UC Berkeley

This dissertation examines a significant subset of the premodern miniature Buddhist reliquaries—stūpika—found in Java, Indonesia to contribute granularity to our understanding 9th-11th century Javanese life. Methodologically, this project explores the productivity of leveraging an ecocritical lens to gain clarity around obscured histories. This approach, in our case, adds significant texture to our understanding of sites of manufacturing, cultural priorities and social power relations during a time of significant local change and across the flows of Monsoon Asia. Specifically, by examining stūpika from a variety of angles—as objects of space, of text, of iconography, of metal molds and of clay— this project allows stūpika to sketch their own ecology of meaning. This dissertation reads that stūpikaic space as a landscaped representation of the materialities impacting their creation. In doing so, this dissertation paints a picture of Java in which sites of metal and clay production were highly specialized but collaborative centers of tinkering. Further, this project highlights local, contemporary perspectives on Buddhism, architecture, iconography and gender roles. Together, stūpika reflect for our view all the complexities of this process of change at the hands of the many.