| Abstract: |
More than fifty megalithic statues were discovered by Brumund in 1840 and Wilsen in 1855 in West Java. They belong to an unknown iconographical Indonesian type which he called "Pajajaran type". All of them shared an Hindo-Buddhist origin and were narrowly bound with ancient Sundanese history and the famous Pakuan Pajajaran kingdom. These statuettes have never been the subject of research in the past, with the exception of those set out by Groeneveldt (1887) who introduced the term "Polynesian style" and after him Krom, and Rumbi Mulia (1977). The statues were removed from their original sites. We know now that, as religious pre-Islamic survivals, they are still the subject of an important cult in megalithic sacred sites where bronze axes are often present among other funeral furniture. All can be dated to the Classical period, with some 16th-17th century items. The oldest ones are made of stone, the youngest of bronze, brass, silver or ivory. Their dating by comparative study is based on archaeological surveys and interpretation of Sundanese and Javanese manuscripts and oral tradition. Considered as the latest signs of pre-Hindu-Buddhist cults, megalithic-Buddhist statues are the missing link for the dating of megalithic sites up to modern Islamic times.
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