reconstructs the bygone glory
of the golden age, when this mighty Altar of Faith witnessed the
glittering pageantry of Oriental devotion; when gaily-clad crowds
flocked to the morning sacrifice of flowers and music, while monarchs
brought their treasures from far-off lands to lay at the feet of the
mystic Sage, prophetically revealed as an incarnation of purity and
peace vouchsafed to a world of oppression and sorrow. Life-size
Buddhas, enthroned on the sacred lotus, rise above the crumbling altars
of five hundred arcaded shrines, and stone stairways ascend from every
side, beneath sharply-curved arches bordered with masks or gargoyles.
The last three terraces form sweeping circles, flanked by bell-shaped
_dagobas_ resembling gigantic lotus-buds. Each open lattice of hoary
stone reveals an enthroned Buddha, mysteriously enclosed in his
symbolical screen, for these triple terraces typify the higher circles
of Nirvana. Each dreamy face turns towards the supreme Shrine of the
glorious sanctuary, a domed _dagoba_ fifty feet high, and once
containing some authentic relic of the Buddha's sacred person. Certain
archaeologists recognise in this spire-tipped cupola a survival of
Nature-worship, incorporated with the later Buddhism in a form derived
from the tree temples of primeval days, and built over a receptacle for
the cremated ashes of the Buddhist priesthood. A touch of mysticism
added by an unfinished statue in the gloom of the shadowy vault,
suggests the unknown beauty of the soul which attains Nirvana's
supremest height, for the supernal exaltation of purified humanity to
Divine union may not be interpreted or expressed by mortal hands, but
must for ever remain incommunicable and incomprehensible. From the
central _dagoba_, ascended by a winding stair, the intricate design of
the spacious sanctuary discloses itself with mathematical precision,
and the changing glories of dawn, sunset, and moonlight idealize the
sacred hill, rising amid the palm-groves and rice-fields of a matchless
valley, sweeping away in green undulations which break like emerald
waves against the deepening azure and amethyst of the mountain heights.
The solemn grandeur of Boro-Boedoer blinds the casual observer to many
details which manifest the ravages of time, the ruthlessness of war,
and the decay of a discarded creed. Headless and overthrown figures,
broken _tees_, mutilated carvings, and shattered chapels abound, but
the vast display of architec