Ganesha statue found in Magelang

YOGYAKARTA: A Ganesha statue was found recently in Mantingan hamlet, Magelang, Central Java, some 15 kilometers from the renowned Borobudur Temple.

The statue of Ganesha (the God of Knowledge), which is apparently much older than Borobudur itself, was unearthed by Rahmad Murdi, 54, a local resident when he was digging the foundations for a house.

When he was digging his mattock stuck a hard object, which turned out to be a statue of Ganesha, 80 centimeters in height and 100 centimeters in width.

"The mattock struck the statue after I had dug two meters deep," said Rahmad on Wednesday.

He and other residents unearthed the statue and reported it to the police.

Separately, an archaeologist from Gadjah Mada University, Dwi Prasetyo, said that the statue could be much older than Borobudur Temple as there was an ancient inscription that had been found near the place where the Ganesha statue was unearthed. The inscription, named Canggal, was written long before Borobudur was built, said Dwi. -- JP