John Miksic
National University of Singapore

Nail of the World: mandalas and axes in ancient Java

Did “traditional” non-Western cities evolve as ceremonial or economic centers? Mandala concepts were influential in central Java’s temples, but there are no comparable temples in east Java.  East Java’s capital Trowulan may have been designed as an axis mundi.

Dr John N. Miksic is Associate Professor in the Southeast Asian Studies Programme, National University of Singapore. He is an archaeologist/historian/art historian who has lived in Southeast Asia since 1979. His interests include ancient cities, temples, sculpture, and ceramics. He teaches courses on cultural resource management in Southeast Asia, and the evolution of Southeast Asian civilizations. His current research includes a translation of a 17th-century Malay manuscript, the archaeology of ancient ports on the shores of the Straits of Melaka, and early cities in Indonesia, Cambodia, and Myanmar.