JAVA The old Hindu kingdom of Taruma in western Java is known only by inscriptions of 4th and 5th century date. The earliest architectural remains are those of the Dieng Plateau, where in the seventh or early eighth century stone was for the first time em ployed in Java as a building material. The plateau was not an inhabited city, but a place of pilgrimage, a temple city comparable with Girnar and Mi-son. Out of many more, eight temples sur vive ; they are known by the names of the heroes of the Ramay ana, but these appellations have nothing to do with their original dedication to diva. The Indian character of the architecture is conspicuous, and in all probability Indian architects were at work here. The construction is generally cubic, with strongly empha sized vertical and horizontal lines ; the temples are two-storeyed, the roof repeating the form of the cella. The plan is square, and the walls are divided by pilasters into niches or panels with sculp ture; a grotesque makara face crowns the doorways. This descrip tion applies to the four temples of the Arjuna group; but Candi Bhima is a pyramidal tower in the northern Indian nagara style with successive horizontal stages repeating the fundamental forms, cornices with dormer-arches framing Gandharva heads, and angle amalakas at the fourth and fifth stages ; no doubt a single amalaka crowned the now ruined summit. East and south of the Plateau and at Mt. Ungaran there are numerous other small temples of the same period and style, but rather more freely, and exquisitely decorated.
We come now to the great monuments of the 8ailendra period (see above ; SUMATRA) which are easily accessible to visitors from Djokjakarta. In Candi Kalasan, a lovely but ruined building dedicated to Tara, we find the first Buddhist temple on Javanese soil; the date is A.D. 778. This is a building of the Dieng Arjuna type, but the lateral niches are developed into side chapels, the ornament is more elaborate, and there are delicate strips of floral tracery between the plain pilasters. Near by is the three-storeyed rectangular Candi Sari. Candi Mendut which is near Borobudur is similar in plan, but there are no side chapels; on the other hand there is an open sculptured vestibule, and the exterior walls of the cella are richly decorated with figure reliefs. (See JAVA; see