Shadow puppet of Sempati, a monkey with the skin of a tiger, made of carved and painted leather. In Hindu mythology Sempati usually appears as a bird, the brother of Garuda or Jetayu, who lost his wings while rescuing Jetayu from the flames of the sun. In the Ramayana he becomes an ally of Hanoman in the search for Sita. In Bali he appears as a creature who is part monkey, part tiger.
These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.
The database retains language taken from historical documents to help research. Please note that some records may feature language and reflect systems of thinking that are outdated and offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.
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