YEH PULU

For information, the real name of the site must be Toya Pulu. It is a long wall, a kind of frieze, located between the rivers Jurang and Petanu, which is leaning against the rice fields.

The bas-reliefs were damaged by the water coming down from the sawah (= rice fields). These were drained in 1937 to stop soil erosion. The long wall of 25 meters and an approximate height of 2 meters is made of bas-reliefs whose sculptures would have been built in the 14th and 15th centuries. But these sculptures seem to have been made, if not by the same person, then in the same style. The statues seem to tell the story of the life of the young Krishna. The bas-reliefs represent five different scenes:

1. A man is carrying containers with a flail, perhaps containing palm wine(tuak). He walks behind a woman of higher social class (she walks in front, and the presence of jewels gives information about her social class). Then we see a man hunting a boar but this scene is later and was added later

2. An old woman sits in a cave, legs bent, while three monkeys play. To the left, a man holds a hoe on his shoulder. Behind her is a dwarf-like figure with his hands clasped. He wears a turban and may represent a pedanda (= priest).

3. Another scene now takes place in the forest. A man with curly hair is sitting on a horse. He is carrying a cleaver in his right hand. Another man in front of him is in a fighting position, attacking with a spear. Two other men are fighting a bear directly, one with a dagger and the other from behind. The heroic scene is parodied on the right by a frog who is also sticking a weapon into the mouth of a snake.

4. Two men are carrying two bears on a long pole.

5. A woman is holding the tail of a horse and it is not clear whether she is inviting the rider to stay or showing her dependence on the rider. The scene ends with an armed elephant in a niche.

Scenes 3 and 4 may refer to Krishna's fight with the Jambavat bear and scene 4 would tell of his triumphant return taking behind him the bear's daughter Jambavati whom he later married.

Buried under a luxuriant vegetation, the site was rediscovered by the painter Nieuwenkamp in 1925. There, an old priest and his wife officiate.

Unlike the site of Goa Gajah, Yeh Puluh is little frequented and located in a quiet paradise.