This world heritage site Borobudur Temple Compounds in Indonesia, according to Unesco, is ‘one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world, and was built in the 8th and 9th centuries AD during the reign of the Syailendra Dynasty. The monument is located in the Kedu Valley, in the southern part of Central Java….’.

The Borobudur Temple Compounds consists of three monuments: namely the Borobudur Temple, the Mendut Temple, and the Pawon Temple. The latter is a smaller temple whose inner space does not reveal which deity might have been the object of worship. Those three monuments represent phases in the attainment of Nirvana.

The ancient identity of the Indonesian kings, their kingdoms, and the inhabitants of Indonesia collectively speak of their migration from the land of the river Indus; the Tri-Deities of the Indus Valley are represented by the ‘Three Temples’ of the Borobudur Temple Compounds; they tell a ‘complete story’ of their past.

Borobudur Temple—Temple of Balabhadra

Mendut Temple—Temple of Subhadra

Pawon Temple—Temple of Sri Jagannath as Baman

Kedu Valley—Kedar of Indian puranas and also Kedar of the Bible which identifies both House of Cadmus(Kardama of Indian puranas) and Kapilavastu, the birthplace of the Buddha.

Many scholars have suggested various etymological root for this name Borobudur like, ‘Budur-Boro’,  ‘Buda’, ‘Biara Beduhur’, and ‘Beduhur’ etc. But name Balabhadra is the right root of this name for it, the first of the Tri-Deities who represents the Bodhisattva stage of the Buddha-hood, or the ‘first-condition’ of enlightenment to become a Buddha; deity Subbhadra, in yellow colour, stands for the ‘Future Buddha’ , known as Maitreya.

Candi is name of a goddess whose duty is to provide protection to the ‘three temples’; this name is also found in the tantric texts; her other name is Alam-candi whose historical identity links history of this goddess with Greek Rhadamnthys. Candi was also the other name of Asokamala, wife of King Sali(belonging to chandala caste for which reason he left the country and his throne). Kandi of Sri Lanka refers to this Candi only.

Boro or the Barihas was an ancient tribe; name Nagarakretagama identifies the Nagara-kreta-gama which means ‘City of Khetra’ or ‘Sri–Kshetra’ ; here ‘–gama’ means the ‘village’. So Nagarakreta-gama stands for Sri-Kshetra village that identifies the seat of worship of the ‘Tri-deities’ where also exists the Temple of Alam-candi as well as the Temple of Temple Candi. The most interesting point to note here is that the name of the writer of the Old Javanese Manuscript(Nagarakretagama) is Mpu Prapanca and his village is called Majapahit. While Prapanca is Prapancha of history, Majapahit stands for Maha-Prajapati, name of Mother of the Buddha. Prapanca marks Panchana or Panchaia of the Vergil’s Georgics.

Historic reference of this temple is seen in two inscriptions of the island: the Teman-ggung and the Karang-tengah inscriptions; there is mention of Jinalaya which is the exact name of Sri Jagannath at Sri-Kshetra at Puri; scholars of Indonesian history finds the meaning of Jinalaya as ‘the realm of those who have conquered worldly desire and reached enlightenment’; but this is not the correct meaning. Jina which is as same as Zion of the Bible and Jinn of the Quran, identifies the Buddha only; the name means a ‘Teacher of Profound Wisdom and an Enlightened One’.

According the inscriptions, the Borobudur Temple was inaugurated by Pramodha Wardhani, daughter of Sumara Tungga. Here ‘Wardhani’ identifies the Vardhana dynasty to which King Harsha Vardhana (7^th c A.D) belongs; Vardhana is also name of the place where Mahaveer died. Mahaveer who preached Jainism also belonged to this dynasty and his name is attached to this ‘Vardhana’ title; its other name is Pava, according to Pali literature. Name Sumara similarly refers to ‘Suma’ as same as Sama which is a neighbourly place to Pava; When Mahaveer died at Pava, Buddha at that time was staying in this village Sama which was a Sakyan stronghold.

The Tri Tepusan Inscriptions(842 A.D.) mentions sima lands and along with it reads the name of a king Cri Kuhuluunam to whom historians identify with Pramodha Wardhani, who funded for the maintenance of Kummulan called Bhumisambhara.

Tri Tepusan refers to the Triveni or the meeting point of Three Rivers at ‘Cri’ or Sri Kantha; Kamulan exactly identifies Kama or Qumran(of the Bible) and Kamarupa of history near which the Temple of Bodhisattva Indra stands. This temple itself marks the seat of ‘Sailendra’ Dynasty. Sailendra here means ‘Saila’ or the ‘mountain of Indra’ means the Temple of Sage Mogha, the Bodhisattva Indra. Bhumi-Sambahara means this land holds the ‘elemental’ of beauty of the Land or in other words  ‘Heaven’ of the Bible as well as of Indian puranic traditions. During Hiouen Tsiang’s time, this land was called Sri-Kshetra. Later, after destruction of the temple site, this name was given to the Temple at Puri. Indian puranas knows this land as ‘Padma-kshetra’ means the ‘Land of the Lotuses’. Royal Seat of administration of Wardhan Kings is known to history as Paundra-Vardhana; here ‘Paundra’ means ‘White Lotus’ or the ‘Sthala-padma’.

The two rivers: Progo and Elo, finally, pinpoints the ancient land from which the historicity of Indonesia and its inhabitants derive their ancient identity with full historical authority. And the names of the two volcanoes: Sundro-Sumbing and Merababu-Merapi and the two cities at the end: Yogy-karta and Sura-karta hold in unison the story of the land and its people who migrated from the Prayaga –kshetra or the Land of the Meeting point of Three Rivers at Sri-kshetra.