Javanese Iconography of Gaṇeśa
Java may have been known to the Hindus, nevertheless, at a very early date, for the Sanskrit name ‘Yava-dvīpa’, found in the ancient texts of the Rāmāyaṇa, refers, it is believed, to the ‘island of Java’ as one of the places they might look for Sita after her abduction.
Hinduism and its culture infiltrated the kingdoms of Java and Sumatra between the ninth and thirteenth centuries through Hindu traders and settlers, and art and iconography developed in the context of the indigenous traditions intermingling with the technique of Hindu and Hinduized artisans in the Sumatran and Javanese kingdoms.
In this setting of Hinduisation and the predominance of Śaiva religion and thought, is not surprising that statues of Gaṇeśa, son of Śiva, should be met with in great numbers throughout the Malay Archipelago (which includes Java). There is, however, no evidence of an ancient Gaṇeśa cult, and no temples seem to have been dedicated to him alone; but his images are sometimes to be found, as in the rock-cut temples of India, in a niche beside the Śiva sanctuaries.
Gaṇeśa is often found in niches near a Śiva sanctuaries and met with as a rule in isolated spots, reflecting that Gaṇeśa was revered by travellers in Java as ‘Remover of Obstacles’ while on their perilous voyages ; and this seems to be ‘proved by the fact that his images have been found in places of danger such as steep slopes, river crossings. This is similar to in south India, where it has been seen that along the highroads, and particularly where two roads crossed, there was invariably an image of Gaṇeśa or a svayambhu symbolizing him, and the traveller, by making a humble offering, might thus become immune from all danger. In Kashmir his svayambhu-mūrtis are sometimes placed in river beds.
The traditional form of Gaṇeśa takes a peculiarly “Javanese twist” with the macabre Candi Singhasari image. The ramassé type elephant-headed deity sits in the pose of royal ease or mahārājalīla upon a throne of human skulls. Unlike the other images of Gaṇeśa in Java, the soles of the feet do not touch and the right knee is raised. His mammoth head sinks between his shoulders and bears a crown or mukuṭa which is bedecked with skull ornaments. He has four arms and is richly adorned with anklets and bracelets. A sacred thread or upavīta, in the form of a snake, writhes about his ample girth and skull earrings dangle on either side of his trunk. Gaṇeśa’s trunk coils to the left and rests on a skull bowl which he holds in his lower left hand, while he carries upright meditation beads in his upper left hand. With ease he balances another skull bowl in his lower right hand and raises an axe in the upper right one. He has four arms and holds the usual implements. A striking feature of the Singasari image is the skull ornaments on the karaṇḍa-mukuṭa and the earrings.
The use of the skull ornaments on the representations of Gaṇeśa is a purely Javanese conception and is practically never met with outside of the Malay Archipelago. Śiva when manifested as Bhairava, wears a garland of skulls as well as skulls in his jaṭā-mukuṭa. In a country where this form of Śiva was popular, it should not be surprising to find the skull ornaments used for his son. In fact, one may even find in the jaṭā-mukuṭa worn by Gaṇeśa, and underneath a skull ornament, the crescent. moon of Siva; and an interesting Śaiva form of Gaṇeśa was found near Ngadirejo, in a temple dedicated to Śiva and Pārvati, where he is represented holding a small statue of Nandi, Śiva’s vāhana.
The skull ornamentation of the Candi Singhasari Gaṇeśa deserves special comment, for, as Alice Getty has remarked, “the use of the skull ornaments on the representations of Gaṇeśa is a purely Javanese conception and is practically never met with outside of the Malay Archipelago.” One possible explanation for the macabre Gaṇeśa is that Krtanagara “in His somewhat old age . . . held to the esoteric (sense) of all kriyas (rites)” among which the Nagarakṛtāgama specifically mentions the Gaṇacakra and Prayogakriya.
Though the practice of esoteric rituals feasibly explains the demonic form of Gaṇeśa, it does not clarify why the skull-bedecked Gaṇeśa appears almost exclusively within the Malay Archipelago. How is this possible when the rituals themselves originated else where? One possibility is that the remote location of East Java provided a fertile ground for the development of an unorthodox cult, in which Indian religious practices were adopted and then transformed to strengthen indigenous needs and beliefs. Some support for this hypothesis can be drawn from the overlapping symbolism of the Gaṇeśa birth story and ritual head-hunting practices in parts of Southeast Asia.
The Purāṇas explain that Pārvati created Gaṇeśa out of scrubbings from her body and formed the impurities into the figure of a boy to whom she gave life by sprinkling him with the water of the Ganges. Then Pārvati placed her first-born son outside her room to guard against intrusions. One day while Pārvati was bathing, Śiva demanded entrance, and a fight ensued in which Śiva cut off Gaṇeśa’s head. Pārvati was so enraged that she threatened to destroy the universe unless Śiva restored her son. Śiva commanded his host of deities to bring the head of the first living creature that they encountered, which happened to be an elephant. He then affixed it to the headless trunk and resuscitated Gaṇeśa. The Gaṇeśa birth story affirms the importance of “the taking or borrowing of a head” to restore cosmic order and bears comparison with the direct association between the taking of heads and the general well being of the village in some tribal areas of Southeast Asia.
Not only the skull ornamentation of the Gaṇeśa but also the deity’s place in the viewing order at Candi Singhasari suggest that indigenous religious practices transformed Hindu traditions. At Candi Singhasari Gaṇeśa has relinquished his primary position as bestower of success and wisdom, for he originally resided in the eastern cella between the formidable images of Agastya and Durga. Robert Brown has observed that, “[t]his is precisely the arrangement found in Javanese temples during the central Javanese period as well, so the Tantric nature of the eastern Javanese Gaṇeśa did not change his iconographic placement in the temples.”
The Candi Singhasari images affirm the dynamics of thirteenth-century East Java which served as a highly selective sieve through which Hinduism flowed. In the process of acculturation, Hindu deities underwent modification and even remoulding, in which Śaivite iconography and symbolism served to empower indigenous beliefs. The figures of Agastya, Gaṇeśa, and Durga take on the attributes of the Singhasari royal family.
References:
- Dowling, Nancy. “The Javanization of Indian Art.” Indonesia 54 (1992): 117–138.
2. R. Downs Head-hunting in Indonesia. In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 111 (1955), no: 1, Leiden, 40–70
3. Getty, Alice, and Alfred Foucher. “Ganeśa: a monograph on the elephant-faced God.” (1936).
__________________________________________
If you find value in my work, I hope you consider becoming a patron or making a contribution via UPI to hindu.aesthetic@okicici. Hindu Aesthetic requires a lot of time and effort and your support would mean that I can continue bringing you the best possible content. ❤
