When in 1896 I was obliged to retire from practice, on account of sickness, I shortly after took up my residence at JogyÅkartÅ again in order to devote myself to the antiquarian and ethnological studies dear to me, and to which purpose I had to establish myself in the neighbourhood of the principal Hindu ruins in Java, that is, in the plain of Parambanan, and in the valley of PrÅgÅ whereas I could not rely on being assisted by the Dutch Government or whomsoever; I had grown too old under a system of Government who even refuse a professor septuagenarian to follow his profession.

As for the Indian antiquities however, there are still many things to be learned, not only because many a sculpture and symbolical ornament of building has not yet been explained or, so to say, insufficiently interpreted, but also because some of these images have been wrongly understood and expounded. I therefore thought it my duty to have my knowledge of them increased by a continued study of the antiquities themselves, and by consulting such writings as I could dispose of with my limited means.

I also would comply with other people’s wishes by giving a simple description of the most interesting ruin in the village of Mendut situated by the way-side to the BÅrÅbudur, and mention the small tyan?i Pawon lying in its neighbourhood.

And so I gathered all data for an up-to-date fifth edition in behalf of the continually increasing number of visitors who come to visit these incomparable temples, which, in spite of expensive but insufficient restoration, seem doomed to decay.

Having succeeded at last in finding a person from whose hand both the editor and myself express a wish to see a good English translation of this little book, I consequently completed and rewrote the former text (1906-1907.).