J. Sundberg A Buddhist mantra recovered from the Ratu Baka plateau
J. Sundberg A Buddhist mantra recovered from the Ratu Baka plateau
J. Sundberg A Buddhist mantra recovered from the Ratu Baka plateau
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JEFFREY ROGER SUNDBERG<br />
A <strong>Buddhist</strong> <strong>mantra</strong> <strong>recovered</strong> <strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
<strong>Ratu</strong> <strong>Baka</strong> <strong>plateau</strong><br />
A preliminary study of its implications for<br />
Sailendra-era Java<br />
The <strong>mantra</strong> and its find-spot: Buddhism and <strong>the</strong> <strong>Ratu</strong> <strong>Baka</strong> <strong>plateau</strong><br />
The character of <strong>the</strong> civilization which existed in ancient Central Java<br />
has been a matter of some debate ever since <strong>the</strong> British began to display<br />
curiosity toward <strong>the</strong> antiquities of <strong>the</strong> islands fallen under <strong>the</strong>ir sway by<br />
<strong>the</strong> happenstances of <strong>the</strong> Napoleonic Wars. 1 As those readers conversant<br />
with <strong>the</strong> scholarly literature on ancient Java are aware, <strong>the</strong> history of <strong>the</strong><br />
political life of <strong>the</strong> island has been particularly stubborn in yielding its<br />
secrets and <strong>the</strong> extant data has been construed in many ways. The basic facts,<br />
unhappily never many, have suggested to some scholars that <strong>the</strong> wonderful<br />
stone remnants of Javanese religious artefacts were variously <strong>the</strong> work of<br />
Indian conquerors, refugee Cambodian lords, Malay war leaders, or of local<br />
Javanese rulers made good; that <strong>the</strong> epigraphic evidence showed one, two, or<br />
even three dynasties acting upon <strong>the</strong> Central Javanese stage; that <strong>the</strong>re was<br />
or was not at least one <strong>Buddhist</strong> dynasty at work in relationship to a Saiva<br />
1 I wish to dedicate this essay to Lokesh Chandra, David Snellgrove, and Caesar Voute, three<br />
energetic scholars whose work has done much to rescue <strong>the</strong> relics of Javanese Buddhism <strong>from</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> clutch of dissolving time.<br />
JEFFREY ROGER SUNDBERG, who graduated <strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong> University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign<br />
and <strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong> University of Sou<strong>the</strong>rn California, is an electrical engineer. He is a specialist in<br />
VLSI design and high-speed signal integrity. His address is: 2601 W. Broadway Blvd, Tucson,<br />
AZ 85745-1787, USA.