Candi Borobudur is located in Central Java, Indonesia, near the city of Yogyakarta. It was built during the late eighth and maybe the "first half of the ninth century" when Indonesia was just a collection of kingdoms that were still in its golden age (Schober, Juliane). The Kingdom of Sailendra controlled Java during the time and their king, Smaratungga, decided to build a sacred place to praise the Buddha and show the splendor of his kingdom.
Besides being one of the most magnificent buildings of the ancient world, Candi Borobudur is also a religous masterpiece, reflecting many images of Buddhism. Its appearance is majestic, especially because there is no roof so you can see all 10 levels of its outstanding terraces, seven of which are rectangular while the other three are circular. It has been said that the three circular levels represent the "Buddhists' three-part division of the universe"; the first one being where men are completely bound with greed and other worldly desire, the second one being where men are freed from greed but still unable to let go of earthly needs, and the third one being where men have successfully break out from all things bad and reached the pure and spiritual plane (Johnson, Jean).The reliefs featuring the jataka tales, a story of Buddha's former lives, are carved in the lower, inside walls (Schober, Juliane). Some of the reliefs may have been derived from an Indian texts in Sanskrit, an Indo-Europian language from India that found its way as the common language in Indonesia more than a thousand years ago.
