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Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey
The togog that Michael has presented to us, and which has been tentatively identified as Agastya is causing me to think a little.
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Thanks for your comments. I haven't reflected so much on Agastya before on Java except that I have noticed that he in some temples seems to represent Bhatara Guru (= both Shiva and someone higher than Shiva).
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Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey
Firstly, nobody I know in Bali has identified this figure, when it appears as a hilt motif, as Agastya, it is usually identified as a priest ( pedanda), a generic identification, rather than a specific one.
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Actually I haven't noticed earlier, before Kai Wee asked about it, that Kerner so clearly identified this hilt as Agastya. Maybe an example of interpretating something out of the culture?
Or maybe he knows something more about this hilt that isn't in his book?
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Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey
Secondly the attributes of Agastya are the water jar and the trisula, so to see him with a bell and something else does not really fit.
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If it's a vajra it could maybe fit with Shiva as the vajra sometimes also represents Shiva (not only Indra). BUT Agastya traditionally holds the vessel with water in his left (!), not his right hand.
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Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey
Thirdly, in Jawa/Bali culture, Agastya has become Bhatara Guru, now, there is some confusion as to exactly who Bhatara Guru is in the Jawa/Bali pantheon. The mainstream of thought seems to equate him to Agastya, but others would have him as a form of Siwa. In some old texts, Bhatara Guru is used to refer to the Supreme Being, however, in Jawanese Siwaitic tradition Bhatara Guru was the first to introduce the people of Jawa to Siwa.
Bhatara Guru is usually depicted as a pot bellied man with a beard and a calm face.
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Santoso, in Sutasoma: A Study in Javanese Wajrayana, explains Bhatara Guru as both Shiva, but in a more mighty position than in India, as well as a pre-Hindu high god (who also was titled the Lord of the Mountain). Below Bhatara Guru are his sons Brahma, Vishnu and Ishwara. Ishwara is another name for Shiva. According to Santoso this son is closer to the Indian Shiva in power than Bhatara Guru.
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Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey
I feel that we need to question whether this figure that Michael has presented to us can be identified as Agastya or Bhatara Guru. I would feel more comfortable with giving just the generic identification that Balinese people usually give.
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Until we find out if Kerner has some additional reasons for naming it Agastya I agree. Both based on the ascetics vessel held in the wrong hand and I also miss the characteristic pot-belly and his dwarfish stature.
Michael
PS Someone who on Jawa however often is shown with a vajra, as well sharing temples with Shiva, is the Bodhisatva Akshobya.
Alan, how well known was/is he on Bali?
(Just another wild idea from someone outside the culture)
