inaugurated by Pramodhawardhani, daughter of Samaratungga. The Tri Tepusan inscription (842) mentions *sima* (tax-free) lands awarded by Çrī Kahulunnan (Pramodhawardhani) to fund a *Kamūlān* called *Bhūmisambhāra*; *Kamūlān* comes from *mula* (“place of origin”), a sacred building honoring ancestors, likely the Sailendras. Johannes Gijsbertus de Casparis proposed that *Bhūmi Sambhāra Bhudhāra*, Sanskrit for a mountain of combined virtues after the ten stages of Boddhisattvahood, was the original name. In 2018, researcher Titi Surti Nastiti suggested *boro* means “monastery” (per Poerbatjaraka) and *budur* comes from a palm tree that named the village of Budur, as noted by Raffles and the Nagarakretagama.

About 40 kilometers northwest of Yogyakarta and 86 kilometers west of Surakarta, Borobudur sits in an elevated area between twin volcanoes (Sundoro-Sumbing and Merbabu-Merapi) and two rivers (Progo and Elo). Local myth considers the Kedu Plain a sacred Javanese place, called “the garden of Java” for its fertility. During early 20th-century restoration, Theodoor van Erp found that Borobudur, Pawon, and Mendut lie along a straight line, suggesting a ritual relationship, though the exact process is unknown. Archaeologists in the 20th century intensely debated whether a lake once surrounded the site, but this remains speculative.