Sumeru was symbolically replicated throughout Hindu-Buddhist Southeast Asia. Hindu temples centered on shrines representing Sumeru, the axis of the universe, date from the seventh century in Java, and edifices with Buddhist architectural symbols based on Sumeru survive from the eighth century. The epitome of these is the great temple at Borobudur (ca. 800 A.D.). Borobudur and neighboring Hindu-Buddhist temples which chart the various states of existence, are the earliest surviving maps in Southeast Asia. The lower levels of Borobudur depict mundane matters and represent lesser states of spiritual awareness: as one rises to the upper levels the subjects become increasingly elevated and metaphysical, with the very top symbolizing the achievement of blissful enlightenment. Taken as a whole, the structure maps the oneness of the cosmos.
Similar motifs, though employing different media, are recorded in early Vietnam. By the late tenth century, about the time Vietnam regained independence from China after nearly a thousand years of vassalage, Vietnamese artists mapped cosmological beliefs by constructing a 'mountain' of bamboo in a river, and in the following century by building a brick edifice with adjoining ponds.48
In Cambodia, the magnificent temples at Angkor (early twelfth century) also constitute a cosmological map, charting both space and time. Modern researchers have discovered that the distance between elements of the temple, going east to west, corresponds to the number of years in the present− final− age of the earth, according to Hindu belief, measured in hat (1 hat= approximately 0.4 meters).49
Figure 14 is a Thai map of the cosmos, or cakkavala.50 The bell-shaped enclosure looking like a walled city contains the sixteen lower heavens which rise above Sumeru. Each of the sixteen heavens is represented by one row of stupas (dome-like mounds containing a shrine) in three groups of three stupas each. Two extra stupas are placed on the top left and right to complete a play on numbers: 16 x 3 = 48 stupas; 3 x 48 = 144 stupas; the extra four stupas brings the total to 148 stupas. Our mortal world lies at the bottom of the heavens. On the left and right are the mansions of the world guardians in the four directions, and in between is the mansion of Phraya Yom, god of the infernal or nether regions. To the left of the stupas is the moon, to the right is the sun, with the various stars of the cosmos sparkling overhead. The oval-shaped enclosure in the lower center is the residence of various naga (serpent) kings. The upper of the two lines of text on the bottom seems to explain that the three mountains which support Sumeru themselves rest on a diamond slab (the figures on either side of the naga residence may be two of these stones), and the diamond slab itself rests on a podium. Several of the fish which are said to swim about the immense ocean surrounding Sumeru are identified in the bottom line of text. A few of the kinds of lotus which purportedly grow in these ocean waters are named in the text near the moon.
Fig. 14 Thai map of the cosmos, or cakkavala. The walled enclosure contains the sixteen lower heavens which rise above Sumeru. The moon is to the left of the stupas, while the sun is on the right, with the various stars of the cosmos sparkling overhead. On the left and right are the mansions of the world guardians in the four cardinal directions, and in between is the mansion of Phraya Yom, god of the infernal or nether regions. The mortal world lies at the bottom of the heavens. Fish from the ocean surrounding Sumeru are identified in the bottom line of text, and lotus which purportedly grow in these ocean waters are named in the text near the moon. [National Library of Thailand]
When Buddha stepped back onto earth after achieving enlightenment, his feet made an imprint in the various places he stepped, the first and most venerated of these being the supposed imprint atop Adam's Peak in Ceylon. This not only added to the Southeast Asian veneration of mountains, since it was via Ceylon that Theravada Buddhism spread to Southeast Asia, beginning in the late twelfth to early thirteenth century, but also led to the use of Buddha's footprint itself as a cosmological framework. For a follower of the faith, the imprint of Buddha's footprint upon the earth is roughly comparable to symbolic significance of the crucifix for Christians. Just as the cross assumed a cosmographic significance in the iconography of medieval Europe, the image of Buddha's footprint sometimes served as the framework for maps of Creation in Southeast Asia. Known as Buddhapada, these depict the cosmos in a similar, though sometimes more elaborate, format as the map in figure 14.51
Fig. 15 World map, Antonio Saliba /de Jode, ca. 1600 (Jollain, 1681). (71 x 61.5 cm [map], 71 x 111 cm [with text])
Fig. 16 World map (detail), Antonio Saliba /de Jode, ca. 1600 (Jollain, 1681). Note the connection of Chiang Mai Lake with a reservoir deep within the earth, as well as the unusual focus on islands of the Western Pacific− Nadadores, Barbudos, dos Hermanas, Arecifes, Saprovechada (Desaprovechada), and others.
Western Parallels of Cosmographic Maps
Representations of a multi-dimensional universe, such as the temples that emulate Sumeru and its spectrum of states of existence, are a hallmark of Asian cartographic thought, but have analogies in the West as well. Homeric mythology speaks of the heights of Mount Olympus as the abode of the gods, a region of great tranquility, and this idea was perpetuated in medieval Europe by such authors as Pomponius Mela and Solin us. Cosmological renderings of the earth in the context of the elements and religious/celestial spheres reflected many Europeans' view of Creation. Had Dante known of Borobudur, he would have found its symbolism eminently natural-like Dante's Commedia, it uses a mountain to stratify good and evil, heaven and hell.
A map by Antonio Saliba is one example of a Western map depicting the earth in such a cosmographical context (see rendering by de Jode, figs. 40 & 41). The map, originally published in 1582, depicts an earth-centered universe in cross-section, with several concentric circles symbolizing various levels of creation. At the very center are the bowels of the earth, depicted as an inferno. The writhing agony of condemned souls and the glee of satanic demons make clear that this is the Judea-Christian Hell, analogous to the bottom level of Borobudur, not merely a geological feature. Moving out from this base level of the cosmos we reach the elements, mineral mines, and water sources of the earth, and then the earth's surface, in the form of a terrestrial map. Above the earth we ascend through the different levels of the sky, passing meteorological phenomenon, celestial bodies, and in the outermost ring, the fire of the sun.
The Portuguese poet Luis vaz de Camões, who himself spent many years sailing about the Indies, described a similar metaphysical geography in his epic poem, The Lusiads. In imagery that would be as readily understood at Borobudur as in Lisbon or Rome, Camões tells of Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese conqueror of the sea route to the Indies, being led by a nymph up a mountain to a "lofty mountain-top, in a meadow studded with emeralds and rubies that proclaimed to the eye it was no earthly ground they trod." On this fabulous mountain, which a Buddhist or Hindu could easily mistake for Sumeru, "they beheld, suspended in the air, a globe" which replicated the "the mighty fabric of creation, ethereal and elemental."
Next, in words that could equally well describe the symbolism of Borobudur's summit, the nymph explained that the highest sphere "rotates about the other lesser spheres within, and shines with a light so radiant as to blind men's eyes and their imperfect understanding as well." This highest level, where "the souls of the pure attain to that Supreme Good that is God himself, " seems interchangeable with the state of moksa in Hinduism and Jainism, and the Buddhist concept of Nirvana. Camões' nymph then described the various spheres below, which include the stars, sun, and planets. Beneath these, in the center, is situated "the abode of mankind", and below that lies the realm of Hecate, goddess of darkness. Thus in European metaphysical thought, as in Southeast Asia, the spatial coordinates 'high' and 'low' provided a metaphor for higher and lower states of existence which in turn were linked to the notion of good and evil.