Cultural Dynamics in a Globalized World – Budianta et al. (Eds) © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-62664-5 Votive tablets in Buddhist religious rituals in the Nusantara archipelago from the 7th–10th centuries AD A. Indradjaja & W.R. Wahyudi Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia ABSTRACT: This paper discusses the function of votive tablets found in many Buddhist sites in the Nusantara archipelago from 7th–10th AD. As a ceremonial object, a votive tablet’s function is analyzed through specific analysis and context. The result shows that the function of votive tablets in relation to religious rituals, besides having the primary function as a media ceremony (offering), it is also used to “turn on” the sacred building (stupa) and as supplemen- tary Garbhapātra. The function of votive tablets found in the religious ritual is known to be the result of hybridization between the Buddhist faith and the belief of local communities. In addition, the presence of votive tablets in religious ceremonies along with stupika and seal tablets is associated with the view that in any religious ritual, the figure of Buddha should be present along with every object associated with the Buddha such as votive tablet representing rupakaya (physical element) and mantras of the Buddha representing dharmakaya (spiritual element). It is the unification of the two elements (rupakaya and dharmakaya) which will turn on Buddha in the religious rituals. 1 INTRODUCTION The intensive maritime trade in Southeast Asia brought a “blessing” to the spreading of Buddhism into the Indonesian archipelago (Poesponegoro and Notosusanto, 2009: 21–26). According to Claire Holt, a researcher of Indonesian arts, the period between the 7th–10th centuries AD is an important period for our knowledge of Buddhism and Buddhist art in Indonesia (2000: 35). Besides leaving a trail of monuments and statues of Buddha, some devout Buddhists left numerous relics/artifacts related to the religious activities at that time, including votive tablets. Votive tablets are small-sized Buddhist icons usually made of clay and sometimes mixed with ashes, then printed with press technique, and subsequently burned or simply dried and used as ceremonial objects. According to Robert Redfield, an icon is defined as a sign to the object it represents. Icons are not always in the form of depictions or expressions as known in the Greek Orthodox Church, but they can also be an analogy (1971: 42; Sedyawati, 1985: 44). Icon in Buddhism is a form of visual object representing certain concepts, and to some extent, some icons are adapted from other traditions, for example the statue of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara is influenced by the figure of the Hindu god Siva (Sedyawati, 2009: 85). The finding of votive tablets is often accompanied by stupika and a seal tablet. Stupika is a miniature stupa made of clay and a seal tablet is a short inscription containing Buddhist mantras (verses), which is also made of clay. The findings of votive tablets in Indonesia were first reported in 1896 in the area around Yogyakarta and later published in Oudheidkundige Verslag (OV) around 1931–1935, which mentioned the existence of several votive tablets in Jongke Village, located around 7 km north of Yogyakarta. The interest of researchers on the findings of votive tablet was first demonstrated by W.F. Stutterheim toward the votive tablet found in Pejeng in 1920 (Stutterheim, 1930: 4). Other researchers also wrote about the findings of votive tablets, among others A.A.Gede Oka 545 Astawa, Hariani Santiko, Issatriadi, Endang Sri Hardiati, and Peter Ferdinandus from the National Archaeological Research Center. The research on the votive tablets can contribute to the understanding of the existence of Buddhism in the archipelago. In the context of Buddhism in the Nusantara archipelago, Edi Sedyawati (2009: 87) explained that Buddhism at that time had absorbed the Javanese culture into the universal Buddhism mixed with the local culture (Java). In terms of ceremo- nial objects, one of which is a votive tablet, this study attempts to explain the relationship between the function of votive tablets within Buddhist religious rites and their position in Buddhist religious rites in the Nusantara archipelago. 2 THEORY AND METHOD According to Christopher Dawson, to understand the cultural influence of a society, one must first understand the religion professed by the community: “Religion is the key to history. We cannot understand the essence of social order without understanding the religion the community embraces. We cannot understand the results of their culture without understanding the religious belief into the back- ground. In every age the main results are based on the culture of religious ideas and immortalized for religious purposes” (Zoetmulder, 1965: 327; Munandar, 1990: 2). In other words, to understand the cultural objects closely tied to the religious aspect, it is essential to first know the prevailing concepts in the religion. The word “religion” in anthropology also has a variety of meanings. Tylor describes the essence of religion as the belief in spiritual beings which can be interpreted as magic and that everything in nature has a soul. The belief in spirits then evolves into a belief in the gods of nature. Furthermore, the belief in the gods of the nature evolves into various ranks of gods from the lowest to the highest (Agus, 2006: 120–121). According to Melford E. Spiro, religion is an institution consisting of culturally patterned interaction with culturally postulated superhuman being (Spiro, 1977: 96–7). Interaction, according to Spiro, has two senses, namely: (1) the activities which are believed to carry out, embody, or be consistent with the will or desire of the superhuman beings of powers and (2) the activities which are believed to influence superhuman beings to satisfy the needs of the actors. The concept of superhuman beings refers to the belief in the entities that own supreme power and can do good or bad things, and have relationships with humans. All institutions consist of (a) belief system, i.e. an enduring organization of cognitions about one or more aspects of the universe, (b) action system, an enduring organization on behavior pattern designed to attain ends for the satisfaction of needs, and (c) value system, an enduring organization of principles by which behavior can be judged on some scale of merit (Spiro, 1997: 97–98). The religious actors not only believe in the truth of propositions about superhuman beings, but also believe in these beings. They not only believe in the truth of religion propositions, but also – and more frequently—to certain practices (Spiro, 1997: 106). According to Spiro, the existence of religion can be explained causally and functionally. Religion persists not only because it has functions, in which it does, or is believed to, satisfy desires; but also because it has causes, namely the expectation of satisfying these desires (1977:117). According to Koentjaraningrat, there are five religious components that can always be found in all denominations. The five components can also be referred to as a religious iden- tity of a religious group because the five components may differ from one particular religious group to other groups. The five components are: religious emotion, belief systems, system of rites and ceremonies, equipment of rites, and communities (Koentjaraningrat, 1980: 80–3). Among the five components that have been outlined by Koentjaraningrat, the equipment of rites component, which in this case is the votive tablet, will be the focus of the discussion. Of course, with the assistance of other data, votive tablet functions in religious rites can also be reinterpreted. 546 The source of research data was obtained through data collection from the Segaran V, Batujaya Temple, Karawang, West Java; Borobudur Temple, Magelang; Kalibukbuk Temple, Bali; Gentong Temple, Mojokerto and Gumuk Klinting site, Banyuwangi. The stages of research conducted in this study were adapted from the archaeological research method introduced by K.R. Dark (1995), where each artifact or structure (findings) can be seen as data containing archaeological information. However, the data only inform about their own existence and cannot necessarily be treated as archaeological evidence. The new archaeological data become archaeological evidence after being put into the framework of interpretation (1995: 36). 2.1 Archaeological data The findings of votive tablets in the Nusantara archipelago can be classified into six groups. In the broadest sense, classification can be understood as to enter different units into a certain class or type that has not been previously determined. If a certain number of artifacts are categorized into one type, it means that such artifacts can be described as a group having the same attributes, which are different from other types. The classification or categorization of the findings of votive tablets is based on the opinions of Brew and Rouse, who stressed that the classification of a type was entirely based on the design made by the researchers, but it is not something that is already available in the data (Sedyawati, 1985: 22–8). The classification of the type of votive tablets is based on the depiction of relief. Broadly speaking, the depiction of relief on a votive tablet can be grouped into relief of figures and non-figures. The grouping of relief figures on the votive tablets follows the “divine arrangement” known in Buddhism. There are three divine arrangements namely, Tathagata (Dhyani Buddha), Dhyani Bodhisattva, and Manusi-Buddha. Beyond the three divine arrangements, there are also known other deities such as Tara. Identi- fication of figures was done by analyzing the iconography, such as the postures, the attributes of that subject, and others that may be used for classification. The purpose of the identification and classification of characters in the votive tablet is to identify the characters depicted on the votive tablets and their position in the Buddhist pantheon.