Yes, not easy, not easy at all. We don't know the mindset of the architects or artistic directors who gave the carvers the instructions, and we don't know which karmic laws (Tibet, Japan, Thailand, other) they intended to display.
And as I myself am still utterly confused when it comes to interpreting the panels, I was hoping that this could become a sort of crowd sourcing exercise. Some ten years ago, before crowd sourcing became a recognised way of collecting data, the idea to use the internet to publish the photographs of the 160 panels and ask readers/viewers for their opinion on their meaning, was put forward by my good friend Yazir Marzuki, who unfortunately passed away before putting it into practice. Maybe, I thought, we could now start on a small scale among the small group of readers of this blog… and who knows, maybe it would snowball.
But before posting more photographs of the panels I want to give you more information on the photographer who recorded all 160 panels, Kassian Cephas, 1845-1912.
He was the first professional Javanese photographer and was appointed court photographer in 1871. In that function he was asked to do portrait photography for members of the royal family, but also worked for the Dutch Archaeological Union (Archaeologische Vereeniging). He became a member of the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, and in 1901 was presented with an honorary gold medal of the Order of Orange-Nassau.
Cephas worked together with, and was succeeded by, his son Sem Cephas. Interestingly, a photographer with the name Cephas, that would be a great-grandson, is now working in the Borobudur area. Yazir Marzuki, who lived very near the temple, got to know him there.
When in 1890 the base was briefly uncovered, Sultan Hamengkubuwono VII requested that Cephas would be contracted. It was calculated that it would take 300 photographs to complete the project. But as Cephas was given only one-third of the original budget, he could not do more than the 160 panels plus four photographs providing a general overview of the situation.
The biography of Cephas, entitled Cephas, Yogyakarta: Photography in the Service of the Sultan, by Gerrit Knaap, publishers the Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (KITLV), Leiden, 1999, presents a selection of 98 pictures—portraits of the royal family, court dances, town views and of course the Borobudur.
The book is available at Amazon, not cheap unfortunately. I regret that I did not pick it up in the second hand and stock-lots bookshop de Slegte in The Hague several years ago.
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