Photograph of GANESHA OF CANDI SINGASARI

MAAAT-QN-SNG-001OBJECT RECORD — GENERAL CATEGORY

GANESHA OF CANDI SINGASARI

The figure is seated frontally, legs folded (a posture akin to lalitāsana), set against an arch-shaped backslab (prabhā), likely fitted into a temple niche. Head, ears and tusk: Elephant head rendered in the round, with large flat ears close to the head and a visible tusk on one side; features consistent with the naturalistic rendering of the elephant typical of Javanese sculpture of the Singhasari-Majapahit period. Crown (karaṇḍa-mukuṭa): A headdress of several superimposed registers, decorated with a sequence of small carved skulls/faces — the same cranial motif that recurs on the throne — following the decorative scheme catalogued by Pott for the whole group of Javanese "demonic Ganeshas"

Origin
Candi Singasari, Singosari, Malang
Current repository
Museum Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta
Period
Late 13th century (Singhasari kingdom period, c. 1222-1292), plausibly datable to the reign of Kertanagara (r. 1268-1292)

No remote collection record is available.

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"Demonic Ganesha" / tantric Ganesha of Singasari; in Dutch colonial sources: «een vrouwe beeld met een oliphants slurff» ("a female figure with an elephant's trunk"), so described due to a gender error in N. Engelhard's 1802 travel diary

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11 pagesCreated Sep 7, 2026Last modified Sep 7, 2026

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