THE “GUIDING STAR OF THE WORLD” TĀRĀ IN JAVA: Visiting the famed Tārā Temple at Kalasan worshipped by Indian adept, Ātiśa (Indonesia pilgrimage IV)

“On 17^th March, 774 A.D., there was spring equinox. The noon shadow on spring equinox completely disappears at the equator. This was also a New Moon day. Thus, the coincidental disappearance of one’s own shadow, Moon and the Pole star might have spurred the astrological exploration by scholar-practitioners of Tantra in an established centre of tantric activity”

“Goddess Tārā spread far and wide after assuming the feminine form through personification and deification of the Pole star. The homage in the inscription at the Temple of Kalasan describes Tārā as one who looks down at the world and is the only   guiding star for direction in this world (Naraloka) and the divine realm (Indra loka) . She is the Jagad Eka Tārā single star of the world. There cannot be better expression than this. The Pole Star is only One, single star, the Eka Tārā!”

–Niraj Kumar (2022)

For Tārā day today, and the fourth instalment on the Indonesia pilgrimage, here is some research and photos about my recent visit to the 8th Century Tārā temple of Kalasan, in Java.  It is located 13 kilometers (8.1 mi) east of Yogyakarta, Java.  Said to have been visited by Je Ātiśa during his stay in that region, which was renowned for yogini practices and goddess worship (more on that in the next article!).  For more articles about Noble Tārā, see here.

The Tārā temple at Kalasan, Java

As Indian scholar-translator, Niraj Kumar writes in his impressive and original Introduction to Kalacakra Tantra: Vol. 1 (2022) Yogyakarta in Java, Indonesia is renowned not only as one of the places (Sumatra is the other) where Ātiśa visited and stayed for twelve years to get teachings from mahasiddhas, but also famed for several goddesses and Yogini tantric practices:

“It was a place where monks from China, Korea, Thailand, Malaya, Sumatra, India, Arakan would visit. Lankan monks had a branch of Abhayagiri monastery in the region. Vajrabodhi, Amoghavajra and all leading tantric Masters while journeying to China by sea route would stay here. Even during the 11^th century, Ātiśa was sent to Sumatra and Java to learn the teachings of Kālacakra from the famed Guru, Dharmapāla and Ātiśa is said to have stayed in the region of Temple of Tārā at Kalasan. Kalasan finds mention in the ManjuŚrī -Mula-Kalpa, showing the awareness about the region as abode of goddess worship quite early.”

The Tārā Temple of Kalasan dedicated to the Goddess Tārā was constructed in this region during the last quarter of the 8^th century. I decided I had to go see it. I was kindly transported to the temple by two female Indonesian females and their family who offered their car/driver, as I was still suffering from severe flu/cough and exhaustion, their kindness and generosity made the whole visit a lot more comfortable in so many ways, they were like Tārā emanations to me!

The remains of the temple is not far from Yogyakarta, about a twenty minute drive on the way to the another renowned Hindu temple, Prambanan. The Tārā temple does not get as many visitors, and when I arrived it was midday and there were very few people there. Visitors were not allowed inside, but a person outside the temple (not an official tour guide) kept telling me it was the only temple in the region that had been constructed with ‘moon stone’. This made me smile as moonstone is one of my favourite stones (I wear a ring of it) and is said to be the stone of White Tārā. I wondered if the temple (which could not be entered) had contained a statue of White Tārā!

The Kala Face

According to online sources, the temple stands on a square 14.20 meters sub-basement. The temple plan is cross-shaped, and designed as a twelve-cornered polygon. Each of the four cardinal points has stairs and gates adorned with Kala-Makara and rooms measuring 3,5 square meters. No statue is to be found in the smaller rooms facing north, west, and south; but the lotus pedestals suggest that the rooms once contained statues of Bodhisattvas. The temple is richly decorated with Buddhist figures such as the Bodhisattva and Gana.

The Kala Face above the southern door is often used to give an idea of the artistry in stone by Central Javanese artists of a millennia ago. Niches where the statues would have been placed are found inside and outside the temple. The niches adorned an outer wall intricately carved with Kala, gods, and divinities in scenes depicting the svargaloka, the celestial palace of the gods, apsaras, and gandharvas.

The roof of the temple is designed in three sections. The lower one is still according to the polygonal shape of the body and contains small niches with statues of bodhisattvas seated on a lotus. Each of these niches is crowned with stupas. The middle part of the roof is an octagonal (eight-sided) shape. Each of these eight sides adorned with niches contains a statue of a Dhyani Buddha flanked by two standing bodhisattvas. The top part of the roof is almost circular and also has 8 niches crowned with a single large dagoba. The octagonal aspect of the structure has led to speculation of non-Buddhist elements in the temple, similar to some interpretations of the early Borobudur structure.

According to the Kalasan inscription, the temple once housed the large (probably reaching 4 meters tall) statue of the Boddhisattvadevi Tara. By the design of the throne, people say most probably the statue of the goddess was in a seated position and made from bronze. Now the statue is missing, but no one seems to know why or where.

On the outer wall of the temple found traces of plaster called vajralepa (lit: diamond plaster).

The Spring Equinox 77AD, disappearance of the pole star  and  inspiration for the construction of the Tārā temple

In terms of information about the temple (online and at the temple itself), there is not a huge amount. According to Kumar (2022):

“The inscription in Sanskṛta language mentions how the temple of Tārā was ordered to be built by the teachers of the Śailendra King as an ornament of the Śailendra dynasty. The approval for the construction was granted by the Sanjaya King, Pancapana Panamkarna. The Kalasa village was given to the Sangha. It is likely to have been done after a tremendous coincidence in the year 774 A.D.

On 17^th March, 774 A.D., there was spring equinox. The noon shadow on spring equinox completely disappears at the equator. This was also a New Moon day. Thus, the coincidental disappearance of one’s own shadow, Moon and the Pole star might have spurred the astrological exploration by scholar-practitioners of Tantra in an established centre of tantric activity.

We all know how the region around Kalasan was a special place during Ma Tārām Kingdom for Hindu and Buddhist missionaries, most of them adept in astrology and basic astronomy for determining the auspicious time for ritual purposes.   Dīpāṃkara Srijna Ātiśa visited the temple and meditated over Goddess Tārā during his 12 year sojourn to Java while receiving teachings from Dharmapāla (Serelingpa in Tibetan accounts).”

The importance of the guiding pole star, Polaris

Niraj Kumar explains how people at that time in that region, well-versed in astronomy and events in the skies, would have seen the disappearance of one of the most important guiding stars for seafarers along the route from India to SE Asia, as the Pole Star, Polaris:

“From this place, northern Pole Star, Polaris would not be visible as the place is in the southern hemisphere. A mariner sailing longitudinally along the Burmese and Thai coast would see the reducing height of the pole Star in the sky and finally at the equator, the Pole Star would be visible only at the left (northern) horizon. Thence, it would not be visible.

The Polaris in a way also has its changing phase, not in form like that of the moon, but in space. When there is New Moon, tantric soteriology assumed that the moon embraces the sun and ambrosia is generated. Therefore, New Moon phase is termed as “amavasya” or the entrance into “am” kala (digit of ambrosia).

According to Abhinavagupta, a contemporary synthesizer and redactor of Hindu tantric liturgy, Amā-kalā is sublime form of “water element” (Tantra Loka). Ama is also the Viśva-Tarpini(offering to the world). Through the offering, the thirst in world is quenched. Kala is the Sanskṛta term for phase. Moon has 16 phases, one each for lunar tithi and sixteenth assumed to  occurg together with the fifteenth on the New Moon when 16^th, the ama-kala pervades all the 15 digits with ambrosia. It is this sixteenth phase wherein the Moon produces the ambrosia. 

Early proponents of Tārā, who seems to have personified the guiding star during their sea-faring journey, might have assumed that like the moon, the Pole Star also goes for rest in the ama-kala (amrita-kala) or the ambrosia-phase. A disappearing Pole Star forced the wisdom seekers to imbue Tārā with the quality of ama-kala. Tārā is also depicted with holding a lotus, symbolizing its relationship with the sublime water-element.   

 Since the disappearance occurs before arriving at Java, the scholar monks prevailed upon the local king to construct the temple of Tārā at Kalasan to propitiate Her at Her resting place. The Temple of Tārā is 50 km southeast of the Borobudur complex. Guṇadharma, the architect who built Borobudur (760 to 825 AD), is said to have aligned the Borobudur structure towards the North Pole Star. It is chronicled that he would ascend a nearby mountain and observe the Pole Star. Thus, in a way, the Borobudur complex was constructed where the Pole Star is seen for the last time and the Kalasan Temple where it disappears from the view.  Both the structures were built almost simultaneously. Though, the Pole Star is no longer visible from Borobudur, the visibility which is reported for architect Guṇadharma , might have been caused by  the wobbling phenomena of earth on its axis which causes change in sky map every couple of centuries. 

 Tārā temple at Candradvīpa and Tārā temple at Kalasan reveal how closely Tārā was associated with the seafarers and why it was known as the Goddess belonging to the oceanic lineage (samudra-kula) in the Manjuśrī- Mula-Kalpa.

Goddess Tārā spread far and wide after assuming the feminine form through personification and deification of the Pole star. The homage in the inscription at the Temple of Kalasan describes Tārā as one who looks down at the world and is the only   guiding star for direction in this world (Naraloka) and the divine realm (Indra loka) . She is the Jagad Eka Tārā single star of the world. There cannot be better expression than this. The Pole Star is only One, single star, the EkaTārā!”

Here are some photos I took of the temple. I was kindly transported to the temple by two female Indonesian females and their family who offered their car/driver, as I was still suffering from severe flu/cough and exhaustion, their kindness and generosity made the whole visit a lot more comfortable in so many ways, they were like Tārā emanations to me!