he most interesting in
the country, though lacking the extent and grandeur of the Boro Budur.
Though they do not contain a single genuine Buddha figure, but many
images of Brahmanic gods, Dr. Groneman says there are many reasons to
justify the opinion that they were built by Buddhists, probably over the
ashes of princes and grandees of a Buddhistic empire.

In his report to Sir Stamford Raffles on these Parambanan ruins, Captain
George Baker, of the Bengal establishment wrote:--"In the whole course
of my life, I have never met with such stupendous and finished
specimens of human labour and of the science and taste of ages long
since forgot, crowded together in so small a compass, as in this little
spot, which, to use a military phrase, I deem to have been the
headquarters of Hinduism in Java."

In Volume XIII of the "Asiatick Researches or Transactions of the
Society instituted in Bengal for inquiring into the History and
Antiquities, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia" (Calcutta,
1820), Mr. John Crawfurd, who, apparently, visited Java in 1816, gives a
long and interesting description of the ruins on the Plain of
Parambanan. He describes the locale as ten miles from Djocjakarta, a
valley lying between Rababu and Marapi to the north and a smaller
southern range of high land.

A few of the ruins consist of single isolated temples, but the greater
number are in groups, rows of small temples surrounding larger temples.

The shape of the smaller temples is worthy of observation. From the
foundation to the lintels of the doors, they are of a square form. They
then assume a pyramidal but round shape, and are decorated around by
small figures resembling Lingas, while a larger Linga surmounts the
whole building, forming the apex of the temple.

Invariably, the sites of the temples are adjacent to abundant supplies
of clear water so much desired by the Hindus and so necessary to the
performance of the ritual. Beside two rivers of the purest water, there
is between the villages of Parambanan and Plaosan a small tank,
evidently an appendage to the temples. This little piece of water is a
square of about 200 feet to the side. The ground around it is elevated,
and there is every appearance of its being an artificial excavation. The
whole tank, when visited by Mr. Crawfurd, was covered with blue lotus,
the flower of which is so conspicuous an ornament of the sculptures of
the temple.

Then, as now, there was no evidence