The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

CEYLON
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AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA
of this final period belong to a post-classical,
picturesque style that is more Indonesian than
Indian and more ornamental than structural.
A typical example of this final phase of
Javanese architecture is the temple at Panataram,
completed in c. 1370 [397]. It consists of
a group of unrelated buildings originally erected
to enshrine the ashes of the princes of the ruling
house. The individual sanctuaries are erected
in a style purely Javanese and only remotely
related to the Indian architecture of the Middle
Javanese Period. These buildings still retain the
essentially cubic form ofthe very earliest shrines,
but in every other respect the elevation has assumed
a distinctive Indonesian character. The
doorways are surmounted by immense and
weighty kirtimukha masks. The superstructure
consists of a heavy pyramidal tower, its stages
emphasized by massive string courses and surmounted
by a square box-like member that i'iiJ'T.
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398. Panataram, Siva temple, Sita and attendant,
relief from the Ramayana
replaced the kalasa motif of earlier sanctuaries.
The most characteristically Javanese feature of
this late temple is the relief sculpture on the
platform supporting the shrines: it illustrates
the Ramayana and the legend of Krishna [398].
The technique of these reliefs shows not the
slightest resemblance to the classic Indian
styles of the Middle Javanese Period. The
entirely flat figures in a setting of fantastically
patternized trees and clouds are only parts of a
decorative scheme. These carvings are closely
related in form to the most famous expression of
later Javanese folk art: the puppets of the
Wayang shadow play. This last phase of art in
Java, now entirely removed from Indian precedent,
can be described as a true Indonesian
style, characterized at once by its savage vigour
and ornamental expressiveness.
397. Panataram, Siva temple