Indonesia's best-known face of Gajah Mada may come from a piggy bank
In the 1940s the writer Mohammad Yamin picked up a terracotta coin bank at the old Majapahit capital, decided its chubby, curly-haired face belonged to the great general Gajah Mada, and had it painted for his book cover. Critics object that such a hero would never appear on a money box.
Gajah Mada lived roughly from 1290 to 1364 and served as mahapatih, a kind of chief minister, as well as a leading general of the Javanese Majapahit Empire. He is remembered for uniting the islands of the Nusantara archipelago and bringing the empire to its height. Legend says he swore the Sumpah Palapa, an oath to deny himself rest until the unification was done. Old Javanese poems, manuscripts and inscriptions praise him, and what we know of his career comes mainly from the Pararaton, or Book of Kings, the Nagarakretagama eulogy, and a mid-14th-century inscription.
His era saw the Ramayana and Mahabharata sink deep into Javanese culture through wayang kulit, the leather shadow-puppet theatre. Modern Indonesia treats him as a national hero and an emblem of patriotism and unity, which is partly why his appearance matters so much.
Much of today's popular image traces to Yamin's 1945 book about him, whose cover painting by Henk Ngantung was based on the Trowulan terracotta. Detractors note that leaders of the Hindu-Buddhist period were honoured with statues, so a piggy bank portrait feels insulting, and some joke that the face looks rather like Yamin's. Archaeologist Agus Aris Munandar of the University of Indonesia offers another route: Gajah Mada was first represented as Brajanata from the Panji tales and later, from around the mid-15th century, as Bima from the Mahabharata, with a sturdy build, a horizontal moustache and curly hair. The shift moved his image from earthly hero towards something sacred, Bima being linked with Shiva.
Everyday depictions show him bare-chested in a sarong with a kris dagger. A Sundanese account in the kidung Sundayana describes a grander official look: a gold-embossed breastplate, a gilded spear and a diamond-studded shield. Even his name carries imagery. Gajah means elephant, a mount of the god Indra, while mada in old Javanese means drunk, evoking an elephant charging through every obstacle.
Source: Gajah Mada
