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Rare Garuda statue unearthed in ancient East Java hot spring
All the items found were made with precision, resulting in smoothly carved statues, which indicates that the hot spring was once used by royals.
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The 80-centimeter-tall Garuda statue was found relatively intact and stuck to the walls of a hot spring that was being excavated by a BPCB Trowulan archaeology team. (JP/Asip Hasani)
A
rare jaladwara (waterway segment) made of stone that resembles a Garuda and believed to date back to before the Majapahit era was found during an excavation of the ancient petirtaan (hot spring) in Sumberbeji village, Ngoro district, Jombang regency, East Java.
Discovered by the Trowulan Cultural Heritage Preservation Agency (BPCB) in East Java, the 80-centimeter-tall Garuda statue was found relatively intact and stuck to the walls of a hot spring that was being excavated by a BPCB Trowulan archaeology team for a period of 10 days since Sept. 9.
"This is the only ancient hot spring that has a Garuda statue as its jaladwara," Wicaksono Dwi Nugroho, archaeologist and head of the excavation team, told The Jakarta Post on Sept. 18.
The Garuda statue depicts a scene of Garuda stepping on a dragon while one of its hands is gripping the dragon's tail. Based on the scene, the statue is said to represent Garuda in the Hindunese story of Garudeya, which follows the struggle faced by Garuda to obtain holy water in order to release its mother from slavery.
According to Wicaksono, East Java has four other holy springs that appear quite similar to the one in Sumberbeji, namely Petirtaan Dewi Sri in Magetan, a hot spring in Ponorogo, the in Tikus Temple complex in Mojokerto and Petirtaan Watugede in Malang. However, none of the four have a Garuda statue as a jaladwara.
A jaladwara statue that resembles a Garuda was previously been found in East Java, particularly in Gedek village in Mojokerto, and is currently part of a collection belonging to the Dutch government.
"However, Gedek doesn’t have a temple or hot spring. What's made this [newly found] Garuda statue even special is that it was still stuck to its original spot, which is the hot spring walls," Wicaksono added.
