Image: Prajnaparamita Java Front

Description: Bodhisattvadevi (female bodhisattva) Prajnaparamita; the buddhist goddess of transcendental wisdom, personified in a statue from 13th century Singhasari East Javanese art. The statue was discovered in Cungkup Putri ruins near Singhasari temple, Singhasari, East Java. According to local beliefs, the statue was made in Ken Dedes likeness. Probably served as her mortuary deified statue. The Prajnaparamita was first seen in 1818 or 1819 by the Dutch colonial official D. Monnereau. In 1820 Monnereau gave the statue to C.G.C. Reinwardt, who took it to Holland where it eventually came to be deposited in the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde in Leiden. Prajnaparamita is a goddess of high standing in Mahayana tantric Buddhism; she is considered the sakti, or consort, of the highest Buddha (in the Buddhist pantheon known as vajradhara), she symbolizes perfect knowledge. As with many statues from East Java, this one is thought to be the “portrait statue” of Rajapatni Gayatri queen, the wife of King Kertarajasa (the first King of Majapahit Kingdom), grandmother of Hayam Wuruk. In January 1978 the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde (National Museum of Ethnology) returned the statue to Indonesia, where it was placed in the Museum Nasional Indonesia. Today the statue is displayed in the second floor of National Museum of Indonesia, Jakarta.
Title: Prajnaparamita Java Front
Credit: Own work
Author: Gunawan Kartapranata
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Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
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