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30th January 2008, 04:22 PM
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Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 41
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Raksasa
Hi All,
I'm currently reading a picture book "Chinese Auspicious Pictures" and came across something interesting: "....Raksasa, a man-eating demon in ancient Indian lore. Converted from her evil ways by the Buddha himself, Raksasa vowed to be a kind-hearted deity and ensure the safety of women in child-birth and be the guardian of children. When the belief of Raksasa was introduced into China, this image merged with that of.....". There were Hindu and Buddhist influences in Indonesia in the past. So when we talk about Raksasa in the Indonesian context, are we talking about the man-eating demon, the kind-hearted deity or something different? I have 2 Raksasa hilts. One is smiling and looked like a good fellow. The other one, though stylized, seem to have an evil looking one carved at the back, which I found out only when I looked at it one night when the shadows "created" the eyes. Is that the reason why they carve 2 faces on some of these hilts? |
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