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Lot Essay
In Java, Hinduism lost temporarily its influence to Buddhism during the late eighth and ninth centuries and was forced to more remote mountainous regions. Only from the mid-ninth century onwards it asserted once more its importance as is testified by for instance the famous Candi Lara Jonggrang. Worshipped was the Hindu trinity compromising Shiwa the destructor as well as the Creator, Wishnu the preserver of the world order and Brahma the progenitor of all that lives. They were worshiped as a group or individually.
The presented head once topped a large figure of Shiwa adorning most probably a wall of a Shaiwa candi as it seems that the present backside of the head is re-cut. This might indeed implicate that the complete figure was once part of a slab of stone placed at the outer wall of such a Shaiwa candi. Though slightly worn, it still can stylistically be placed towards the late ninth to early tenth centuries, just before the political and cultural power shifted to the east part of Java.
The presented head once topped a large figure of Shiwa adorning most probably a wall of a Shaiwa candi as it seems that the present backside of the head is re-cut. This might indeed implicate that the complete figure was once part of a slab of stone placed at the outer wall of such a Shaiwa candi. Though slightly worn, it still can stylistically be placed towards the late ninth to early tenth centuries, just before the political and cultural power shifted to the east part of Java.