Hindu Image from Sarawak. 
By.J. C. Moumnon. 
Early in 1921 .a very interesting. discovery was made sat 
Limbang, Sarawak, by workmen removing the top of a hill near 
the Tbisiclonae They unearthed a small stone image, in remark- 
ably good preservation, of Ganesa, the elephant-headed god of 
Wisdom. Ganesa or Gananati, as one of the sons of Siva and 
Parvati, is one of the most revered gods of the Hindus. In the 
Hindu-Javanese religion he is Sang Ne ang Gana. He is the god of 
wisdom, the remover of obstacles. He is invoked at the beginning 
of a book and of important undertakings. He isa short fat figure, 
with protuberant belly, four hands, and the head of an elephant 
with only one tusk. In one hand he holds a shell, in another a 
discus, in the third a club or goad and in the fourth a water-lily. 
Sometimes he is depicted riding upon a rat or attended by one. 
His temples are numerous in the Dekhan. There are many legends 
accounting for his elephant head. * 
The Sarawak image (see Ulustration) shows the god sitting on 
the usual lotus cushion. The actual height of the image is 24 
inches and the rough stone block on which it rests 12 mmches. 
Mr. F. F. Boult, Resident of Limbang, sent it to the Sarawak 
Museum, Kuching. 
Prof. Dr. N. J. Krom of Leiden University, to whom I showed 
photographs, when he was on his way through Singapore, tells me 
that similar images were found on Gunong Kombeng in South-East 
Borneo some ten years ago.” They included a Ganesa, a Brahma 
and a Siva. He suggested that the Sarawak image was of more 
direct Hindu origin and therefore probably older (6th or 7th 
century) than these discovered in South-East Borneo, which were 
undoubtedly of Hindu origin. A lst of all the Hindu images dis- 
covered in Dutch Borneo will be found in the “ Encyclopaedie van 
Nederlandsch-Indie” (1919) vol. II], p. 198 under Oudheden. 
Sir John Marshall, Director-General of Archaeology in India, 
kindly gives me the followin g interesting note, from which it will 
be seen that he suggests a later date for this Sarawak image. 
“The image appears to be very similar to the ordinary type 
of Ganesa in India. The chief distinguishing features of the 
latter are (a) the elephant’s head, (b) three eyes, (c) four arms, 
the usual symbols in the hands being a bowl of sweets, a rosary, 
an arc and the detached tusk of Ganesa himself, (d) a corpulent 
belly, (e) and a snake doing duty as the sacred thread. In the 
Borneo image we have the same large belly, the elephant’s trunk 
and a snake for the yajnopavita. 
1. Vide J. Dowton ‘‘A. Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology.’ 
2. Oudheid Kundig Verslag 1914, p. 152. 
Jour. Straits Branch 
