Here are a few of the thousands of chiseled stories carved onto the walls at Borodudur. Certainly they all tell a story or history that I don't know. I suppose we could have hired a tour guide, but that would have went over like a box of rocks with our 3 busy girls running all over the place.
It always makes me wonder what scenes like this would really look like if brought back to life today. I am ignorant to most of the ceremonies and rituals that occurred there hundreds of years ago. Maybe it is better that I don't know.
Supposedly the above carving is a princess on her way to give birth to the future prince of the area. Some of the pictures ironically showed things that we still see in one way or another on a daily basis; horse drawn carts, large gatherings paying homage to someone, or just monkeys, elephants, and other wild animals.
While we were at Borodudur there was a large group of Spaniards all gathered around this man. It was a bizarre thing to watch them all chanting something while bowing, dancing, and kneeling around him. I couldn't tell if this man was happy to be there or just annoyed. Borobudur holds a "Mecca like" importance to Buddhists and Hindus alike. Yearly they gather by the thousands, usually in May, to pray and celebrate together.
No comments:
Post a Comment