The Enigma of Bhairava and King Krtanagara at Pura Kebo Edan, Bali

Lesley S. Pullen

Kṛtanāgara (r. 1265–1292 CE), the last king of the Siṅhasāri dynasty, ruled an area around Malang in East Java. His reign saw a notable increase in demonic motifs appearing in East Javanese art. In 1284, Kṛtanāgara is reputed to have dispatched an expedition to Bali to establish an alliance with a local ruler. Discovered in 1952 at Pura Kĕbo Edan near Pejeng in Bali, a heavily damaged 3.6-meter-tall statue depicts a demonic dancing Bhairava, known locally as the ‘Bhīma of Kĕbo Edan’. In 1991 Bernet Kempers dated this statue to the 13th or 14th century, noting vividly that the penis is pierced with a peg held in place by a ring on each side of the realistic glands. This substantial sculpture shows links to a transgressive ‘charnel ground culture' and to the power ideology of state-protection tantric magic, common across Asia in the 13th century. The statue's pronounced phallic imagery is unusual in depictions of Bhairava. This paper suggests that overt symbols of sexuality embody an extreme form of tantrism, perhaps driven by political motives. In 2021 Acri proposed that the initiation of Kṛtanāgara into intense Buddhist and Śaiva Tantra currents may have reflected a defensive response to threats from the Yuan dynasty and Kublai Khan. This paper examines the iconography of this dancing Bhairava and its potential connection to Kṛtanāgara and other 13th-century Bhairava images and considers whether the Bhairava at Kĕbo Edan might represent a last effort by a desperate king to sustain his authority and establish a system of ‘magical defence’ around the islands of Java and Bali.