Violence and Serenity: Late Buddhist Sculpture from Indonesia

devotion and mentions Mahāks ˙ obhya possibly implies that the king, through
his own spiritual powers, was able to unite with the deity.
Kr ˙ tanagara’s choice of a statue of a figure made “in conformity with
Mahāks ˙ obhya” does not obviate the possibility that he was involved in a Hevajra
or Guhyasamāja cult (as suggested by Nihom and Chandra), as both
wrathful deities are emanations of Aks ˙ obhya. Aks ˙ obhya was an important
deity in the archipelago during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Other images associated with the cosmic Buddha have been found, including
a statue of Heruka from Padang Lawas, two images of a bhairava with
Aks ˙ obhya in his headdress from Sumatra and East Java, and a colossal image
of the buddha from East Java (see chapters 5 and 6).
If the Joko Dolok statue is an image of Kr ˙ tanagara unified with Aks ˙ obhya,
it would represent a unique case of a ruler’s apotheosis during his lifetime.
It is ironic that the ruler most known for his involvement in the heterodox
rites of esoteric Buddhism has left us such a benign statue. Demonic imagery
related to esoteric practices has been found in Java and Sumatra, but none can
be directly linked to Kr ˙ tanagara. What were the tantric practices during the
late Singasari and Majapahit dynasties? By examining the evidence concerning
these tantric practices we can begin to understand both Kr ˙ tanagara’s Joko
Dolok and the other late Buddhist art of Indonesia.
Tantric Practices in Indonesia
While it might first appear that esoteric practices emerged in full bloom in
East Java during the late thirteenth century, there is actually much earlier evidence
of such worship from the Ratu Boko Plateau in Central Java. A Sanskrit
inscription from the middle of the ninth century contains some of the earliest
indications of Javanese tantric practices. The inscription is full of double
entendres that allude to both the terrifying form of Śiva and an ascetic king
in meditation. It reads:
Thou who art wrapped in a (tiger) skin [or: dressed in tree bark], bearing
the blood-stained crowns of innumerable kings as a wreath while Thy neck
arms and legs are adorned with the king of the hooded ones [or, distinguished
by Patanjali], dancing at the abode of the Fathers and carrying
away a corpse (?) — glory to the ten quarters.28
J. G. de Casparis reads the inscription as being both addressed to Śiva and
“also a homage to the king practicing austerities on the cemetery grounds.”29
Scattered artifacts, such as a bronze skullcap believed to date from between
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