Indonesia: Prince Selarasa kneels before a holy man. Illustration in wayang (shadow puppet) style from the 'Serat Selarasa', Java, 1804

The Serat Selarasa is perhaps the earliest finely-illustrated Javanese manuscript extant. The manuscript is dated 1804, and according to a note in the text was once owned by the wife of a Dutch East India Company official in Surabaya.

In this image Prince Selarasa kneels before a holy man, Kiai Nur Sayid, who has stayed in one place for so long, neither eating nor drinking but smelling flowers and praying to God, that a vine has grown up around his body.

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Supplier: CPA Media Co. Ltd.

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Pictures From History