The early Javanese society can be found in Borobudur temple’s panels which tell us how Javanese lived and what we created through the centuries, then the Hindu - Buddhist community and cultures changed into Muslim’s. The civilization moved to the eastern of Java island and Bali island where nowadays (Bali) becomes the majority of Hindu community, while few others live in the part of East Java like Tenggerese.According to historian, they moved to east because of the natural destruction (Merapi volcano’s eruption) in the late of 1000 AD and the civil war conflict between the two Kingdoms who ruled by two clans / families of SANJAYA (Hindu) and SYAILENDRA (Buddhist). Ethnically, Java island comprises into five regional cultures; Betawi (part of West Java), Sundanese (dominantly West Java), Javanese ( dominantly area of central and east Java), Tenggerese (small part of east Java) and Madurese (a small island lying to the northeast of Java island). The nearby islands of Sumatra and Borneo, by contrast, have far fewer people but a much broader spectrum of ethnic groups.
A million blocks of volcanic rocks which is cut and carved with great artistry demonstrates that Javanese society in AD 800 produced enough surplus food and labor to support a great deal of activity which did not produce direct economic benefits. The Javanese must have had abundant manpower to haul the stones, skilled craftsmen to carve them, and well-organized institutions to coordinate such an ambitious and complex project.
There are no traces of ancient places or even cities have been found in central Java, leading historian to believe that the Javanese lived in villages of approximately equal size, and that most of the inhabitants made their living as farmers. Borobudur provides hundreds of examples of architectures, boats, farming practices, clothing, jewelry, dancing and other local art creations.
In order to follow the complete narrative sequence of the reliefs / panels from beginning to end, the pilgrim or visitors have to make ten circuits of the monument- four times around the first gallery and twice around each of the next three galleries. It is probably not a coincidence that the number ten equals the number of stages in the career of a bodhisatva, one who has attained enlightenment.
Today, Java is the most density populated among other islands in Indonesia and become the main heart of Indonesia where people and infrastructures considered to be the most complete rather than the other islands in Indonesia.
