More than a century has elapsed since the inauguration of Classical Javanese archaeological studies by the perspicacious and prolific scholars working under the auspices of the Dutch East Indies Archaeological Service. Despite this fact scholarly explorations of the religious edifices of the Eastern Javanese Period (ca. 970 to 1500) still continue to be overshadowed by the extraordinary artistic legacy of the preceding Central Javanese era (ca. 750 to 930), particularly by the remarkable monuments that have become synonymous with this epoch: Candi Borobudur and the Loro Jonggrang Temple Complex. This earlier phase was perhaps more appealing, with forms echoing those of the Indian subcontinent and a sculptural narrative repertory that had clear links to the classical Sanskrit tradition. Yet the East Javanese Period endured twice as long, and its dramatically different character is clearly evidenced in its architectural forms, religious ideologies, literary and linguistic developments, and a major stylistic change widely perceived as an inexplicable and puzzling transformation.

Worshiping Siva and Buddha: The Temple Art of East Java represents the first detailed foray into this cultural period, employing a study of its religious architecture to piece together this exceptional artistic age. Opening with introductory essays by two talented scholars, Marijke Klokke on the Buddhist and Hindu religions in Classical Java and Lydia Kieven on the art and architecture of the Eastern Javanese Period, the volume subsequently presents a compendium of eighteen essays on religious monuments that are emblematic of the major historical eras comprising this period: the tirta (ritual bathing areas) and meditation cave sanctuaries of the late tenth through the twelfth centuries; the candi (a religious shrine of Classical Java that simultaneously functioned as a memorial for a deceased ruler where funerary rituals may have also taken place, and as a symbolic home for a Hindu or Buddhist deity) of the Singasari era (early thirteenth century to 1292); the magnificent temple complexes and sculptural narrative programs of the Majapahit Empire (1292 to the early years of the sixteenth century); and, ultimately, the ritualistic mountain shrines imbued with intrinsic prehistoric indigenous idioms and motifs erected during the last decades of the Hindu-Javanese period, when Islam was already making headway into the coastal regions of this major island of the Indonesian archipelago. An appendix of sixteen additional site summaries completes this core emphasis of the book.

Worshiping Siva and Buddha is an ambitious undertaking in which the main author’s dedication and fervor for the subject keenly resonates. In total, the volume stands as an admirable reference work that does service to the subject by providing an interested reader with the historical and cultural background for each era; presenting a survey of previous scholarly inquiry related to each site; linking well-known, three-dimensional stone sculptures to their original contexts; introducing a wealth of story plots that took visual form through the narrative relief cycles of these monuments; and incorporating a plenitude of photographs. It may be perceived that in this well-intended attempt to encompass everything, however, the end result is weakened. What keeps the book from reaching its potential falls mainly within the realm of the editorial, an aspect generally not critiqued at the commencement of a review but in this instance its faultiness is most evident and preponderant. Editorial weaknesses range from the overall ineffective conceptualization and organization of the subject, to abrupt and unanticipated endings of essays, and, ultimately, to small details such as a poor coordination between textual references and the illustrative material. This last-mentioned flaw may frustrate nonspecialist readers, for there are lengthy object descriptions for nonillustrated examples as well as for those directly relevant and supported by photographic documentation. The inconsistency in noting figures in the text only exacerbates this situation. Compounding it further is a scattering of factual inaccuracies and misinterpretations throughout the work, and while it can be appreciated that the main author may have limited footnote references in order to make the text more palatable to a general reader, it conversely prevents a specialist from understanding what research led the writer down alternative paths. All levels of readership, however, will be affected by the unclear delineation between the author’s independent theories and recognized scholarly consensus. Moreover, several voices can be identified in the crafting of the text. This leads not only to a lack of cohesiveness and unity, but also to instances in which these voices collide, so that factual information is reiterated, plots of the narratives are told more than once, inconsistent definitions of essential terms are introduced, and disparities occur in recurring factual information. Additionally, the informative content tends to unfold in an illogical progression, and there are puzzling instances in which specifics of a site are introduced before the underlying general concepts and cultural phenomena that are essential for the overall understanding of the topic. A more careful editing of the text and greater guidance for the secondary authors would have led to a harmonious blending of these voices and the volume’s content.

In its character Worshiping Siva and Buddha strongly echoes the well-known exhibition catalogues published more than a decade ago in conjunction with the nationwide “Festival of Indonesia, 1990–1991,” particularly Jan Fontein, R. Soekmono, and Edi Sedyawati’s The Sculpture of Indonesia (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, in association with Harry N. Abrams, 1990), which surveyed the visual-art traditions of the entire Classical Javanese Period. This resemblance may be recognized not only in the organization of contributing essays and descriptive cataloguing of the subject matter, but also in the publication’s layout. These prior volumes directly accompanied major museum exhibitions, but the employment of a similar approach for an independently conceived publication centering on architectural forms and objects in situ may be deemed less successful. For a broad overview of Eastern Javanese architecture and art that is built upon a stronger analytical foundation, scholars in diverse areas of world art would benefit by returning to The Sculpture of Indonesia for its lexicon of forms and concepts, structural clarity, stronger presentation of related information, and precise attention to scholarly detail.

Despite the tome’s drawbacks, Worshiping Siva and Buddha excels as a guide to the sites and monuments of this era, and in this guise the book has many shining moments and significant contributions. These are particularly seen in chapters on Candi Jago and Candi Singosari. Other individual site chapters also represent a successful gleaning and assemblage of earlier studies by the pioneering archaeologists and scholars associated with the Dutch East Indies Archaeological Service, previous exhibition catalogues, and the few interpretative analyses undertaken by Indonesian nationals who have joined the newest generation of scholars in this field. Additionally, the sculptural relief programs adorning the Hindu and Buddhist temples of Southeast Asia were an integral element of these monuments’ schema, employed to enhance religious credos and define spiritual cosmologies while serving as multilayered metaphors for expressing principles of worldly authority, codes of human behavior, and aesthetic ideals. The inclusion of story outlines for those depicted on particular monuments, therefore, is a great asset. However, the descriptive texts in this major section should be approached warily because they sometimes lack the required objectivity, as demonstrated in the chapter on Candi Panataran. The essays are also marred by faulty definitions for essential terms, as in the case of the sraddha ceremony (89), and an abbreviated discussion of the pradaksina and prasavya orientations of narrative relief schema deters a reader from understanding their significance (194 and 289). Adding to these conceptual weaknesses are some misleading statements, such as the one suggesting that the Majapahit builders used “diminished perspective” and “foreshortening” (171); this observation is purely speculative and fails to consider the religious intent of the Javanese candi and sacred sites. Moreover, the mode of visual perception underlying this conclusion unfortunately implies a regression in our development of independent methods of analysis for the study of non-Western visual cultures.

The author’s preface to Worshiping Siva and Buddha, states that the volume was conceived as an effort to “bring together and evaluate recent research and provide an overview of the art and culture of tenth- through fifteenth-century East Java” (9). The book ends without firm conclusions but instead hints at future topics for scholarly inquiry; these may or may not be of primary significance. Still untouched are considerations of the origins and nature of Eastern Javanese artistic style: while this art is generally assumed to have been catalyzed by the geographic shift of the Javanese court due to a major natural catastrophe in Central Java in approximately 930—most probably the eruption of Mount Merapi—it has simultaneously been somewhat romanticized as a reawakening of a “local genius” founded upon more indigenous forms of expression. This reviewer proposes that additional factors now be added to this equation, including a limited sphere of foreign cultural influence during this era, as well as the natural amalgamation of local styles practiced by the East Javanese artists who were now responsible for constructing and embellishing major stone for monuments that adhered to new Hindu-Javanese formations. Yet to be deciphered is the meaning of concurrent styles in Eastern Javanese narrative art, as evidenced by the relief cycles of the Main Temple of Panataran, and the possibility that this phenomenon might parallel the simultaneous use of Sanskritic epic literature and kawya forms alongside a uniquely Javanese parwa repertory in contemporaneous court literature. Also necessary as well is an exacting evaluation of this long-enduring artistic tradition against the achievements of the prior Central Javanese Period so that linkages can be found and evolutionary patterns identified. Tackling these issues is essential, and their answers will provide a strong foundation for subsequent discoveries in this field.

Worshiping Siva and Buddha brings to the forefront another central issue. Those of us specializing in less familiar areas of world art have a heightened level of responsibility. It may not be sufficient simply to premiere a subject area; the obligations and requirements that accompany such an introduction may be even more demanding than is customary. In order to gain support for these unfamiliar subjects and to attract young scholars to a field, encouragement and inspiration must go hand in hand with solid understanding and clear guidance. This could have perhaps been accomplished by expanding the contributions of Klokke and Kieven to this volume; one looks forward to being enriched by their knowledge and skillful analyses in a future publication.