Batara Guru

Batara Guru (also called Bhattara Guru, Debata Batara Guru and Batara Siwa) is the name of a supreme god in Indonesian Hinduism. His name is derived from Sanskrit Bhattaraka which means “noble lord". He has been conceptualized in Southeast Asia as a kind spiritual teacher, the first of all Gurus in Indonesian Hindu texts, mirroring the guru Dakshinamurti aspect of Hindu god Shiva in the Indian subcontinent. However, Batara Guru has more aspects than the Indian Shiva, as the Indonesian Hindus blended their spirits and heroes with him. Batara Guru's wife in Southeast Asia is Shiva's consort Durga. Batara Guru is considered as a form of Rudra-Shiva, a creator god in mythologies found in Javanese and Balinese Hindu texts, in a manner similar to Brahma-related mythologies in India. He is supreme in Indonesian Hinduism, much like the god Jupiter was in Roman era. Batara Guru in the mythologies of Sumatra, states David Leeming, is a primal being, creator of earth and first ancestor of human beings. He is conceptualized quite similar to the creator deity found in Central Asia and Native North America. According to Martin Ramstedt, Batara Guru in other parts of Indonesia is sometimes identified with Shiva, and elsewhere as transcending "Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Buddha".