Bhima Relief In Wayang Style

Candi Sukuh

The subject of this relief is Bhima, a hero of the Mahabharata, posed opposite a pedestaled god within a horseshoe-shaped arch. The sides of the arch are formed by the exaggerated tails of two birds, whose heads and bodies appear below the relief. A kala-like ogre is placed at the top, between two more ogre faces at the tips of the birds' tails. The central figures are sculpted in wayang puppet style, and indeed resemble their leather-puppet counterparts in posture, costume, and sideways presentation. A triad of indistinct figures appears below, in the narrow neck of the arch; the upper figure of the triad supports a shrine or pavilion on his upraised hand, while the bottom two figures appear to pass something between them.