Relief label from Borobudur's hidden base, no. 128 (8th c. CE)

Authors of digital edition: Arlo Griffiths (argr), Hedwi Prihatmoko (hepr).

Language: Sanskrit (san) [Kawi (kawi)].

Repository: Nusantara Epigraphy (tfc-nusantara-epigraphy).

Identifier: DHARMA_INSIDENKBorobudurHB128.

File path: xml/DHARMA_INSIDENKBorobudurHB128.xml.

Version: 2026-02-15 00:03 (ecb62df), last modified 2026-02-11 13:40 (8bbe0cb).

Edition

⟨1⟩ maheśākhyasa(mava)[*]na

Apparatus

⟨1⟩ maheśākhyasa(mava)[1×]na ⬦ maheśākhyasamavadhāna HK2 • Kern (1917, p. 150) described that the writing is a compound word consisting of the first part maheśākhya “notable person”, but the second part is unclear except for the first letter sa and the last letter na. After the third syllable of the second part, there is an open space in which no letter has ever been written. However, Kern suggested that the word should be meant maheśākhyasamavadhāna. The panel shows six prominent figures seated three by three, facing each other.

Translation

a meeting with Great Persons

Bibliography

First published by Kern (1896); republished by the same author (1917) and subsequently by Krom (1927); this digital edition based on the 1927 publication.

Primary

[HK1] Kern, Johan Hendrik Caspar. 1896. “Over de bijschriften op het beeldhouwwerk van Boro-Boedoer.” VMKAW-L 3e reeks, 12, pp. 119–128. Page 123.

[HK2] Kern, Johan Hendrik Caspar. 1917. “Over de bijschriften op het beeldhouwwerk van Boro-Budur (± 850 A. D.)” In: Verspreide geschriften, zevende deel: inscripties van den Indischen archipel, slot; de Nāgarakṛtāgama, eerste gedeelte. 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff, pp. 145–156. Pages 150–152.

[NJK] Krom, Nicolaas Johannes. 1927. Barabudur: archaeological description, vol. I. The Hague: Nijhoff. Page 52.

Secondary

Lévi, Sylvain. 1932. Mahā-karmavibhaṅga (La Grande classification des actes) et Karmavibhaṅgopadeśa (Discussion sur le MahāKarmavibhaṅga): textes sanscrits rapportés du Népal, édités et traduits avec les textes parallèles en sanscrit, en pali, en tibétain, en chinois et en koutchéen. Paris: E. Leroux. [URL]. Pages 86-87, Tableau Comparatif, column Bb. (Panneaux de Boro-Budur), item 127-130.

Krom, Nicolaas Johannes. 1933. “Het Karmawibhangga op Barabuḍur.” MKAW 76, serie B, no. 8, pp. 215–283. Page 261.

de Casparis, Johannes Gijsbertus. 1975. Indonesian palaeography: A history of writing in Indonesia from the beginnings to c. A.D. 1500. Handbuch der Orientalistik 3.4.1. Leiden: Brill. Page 32.

Fontein, Jan. 1989. The law of cause and effect in ancient Java. Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afdeling Letterkunde nieuwe reeks, deel 140. Amsterdam: North-Holland. Page 58.

Reichle, Natasha. 2009. “Unfinished Business: Clues about artistic praxis from the Hidden Foot of Borobudur.” Artibus Asiae 69 (2), pp. 335–356. [URL]. Pages 352–354, Table I, item O-128.

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