Dewi Tara

a princess

of ancient srivijaya

palembang

fell in love

 

with the builder
of borobodur, king samaratungga
let other kings
build a thousand temples
in one night

she longed for eternity

and sailed to sailendra

from their union, new conquerors

ruled nusantara

for a millennia

by ninotaziz. all rights reserved

At Borobodur, Java

___________________________________

For Brian. And the G-Man.

Inspired by dVersepoets

Dewi Tara was a princess of Srivijaya in Sumatera, Indonesia. She married the Sailendran king Sumaratungga, who in the ninth century completed the largest Bhuddist temple on earth, today known as Borobodur. The bas-relief above adorns the Borobodur temple. Generally they illustrate the Jataka tales and other literature. However, on the third tier, if I am not mistaken, they depict actual scenes from the Sailendran court life.

I visited Borobodur in June this year with my daughter Inas. Without a guide, I despaired at ever finding the actual illustrations (miles of them all around the temple) I was interested in, i.e. the above scenes. But I did! Just about the time I was to give up, I turned the corner and found, first the ship! Then the court life illustrations. The pot above, is proof that centuries later, and we still love the same beautiful things in life. I have such terra-cotta pots in my garden and the house.

Inas, at the site of Prambanan
where 1000 temples were built in a night
(I'll tell you about it one day, Brian)