Panjurli means Wild Boar in Sandscrit, and Bhuta means spirit, or one who has passed on. In certain regions of South India veneration of the wild boar spirit has been an important part of village spiritual life.
Because villages have, and still do largely survive on subsistance farming, when herds of wild boar come out from the forests and damage the crops it can be pretty disasterous. Rituals and ceremonies to honour the Boar have been used for millenia as a way to try to make peace with them and discourage them from causing havoc on the harvest.
This little figure is really nicely cast an although its not antique it has some age and is quite unusual to find. It was probably meant for offering puja in a small household shrine.
