Relief

The cheek walls of the stairs are decorated with several carved panels depicting various stories containing Buddhist teachings (reliefs of the Pañcatantra and Jataka stories). Pañcatantra is a work of world literature originating from Kashmir, India and written in the first centuries AD.

This Pañcatantra tells the story of a brahmin named Wisnusarma who taught three princes, sons of Prabu Amarasakti, about worldly wisdom and life, or more specifically called political science or statecraft. The science of his lessons consists of five books, which is why it is called Pañcatantra which literally means "five teachings". These five parts are five different aspects of the teachings of this brahmin. Bagian-bagian tersebut di dalam buku bahasa Sanskerta yang berjudulkan Tantrakhy?yika dan dianggap sebagai Pañcatantra yang tertua, adalah sebagai berikut:

1. Mitrabheda (Perbedaan Teman-Teman)
2. Mitrapr?pti (Datangnya Teman-Teman)
3. K?kol?k?ya (Peperangan dan Perdamaian)
4. Labdhan??a (Kehilangan Keberuntungan)
5. Apar?k?itak?ritwa (Tindakan yang Tergesa-Gesa )

The main characteristic of this Pañcatantra is that the story is told in the form of a frame story and contains many fables. This frame story is also called kath?mukha and the stories are all woven together into one with each other. After each story which is usually in prose, the moral of the story is summarized in the form of a verse. Many of the Pañcatantra fables are based on the Jataka stories.

The reliefs on Mendut Temple are stories in the form of moral teachings using animal characters as the characters. There are 31 panels containing story reliefs on the base of the temple, including reliefs of the stories "Brahmana and Crab", "Swan and Turtle", "Two Different Parrots" and "Dharmabuddhi and Dustabuddhi".

The Brahmana and Crab relief tells the story of a brahmana who saves a crab. The crab then returns the favor by saving the brahmana from being disturbed by crows and snakes.

The Swan and Turtle relief is about a turtle that is flown by two swans into a lake. However, the turtle feels offended by the swans' words. The turtle releases its bite so that it falls to the ground and dies.

Dharmabuddhi and Dustabuddhi tells the story of two friends who behave differently. Dustabuddhi has a despicable nature and likes to accuse Dharmabuddhi of committing despicable acts, but in the end his crimes are exposed and Dustabuddhi is sentenced. The last relief tells the story of the behavior of two parrots that are very different because one was raised by a brahmana and the other by a thief.

The reliefs on the body of Mendut Temple can be seen in pradaksina (walking clockwise), consisting of reliefs of the ranks of gods known as Garbhadatu Mandala from Tantrayana Buddhism, namely:

1. Boddhisattva Avalokiteswara
2. Boddhisattva Maitreya
3. Boddhisattva devi Cunda among Buddhist figures
4. Boddhisattva Ksitigarbha
5. Boddhisattva Samantabhadra
6. Boddhisattva Mahakarunika Avalokitesvara among Buddhist figures

In the front part of the entrance, there is a temple viewer. The temple viewer section has a story relief carving that is positioned exactly to the right and left of the entrance to the main room of the temple. The inner walls of the viewer's room are decorated with Kuwera or Avataka reliefs and Hariti reliefs. Kuwera relief is carved on the north wall, Hariti relief is carved on the south wall.

Statues

Inside the temple chamber there are three Buddha statues, namely the Cakyamuni statue sitting cross-legged while giving a sermon, the Avalokitesvara statue as a bodhisattva who helps humans, and the Maitreya statue as a Bodhisattva who will liberate humans in the future.

Stupa

Based on the reconstruction draft, the roof of the Mendut temple has 48 stupas, consisting of 24 on the first level, 16 on the second level, and 8 on the top. Until now, the roof of this temple is not completely perfect. There are also stupa shapes that extend upwards like cylinders. However, these stupas are still being reconstructed on the north side of the Mendut Temple and cannot yet be installed on the temple.

Jaladwara

In several places along the outer wall of the balustrade there are jaladwara or channels to drain water from the corridor. Jaladwara is found in most temples in Central Java and Yogyakarta. Jaladwara in Mendut Temple is slimmer and smaller compared to jaladwara in Borobudur Temple.