Deals with examples of Buddhist and Sivaite dvarapalas or temple-guardians from mainland Southeast Asia, compared to examples from Indonesia which are still in situ, that is to say on their original location, within the architectural layout of Buddhist and Sivsite sanctuaries.

The mention of Buddhism in Indonesia calls to mind for many people the Central Javanese monument of Borobudur, one of the largest Buddhist monuments in the world and the subject of extensive scholarly scrutiny. The neglect of scholarship on Buddhist art from later periods might lead one to assume that after the tenth century Buddhism had been completely eclipsed by the predominantly Hindu Eastern Javanese dynasties. Yet, as the works discussed here illustrate, extraordinary Buddhist images were still being produced as late as the fourteenth century. Violence and Serenity offers a close examination of some of the impressive works from East Java and Sumatra and explores their political and religious roles. The number of clearly identifiable Buddhist works from the Singasari and Majapahit dynasties (1222–ca. 1520) is limited, yet existing examples are impressive. They demonstrate a remarkable level of craftsmanship and are exceptionally expressive, exhibiting a range of emotions from the ferocious to the serene. Following a brief discussion of the early history of Buddhism in Indonesia, Natasha Reichle focuses each chapter on a specific statue or group of statues and considers the larger issues evoked by the images. Through a rarely examined depiction of the last Singasari king, she explores the nature of religion in Java in the late thirteenth century and what we know about tantric practices and the syncretism of Hinduism and Buddhism. She reassesses the question of portraiture in ancient Javanese art while contemplating the famous Prajñāpāramitā from Singasari. Notions of kingship are discussed in light of a number of statues depicting the Buddhist deity Amoghapāśa and his attendants and the meanings of the Amoghapāśa maṇḍala. The final chapter examines the origins and significance of one of Indonesia’s most spectacular sculptures, a four-meter-high Buddhist bhairava (demon) discovered in West Sumatra.

The Central Thesis Of This Book Maintains That The Need To Preserve Pluralism In Indonesia, And The High Price Paid By Its People Anytime Pluralism Had Been Trampled Upon In The Past, Are The Two Essential Aspects Of Their Historical Experience. This Thesis Is Particularly Relevant For The People Of Indonesia Today As They Are Grappling With The Problems Of National Unity And Transition To A Modem Pluralistic Democracy. Two Parts Of This Book Articulate This Thesis. Part I Explains The Origin Of The Hindu-Buddhist Dualism During The Srivijaya And Sailendra Periods In The Viii- Ix Centuries Ad. The Process Of Javanization Then Extended This Dualism By Incorporating Into The New Synthesis The Indigenous Ancestral And The Rsi Cults During The Majapahit Period, Particularly Under King Wuruki'Ls Rule From 1350 To 1389. This New Pluralism Was Further Extended By Absorbing Elements Of The Kalang/Palang Culture And The Bhima Cult, Culminating In The Grand Synthesis Of The Core Values Of The Hindu-Javanese Culture As Expressed By The Iconography Of Candi Sukuh Erected In 1437. Two Factors Are Identified As Contributing To The Decline And Then Demise Of Majapahit In 1527. First, Attempts By China To Build Its Own System Of Dependencies In Southeast Asia By Detaching From Majapahit Its Overseas Territories, And Then Its Intervention In The Dynastic Rivalries In Java During The Paregreg Civil War From 1400 To 1406. Second, The Penetration Of Islam From The Coastal Areas Of Majapahit Into Its Heartland, And The Gradual Establishment Of Its Hegemony Over The Core Values Of The Hindu-Javanese Civilization. Part Ii Of The Book Explores The Interaction Of Islam With The Deeply Rooted Substratum Of The Hindu-Javanese Values, And Then The Absorption Of Islam Into A New Synthesis And A Higher Form Of Pluralism Forged During The Long Process Of The Islamization Of Java And The Javanization Of Islam. This New Pluralism Was Further Enriched By Incorporating Various Strands Of Christianity During The Colonial Period. In Its Fmal Form This Pluralism Provided The Social Cohesion And The National Ethos And Consciousness Which Propelled Indonesia Towards Its Statehood And Independence In 1945, Leading To The Establish- Ment Of A Secular State To Accommodate The Imperatives Of This Higher Pluralism Under The State Doctrine Of The Pancasila. The Book Then Surveys The Post-Independence Period To Show How This Pluralism Fared Under The Successive Regimes Of Sukamo, Suharto, Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid, And How It Fares Under Megawati Sukamoputri Today. The Survey Con- Cludes On A Sobering Note That Most Of The Problems Experi- Enced By These Regimes Had Their Roots In The Violation Of The Pluralistic Nature Of The Indonesian Society. In This Context There Is Little Doubt That The Continued Attempts Of Some Islamic Groups, Mostly Incited From Abroad, To Wage A Jihad For The Replacement Of The Existing Secular State By An Islamic One, Would Plunge The Country Into A Civil War Of The Paregreg Type. These Attempts Might Not Succeed Given The Rnilitaryns Staunch Commitment To The Pancasila And The Secular State. However The Cost Of Thwarting Them Would Be Very High.

Two prehistoric cave sites on the Bird's Head of western New Guinea provide a detailed narrative of 26,000 years of human occupation of this area. During Late Pleistocene times, lower temperatures allowed a suite of montane animal species to descend onto the lowland Ayamaru Plateau. When the montane fauna receded during the subsequent climatic amelioration, people switched their hunting focus to a forest wallaby, known locally as Djief. Detailed analysis of this species' remains, including the reconstruction of their age profile, provides insights into why prolonged hunting of this species did not lead to its extinction. The wallaby population evidently thrived at its demographic maximum throughout the early and mid-Holocene, suggesting that human population densities, and therefore hunting pressure, were low until c. 5000 BP. This volume of Modern Quaternary Research in Southeast Asia offers a unique perspective on sustainable hunting in prehistory and provides intriguing insights into hunter-gatherer subsistence, tool manufacturing and use, the changing intensity of occupation of the sites, and environmental exploitation from Late Pleistocene times onwards in a lowland tropical region. It forms an important contribution to the current debate on the possibilities of human occupation of tropical rainforest before the advent of agriculture.

Everyone knows Singapore as the Lion City and the story behind of a Palembang prince, Sang Nila Utama, sighting a lion on this island that was first published 200 years ago in John Leyden's translation of the Malay classic Sejarah Melayu. But few people have actually read the Sejarah Melayu to realise the fairytale-like claims of Singapore's supposed medieval founder as a descendant of Alexander the Great, and the son of an Indian king who tried to conquer China and a princess from underwater; or that the creature he purportedly saw was not described as a lion, but a chimera with a red body, black head, white breast, and was a little larger than a he-goat. And barely anyone remembers the days when respectable residents of Singapore scoffed at suggestions that Singapore's name has anything to do with the Felis Leo. Decoding Sejarah Melayu daringly challenges the assumption that the Sejarah Melayu records Singapore's pre-modern past, which has been held since Sir Stamford Raffles arrived in 1819 and declared himself at the "ancient Capital of the Malay kings". It seeks to grasp what is the Sejarah Melayu and how its accounts of Singapore as Temasek and Singapura were written, critically re-examines key historical text such as the Malay epic Hikayat Hang Tuah, Tomé Pires' Suma Oriental and 14th century Chinese travelogue Daoyi Zhilue, and makes an expansive study into other sources in Malay, Javanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Siamese, Arabic, Portuguese, Dutch, French, and the English language to discover clues to ancient Singapore's long hidden past. This is a book that will profoundly change understandings of Singapore's history and identity.

"Literatur-overzicht" issued with v. 95.

TheBibliography of Southeast Asia: A Decade of Selected Social Science Publications in the English Language 1990 - 2000 comprises 6,521 entries of published works. The selection broadly represents the documentation of the political, economic, and social and cultural processes of one of the most interesting eras of the previous millennium.