Indonesian beliefs: gods and ancestors
Among the arts of Indonesia, stone and wood carving are perhaps the most celebrated, whether in Java, Bali and Sumatra or in the more remote islands of the archipelago. Carved anthropomorphic figures, male and female, have played a key part in many Indonesian cultures, guarding the entrances of villages and tombs, standing within ancestral houses, mainly in small village societies where tracing the ancestral line has played an important role in establishing rank and family identity, as the tau-tau figures from the Toraja highlands of Sulawesi.
The kingdoms which developed on the main islands of the archipelago from around the 8th century onwards produced a great number of religious sculptures both Hindu and Buddhist. Bronze religious images were initially imported from India, since the early millennium, but by the late 8th century, stone sculptures of high quality, inspired in these models were produced in Central Java. These sculptures gradually began to depart from their initial prototypes, adopting a local aesthetic.
The spread of Islam and Christianity have largely replaced ancient traditions, and few now follow the old ancestral beliefs. However, master carvers still thrive in Indonesia in communities where statues continue to play a role in traditional religious practice.
