Harihara stele
Interactive zoomable image (needs Flash)
Photographer: Isidore van Kinsbergen (1821 - 1905)
'Deification stele with figure of Harihara, in the Residency garden, Kediri, East Java, 1866-67'
The colonial authorities in the Dutch East Indies had first used photography to document the great Buddhist stupa of Borobudur in 1844, but this very early archaeological project proved abortive and few further initiatives were undertaken in the next two decades.
This view is one of the series of around 330 photographs of Javanese archaeological sites and antiquities, commissioned by the Batavian Society of Arts and taken by the theatrical promoter and photographer Isidore van Kinsbergen between 1863 and 1867.
Harihara is the name of a combined deity form of both Vishnu (Hari) and Shiva (Hara) from the Hindu tradition. Also known as Shankaranarayana, Harihara is thus worshipped by both Vaishnavites and Shaivities as a form of the Supreme God, as well as being a figure of worship for other Hindu traditions in general. Harihara is also sometimes used as a philosophical term to denote the unity of Vishnu and Shiva as different aspects of the same Supreme God.
Albumen print
From Isidore van Kinsbergen, Oudheden van Java (Batavia [Jakarta, c.1873]), plate 211
Your notes: tell us more about this item
Terms and conditions | Report a concern | What is this? | Add a noteMy note: