I have recently returned from Borobudur where I went principally to get a new set of photographs for the third in a series of books describing the narrative panels on the monument. (For the first see Lalitavistara; for the second see Gaṇḍavyūha).
I had already taken two sets of photographs of these reliefs, which were published many years ago, with a commentary by the great French art historian A. Foucher. However, I was not satisfied either with the photographs or the text, and have now taken much better photographs, and written a new text for the book.
These books will be mainly distributed in Indonesia and so it is presently being translated into Bahasa Indonesian by Ms. Fu Yin, who has worked with me before on these books. We hope to see the new book out by the end of the year, or early next year.
Most of the material for the books is already online, and consists on photographs of two walls: the lower register on the inner wall at Level 1, under the Lalitavistara panels, and comprising the same number of 120 photographs; and the Jātaka and Avadāna stories told on Level 2, Balustrade (138 photographs).
As the book in many ways overlaps with the Jātaka stories told on the Balustrade at Level 1, I have also completed and published online those photographs, and they will furnish the material for the fourth of the series. They can be seen here: Level 1, Balustrade, Top; and Level 1, Balustrade, Bottom.
