Indonesian Methods 1Jv",')

Ja"t'-<'<
u Q

of Building with Stone

E arly Indian religious sanctuaries at Mahabalipuram and other sites
were sculpted from solid rock as an iconographic representation of
is as
the sacred Mount Meru, which in mythology identified the home of
the gods. The subsequent tradition of Hindu architecture, both in India
and overseas in Southeast Asia, can be seen as a practical comprom ise
between the desire to reconstruct this legendary mountain and the
physica/limitations of working in stone.

Slone o::rdgl!S
(lriUl!n bi!lr.rem Morks
10 ino'((IS/! lite
rompoClnrss of Iltt
joinls.
TIlt doublt-Itaf
~ol/ mtlltod 1>:illt
rlIbbl, infil/.
Intrr/orking su)//e
((IN''St'S III B orobNd Nr.
o t1 mrthodfor
pinning adjacml
bl()('is IOUlher.
Using mortiu tlnd
/tnon joints.
G and O A/im-
joints for ()fr/apping
stont course.
Reinforced Joints
In Indonesia, there were no important attempts to strength and
imitate Indian buildings buill entirely by carving them reducing the gap
from solid rock. Instead walls were constructed '8 between joints in the
joint vir . that is stone courses placed one on top of stone work.
the other without any binding malerial. In the earliest
period, for example the Hindu moouments at Dieng, Double-leaf Wall
in Central Java, in the 8th century, the strength of Const ruction
these joints was reinforced by culling a section out of At the beginning of
individual blocks of stone to create a kind of tongue the 9th century,
and groove configuration which interlocked with Javanese master builders o
neighbouring blocks in both the horizootal and adopted the Indian technique of ",..._ _ _~'
vertical directions. At 8th-century BUddhist sites, double-leaf stooe walls. ('0
such as Candi Sewu in Central Java, wedges were Java is the only region
driven in between the stone blocks, thus pushing the of Southeast Asia
elements on either side outwards towards the where this method of
construc tion is
corners of the building, giving each course great

SEQUENCE OF TEMPLE CONSTRUCTION

o Aritual is first held in the middle of the
compound. Apriest chants prayers over the sacred stone.
o Astick is planted in themiddleof the complex.
The crowd gathers around in a circle.
e Measurements for the building of the temple or
temples are taken from the body dimensions of the chief
arcnitecf.
e ASQuare outline is derived using cardinal points.
o Stones are laid along the axes designating
the boundaries of the temple complex.

o
LAYING OUT A TEMPLE
A stick is planted into the ground and markings are made at theeast and west
points created by the shadow of the stick during sunrise and sunset
respectively. A line is drawn across linking these two points. Another line
running perpendicular to the abO'ie forms the nonhsouth axis. A square oulline
is formed which constitutes the area of the temple compound. Nine stone
markers are next planted; four at the cardinal points and the others at e1Iual
distance away from these points atoog the oll1line of the compound.

--~
 INOONESIA'S CLASSICAL HERITAGE

Later Developments ~~ (Top diflgmlllj

LARA JONGGRANG
The main body ofC andi
Siva in Lan Jonggnng is
divided into twO 'ecli ons,
an upper and a lower, in
whi ch a rc l ei rowl of
niches. The cop ing is
compo sed of an
enlablalure eomplele
wilh architra ve,
Stone construction techniques evolved little, if at all,
Shrillt for tltt
after the 9th century: when the political focus moved m(lfi:tr ofth, ctlltrr
to east Java, the same methods of interlocking stone ofthtLnm
courses were employed, although it seems tllat the JOllggrflllg co",p/~.
preparations were more elaborate and Illat working prohoblyalso
drawings were introduced at Candi Cungkup and trtfftd for USt in
Candi Rimbi. Features which previously had been rituals. (8 0((0111
created out of two or three courses of stone, were diagmmj S'Ollt bo.>:
now sculpted out of single blocks with the (If th, apa of ,h,

horizontal joints following the rhythm 01 the ct!la of a subsidiary

mouldings. Often so much setoff was left chapt!, probably for
that the overhang of the protruding holdillg SOlllt kind
sections had to be supported by the of offtrillg.
internal masonry. In the 13th century, the
use of a void above the sanctuary cella to
hold up the overhang became TEM PLE
FOUNDI NG RITUAL
widespread.
II was o n December 27,
AD 902, a small crowd
Planning and Constructi on gathered around a rice
There was often a great deal of disorder at fidd nc ar the edge of a
Khmers nor the early building sites such as Candi Lumbung, fore$! in Cenlnl Java.
Chams seem to have towards the end of the 8th century. Here, the On that day a local
employed it. The doubleleaf method of assembling the stone blocks appears to nobleman was
sponso ring a ceremony
method of construction entails erecting a pair of have been chartged at least four times before the 10 inaugunle the
parallel walls and filling the void between Ihem. The original technique was readopted. At the same time construction of a ne w
inlill was composed either of rubble or unsllaped work seems to have proceeded on a falrty ad hoc temple. Such ga ther -
stones held logether by mud, with sometimes a small basis, with little attention given to the homogeneity of ings were rdali"c ly
amount of lime added, as is found at Lara the whole structure. It was only during the common in ancient
Jonggrang. Facing stones usually projected outwards construction of the Lara Jonggrang complex in the Ja' "a in Ihe 9th cenlUry,
when sevcn l slon e
in a series of irregularly spaCed, overhanging 9th century that the first real attempt at consistency
edifices were erected.
courses, which created the effect of a sculpted or was made. Working drawings were commonly The ceremonies
moulded exterior. e~lPIi;~ from the 13th century onwards. co nducted were often
recorded in writing on
Slone (piugem), or
platCl of silver or
coppu. T he ceremony
of December 901 was
record ed by a sc ribe on
a copper plate which
has been prese rved.
T he ceremony
followed a standard
format. F iut the noble
sponsoring the event
distributed prese nts 10
allihe peop le Ihat had
come. Ncxt the
participants d econ led
themscl"es with flowers
and paint. A sacred
SlOne WlIS Set in Ihe
centre of the fmure
temp le compound. The
p-cople then sal in a
circle around Ih e none
and a prieS! intoned
curses agains t anyone
who would dare disturb
the peace of the village.
Thereupon began a
celebra tion wh ich
probahly took longe r
Ihan Ihe ritual ilself.