Did the Abhayagiri Mahayana monks help build the world famous Borobudur stupa?
It might be of some interest to the readers of the Sunday ISLAND newspaper that some anthropologists and archaeologists in several different countries are continuing their research on the ancient Hindu-Buddhist period in Central Java, Indonesia, including the probable relations which existed during the 8th to 10th centuries between the Old Mataram Kingdom in Central Java and Sri Lanka. Focus is on the role which Mahayana Buddhist monks from the ancient Abhayagiri Monastery near Anuradhapura may have played in the design and construction of the world famous Borobudur stupa in Central Java, which since several years is also included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Hopefully, some of the readers of the Sunday ISLAND newspaper are in a position to answer some of the questions posed or to provide other information relevant in this particular context. My American friend and colleague Jeffrey Sundberg, now back in the USA after a stay of several years in Central Java where he made intensiv
