Musical Instruments
Principal reference: Kunst, 1927
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Musical Instruments |
| Home | Principal reference: Kunst, 1927 |
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Musicians & musical instruments on temple reliefs Temple reliefs, apart from telling a story, illustrate many aspects of contemporary
life. One such aspect are musical instruments and ensembles. Their occurrence is most common on the Borobudur,
followed by the Siva temple in the Prambanan complex, and Panataran.
The top relief to the right of this text comes from the first gallery of the
Borobudur. It shows a musical ensemble, with various types of drums, large cymbals, a small lute and a
flute. The composition is very different from that of the bronze percussion
instrument dominated gamelan with its array of xylophones and drums. Some of the
instruments shown, such as the lute, are no longer in existence on Java. Lutes are believed to have reached Java during the time
of its domination by the Sriwijaya empire in the middle of the 8th C,
with their use restricted to the ruling classes, while the use went in decline
after the demise of Sriwijaya. There are many images of lutes on Borobudur, only
two other temples each have one lute image (Candi Sari) and Prambanan¨s Ciwa
temple, first basement, outer wall south. Lutes too were referred to as vina,
but usually this was further specified as rawanahasta (in the Wirataparwa) or
Rawana¨s hand. The word (vina-rawanahasta) is also used in some old Javanese
edicts (1913 series, transcribed by Brandes, edited and published by Krom) The
kecapi is the contemporary Javanese instrument that bears the closest
resemblance to the lute. We already find mentions of it as kacapi in the Malat,
the Tantri and the Arjuna Pralabda. (17thC MS). Its shape is different from the
lutes shown on the temple reliefs, and it is not certain whether the old kecapi
is a successor to the vina rawanahasta, or whether it was re-introduced to Java
from elsewhere. This, for instance is the case of the string instrument the
rebab that came from the Near East, and is no successor to the string
instruments earlier in existence on Java. Another Borobudur relief shows a
drum, small cymbals and a lute. [view] There are only few known depictions of harps on Java,
three of which are on Borobudur. The harp is extinct today, suggesting that the
instrument may only have been used in the circles of the ruling classes only
while never penetrating through to the ordinary population. The word for harp
vina came from Sanskrit. We find it used in the Wirataparwa. The harp was
associated with Saraswati, and a few bronze statuettes of the goddess found on
Java show her with a harp. Saraswati with a lute, Saraswati with a harp (Right
bottom). On east
Java one of the reliefs at Jalatunda also show a beautiful bow harp. [view] The reliefs also showed flutes. Flutes are still in
existence today, but the suling is held at right angles to the mouth like the
recorder, whereas the type of flute shown on the reliefs, is held alongside the
face like the clarinet. Old texts, such as the Wirataparwa and the Ramayana
refer to this flute as bangsi or wangsi. This is a Sanskrit loanword. The wangsi
is associated with Lord Krisna, the 7the Incarnation of Visnu. However, I have
not discovered wangsi on the Visnu temple of Prambanan. More pictures: From the Siva temple of the Prambanan complex
[view] Click for a picture of a conch shell from Prambanan's
Brahma temple [view] |
More pictures:
[click image to see an enlarged version]
[click image to see an enlarged version] |
