At the first glance we might think that music was a favorite pastime among the Hindu-Javanese, it is so often depicted on the reliefs. But we change our opinion on closer examination. In many of the scenes the music is nothing more than an accompaniment, generally to the dancing; when that is not the case, then the performers are nearly always heavenly beings and although this divine music is of course only a repetition of the earthly orchestra, it will not be mere chance that so very few concerts take place in this world. Music does not seem to have played a very important part in Hindu-Javanese society.

Let us first take the music given by itself, not as an accompaniment. There are to begin with a few instances in the pictures of desa-life. On O 117

Series O Plate XV 117 900b.JPG

a man is playing on the soling (flute); another next to him has no nlUSiC. But on O 39

Series O Plate V 39 696b.JPG

in the righthand scene there are some streetmusicians who evidently belong together. One of them has an instrument in his hand that looks like an oblong wooden frame with small staves of metal across it that are struck with a stick. The other holds up an object not easily described, it seems a sort of flat cymbal with three little rods, that have knobs at the end of them, lying on it. It is not being played, so possibly it may not be a musical instrument. The head only of a third man can be seen. There is another group like this on 0 48, a man who most distinctly has the same oblong instrument just-mentioned, a second holding something quite unrecognizable under his left arm and a third who again shows nothing but his head.

As for the music among the higher classes, we shall begin with the heavenly sort of which there are so many more examples. The first scene on the first gallery begins with a full orchestra for the benefit of the future Buddha in the Tus. ita heaven. It consists of wind, string and thump instruments. These last are represented by cymbals and drums. Drums are numerous of both sorts, that were also common in India and need not here be described; the cylinder shaped sort, and the tub shaped thicker in the middle; the first is carried round the neck and beaten with the hand or a drumstick, the second is always of a large size and stands on the ground, it is only beaten with the hand, but it is also seen in smaller size carried round the neck. We know that only the barrel shaped one, the kendang, remains in use in Java at the present day. The only wind instrument is the german flute; now-a-days this is not found in ordinary use, but only witl1 the soldiers at the court of the princes. There are several kinds of string instruments, unfortunately this pert of the relief is rather dama~cd; what we seein the first placeisa kind of stick with a round soundboard at the side of one end, such an instrument can hardly be anything but a monochord; then there arc some like lutes, the ancient vine, with three and with four strings) Which can be seen by the number of screws for regulating the strings in the same way as our violins etc. All these instruments are played with Alec fingers. A sort of either semicircular in shape is very indistinct, it can only be identified with the help of another relief (the only other one where this instrument is shewn, Ia 52

Life of Buddha Series Ia Plate XXVI 52 2581b.JPG Life of Buddha

These same instruments will be found in the hands of heavenly musicians on other reliefs, sometimes with a pair of little bell-shaped chelimbi that are held one in each hand and belong specially to dance music.

Among the drums sometimes there are some that go narrow in the middle into a sort of hour-glass shape and some that look like a roundbellied pot with its mouth covered over with drum-skin.

Orchestras of this kind, more or less complete, are strewn on II 1, 55, 105, 128

####No Reference found II, 1 De Gandawyuha Series II Plate XXVIII 55 3029.JPG De Gandawyuha	De Gandawyuha Series II Plate LIII 105 3080.JPG De Gandawyuha
De Gandawyuha Series II Plate LXIV 128 3102.JPG De Gandawyuha

IV 10, 37

Samanta Series IV Plate V 10 3972b.JPG Samanta	Samanta Series IV Plate XIX 37 3987a.JPG Samanta

On the last-mentioned and on II I, there is also some one blowing on a conch-shell, as is very likely the case in other scenes, but we are not always able to see exactly what the instrument is they are holding with both hands. It can certainly be identified in the procession on Ib 70

main wall Series Ib Plate XXXV 70 1192a.JPG main wall

and by comparison with this, probably also on III 50

Maitreya Series III Plate XXV 50 3130b.JPG Maitreya

A remarkable scene is that on IV 7

Samanta Series IV Plate IV 7 3971a.JPG Samanta

; on one side of tile Buddha seated in the middle, there is an orchestra like the one above described, in which a new instrument appears, a bell hung on a curved stick and played on with a stick; on the other side sits a Bodhisattvawith a conch-shell, some persons blowing large and small trumpets and one beating with his hand a very small drum of the hour-glass shape. A bell, this time held in the hand, is being played by one of the gandllarva's who miraculously appear on III B 40

####No Reference found III B, 40

; there is a curious combination of two instruments, the chelimbi and a lute very long and narrow in shape, to be found on 0 102. An extraordinary kind of wishing-tree, strewn on IVB 75

Maitreya Series IVB Plate XVI 75 3749b.JPG Maitreya

besides bells and flutes bears quite a number of drums.

Kinnara's are often represented playing on the flute and often holding the instrument that we have just supposed to be a monochord. The way in which this same object appears among the attendants in scenes on earth where there is no question of music (see O 143, 157

Series O Plate XVIII 143 961b.JPG	Series O Plate XX 157 999b.JPG
Series O Plate XX 157 1001a.JPG

IBb 65

####No Reference found IBb, 65

might incline us to think it must there be something else; but it is quite certain, as the reliefs still to be discussed will prove, that this monochord instrument was also used at earthly concerts, quite apart from the question whether an object of this shape should be identified everywhere as a musical instrument. Among the scenes in the human world O 131

Series O Plate XVII 131 939b.JPG

deserves special notice with its large bell hanging on a beam supported by two pillars. Then on Ia 52

Life of Buddha Series Ia Plate XXVI 52 2581b.JPG Life of Buddha

there is the music being performed before the future Buddha in the women's apartment; we can recognise lute and either, flute and chelimbi. On O 125

Series O Plate XVI 125 921a.JPG

music is going on for the benefit of an eminent man possibly at the dinner-table, the dishes being brought in look very much like food. Here there are two instruments, both very distinct, a monochord and a lute, this time three stringed. Twice, a band plays at a stupa-homage; drums and cymbals on Ib 83

main wall Series Ib Plate XLII 83 1199a.JPG main wall

drums and flute on IBb 66

####No Reference found IBb, 66

These two last instruments with a monochord make up the orchestra on IVB 42

Maitreya Series IVB Plate IX 42 3735a.JPG Maitreya

where the attitude of one of the drummers and the man next to him shew the possibility that the music may be only an accompaniment. Drums and cymbals are the chosen instruments for festive processions, see IBa 266

balustrade Series IBa Plate XXX 266 1853.JPG balustrade	balustrade Series IBa Plate XXX 266 1854.JPG balustrade
balustrade Series IBa Plate XXX 266 1855.JPG balustrade

IBb 30

####No Reference found IBb, 30

III 50 1

Maitreya Series III Plate XXV 50 3130b.JPG Maitreya

####No Reference found III, 1

also announcements and proclamations are made with beating of drums, see O 1

####No Reference found O, 1

IBa 42

balustrade Series IBa Plate V 42 1617.JPG balustrade

IIB 53

Awad-Jatakas Series IIB Plate X 53a & 53b 3552b.JPG Awad-Jatakas	Awad-Jatakas Series IIB Plate X 53a & 53b 3552b.JPG Awad-Jatakas

A hammer shaped drumstick can be seen in use several times.

As accompaniment the music is used chiefly for the dance; everywhere dancing is depicted we find musicians, with the exception of the instance mentioned here above, the sword-dance on O 5

####No Reference found O, 5

; even the impromptue dance of the intoxicated persons on O 20

Series O Plate III 20 653b.JPG

takes place to an accompaniment of drum and monochord. O 39

Series O Plate V 39 696b.JPG

left, brings us again to the desa; two men stand blowing an instrument that consists of a gourd with three flat pipes fitted into it, evidently the mouth-organ still used in Borneo and elsewhere. A third man with the same kind of instrument has begun to dance; on the ground we see the cymbal (above-mentioned with the rods that terminate in a knob, as well as a globe-shaped object that has a semi-circular opening, which I am not able to identify. The mouth-organ appears again on O 53

Series O Plate VII 53 736a.JPG

with a flat lengthening piece sticking out under the musician's arson.

The music that accompanies some anew dancing on IBa 152

balustrade Series IBa Plate XVII 152 1733.JPG balustrade	balustrade Series IBa Plate XVII 152 1734.JPG balustrade

is very indistinct, only the drum and flute are distinguishable. In the same scene a wrestling-match is going on, the music maybe does for both, as we see on O 52

Series O Plate VII 52 733b.JPG

that drum and cymbals are being played at an acrobatic performance. I13

####No Reference found I, 13

b 89 deserves special attention; there is a dance going on, performed by men, to the sound of three instruments. One of these is the gambang so important in connection with the later gamelan, a wooden stand on legs with broad sounding staves on it,played with two sticks, the points of which are wound round 5); the second is a bell on a curved stand played on with a rod; the third, also beaten on with two sticks' that have thick ends, looks like two gongs one above tile other or perhaps one gong on a stand. In this way we have here before us the still very primitive gamelan; this relief giving data for the original form of the later Javanese orchestra may I think prove of real importance for the history of music in Java. A parallel to the gambang is probably to be found on another much later relief, i.e. on the pendapa-terrace of Panataran dated in A.D. 1375. At any rate this gamelan is not of much importance in the Barabudur-period and what the reliefs shew us about it, quite agrees with tile Chinese report at a somewhat later date, that the principal music instruments in Java were the (german) flute, drum and "wooden boards", by the last may be meant wooden cymbals or some other kind of instrument.

As far as we are able to judge there are no religious dances among them, they appear to be performed for the amusement of eminent persons. There is one relief strewing the game of backgammon, this is IBb 80

####No Reference found IBb, 80

; it is fully discussed in the description of that relief.