Singa
Singa is an apotropaic figure in the mythology of the Batak people of North Sumatra, Indonesia. Singa represents a benevolent and protective power. Singa is described as "part human, part water buffalo, and part crocodile or lizard". It is represented in various ways, but it always has an elongated face, large bulging eyes, a well-defined nose, and a long spiraled beard. Other figures - such as other protective deities or ancestral figures - can also be shown standing or standing above the head of the singa.
Etymology
The word singa is derived from Sanskrit, where singa means lion. For the Batak people, singa has a meaning that is more magical than zoological, so it does not symbolize a lion, but Nāga or Boru Saniang Naga, the primordial water serpent in Hindu-Buddhist mythology.
As ornamentation
Images of singa are carved into various objects, such as household utensils, containers for medicinal substances, jewelry, amulets, wooden coffins, stone sarcophagi, granaries, and traditional Batak houses. Its frequent use has made singa a symbol of Batak culture. A singa carving applied to a Batak house is called singa ni ruma or "the house's singa".
The apotropaic use of the singa figure may come from the Batak Hindu-Buddhist period of the 9th century (the Batak people are predominantly Christian and Muslim today). One of the major features of Hindu-Buddhist architecture in Java and Bali is the ubiquitous kirtimukha (mythological monster) figure above arches and doors. It is in the early 9th-century Aparajita style period that these Batak versions of the kirtimukha, called singhamugam, appear and spread.