Dr.

Hariani Santiko
Ikatan Ahli Arkeologi Indonesia (IAAI), INDONESIA

The Structure of the Buddhist Monuments

at Muara Jambi

Abstract

Muara Jambi is situated at the north bank of the Batanghari River about 25
kilometres downstream from Jambi. In the vicinity of Muara Jambi are found a lot
of archaeological remains among others a group of brick monuments believed to
date from 9th-13th century, among others are Chandi Gumpung, Chandi Tinggi,
Chandi Kembarbatu, Chandi Kedaton, Chandi Astano, Chandi Gedong I, and Gedong
II. These monuments are Buddhist; several of the monuments are stūpas and some
of them probably vihāras.

The structure of the monuments, except Chandi Gumpung, being generally square
in plan with projecting portico on the east or north, terraced platform that may
well served for the enthronement of the big stūpas like the one at Chandi Tinggi, or
just a smaller open platform with nothing on it.

This type of stūpa, we can called it terrace-stūpa, the dome is diminished and
raised upon a podium formed by a truncated, stepped pyramid.

Chandi Gumpung has different structure; it was built twice, first in the 9th century
and later in the 13th century. The first Chandi Gumpung was a terrace-stūpa , a
stone platform supporting a number of stūpikas arranged as a Vajradhatu-
mandala. In the 13th century, the monuments were rebuilt/enlarged to become a
terraced platform with an open pavillion on the uppermost terrace to enthrone the
statue of the goddess Prajñāpāramitā.

So it seems in Muara Jambi we find the square terrace-stūpas with several

variations.

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Introduction

A lot of archaeological sites and remains of Buddhist culture have been discovered at the
left bank of the Batanghari River, about 25 kilometres from the capital city of Jambi. There
are groups of chandi, the first group concists of Chandi Gumpung, Chandi Tinggi, Chandi
Kembarbatu, Chandi Gedong (Gudang Garam) I and II, Chandi Kedaton. Outside this group

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there are still several chandis, among others are Chandi Astano, Chandi Teluk, Chandi Koto
Maligai and others, some of them have not been rebuilt yet. Those monuments are
Buddhist, because the majority of finds in this area are Buddhist statues, many bricks have
inscriptions and drawings such as padma motives.

What kinds of buildings were those remains originally? Monasteries for Buddhist monks
and nuns, a habitations of gods/temples, or monuments to enshrine relics or as a
memorial, a Sanghārāmas, a group of apartments for a community of monks, or what else ?

1. the Religious Background of the Monuments.

According to the written sources, i.e the Karang Berahi inscription and a report by a
Chinese traveller, I Tsing, the relationship between Jambi (Mālayu) began in the 7th
century. The Karang Berahi inscription from the 7th century was found at Batu Besurat
village on the north side of the Merangin River, written in Pallava script, used two
languages (bilingual), Old Malay and an unknown dialect. This inscription was translated
by Buchari (1978), contains an imprecation formula for the purpose of subduing the
people of Jambi, and so they wrote the opening of the inscription in local dialect.1 That
Śrīvijaya acquired supremacy over Jambi (Mālayu) in the 7th century was reported by a
Chinese Buddhist traveller, I-Tsing. On his way to India from China, he stayed in Mo-lo-
yeu and he mentioned that “Mo-lo-yeu is now changed into Sriboga”(Takakusu 1960:xi,
Santiko 2006:375, 2008).

During the 7th century, Śrīvijaya was the center of Tantric Buddhism, and several Tantric
monks such as Vajrabodhi, Amoghavajra, and Atiśa came to visit Śrīvijaya. According to
Magetsari (1985), Tantric Buddhism in Śrīvijaya had a close relationship with Tantric
Buddhism in Bengal during the reign of the Pāla dynasty. The official Buddhism of the Pāla
period was the mixture of Mahāyāna Buddhism also known as Paramitāyāna, Tantrism,
combined with meditation practices from the Yogacara school. Edward Conze in 1980
named the combination as “the Pāla synthesis” (Conze 1980, Magetsari 1985).

1 It is regretable that the opening of the inscription are written in local dialect, which may have
contained valuable historical information .

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Buchari in 1985 studied the short inscriptions found in the deposit boxes (peripih)
uncovered from the base of Chandi Gumpung, he conclude that Chandi Gumpung was a
Vajrayāna temple (1985:229-243). Another short inscription inscribed on a gold plate
was found among the rubble from Chandi Gedong II, I read the inscription as “om manipati
vajrani maha…. Also several scripts are written on 28 the petals of the padmas painted on
bricks found from Chandi Gumpung, Chandi Tinggi, Chandi Gedong I, II, probably the bija-
mantras or “monosyllabic mantras”. Each bija-mantra symbolizes some particular gods
and goddesses, for instance ‘a’ represents Wairocana, ‘ra’ for Ratnasambhawa, ‘ya’ for
Aksobhya, ‘ba’ for Amitābha, ‘la’ for Amoghasiddha, ‘hum’ is the bija of Vajrasattva
(Dasgupta 1974: 56-57, Djafar 1992:4-6, Santiko 2006:376-377).

2. The Structure of the Monuments at Muara Jambi.

The Muara Jambi site occupying an extensive area about 11 kilometres square. Up to now
no less than 10 compounds of buildings have been rebuilt, they are made of bricks. The
common feature of the chandis is that they are all grouped in compounds, consisting of
the main sanctuary face east surrounded by subtemples. In front of the main temple we
find a mandapa with 2 flightsteps flanking the raised mandapa on the west and eastside.
Some of the compound have chandi perwaras, the number of the perwaras are different for
each compound.2 The decorations on the wall are very simple, there are mouldings on the
base and some floral motifs on the wall on the temple. The surrounding wall of brick
enclosure with one or two gateways usually in the eastside or westside. Some of them, for
instance Chandi Tinggi, surrounded by moat outside the enclosure.

The main temples of the compound generally have similarity in architectural style,
consisting of a platform with staircases, no room/inner space (garbhagĕrha) to place
statues. Some of the platform are extended to the north or gave a projection for a flight of
steps usually on the eastside. By comparing with other monuments from Padang Lawas
and Muara Takus, I consider some of the monuments in Muara Jambi are stūpas. However,
what kind of stūpas could be expected, a circular stūpa, a terrace-stūpa, or other forms?
Here excample of stūpas in Muara Jambi:

2 Several of the archaeological finds are found from the chandi perwaras

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Chandi Astano, a monument is located about 1,250 meters northeast of Chandi Tinggi,
consists of a rectangular terrace (platform) which has been extended to the northeast
(10,6 x 13,8 meters) and to the southwest (5 x 5 meters). On the platform there is a square
terrace about 5 x 8,4 meters, with a hole on top of it.3 Regarding the similarity between
the form of Astano’s platform with that of Chandi Bungsu at Muara Takus, I consider that
Chandi Astano has the same stūpa-structures like those of Chandi Bungsu: that on the left
terrace a large stūpa surrounded by eight smaller ones, while that on the right a single
stūpa was standing on a double base . A flight of steps ascends on the rightside. This stūpa
dates in the 11th century (Schnitger 1937: 11-12, plate XX).4

Chandi Kembarbatu is found about 250 metres south-eastern of Chandi Tinggi. The main
temple has a square groundplan measuring 11,5 x 11,5 meters, the flightstep on the
eastside. The structure of Chandi Kembarbatu is a stepped truncated pyramid cut off at the
top. Nothing was found on top of the edifice; probably a single big stūpa was put on top of
the terrace, or just an oppressed flattened dome? In front of the main temple there is a
mandapa with 2 flight steps on the east and westside. There are 12 holes on the platform
to put pilars for supporting the mandapa’s roof. A moat is found outside the enclosure,
and the gateways is found at the northeast side. There are five of chandi perwaras on the
southern side of the courtyard.

Chandi Tinggi is located about 200

metres east of Chandi Gumpung,
square in plan about 17,9 x 17,9
metres, 7 metres high.5 The chandi
consists of a base with a staircase at
the southern side, three stages of
terrace-platforms with two
processional paths. A big stūpa
probably was put on the top of the
terrace. Nowadays, the big stūpa is

3 According to Schnitger, the candi Bungsu was enlarged on the northside by a sandstone stūpa.
4 There are differentiations on the report of the Chandi Tinggi because the big stūpa has not been
put on top of the terrace yet.
5 The earlier stūpa have the circular shape on a pedestal (medhi), for instance the stūpa of Bharhut

and Sañchi in India.

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still placed on the leftside of Chandi Tinggi. This kind of structure is known as a terrace-
stūpa, a new style to replace “the classic circular shape” like the Bharhut and Sañchi
stūpas. The terrace-stūpa was known for the first time in the Gandharan regions from the
pre-Kushana period. The square pedestal of the stūpa transformed into a stepped
terraces, usually the stūpa has four staircases (Franz 1980:39-41). In Indonesia, there is
no classical type of stūpa. The terrace-stūpa were found not only in Muara Jambi but also at
other places, such as Chandi Tua at Muara Takus, and Chandi Borobudur.

According to Soekmono there were smaller stūpas put on each corner of the terraces of
Chandi Tinggi (Soekmono 1987:12, Santiko 2008).

A mandapa in front of the main chandi also nearly square in plan 9,75 x 9,85 meter with 2
flightseps on the southern and northern side. The brick enclosure with 2 gateways on the
eastside and westside, the eastern one is bigger than the west gate, so it shoud be the main
gate to the courtyard. Outside the enclosure there is moat. In the courtyard there are six
smaller chandis (chandi perwara), one of the perwaras has a deposit of goldleaf, an
inscription inscribed on a semi precious stone, with the character from the 9th century. A
brick with a drawing of a monument similar to Chandi Tinggi was found among the rubble
of the collapsed monument (Bambang Budi Utomo 2011:140).

Chandi Gumpung, another monument which has a square groundplan measuring 18 x 18

metres without any trace of an open space. The structure of Chandi Gumpung is a kind of a
platform or pedestal and probably a staircase which protrudes a little to the east. In 1980
a life-size statue of Prajñāpāramitā was but her head is missing. Like the other temple, in
front of Chandi Gumpung is found a mandapa with two flightsteps on the east and
westside. In the centre of the mandapa there are two holes for pilars to support the roof.

In 1980 the restoration of Chandi Gumpung had began, but there were difficulty in
determining the structure of the temple. After comparing it with the structure of other
temples in Muara Jambi, Soekmono concluded that Chandi Gumpung was a terraced
sanctuary. On the uppermost platform there was small pavillion to enthroned the statue
of a beautiful but headless Prajñāpāramitā statue found among the rubble of Chandi
Gumpung (Soekmono 1987 :23, Santiko 2006:378-379).

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As I have already mentioned from the Palaeographical evidence Buchari concluded that
Chandi Gumpung had been built at least twice, first in the 9th to the beginning of the 10th
century and probably was enlarged in the 11th-12th centuries AD (Buchari 1985:229-243).

The Prajñāpāramitā statue found at Chandi

Gumpung has the characteristics of statues from
Siŋhasāri period, it means that the structure of
Chandi Gumpung mentioned by Soekmono was the
second (or third?) structure of Chandi Gumpung
after the rebuilding on the 13th century. And so how
was the structure of the temple before the
enlargement?

In Buddhism, the stūpas built by the Vajrayāna schools of Buddhism are explicitly
identified with the mandala. The stūpas embody the mandala of the five Jina Buddhas or
Tathāgata: Vairocana is at the centre, Aksobhya is in the east, Ratnasambhava is in the
south, Amitābha is in the west, Amoghasiddhi is in the north. This kind of mandala is
known as the vajradhātu mandala (Snodgrass 1985:135). Buchari in 1985 reports of his
study on the ritual deposits of Chandi Gumpung found inside the temple foot, put in eleven
holes. After he read the inscriptions on the goldplates of the deposit boxes, Buchari
recognized the plan of the diagram Vajradhātu mandala is found in the base of the Chandi
Gumpung (Buchari 1985:229-243).

Since the deposit fom Chandi Gumpung is dated in the 9th-11th century AD, I assume that
the first form of Chandi Gumpung was just a square terrace platform with 5 stūpas
arranged on it to form the vajradhātu-mandala. The structure of the first Chandi Gumpung
was nearly the same with the stucture of the Chinese Lamaist Stūpa (Santiko 2006:380-
381).6. In the 13th century this temple was rebuilt by adding the open pavillion on the
upper terrace to enthrone the statue of the goddess Prajñāpāramitā, the Buddhist goddess
of transcendental wisdom.

6 The Lamaist stūpa actually consists of a platform with 5 big towers on it. However I just look at
the rows of the towers which might be similar wirh the 5 stūpas of Vajradhātu mandala.

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Another chandi I will talk about is Chandi Kedaton, located about 1500 meters west of
Chandi Gedong. The main temple has the same structure with Chandi Gumpung only
bigger, the groundplan measuring 26,3 x 27 meters. No central chamber to house a statue,
a protruding part (penampil) only on the northside but no flightsteps are found on it.
However we never find the deposit boxes like those of Chandi Gumpung, only gravel and
stones filled up inside of the chandi. Since the Chandi Kedaton belonged to Vajrayāna
Buddhism, is it possible that they put the 5 big stūpas embodying the Vajradhātu
mandala like we find at Chandi Gumpung or probably they placed 5 Tathāgatas instead of
stūpas on the terrace ?

Another important data from this temple is inscription found on the makaras of the
northern gateway in front of the main chandi. The inscriptions are written in “Kadiri
quadrate script” and one of the
inscription read:7

//[1] pamursitanira mpu ku [2]

suma// (“the place for meditation
Mpu Kusuma”).8

Where was Pu Kusuma doing meditation,

it should not on the temple platform besause there is no flightdteps to it. Probably he did
in the penampil of Chandi Kedaton or at any places in the complex.

3. Conclusion
The facts that nearly all the main sanctuaries have the same structure but it is difficult to
decide the form of them, wether they were stūpas or not. The main obstacle in rebuilding
the temples is lacks of data found on the area. There are not many stūpas except one bell-
shape stūpa near the Chandi Tinggi and about 6 or 7 stūpas I saw near the Chandi
Gumpung. Recently there are about 24 bell-shape stūpas and some of them pillar stūpa
(linga-stūpa) at Muara Jambi , however no archaeological reports concerning them.

7 This kind of script also was found at candi Sukuh

8 The word “pamursita” comes from the Old Javenese word mūrchā which means “fainting,
swooning, greatly confused”. This word according to me can be translated as “to concentrated
one’s mind on something so he/she becomes unconcious of his/her surroundings”.

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