Genderuwo

A spirit of Indonesian belief, described as having a jet-black body and large fangs. Its name traces back to the Sanskrit gandharva, and Kompas has reported the 2021 death of a child in Temanggung, suspected killed by parents who believed a genderuwo possessed the child, and a 2025 case in Banyumas where a man sexually abused a 14-year-old under the pretext of a ritual to drive out a genderuwo.

Indonesian Wikipedia derives the word genderuwo, and the Indonesian form gandarwa, from the Kawi gandharwa, which goes back to the Sanskrit gandharva. In Hindu and Buddhist belief the gandarwa is a male being in human form who lives in the heavens. Wikipedia adds that the genderuwo as a spirit may go back further, to the Old Persian Gandarəβa, a huge water monster that the hero Garshasp eventually defeats. Kompas's fact-check desk describes the genderuwo as a creature of myth, believed to have a jet-black body and large fangs.

In 2022 Kompas rated a video said to show a genderuwo in Candisari, Semarang, a hoax.

In May 2021 Kompas reported the death of a child in Temanggung. The child is suspected to have been killed by both parents, who believed a genderuwo had possessed the child. An adviser had told them the child's misbehaviour came from possession and suggested a cleansing ritual. A Universitas Indonesia researcher of literature and culture told Kompas it was regrettable when parents link a child's naughtiness to genderuwo possession.

In April 2025 Kompas reported that a man in Banyumas sexually abused a 14-year-old under the pretext of a ritual to drive out a genderuwo. The head of criminal investigation at the Banyumas police said the man had told the victim's parents there was genderuwo hair in their child's throat.