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Monday 20 August 2012

Hindu influence in Indonesia

Do you remember the currency note worth of 20,000 rupiah printed on the state currency of indonesia?

The ganesh incribed currency note was only an example.Please find other influences of hindu in indonesia.


Ganesha as University's symbol

Ganesha is a symbol for one of the oldest and leading university in Indonesia.. check yourself at http://www.itb.ac.id




The statue of this stoned Ganesha is located in the front of ITB main gate.


Indonesian national carrier

 
The Indonesian national carrier is called GARUDA, a mythical bird from hinduism mythology and also known as vahana for Lord Vishu.






Wayang Golek



Wayang golek is a wodden doll puppets that are used for story telling originated from west java.In the 18th century this traditional story telling moved in to the mountains of West Java where it was eventually was used to tell the stories of the Ramayana and Mahabarata, the famous Hindu Epic.In India very few would be able to identify who Ghatotkach is. But very popular in Indonesia. Indonesian knows more about Ramayana and Mahabharata than Indian.

Krishna-Arjuna statue at Jakarta main square



In addition, the official mascot of Military Intelligence in Indonesia is Hanuman.(known as Anoman in indonesia).It certainly amazed and impressed me that Indonesia, the most populous muslim country in the world has so much of Hindu influence.No wonder the country  itself is named after india, indonesia!

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