12 - The Tale of Sudhana and Manoharā on Candi Jago: An Interpretation of a Series of Narrative Bas-reliefs on a 13th-Century East Javanese Monument

Summary

CANDI JAGO IS LOCATED AT TUMPANG, some fourteen kilometres east of Malang in East Java. It is commonly held that the shrine was commissioned in ad 1268 by King Kṛtanagara on the death of his father, Viṣṇuvardhana, with a date of completion around 1280 to coincide with funereal rites held twelve years after death. Its relatively small size and current state of deterioration possibly belie the scope of its importance. This monument came into existence during a dramatic period not only in Javanese history, but in the history of East and Southeast Asia. This was the time of Khubilai Khan, whose expansionist aims throughout Asia were known to include Java. However, with Kṛtanagara also keen to broaden his sovereignty well beyond Java, conflict was inevitable. Tension between China and Java may well have continued until the Yuan dynasty came to an end in 1368. As I have indicated elsewhere (O'Brien 1988, 1990, 1993, 2008, 2011), much of the design and embellishment of Candi Jago reflects the tension of those times.

Since the publication of Brandes' extensive monograph on Candi Jago in 1904, most of the narratives portrayed on its five tiers of bas-relief panels have been identified. However, for some years two series did continue to resist efforts at positive identification. One is located on the southern and eastern faces of the first terrace (see Diagram 12.1) and has since been interpreted in terms of a Buddhist redaction of the Aji Dharma tale. The second series begins at the eastern end of the southern face of the beugel and continues on the eastern and northern faces of this same band. This latter series—the subject of this chapter—was interpreted some years ago as being an extension of the Kuñjarakarṇa tale, which had much earlier been correctly identified among the reliefs of the first terrace and beugel by van Stein Callenfels (1916: 445ff.).

As an alternative identification, I propose to show that in fact the second unidentified series is the tale of the Bodhisattva prince Sudhana and the kinnarī princess Manoharā. As will become apparent, such an interpretation is not without problems.