纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 059婆罗浮屠佛陀头像（6）（在线收听）

The Raffles collection consists of the two heads and some fragments gathered at Borobudur, and a modest number of ancient Hindu and Islamic works of art. But, in addition, he collected objects that for him summed up the Javanese culture of his own day - indeed in a later programme I'll be talking about some of his shadow puppets, the star attractions of popular theatre. This was a very particular kind of collecting: Raffles hoped that the objects themselves would plead the cause of this Indonesian civilisation, and would make it clear that the culture of Java was part of a greater South Asian cultural tradition.

Back in the British Museum, I'm standing in the section of the East Asia Gallery devoted to Java, with one of the fallen stone heads of the Buddha that Raffles found in the ruins at Borobudur. It's slightly larger than life-size and it shows the Buddha, with his eyes lowered, in a state of peaceful inner contemplation. His mouth has the classic serene half-smile, his hair is tightly curled, and we're reminded of his life as a prince - before he became enlightened - by the elongated earlobes, intended to suggest long years of wearing heavy gold earrings. Looking at this head, I'm immediately reminded of the first human images of the Buddha made about five hundred years earlier, in north-western India, which I talked about in an earlier programme. Raffles of course knew India very well, and it was immediately clear to him that the statues of Borobudur - and indeed much of Javanese culture - owed a great deal to long and sustained contacts with India.