Mythology of Indonesia

The mythology of Indonesia is very diverse. The Indonesian people consist of hundreds of ethnic groups, each with their own myths and legends that explain the origin of their people, the tales of their ancestors and the demons or deities in their belief systems. The tendency to syncretize by overlying older traditions with newer foreign ideas has occurred. For example, the older ancestral mythology might be merged with imported mythology, such as Hindu, Islamic, or Christian biblical mythology.

Foreign influences

Some native Indonesian ethnic groups that were isolated from the rest of the world until recent centuries have their own native myths and gods. These native mythologies are relatively free from foreign influences, such as Pamonas, Torajans, Nias, Bataks, Dayaks, Moluccans, and Papuans. By contrast, Javanese, Balinese, and Sundanese were influenced by Hindu-Buddhist Indian mythology as early as the 1st century CE. Hindu gods, legends and epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata were adopted and adapted into a uniquely local form.

Many Hindu-Buddhist mythical beings have a role in Sundanese, Javanese, and Balinese mythology, including of Hindu gods and heroes, devatas, asuras, apsaras (known as hapsari or bidadari), kinnaras, etc., while native gods of nature such as Semar, Dewi Sri, and Nyai Roro Kidul are either given identified as their Hindu counterpart or incorporated into a Java-Bali Hindu pantheon unknown in India. For example, native rice goddess Dewi Sri is identified with Lakshmi the shakti of Vishnu, and Semar and his sons the Punakawans are incorporated into the epic of Mahabharata in Javanese wayang kulit, as the clown servants of the Pandawas. Several names refer to gods, such as dewa (devas), dewi (devi), dewata (devatas), and in native traditions usually referred to as Batara (male god) and Batari (female goddess).