View source for Agusan image

{{Short description|Solid gold statue found in the Philippines}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2019}}
{{Infobox artifact
|name             = Agusan image
|image            = File:Filippine, provincia di agusan, immagine hindu, statuetta in oro massiccio, xiii secolo.jpg
|image_caption    = The Agusan image, 2016
|material         = gold, copper and silver
|height           = {{convert|178|mm|in|abbr=on}}
|weight           = {{convert|2|kg|lb|abbr=on}}
|created          = 9th–10th Centuries AD
|discovered_date  = 1917 
|discovered_place = [[Esperanza, Agusan del Sur|Esperanza]], [[Agusan del Sur]], [[Mindanao]], [[Philippines]]
|location         = [[Field Museum of Natural History]]
|culture          = [[Indigenous Philippine folk religions]], [[Hinduism]], [[Buddhism]] (disputed in regards to Hindu & Buddhist identity)
}}
{{History of the Philippines}}
__NOTOC__

The '''Agusan image''' (commonly referred to in the Philippines as the '''Golden Tara''' due to it's earliest and most-common association with, but disputed,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Francisco |first=Juan R. |date=1963 |title=A Note on the Golden Image of Agusan |journal=Philippine Studies |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=390–400 |issn=0031-7837 |jstor=42719871 |quote=The question of its identification is still undecided.}}</ref> identity as an image of a Buddhist [[Tara (Buddhism)|Tara]]) is a {{cvt|2|kg|lb}},<ref>{{cite web |title=109928 Agusan gold figure {{!}} Philippines {{!}} The Field Museum |url=https://philippines.fieldmuseum.org/heritage/multimedia/97268 |website=philippines.fieldmuseum.org |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530133900/https://philippines.fieldmuseum.org/heritage/multimedia/97268 |archivedate=30 May 2019 |quote='''Description:''' Agusan gold image of Hindu deity [figure Devi, goddess. A.D. 1000-1300. 4 1/2 pound, solid gold figure of a Hindu or Buddhist deity]}}</ref> 21-karat gold undoubtably [[Hinduism in the Philippines|Hindu]]-[[Buddhism in the Philippines|Buddhist]] goddess statuette,<ref name=undoubt1/><ref name=undoubt2/><ref name=undoubt3/><ref name=undoubt4/> found in 1917 on the banks of the [[Wawa River]] near [[Esperanza, Agusan del Sur|Esperanza]], [[Agusan del Sur]], [[Mindanao]] in the [[Philippines]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Francisco |first=Juan R. |date=1963 |title=A Note on the Golden Image of Agusan |journal=Philippine Studies |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=390–400 |issn=0031-7837 |jstor=42719871 |quote=It was found in 1917 on the left bank of the Wawa River near Esperanza, Agusan, eastern Mindanao, following a storm and flood}}</ref> dating to the 9th–10th centuries ([[Indian influences in early Philippine polities|pre-colonial period of Indianised Hindu-Buddhist polities in Philippines]]). The figure, approximately {{cvt|178|mm|in}}<ref>{{cite web |author = Field Museum of Natural History | title =FMNH 109928 |url=https://collections-anthropology.fieldmuseum.org/catalogue/1010530 |website=collections-anthropology.fieldmuseum.org |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601091852/https://collections-anthropology.fieldmuseum.org/catalogue/1010530 |archivedate=1 June 2019 |quote=Statue [figure] is about 178 mm in height (FMNH A109928).| author-link =Field Museum of Natural History }}</ref> in height, is of a female Hindu or Buddhist deity, seated cross-legged and wearing a richly-adorned headdress and other ornaments on various parts of the body. It is now on display in the [[Field Museum of Natural History]] in [[Chicago]].<ref>{{cite web |title=109928 Agusan gold figure {{!}} Philippines {{!}} The Field Museum |url=https://philippines.fieldmuseum.org/heritage/multimedia/97268 |website=philippines.fieldmuseum.org |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530133900/https://philippines.fieldmuseum.org/heritage/multimedia/97268 |archivedate=30 May 2019}}</ref>

Since its discovery, the identity of the goddess represented by the gold statuette has been the subject of debate.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Capistrano-Baker |first1=Florina H |last2=Guy|author3-link=John N. Miksic |first2=John |last3=Miksic |first3=John N |title=Philippine ancestral gold |date=2011 |publisher=Ayala Foundation; NUS Press |isbn=9789718551745 |page=251 |language=English |chapter=Chapter 4 - Butuan in Early Southeast Asia |quote=From the time the Agusan image first came to light, the identity of the female portrayed has been the subject of conjecture and contention.|oclc=724647223 }}</ref> Proposed identities of the gold figurine range from that of a Hindu [[Shaivism|Sivaite]] [[Devi|goddess]] to a Buddhist [[Tara (Buddhism)|Tara]]. Recent scholarship suggests that the image represents the offering goddess [[Guhyasamāja_Tantra#Four|Vajralāsyā]] of the [[Vajrayana|Tantric Buddhist]] tradition associated with the dance.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Orlina |first=Roderick |date=2012 |title=Epigraphical evidence for the cult of Mahāpratisarā in the Philippines |url=https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/view/13762 |journal=Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies |language=en |volume=35 |issue=1–2 |pages=165–166 |issn=0193-600X |quote=This image was previously thought to be a distorted Tārā, but was recently  correctly  identified  as a Vajralāsyā (‘Bodhisattva of amorous dance’), one of the four deities associated with providing offerings to the Buddha Vairocana and located in the southeast corner of a Vajradhātumaṇḍala. |access-date=2019-05-30 |archive-date=2019-05-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530145735/https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/view/13762 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Weinstein |first1=John |title=Agusan Gold Vajralasya |url=https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/agusan-gold-vajralasya/CQFcZvIwlLywlg |website=Google Arts & Culture |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601082451/https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/agusan-gold-vajralasya/CQFcZvIwlLywlg |archivedate=1 June 2019 |language=en |quote=Scholars think that the statue may represent an offering goddess from a three-dimensional Vajradhatu (Diamond World) mandala.}}</ref>

Although the statue was likely first made as either a Buddhist or Hindu deity, it has [[Religious syncretism|also been worshipped]] as an [[Indigenous Philippine folk religions|Animist]] deity and even provided an altar until it was stolen from its place of worship in [[Agusan del Sur]] in the early 20th century.<ref name=undoubt1>{{Cite web|url=https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/08/13/1842105/manobo-womans-kin-want-golden-tara-returned|title=Manobo woman's kin want Golden Tara returned|date=August 13, 2018|website=www.philstar.com}}</ref>

==Identity==
{{see also | Hinduism in Southeast Asia | Buddhism in Southeast Asia | Indianisation }}


[[H. Otley Beyer]] believed that the image was that of a Hindu [[Shaivism|Sivaite]] [[Devi|goddess]], but with the religiously important hand signals improperly copied by local workmen. If true, this suggests that Hinduism was already in the Philippines before [[Ferdinand Magellan]] arrived, but also that the early Filipinos had an imperfect version of [[Hinduism]] adopted from the [[Majapahit]] Empire. Natives back then were not converted into Hinduism, rather, they absorbed traditions in Hinduism while retaining their own indigenous [[Anito|Anitist religions]]. 
This golden Agusan image seems to be modelled after — or copied — the [[Nganjuk Regency|Nganjuk]] bronze images of early Majapahit period.<ref name=undoubt2>{{Cite web|url=https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/view/item/7096|title=[Bronze statues from Nganjuk] OD-3577 {{!}} Digital Collections|website=digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl|access-date=2020-03-15|archive-date=2020-08-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803202549/https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/view/item/7096|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{Quote|A study of this image was made by F. D. K. Bosch, of Batavia, in 1920, who came to the conclusion that it was made by local workmen in [[Mindanao]], copying a [[Nganjuk Regency|Nganjuk]] image of the early Majapahit period — except that the local artist overlooked the distinguishing attributes held in the hand. It probably had some connection with the Javanese miners who are known to have been mining gold in the [[Agusan (province)|Agusan]]-[[Surigao (province)|Surigao]] area in the middle or late 14th century. The image is apparently that of a Sivaite goddess, and fits in well with the name "[[Butuan]]" (signifying "[[phallus]]").|[[H. Otley Beyer]]|1947<ref name=ob>H. Otley Beyer, "Outline Review of Philippine Archaeology by Islands and Provinces," Philippine Journal of Science, Vol.77, Nos.34 (July–August 1947), pp. 205-374</ref>}}

[[Juan R. Francisco]] on the other hand found the conclusion of Beyer regarding the identity of the golden image as questionable. Specifically, he questioned Beyer's assumptions that: (1) "Butuan" means "phallus (the origin of the name "Butuan" is still under discussion); (2) that the king of Butuan, being not a Muslim, should therefore be a Hindu of the Saiva persuasion; (3) that the existence of other Sivaite images discovered among the Mandayas (south of where the Agusan image was discovered) and in Cebu should support his conclusions regarding the female Sivaite goddess identity of the golden statuette. Regarding the last assumption, Francisco pointed out that the identity of the other supposedly "Sivaite" images mentioned by Beyer (all of which were destroyed by the fire that consumed the [[Ateneo de Manila]] Museum in the early 1930s) is also questionable, since John Carroll, who examined a photograph of the Cebu image, believed that it is an "[[Avalokitesvara]], not a Siva".<ref name=undoubt3>{{Cite journal |last=Francisco |first=Juan R. |date=1963 |title=A Note on the Golden Image of Agusan |journal=Philippine Studies |volume=11 |issue=3 |page=395 |issn=0031-7837 |jstor=42719871 |quote=The problem here is that the images referred to were destroyed in the fire that consumed the Ateneo de Manila Museum in the early 1930s. Their identity is at best questionable, since John Carroll, who examined a photograph of the Cebu image, believes that it is "an Avalokitesvara, not a Siva"}}</ref> Francisco, on the basis of the re-study of the gold statue, believed that it represents a Buddhist [[Tara (Buddhism)|Tara]].<ref name=undoubt4>{{Cite journal |last=Francisco |first=Juan R. |date=1971 |title=Reflexions on the migration theory vis-à-vis the coming of Indian influences in the Philippines |url=https://asj.upd.edu.ph/mediabox/archive/ASJ-09-03-1971/francisco-reflexions%20migration%20theory%20indian%20influences%20philippines.pdf |journal=Asian Studies |page=312 |quote=There is the now famous Agusan image, which was originally identified as Saiva in orientation by Beyer, but which I identified as a Buddhist Tara on the basis of a re-study of the image. |access-date=2019-05-30 |archive-date=2018-02-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219155507/http://www.asj.upd.edu.ph/mediabox/archive/ASJ-09-03-1971/francisco-reflexions%20migration%20theory%20indian%20influences%20philippines.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{Quote
|text=It seems likely that the image is a goddess of the Buddhist pantheon, in the Mahayana group. It's related to the concept of a female Boddhisattva, and at the same time the counterpart of the Hindu goddess ([[Shakti|Sakti]]), as a [[Tara (Buddhism)|Tara]] (or wife of a Buddhist god), which is a peculiar development of [[Buddhism]] in Southeast Asia.
|author=Juan R. Francisco
|source="A Note on the Golden Image of Agusan" (1963)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Francisco |first=Juan R. |date=1963 |title=A Note on the Golden Image of Agusan |journal=Philippine Studies |volume=11 |issue=3 |page=400 |issn=0031-7837 |jstor=42719871}}</ref>
}}

[[File:MET DT5213.jpg|thumb|Four bronze deities from a [[Diamond Realm|Vajradhātu]] [[Mandala]] and unearthed in [[Nganjuk]], [[Java]]. These figurines share stylistic similarities with the Agusan image.]]
Another proposed identity of the Agusan image is the offering goddess Vajralāsyā, one of the four female deities located in the inner circle of a [[mandala]] called the [[Diamond Realm]] (Vajradhātu). Mandalas like the Diamond Realm Mandala of [[Tantric Buddhism]] are elaborate diagrams that represent the cosmos in a metaphorical or symbolic manner. Mandalas can be represented as two-dimensional (either temporarily drawn on flat surfaces, painted on cloth, or etched on metal plates), as three-dimensional sculptural tableaux, or as large architectural constructions like the [[Borobudur]] in Central [[Java]]. Three-dimensional mandalas are thought to have been used for sacred rituals involving the offering of water, flowers, incense, lamps, unguents, etc.

The [[Diamond Realm]] Mandala is one of the well-known and well-documented of the early Buddhist mandalas. Located at the center of such mandala is the Buddha [[Vairocana]], surrounded by an inner circle of deities. The four cosmic Buddhas occupy the four cardinal points of the inner circle,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Capistrano-Baker |first1=Florina H |last2=Guy |first2=John |last3=Miksic |first3=John N |title=Philippine ancestral gold |date=2011 |publisher=Ayala Foundation; NUS Press |isbn=9789718551745 |page=253 |language=English |quote=The four buddhas who surround Vairocana are ''Aksobhya'' on the east, who gestures toward the earth; ''Ratnasambhava'' on the south, who displays the gesture of charity; ''Amitabha'' on the west, in meditation; and ''Amoghasiddh'' on the north, making a gesture indicating fearlessness.|oclc=724647223 }}</ref> each of which is surrounded by four attendants, while the four offering goddesses sit at the inner circle's four corners. The four inner goddesses associated with offerings made to the Buddha [[Vairocana]] are Vajralāsyā ("amorous dance", sitting at the southeast corner), Vajramālā ("garland", sitting at the southwest), Vajragītā ("song", sitting at the northwest), and Vajramṛtyā ("dance", sitting at the northeast). In the outer circle are sixteen further deities, four arranged along each of the four cardinal directions, while at the interstitial corners are four more "outer" offering goddesses. The outer circle is surrounded by 1000 more buddhas and 24 deities who guard the boundaries, while four guardian deities protect the four portals at the four cardinal directions.

The Tibetan scholar Rob Linrothe was one of the first to recognize the Agusan image as Vajralāsyā, who is always shown with her hands on her hips.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Capistrano-Baker |first1=Florina H |last2=Guy |first2=John |last3=Miksic |first3=John N |title=Philippine ancestral gold |date=2011 |publisher=Ayala Foundation; NUS Press |isbn=9789718551745 |page=253 |language=English |chapter=Chapter 4 - Butuan in Early Southeast Asia |quote=Tibetan scholar Rob Linrothe identifies the Agusan image as one of the four "inner" offering goddesses in a three-dimensional ''vajradhatu'', or Diamond World, mandala.|oclc=724647223 }}</ref> Florina Capistrano-Baker agrees with this conclusion, noting the similarities in style between the Agusan golden image and the other statuettes belonging to a three-dimensional Diamond Realm Mandala set such as the four bronze deities discovered in [[Nganjuk]], [[Java]] (believed to represent the four offering goddesses of the outer circle). The shared characteristics between the Nganjuk figurines and the Agusan golden image were already suggested back then in 1920 by the Dutch scholar F. D. K. Bosch; however, it was ignored at that time because no illustrations of the bronze figurines were presented. Recent scholarship is now re-evaluating the relationship between the Agusan golden image and the Nganjuk bronze deities as they are believed to have been made around the same time (10th–11th centuries). Identification of the gold figurine with the offering goddess Vajralāsyā also implies that it is but a singular part of a larger set of offering deities associated with the [[Diamond Realm]] mandala, the whereabouts of which remains unknown and are most likely lost in time.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Guy |first1=John |last2=Miksic |first2=John N. |title=Philippine Ancestral Gold |date=2011 |publisher=Ayala Foundation |isbn=978-9971-69-562-0 |page=254 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r2brZwEACAAJ |language=en |quote=The recovery of a single offering goddess that is most likely part of a larger set brings up a number of intriguing questions. Where are the other figures? |access-date=2020-02-01 |archive-date=2020-11-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201122183738/https://books.google.com/books?id=r2brZwEACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{Quote
|text=Although study of the relationship between the Agusan ''Vajralasya'' and the Nganjuk offering goddesses has been overlooked, it is clear that the Agusan image belongs to the same genre.
|author=Florina H. Capistrano-Baker
|title="Butuan in Early Southeast Asia"
|source=''Philippine Ancestral Gold'' (2011)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Capistrano-Baker |first1=Florina H |last2=Guy |first2=John |last3=Miksic |first3=John N |title=Philippine ancestral gold |date=2011 |publisher=Ayala Foundation; NUS Press |isbn=9789718551745 |page=254 |language=English|oclc=724647223 }}</ref>
}}

One of the factors that makes the identification of the image by scholars difficult is the fact that it has no specific iconographic attributes. The goldsmiths in the Philippines knew of Hindu and Buddhist artistic conventions, but did not include motifs which would identify them as specific deities. Philippine goldsmiths may have done this intentionally to maintain their ethnic identity.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Miksic |first1=John Norman |last2=Yian |first2=Goh Geok |title=Ancient Southeast Asia |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317279037 |page=415 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R8tCDQAAQBAJ&q=Ancient+Southeast+Asia |language=en |quote=One of the most spectacular antiquities ever found in the Philippines is a gold statue found in Agusan in 1917. It closely resembles Indic deities, but has no specific iconographic attributes. Several objects in the Locsin Collection show that goldsmiths in the Philippines knew of Hindu and Buddhist artistic conventions, but did not include motifs which would identify them as specific deities. Philippine goldsmiths may have done this intentionally to maintain their ethnic identity. |access-date=2020-09-22 |archive-date=2020-11-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201122183739/https://books.google.com/books?id=R8tCDQAAQBAJ&dq=Ancient+Southeast+Asia |url-status=live }}</ref>

==History==

In 1917, the Agusan image was found by a [[Manobo]] woman along the banks of the Wawa River near [[Esperanza, Agusan del Sur]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hontiveros |first1=Greg |title=Butuan of a thousand years |date=2004 |publisher=Butuan City Historical & Cultural Foundation |isbn=978-971-8860-02-1 |page=21 |language=English |quote=It was found in 1917 by a Manobo woman along the banks of Wawa River, not far from its confluence with Agusan River, in Esperanza, Agusan del Sur.|oclc=60754261 }}</ref> She kept the artifact as a ''manika'' (doll) until it was acquired by the then Agusan Deputy Governor Blas Baklagon,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beyer |first1=H. Otley |title=Outline review of Philippine archaeology by islands and provinces |date=1949 |publisher=Bureau of Printing |page=301 |language=English |quote=It was found by a woman who had entered the ravine, after the storm; and from her hands it passed into those of Bias Baklagon, a local official.|oclc=20115346 }}</ref> after which it gained the name ''Buwawan ni Baklagon'' (Gold of Baklagon). However, according to Constancia Guiral, the granddaughter of the discoverer of the gold image, her grandmother named Belay Campos kept the item as a ''manika'' (doll) and later placed it on an altar for worship until it was stolen from their traditional Manobo house.<ref>{{cite AV media |people=Mel Tiangco (host) |date=11 September 2011 |title=Philippine Treasure |medium=Television production |language=Tagalog |location=Philippines |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4209008/}}</ref> It then ended up in the hands of Blas Baklagon.<ref name=histag1/> 

In 1918, Baklagon brought the artifact to the attention of Dr. [[H. Otley Beyer]], who called it "the most spectacular single find yet made in Philippine archeology". Beyer, who was then the chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of the Philippines and thus also serving as an honorary curator at the [[National Museum of the Philippines]], attempted to convince the American colonial government in the Philippines to purchase the Agusan image for the [[National Museum|National Museum of the Philippines]] in Manila. However, the government failed to purchase the artifact due to lack of funds.<ref name=histag1>{{cite book |last1=Capistrano-Baker |first1=Florina H |last2=Guy |first2=John |last3=Miksic |first3=John N |title=Philippine ancestral gold |date=2011 |publisher=Ayala Foundation; NUS Press |page=262 |language=English |chapter=The Aqusan lmaqe in the Field Museum of Natural History (Jamie Kelly) |quote=He implored the American colonial government to purchase the image for the museum. But his lobbying efforts were unsuccessful, as the government claimed it had no available funds to purchase it.|oclc=1110166645 }}</ref> 

Ownership next passed to the Agusan Coconut Company to whom Blas Baklagon owed a debt. News of its existence eventually reached important people such as Louise Wood, whose husband [[Leonard Wood]] served as American governor-general in the Philippines. Fearing that the image might be melted down for its value in gold, Mrs. Wood conducted a fundraising campaign to collect funds for the purchase of the gold artifact. She enlisted the help of Fay-Cooper Cole, the curator of [[Chicago Field Museum]]'s Southeast Asian department, together with Shaler Matthews, a professor at the University of Chicago, for the fundraising campaign.<ref name=histag2>{{cite book |last1=Capistrano-Baker |first1=Florina H |last2=Guy |first2=John |last3=Miksic |first3=John N |title=Philippine ancestral gold |date=2011 |publisher=Ayala Foundation; NUS Press |page=262 |language=English |chapter=The Aqusan lmaqe in the Field Museum of Natural History (Jamie Kelly) |quote=Fearing that the image might be melted down for its value in gold, Mrs. Wood raised funds to purchase it for the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. She enlisted the help of Cole, then Southeast Asian curator at the Chicago museum, and Shaler Matthews, a professor in the Divinity School at the University of Chicago.|oclc=1110166645 }}</ref> Their efforts paid off when the image was finally acquired for the museum in 1922 for ₱4,000.00.<ref name=histag3/> 

In 1922, the image was then shipped to the United States and was finally housed at the [[Field Museum of Natural History]] in Chicago, where it is still stored up to this day. Since the 21st century, the site in Agusan where the image was found has become a pilgrimage site for Buddhists and animists alike.<ref name=histag3>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DThqfbARtY |title=Tibetan Buddhists spot 'Holy Place' in Agusan del Sur - YouTube |website=[[YouTube]] |date=September 2015 |access-date=2020-07-18 |archive-date=2020-08-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812002955/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DThqfbARtY |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Reparation to Philippines ==
{{anchor | Recovery | Reparation }}
{{see also | Repatriation (cultural property) | Looted art }}

Filipinos have been demanded [[Reparations (transitional justice)|reparation]] of Agusan Image from USA to Philippines. The artifact has been a source of conflict between Filipinos and Americans for many years, and many Filipino scholars have demanded its return. It is seen as a national treasure of the country, unreported during the time of its discovery, and sold to Americans during a period of national financial difficulty leading to the inability of the Philippine government to purchase the artifact when it was auctioned. Scholars have argued that if the reason the Field Museum took the artifact was due to fear of it may have been melted down, then the museum should return it, or at least allow the Philippines to purchase back the artifact since the scenario that involves the image being melted down for its gold is now unlikely.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=http://philippines.fieldmuseum.org/heritage/narrative/4820|title=Agusan Gold Vajralasya|work=Philippine Heritage Collection|publisher=[[Field Museum of Natural History]]|access-date=2017-10-01|archive-date=2017-10-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001122750/http://philippines.fieldmuseum.org/heritage/narrative/4820|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6uaS8lcygw |title=Philippines Treasure Part II (GMA 7) feat. Golden Tara - YouTube |website=[[YouTube]] |date=13 December 2012 |access-date=2019-05-19 |archive-date=2020-11-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201122183749/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6uaS8lcygw |url-status=live }}</ref>

Also mentioned is how the artifact was bought by an American museum during a time when the Philippines was in financial duress and under the colonial government of America. One of the major advocates for the return of the Agusan image is former Senator [[Aquilino Pimentel Jr.]], who made his last privilege speech specifically for the purpose of advocating for its repatriation to the Philippines.<ref name="auto1"/> The Field Museum has stated that it may return the golden image if it is "strongly requested" by the Philippine government.<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="auto"/>

In April 2018, a documentary from [[GMA Network (company)|GMA Network]] featured the Agusan image, this time showing the people of [[Agusan del Sur]] supporting the repatriation of the figurine. Scholars also found a document proving the Philippines' right to claim the artifact. The scholars, in partnership with the government, were tasked to pursue the Philippine claim on the image.<ref name="auto"/>

== See also ==

* [[Indian influences in early Philippine polities]]
** [[Buddhism in the Philippines]]
** [[Hinduism in the Philippines]]
** [[Tabon Caves#Tabon Caves Garuda Gold Pendant|Tabon Caves Garuda Gold Pendant]]
** [[Laguna Copperplate Inscription]]
* [[History of the Philippines]]
** [[Butuan (historical polity)]]
** [[Balangiga bells]]

== Sources ==
{{reflist}}

{{India-related topics in Philippines}}
{{Bodhisattvas}}

[[Category:1917 archaeological discoveries]]
[[Category:Archaeological discoveries in the Philippines]]
[[Category:Bodhisattvas]]
[[Category:Buddhist sculpture]]