Every myth carries a truth older than the civilization that told it.
Showing 11–20 of 733
The Buto Ijo (“Green Giant”), a fearsome ogre-giant of Javanese folklore — a huge, green-skinned, fanged, man-eating giant who menaces folktales like
The Wewe Gombel, a ghost of Javanese folklore — a frightening female spirit with long pendulous breasts who snatches and hides away neglected or abused
Nyai Roro Kidul (Kanjeng Ratu Kidul), the powerful Queen of the Southern Sea in Javanese mythology — the beautiful spirit-queen who rules the Indian Ocean
Semar (Kyai Lurah Semar), the beloved clown-god of Javanese mythology and the wayang — an indigenous deity in the humble form of a fat, ugly clown-servant
Nyi Pohaci (Nyai Pohaci Sanghyang Asri), the Sundanese rice-goddess — the same beloved divine mother of rice, fertility, and life worshipped across
Dewi Sri (Nyai Pohaci Sanghyang Sri), the rice-goddess and goddess of fertility and abundance of Java, Bali, and Indonesia — the beloved divine mother of
Batara Guru (Bhatara Guru), the supreme god of Javanese and Balinese mythology — the king of the gods and the Javanese form of the Hindu Shiva, lord of
Poli’ahu (Poliahu), the snow-goddess of Hawaii — the beautiful white-robed goddess of the snow-capped summit of Mauna Kea, the great rival of the
The Nightmarchers (Hukai’po), the ghostly processions of ancient Hawaiian warriors and chiefs that march by night with torch and drum along the old sacred
Nanaue, the were-shark of Hawaiian legend — a man born with a shark’s mouth upon his back, son of the shark-king Kamohoali’i, who could change into a
