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Navigating culture: Trade and transformation in the island state The permanent exhibition on Indonesia © Sudha Rajagopalan Contents Introduction - Dynamic trading ports - Artefacts on display - The layout of the exhibition I. Kingdoms in Indonesian history - Indian influences - Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms - Islam - Court cultures - Bali II. Barkcloth and Textiles: Potent symbols - Barkcloth - Textiles - The weaving traditions of ikat and batik - Lampung ship cloth - Batak ceremonial cloths - Nusa Tenggara's distinctive styles - Sumatran brocades - Gujarat patola III. Cultural diversity - Batak: the priest and his paraphernalia - Nias: in honour of our ancestors - Enggano: the slain enemy - Sulawesi: craftsmanship - Kalimantan: warding off evil spirits - Nusa Tenggara: collecting traditions - Maluku Tenggara: pronounced male-female symbolism Literature Colophon Author © Sudha Rajagopalan, 2002 Supervision Pieter ter Keurs Editing Paul L.F. van Dongen & Marlies Jansen Photo's museumobjects Ben Grishaaver / Mark Noozeman Photo's inside the museum Reinout van den Bergh / Peter Hilz Photo's in Indonesia Mark De Fraeye Museum website www.rmv.nl The Curator for Indonesia Pieter J. ter Keurs (e-mail: [email protected] )

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Navigating culture: Trade and transformation in the island state The permanent exhibition on Indonesia © Sudha Rajagopalan

Contents

Introduction - Dynamic trading ports - Artefacts on display - The layout of the exhibition

I. Kingdoms in Indonesian history

- Indian influences - Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms - Islam - Court cultures - Bali

II. Barkcloth and Textiles: Potent symbols

- Barkcloth - Textiles - The weaving traditions of ikat and batik - Lampung ship cloth - Batak ceremonial cloths - Nusa Tenggara's distinctive styles - Sumatran brocades - Gujarat patola

III. Cultural diversity

- Batak: the priest and his paraphernalia - Nias: in honour of our ancestors - Enggano: the slain enemy - Sulawesi: craftsmanship - Kalimantan: warding off evil spirits - Nusa Tenggara: collecting traditions - Maluku Tenggara: pronounced male-female symbolism

Literature

Colophon Author © Sudha Rajagopalan, 2002 Supervision Pieter ter Keurs Editing Paul L.F. van Dongen & Marlies Jansen Photo's museumobjects Ben Grishaaver / Mark Noozeman Photo's inside the museum Reinout van den Bergh / Peter Hilz Photo's in Indonesia Mark De Fraeye Museum website www.rmv.nl The Curator for Indonesia Pieter J. ter Keurs (e-mail: [email protected])

NAVIGATING CULTURE: TRADE AND TRANSFORMATION IN THE ISLAND STATE © SUDHA RAJAGOPALAN

THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION ON INDONESIA Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology

Navigating culture: Trade and transformation in the island state The permanent exhibition on Indonesia The permanent exhibition on Indonesia highlights trade, and contact with cultures beyond the local, as an agent of transformation in the cultures of Indonesia. This exhibit seeks to show the fluidity of these cultures: they are neither timeless nor ahistorical. Nor are they isolated. Introduction The story of Indonesia’s maritime history is one of trade within and beyond Indonesia. Indonesia’s exports to mainland Asia, Persia and Europe have ranged from Moluccan spices to Sumatran gold and have also included cotton, iron and rattan. Indonesia’s material cultures show the influences of Indian religions, textile traditions and scripts. They bear witness to the import of Chinese ceramics and lacquer ware techniques, the use of Indian motifs, and occasionally Chinese and Persian motifs in art. Dynamic trading ports The scattered trading ports of the Indonesian islands have been independent and dynamic participants in Indonesia’s maritime history. The courts of Borneo were exporting dammar resin, hornbill ivory, camphor to China, India and the Middle East by the eleventh century AD. The Buginese kingdoms in Southern Sulawesi traded with Java, which relied on the former’s iron resources for its krisses. The North Moluccan ports are renowned for their centuries old, legendary clove and nutmeg trade with other Indonesian islands and far-flung corners of the world. Trade between East Indonesia and New Guinea thrived as is manifested in the textile and healing traditions of these cultures. Artefacts on display The artefacts on display in the museum are rich in symbolic meaning, and function as testimony to Indonesia’s active trading history long before the Europeans began to explore and colonize it. The waterways and the sea are important symbols in their art. Several pieces reveal influences from external cultural sources, which were indigenised or given new symbolic meaning or/and new form. The layout of the exhibition The exhibition has three sections. It opens with a display about the kingdoms in Indonesian history and the material culture peculiar to their legacies in Java and Bali.

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NAVIGATING CULTURE: TRADE AND TRANSFORMATION IN THE ISLAND STATE © SUDHA RAJAGOPALAN

THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION ON INDONESIA Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology

The second concerns the role and symbolism of barkcloth and textiles in Indonesian societies.

RMV 614-81 The last section is a comprehensive display of the diverse material cultures of the provinces of Sumatra, Nias, Enggano, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, the Lesser Sunda Islands and the Moluccas, touching upon both the rich symbolic vocabulary of these cultures and their contact with other societies within and beyond Indonesia.

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NAVIGATING CULTURE: TRADE AND TRANSFORMATION IN THE ISLAND STATE © SUDHA RAJAGOPALAN

THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION ON INDONESIA Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology

I. Kingdoms in Indonesian history Early signs of cultural contact in this region Cultural exchanges in the region date back to prehistoric Indonesia. It was a Dutch doctor, Eugene Dubois1, who discovered the remains of Homo erectus - the crown of a skull and bones dating approximately 800,000 years back. Subsequently several similar discoveries of remains dating back 500,000 years were all testimony to remarkably early signs of life on the archipelago.

Eugène Dubois Scull of the Java Man Early signs of trade date back to 500 BC, and a living testament to this are the Dongson drums. They are referred to as ‘Dongson’ drums due to the similarities between their decorative motifs and the motifs depicted on objects found in Dongson, a village in what is now Vietnam. Many such exemplars have been found in Indonesia and traders probably brought them here from the mainland.

RMV 1403-2885 The Dongson drums found on the archipelago were mainly status symbols and it is unclear whether they also performed a musical function. Interestingly, stylistically similar but smaller drums were later made in Nusa Tenggara for use in wedding rituals. The symbols of boats that appear on the side of the drums testify to the importance of water to these cultures on the ocean. The Dongson culture also produced bronze axes, exemplars of which have been found over the entire archipelago. Once again, the role of traders was crucial in disseminating these objects or commodities in the islands. The less than sturdy nature of the blades of some of these axes points to their ceremonial function rather than their practicality in Dongson culture.

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THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION ON INDONESIA Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology

Indian influences The sixth century AD witnessed the advent of influences from India: the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. Indian traders were frequently bearers of India’s cultural exports. Additionally, Indonesian traders travelled to India and elected to import the religions and practices to provide political leadership back home with religious legitimacy. Universities in India were very renowned and travellers from Indonesia travelled the length and breadth of India and selectively borrowed from India’s diverse and vast cultural landscape. The use of Sanskrit2 and the use of the Pallava script3 from South India, art, architecture, sculpture, oral traditions and dance all show contact with India. But cultural borrowings from India were not blindly superimposed on Indonesian society. They were modified and given local attributes and characteristics, and indigenised. The period of Indian influences in Indonesia is known as the classical period, or the Indo-Javanese period after the main island where the Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms would hold sway for another 1000 years. Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms The Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms on Java were thriving kingdoms until the sixteenth century, and their legacies extend to architecture and other aspects of material culture. The earliest Buddhist kingdom in Indonesia, Srivijaya, was in South Sumatra. In the eighth century the political centre shifted to Central Java where a Hindu kingdom took root, followed by the Buddhist kingdom of the Sailendra dynasties. These kingdoms oversaw the building of the Borobudur temple and its representations of the life of the Buddha and the significant episodes in this journey. Superb sculptures of the Buddha, including a head of the Buddha from the Candi Plaosan4, are on display in this initial part of the exhibition.

RMV 1956-1 The Sanjaya dynasty took control in the ninth century and is responsible for building the temple complex at Prambanan, not very far from Borobudur. The Mataram rulers were the next to acquire the control of Central Java but they were not to prosper for long. A volcanic eruption may have caused people to flee Central java for East Java, from then on the political centre of the Javanese kingdom. The foundation of the Singasari state in the thirteenth century and its cultural expressions are to be seen in the display of the finest pieces of sculpture from this period. Except for the Batara Guru5, most of the Hindu statues of the Candi Singasari6 are in the exhibit.

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THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION ON INDONESIA Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology

RMV 1403-1622 The last great Hindu-Buddhist kingdom of Majapahit took shape in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It was the most powerful in the history of Indonesia, ruling as it did over a substantial part of what is now Indonesia. The extent of trade under the Majapahits was unprecedented, and coastal towns boasted of diverse communities. These were Chinese traders and craftsmen, Islamic and Hindu populations, all enjoying the benefits of this trade and economic growth. The material legacies of this kingdom bear witness to both Hindu and Buddhist forms of art and architecture. The Majapahit kingdom began to crumble with the expansion of Malacca as a trading centre. Islamic and Chinese merchants were formidable competitors. Only on Bali has Hindu-Buddhism survived and continued to thrive until the present. Islam Islamic states took root in coastal area's in Indonesia. On Java it led to the emergence of the kingdoms of Suryakarta and Yogyakarta. Here arts such as the wayang and batik were given a fillip. The same period saw the arrival of the first Europeans on these islands. Court cultures The wayang and krisses of Java have been considered quintessential elements of Javanese culture, but they are also to be found in some other parts of Indonesia. Earlier these cultural elements were considered to be purely products of cultural contact with India. To understand them, it was believed, one had to engage in an in-depth study of Indian material culture. W.H. Rassers7, former director of the RMV, was the first to counter these arguments with the theory that any cultural borrowings from India were adapted to fit old Javanese cultural forms. Thus, both the wayang and the krisses while products of cultural contact were made indigenous Javanese cultural elements. The issue of origin is no longer considered important but it is in accordance with the concept of our exhibit to emphasize the nature of cultural contact and the manner in which societies assimilate foreign influences and make them their own. Wayang There are several kinds of wayang theatre, each having a different narrative structure and content. The two on display here are the wayang kulit and wayang golek. Wayang kulit uses the flat leather puppets and wayang golek three-dimensional figures. The underlying principle of wayang theatre is the struggle between good and evil, and each act begins and ends in a cosmic balance. Many wayang narratives are based on the Hindu epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata8, a part of the larger impact of trade on the islands. But the epics were not just superimposed on Indonesian audiences. They were adapted to local theatrical forms and their heroes acquired characteristics of local folk heroes.

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THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION ON INDONESIA Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology

RMV 264-76 and 264-248 Despite the Indic origins of the stories, the ultimate assembly of gamelan9, poetry, song and puppeteer’s narrative is essentially Javanese or Balinese. The key figure in the wayang, the kayon, is also on display in the exhibit. It represents cosmic balance at the beginning of the narrative and the ideal to which the wayang narrative must return at the end. Additionally, the content of the narrative has also shown dynamism with contemporary wayang theatre engaging in political commentary on current affairs. It has acquired contemporary functions and imparts modern day messages. It was an effective means of mobilization among the Indonesians in the freedom struggle between 1945 and 1949, when Dutch politicians were represented as wayang characters. The social and political effectiveness of an oral narrative lies in its recognizable form. Thus, when the message is new it has often proved most effective to transmit it in a form (the wayang setting) that is immediately recognizable and comprehensible to audiences. Krisses The kris exemplars are on display here for their aesthetic quality and their symbolic role in Javanese society. These are some of the finest pieces of the courts of Indonesia where they symbolized royal power and were a part of the royal exchanges of gifts. The kris, a double-edged dagger with a wooden or ivory hilt, is believed to possess magical powers. These legendary powers are said to be capable of both perpetrating good and unleashing evil. It has been co-opted as an Indonesian national weapon, but in reality its origin is distinctly Javanese. It can be found on some other islands with court cultures – Bali and Sulawesi - but it is not shared by all the cultures of Indonesia. The kris and the wayang are often seen as a coherent whole, and as quintessentially Javanese.

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THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION ON INDONESIA Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology

An essential part of a person’s pusaka, or heirlooms, the kris provides a direct link with one’s ancestors. The kris is valued for its ability to keep sickness at bay, to keep a household free of friction and to remove obstacles from one’s path. Additionally it is also considered to be a dangerous weapon that has an inherent power to identify and destroy the enemy or perpetrators of evil. In contemporary Indonesia, the symbol of the kris has been most handy in present-day campaigns about the dangers of AIDS. Nowadays, krisses are also produced for the fly-by-night tourist to take back home. These leave much to be desired in quality and craftsmanship. For the tourist this is still a convenient manner in which to take ‘the essence of Indonesia’ back home! Treasures Treasures from the kingdoms on display in the exhibit include old gold jewellery from Java. We can see several of these gold ornaments in the showcases. Some of them date back to the century Java. The story of gold trade links the Indonesian archipelago with the Indian subcontinent, China, Philippines and Vietnam. Javanese diplomats visited Chinese courts with offerings of gold. The gold Java exported to China and India probably came from Sumatra, which was legendary for its gold mines. Earlier, gold symbolised status and power and its use was restricted to the nobility. At present, its use is more common.

RMV 4905-129 The Lombok brooch in all its brilliance tells a story one of the bloodiest battles of conquest that the Dutch waged in Lombok-Bali. Not all cultural contact was pleasant or mutually beneficial or mutually desired, of course. The Dutch waged a military campaign in order to capture this state. The courageous puputan, or suicide attack of the resistors in Lombok resulted in the Dutch troops opening fire and perpetrating a massacre of the resistors. When the Lombok court was captured, the Dutch took off with the superb treasures of the court and eventually shipped them to the Netherlands. The Dutch and the Indonesians in negotiations over cultural agreements in 1977, agreed upon the return of a part of the Lombok treasures to Indonesia. The brooch on display was one of the treasures that the Netherlands got to keep and is a testimony to colonial expansion at its most violent and ruthless. Bali The Hindu-Buddhist kingdom, which moved from Java, acquired a new lease of life on Bali. Until this day, Hindu-Buddhist art and architecture draw large groups of tourists. The Hindu trinity of Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma is worshipped in the temples of Bali and several times a day offerings are made by worshippers to appease the gods. The gods and mythological heroes of Hindu India also find material expression in Balinese sculpture. Demonic figures derived from Hindu mythology are carved in stone and serve to keep evil at bay. Colonialism led to the perpetuation of images of Bali as a paradisiacal island, in an attempt to ‘preserve’ Balinese culture. This stemmed from the deep guilt of Dutch liberals following the massacre

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of Balinese kings in the conquest of the island in 1906-08. The only way to atone for their wrongdoings seemed to be to make a special effort to promote an appreciation of the island – a task in which they were aided by earlier explorers’ works on the Balinese people and society. A romanticized view of Bali would hopefully overshadow prevalent memories of the bloodbath to which the Dutch had subjected the Balinese. This ideal image of Bali was lucratively exploited by the Dutch colonial administration and Balinese artists for the tourist market of the first decades of the 20th century. This is true of tourism on Bali even today. Wood sculptures on display demonstrate transformations in local aesthetic traditions – the impact of the tourist market.

RMV 4580-2 and 5152-1 The initial part of the exhibition, which concerns itself chiefly with the major kingdoms of Indonesia and their heritages, ends here. The next section is a comprehensive display of textiles and barkcloth from diverse parts of Indonesia.

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THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION ON INDONESIA Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology

II. Barkcloth and Textiles: Potent symbols Barkcloth By the end of the nineteenth century, the production and use of barkcloth clothing was in various stages of decline on the different islands. During World War II, faced with a shortage of textiles, people in Central Sulawesi took recourse to barkcloth clothing again. The women were responsible for producing the barkcloth, i.e. peeling, cooking and pounding the tree bark. They also carried out the dyeing and painting of the barkcloth for its use in the making of clothing. Several styles have been identified in barkcloth clothing of Indonesia: mainly in Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Seram. Showcased in this section is the man’s headdress, siga, worn in Sulawesi.

RMV 1926-219 In Sulawesi, the sun symbolism in motifs on ornamented barkcloth connected the wearer, usually a warrior, with the upper-world.

RMV 3512-18 Women’s jackets, lemba, show similar ornamentation and choice of motifs. The loincloths, lawani of Seram also sport designs that reflect the status and prestige of the wearer and are closely associated with his headhunting activities. The decorations are similar to those on the siga. In Kalimantan, vests made of barkcloth usually showed aso motifs that performed a protective function. The aso is a dog-dragon motif, ubiquitous in Dayak art and architecture, and attributed with powers of protection. Such vests were worn during headhunting raids. On Enggano, the use of barkcloth for clothing declined in the early years of the century. The museum has three Engganese jackets in its possession and the motifs on these suggest a similarity with ornamented barkcloth clothing of the Toraja (in Sulawesi) and Seram.

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THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION ON INDONESIA Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology

Textiles In Indonesia, textiles perform not merely a functional role but also a highly symbolic one. Textiles are a significant feature of inheritances and sometimes a medium of exchange. Cloths feature as gifts offered to the groom’s family by the bride’s family Their association with the earth and fertility make them indispensable to a bride’s trousseau. Textiles also form an integral part of all life-cycle rituals. In general, they are seen as female goods when produced locally. When the textiles originate outside the village, they are regarded as male goods. Certain textiles are a testimony to the island's sea faring history, either by virtue of their motifs or by virtue of the weaving tradition involved. Many times, the motifs are symbolic of the social position of the wearer or the central place of ancestors in these societies. On display are old batik cloths from Java and a large selection of ikat textiles from several parts of Indonesia. The third selection of textiles attests to influences from outside Indonesia. Main weaving traditions of ikat and batik There are two main traditions of weaving in Indonesia – one is the ikat and the other, batik. Ikat refers to the process of dyeing the thread and the tying of the threads before weaving. In this technique, the woven motifs do not have clearly defined boundaries. Batik is the process by which a cloth is treated with wax, so that when dyed, parts of it remain uncoloured.

RMV 16-277 and 300-367 Several colours can be applied to a cloth in this manner. Batik is the most widespread technique used on Java, while ikat predominates on the other islands. The batik textiles on display are a perfect example of the use of textile and imagery in announcing the status or social position of the wearer. Lampung ship cloth On display are the Lampung ship cloths famous for their boat imagery. The boat imagery symbolizes a person’s transition from one stage of life to the other, but also the very central role of the waterways in this island’s history.

RMV 4268-5

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THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION ON INDONESIA Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology

In a period of intense participation in the pepper trade, Lampung material culture bore signs of great wealth. This prosperity was reflected in the textile traditions and the production of palepai and tampan cloths. But these cloths have not been woven in a century and few exemplars can be found today. The palepai and tampan cloths were both Lampung ship cloths – the first meant for the aristocracy and the second for all social classes. Both had their ceremonial uses in life-cycle rituals, where they were used as wall hangings and gift-wrapping. While the most dominant motif is that of the ship, occasionally both palepai and tampan cloths showed rows of human or deity figures. The tampan cloths sometimes bore very intricate, abstract motifs. These ship cloths are impressive historical documents testifying to the lucrative pepper trade in the island’s history. Batak ceremonial cloths Batak ceremonial cloths are numerous. Ulos refers to the gifts given to the groom’s family by that of the bride, which could take the form of textiles or a plot of land. Ritual cloths among the Toba Batak are classified according to their ceremonial uses. One of the different types of ritual cloths is the ulos ragidup on display in the exhibit.

RMV 370-2565 It means ‘pattern of life’ and the bride's father presents such a ritual cloth to the groom's mother. Known as the raja or king of textiles, it could be worn only by men and women of a high status or advanced age. Additionally it could be presented to a widow of stature, to be worn as a mourning handkerchief. A paternal grandmother could also wear an ulos ragidup to announce the birth of a female grandchild. Nusa Tenggara Weaving in Sumba is undertaken only in the East and West of the island, and both have recognizably distinctive styles. As part of their ceremonial attire, men wore ikat mantles dyed with indigo and morinda.

RMV 370-3767

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THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION ON INDONESIA Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology

In East Sumba such cloths bore pictorial representations, and in the west more geometric designs. The lau-hada were skirts adorned with beads, shells and embroidery and constituted important gifts in wedding exchanges. The shells and beads were always imported adding to the value of these skirts. Hence their traditional association with the nobility. As wedding gifts it was only natural that such skirts should display symbols of fertility. Roti lies between Savu and Timor and is one of the Nusa Tenggara islands. The exemplars of textiles from Roti on display were collected in the 1860s. Currently, Roti has succumbed to demands of the export market, and textiles now show simpler motifs and stronger colours than in these exemplars. Sumatra Also on display are the silkweft ikat textiles with gold threadwork from Palembang, once the trading centre in the heart of the great Srivijaya kingdom of Sumatra. Clothing with gold was earlier restricted to royalty. Its use now is much more widespread but it is still exclusively worn by the person with the chief role in a ceremony, signifying its high value even today.

RMV 370-2871 The motifs of Palembang textiles are varied and indicate the status and identity of the wearer as well as the occasion that it is meant for. Gold is used in abundance as embroidery on silk and velvet, as weft on silk, as paint on batik textiles and as ornamentation along the borders of cloths. Patola The import of Gujarat patola10 cloths and silks from India has been a feature of Indonesia’s trade with the mainland for centuries. In several cultures of Indonesia, imported cloths acquired a special ceremonial role and/or were associated with the nobility.

RMV 4032-10

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THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION ON INDONESIA Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology

III. Cultural diversity Indonesia knows tremendous differences between the various cultural groups that inhabit its islands. There is a relative uniformity in the structure of these societies. Yet, the manifestation of that structure in material terms varies from one cultural group to the other. Often, the nomenclatures applied to these groups are much too broad and suggest a homogeneity that does not exist. For instance, the terms Batak, Dayak and Toraja are applied to population groups inhabiting Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi respectively. In reality, each of these groups is characterized by immense diversity; each ‘sub-group’ has a material culture and symbolic vocabulary particular to it. Batak: the priest and his paraphernalia The Batak population of Sumatra consists of six different groups11, one of which is the Toba Batak group. The items on display originated in the Toba Batak community. In Batak funerary rites, rituals to ensure a successful harvest in the coming year and other ritual occasions when contact is made with ancestors, the Batak priest or datu is the central figure. Sometimes the chief of the Batak is himself the datu; if not, the datu is second in importance to the chief. His position is hereditary and as part of his function as priest he also carves divining tools and amulets. The priest used these objects to contact spirits of the dead, to heal the sick, to determine auspicious days for travel, waging battle, and for ceremonies. Among these ritual tools was the Batak magic staff of which the museum has a significant collection. The staffs symbolized unity with the ancestors and they were considered to possess the power of the ancestors. There are two kinds of staffs, the tunggal panaluan and the tunggal malehat. On display are some of the finest staffs in the museum collection, collected between 1867 and 1963.

RMV 315-5 and 905-2 The priest also used pustaha, books made of the bark of the alim tree, in which Toba Batak sacred knowledge was recorded. The pustaha and the inscribed bamboo containers were used to predict the future and identify auspicious days for religious ceremonies and travel. The priest's role has diminished in modern Batak society but the ritual objects continue to be works of art with great aesthetic value. Forging a bond with deceased ancestors being a significant feature of this culture, funerary rites comprise several symbolic acts. At funerals, Batak people performed a masked dance to appease the spirit of the deceased and to assure the deceased that the descendents would make the due offerings to their ancestors in future ceremonies.

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Nias: in honour of our ancestors Ancestral figures (adu) carved in wood are an integral element of Nias material culture and other Indonesian cultures. They oversaw most life-cycle rituals and harvest rituals. In general adu were considered to protect the descendants and their families who in turn provided these ancestral figures with offerings to please them.

RMV 718-41 The adu offered protection against illness, evil spirits or enemies. There are three distinctive regional styles in the arts of Nias emanating from North, Central and South Nias. Some adu were shown in a sitting position with hands cupped for offerings, commonly found in North Nias. Some ancestral figures had no arms and others wear forked headdresses. When figures represented ancestors of social stature and wealth, accessories such as headdresses, jewellery, and other material possessions such as weapons were also carved. Their possession indicated the high rank of the ancestor. The carving of an ancestor figure with a western rifle in his hands is an obvious example of the appropriation into local traditions of influences resulting from contact with outsiders. Enggano: the slain enemy Off the coast of West Sumatra lies Enggano, an island whose population was almost entirely decimated in the second half of the century. This means that all artefacts from this region on display in this exhibit can be truly said to represent a culture that is lost to us. In Enggano, the slaying of an enemy augmented male prestige and female fertility. The material representation of slain enemies was thus crucial for the well being and prosperity of a society.

RMV 712-1 Headdresses with the figure of the slain enemy were worn by women during the harvest ritual. This ritual celebrated abundance – the abundance of nature’s produce, of bait from the seas, and of hunter’s prey. The women’s headdresses with their symbolic representation of the beheaded enemy, gave expression to the successful exploits of the male hunters. Metal, a commodity imported from

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outside and therefore considered male, was used for the headdress. By harnessing the male world of hunting and warfare (and metals) to the female, the ritual probably sought to confirm the reproductive powers inherent in the community and its environment, and ensure the perpetuation of both. Ritual knives also bore the figure of the slain enemy and continue to be valued for their protective function. The Engganese depicted the human head and bird figure on boat helms. The bird figure when at the helm of a boat probably also signified the hunt of prey, either animal or human. The Engganese came into regular contact with the world beyond their community. Buginese traders, important players in the maritime history of the archipelago, carried beads to Enggano. Locally, the value of these imported beads appreciated (not unlike imported textiles in other parts of Indonesia). They were sewn into elaborate ornamental pieces and worn exclusively during ritual ceremonies.

RMV 40-36 The pandanus leaf was used for thatching roofs and for basketry and other plait work. in the exhibit, we see its use in a man’s headdress worn while mourning the death of a close relative. Sulawesi: craftsmanship The original inhabitants of Sulawesi belong to several different groups, most of whom have lived isolated from each other due to the inaccessibility of the highlands. The Buginese are an exception. They are the main players in Indonesia’s ancient intra-island trade and continue to play a role in the same. Their ships can be found all over the archipelago and beyond. The Sa’dan Toraja live at the foothills of the mountains. Mainly members of the noble families occupied the traditional Toraja house, the tongkonan. A tongkonan was built by a founding ancestor to whom the occupying family traced their roots. The names of tongkonans signified the heritage, which the owners claimed as their own; thus, the Toraja house was closely identified with family identity. The decorations on the façade of the house, such as carved wood ornamentation, were an indication of the status of the occupants. Motifs symbolized the general prosperity of the owners. The rice barn of a house was a status symbol; the wealthier the owners of the property, the bigger the rice barn. The carved wood ornamentation on the façade of the house and rice barn is similar in their motifs.

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RMV 03-854 The kandaure is a cone-shaped ornament with beadwork, unique to the Toraja. The beadwork ornament consists of beads strung together on a thread and fitted over an umbrella-shaped bamboo frame. The Sa’dan Toraja use the kandaure during life-cycle rituals. They are attached to bamboo poles near the coffin and are integral to the decorations at the sacrificial site during funerary ceremonies. They are moved from one ceremonial site to the next during the period of the funerary rituals. Men make beadwork ornaments, while textile weaving is the woman’s domain. The kingdom of Bone was once located in the south of Sulawesi; it was one of three important Buginese kingdoms. The Buginese were and are seasoned travellers who have traded throughout Indonesia for several hundred years. The area of Bone is renowned for its basketry made of lontar palm leaves. Food for long journeys is carried by placing several baskets on top of each other. Kalimantan: warding off evil spirits

The Dayak believe that the spirits of the upper, under and middle world are ambivalent: they are capable of both benevolence and menace. The Sangiang are the spirits of the forest who are always disposed to acting in the interests of humans. These spirits are called upon to help and advise at times of domestic misfortune, on long journeys overland, and while hunting. The Jata is the female deity of the waters whose nature is much more ambivalent. She is invoked to ensure a rich crop harvest and during dangerous river journeys. But she is just as capable, it is believed, of flooding the land and its crops and sweeping away its inhabitants. Numerous Dayak artefacts are imparted the function of keeping evil spirits at bay and protecting the bearer or wearer of these artefacts or amulets. In their legendary basketry, wood and metal carvings, one frequently finds imagery that performs this protective function in the Dayak world-view. The aso, or dog-dragon motif is ubiquitous in Dayak art and architecture, and provides protection in daily life.

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Hampatongs are wooden statues that are placed in a variety of locations, with their functions varying accordingly. Some small hampatongs are used on riverbanks to assist in catching bait. Small hampatongs are also used in sacrifices to the Jata and Sangiang. Hampatongs, measuring more than two metres in height, stand outside 'longhouses' (the typical Dayak house) and at the entrance of villages; they perform the function of warding off evil spirits. The baby-carrier is the most valuable possession, considering it protects the baby, and hence ensures the perpetuation of the family. It is ornamented with designs made of beadwork that are said to protect the baby from evil. It is generally the baby’s grandmother who does the painstaking work of creating the beadwork patterns. Certain motifs on baby-carriers are used exclusively by aristocrats or people of a higher social rank – such as the motif of the tiger or the human figure. Ornamentation also includes shells, bells, and other amulets. The sound of these ornaments during movement is believed to scare the evil spirits away.

RMV 1308-155 Masks, known as hudo among the Kayan and Kenyah, were worn by dancers in performances during agricultural rites, to represent the good spirits probably ancestors. With pig- or bird- masks, the dancers were to attract the menacing spirits to the good crop and then plead that they leave the harvest unharmed. Hudo masks are in use among the Kayan, kenyah, Bahau and Modang groups. The Ngaju Dayak masks in Central Kalimantan were worn at the tiwah feasts or feasts associated with the secondary burial, when the souls of the dead finally depart from the living world. A. W Nieuwenhuis12, who explored Central Borneo and is responsible for the some of the renowned ethnographic collections of Borneo in the museum, was impressed by the ability of the Dayak to adorn not only ritual but also functional objects with elaborate motifs. Artefacts that formed a part of routine household work were/are intricately carved. Kitchen implements are made of hardwood and adorned with the aso motif or floral patterns. Plait work among the Dayak extends from mats and baskets to sunhats. On display is a Dayak sunhat made of pisang palm leaves and adorned with embroidery, appliqué and beadwork. The Dayak are renowned for their smithing traditions. Dayak ceremonial swords, mandau, are elaborately ornamented. Ornamentation includes goat hair, beads, and wild animal teeth. Sword hilts made of deer bone have no practical function; they are meant to appease or charm spirits. Shields earlier used in wars are now used in ceremonies, war dances and on other festive occasions and the motifs on a war shield were meant to frighten the enemy. Motifs are again selected for what the Dayak believe is their inherent capacity to drive evil spirits away. Nusa Tenggara

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The collecting of objects from Nusa Tenggara began early in the nineteenth century with the Science Commission13 sending a team to the region to gather ethnographic objects. A part of this collection was sold to Von Siebold, the founder of the National Museum of Ethnology. The museum then acquired a substantial number of objects from the region from Solomon Muller in 1864 . B.A.G. Vroklage, who later became the first professor of ethnography at the University of Nijmegen, did fieldwork in the 1930s in Nusa Tenggara and is responsible for significant contributions to the museum’s collection from this region. These include the dragon sculptures, the house door and the ridge decorations.

RMV 2271-2 Dragon sculptures of Alor performed a protective function both for individuals and the larger community. The dragon sculptures made for personal protection, were closely identified with the creator or owner. Giving one away or selling one could lead to misfortune for the creator, it was believed. Dragon figures placed in the ritual house were fed offerings of rice and chicken in order to ensure the perpetuation of the lineage community, that is, ensure fertility. In Alor, the dragon figure probably performs the function of warding off evil spirits just as the dog-dragon or aso in Dayak art. The complementary dualism of male-female, right-left is manifested in daily life on the Lesser Sunda Islands in a number of ways, one of which is house architecture. Male activities and symbols are associated with the right side of the inner section of the house, with the outer area of the house and with the attic. Female activities and the female presence in general, are associated with the inner section in general, and then the left side of that inner section. In the Timor highlands, the door of the house, allowing passage from the male/outer section of the house to the female/inner section, displays female symbols. The Manggarai who live on Flores used to build houses that were long oval constructions to accommodate more than one family, until the Dutch colonial government prohibited such constructions on the grounds that they were unhygienic. These houses were replaced by smaller constructions in the 1930s, which housed three families. The ridge decorations on display are probably from both the earlier and the more modern constructions. The decorations were an indication of the higher status of the occupants. At present, the Manggarai live in square houses meant for one nuclear family. G.A.J. van der Sande14 did fieldwork in Nusa Tenggara in 1908 and came across a Chinese porcelain plate which had found its way to this region through trade.

RMV 1671-38 The porcelain plate dates back a few centuries and attests to a long history of trade between the lesser Sunda islands and China. It was highly valued locally, just as other goods originating outside

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the community. Also on display are some objects of a more practical or functional nature, collected in this region by Van der Sande. In the course of expeditions to Nusa Tenggara, other ethnographers have found ancestor figures, which now grace the museum’s vast collections from this region. Maluku-Tenggara: pronounced male-female symbolism This group of islands has also known centuries of trade and migration from the other Indonesian islands. Asians and Europeans came in search of spices and the islands’ peoples imported cloth and jewellery among other things. These islands have known trade with the Bugis and Makassar traders of South Sulawesi, and European traders. The obviously central role of the waterways is reflected in South East Moluccan cosmology. The boat is perceived to symbolize the village community; everyone on the boat knows his/her place and the crew is the social group of priests and chiefs. The hull, rib and keel symbolise fertility while the decorated sterns are the male aspect of status. The boat, with its male and female aspects, symbolises the union of both aspects. The symbiosis of both male and female aspects reaffirms the clan’s longevity. As in other outer islands of Indonesia, ancestors are central to South East Moluccan societies and they are integrated into everyday life through various art forms. These include the wooden or stone sculptures of ancestors who founded an ethnic group, and ancestors of every family. The figures representing the ancestors responsible for the origin of the tribes were usually taller then those of ancestors of later generations. They were also represented as standing and sometimes with their arms raised. In matrilineal societies the first female ancestors (known as luli, on Leti and Lakor) were represented in many forms in these figures. The one on display shows the female ancestor as part of a tree. In the myth of origin she is the island girl who marries the immigrant and perpetuates the tribe. She is represented as merging with the tree and this symbolizes her fertility. Small ancestor figures accompanied the owner when he went into battle.

RMV 2235-1a Ancestor statues in families had an altar - tavu15- dedicated to them in each home. In many instances, the ancestral figures clearly reflect the identity of the deceased. In Leti for instance, the figures also testify to the status of the deceased. This was seen from the accessories and ornaments the figures were adorned with. In the period of the transition to Protestantism, figures sometimes showed the Christian identity of the deceased. This was in itself a marker of status as Christians were considered to be almost on par with the Dutch colonial officials. Sometimes, ancestors were represented with a western hat or sitting on a chair, i.e with western trappings, and these indicated the prominence of the deceased. This is an excellent example of how foreign influences are appropriated and given recognizable and familiar forms.

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RMV 1971-365 The pottery of the Bandanese is an important feature of the material culture of these islands. The Bandanese are originally from the Middle Moluccas. Following a bloodbath orchestrated by Dutch colonial officer Jan Pietersz. Coen16, the Bandanese fled to the Kei islands. Here they have the sole right to produce their clay work, for which they are renowned. Pots are used for ritual purposes such as in wedding ceremonies, where they form part of the bridal trousseau. For functional purposes, the locals resort to metal cooking ware. Here as elsewhere in the South East Moluccas, one sees again the female symbol of fertility take material shape Pottery, by virtue of being earthenware, is women’s work because it has to do with the earth and its reproductive capacity. A woman’s pot is said to hold her life breath. It has been suggested that pots have acquired such a central role in the Kei and Aru islands as no textiles are woven here. Elsewhere it is textiles, which are potent in their symbolism of female fertility.

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Literature Susanne Greub (ed.), Expressions of Belief. Masterpieces of African, Oceanic, and Indonesian Art from the Museum voor Volkenkunde, Rotterdam, New York 1988. Nico de Jonge & Toos van Dijk, Vergeten Eilanden - Kunst en Cultuur van de Zuidoost-Molukken. Singapore 1995. Pieter ter Keurs & Michael Prager (eds), 'W.H Rassers and the Batak Magic Staff', in Mededelingen van het Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde Leiden , Leiden 1998. Mark De Fraeye & Pieter ter Keurs, Indonesia. The Island State. Antwerpen 1999.

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Notes 1 Eugene Dubois was born in the town of Eijsden in the Netherlands in 1858. As a boy he was fascinated by natural history, a pursuit encouraged by his pharmacist father. A good student, he studied medicine and graduated as a doctor in 1884. Two years later he was appointed an anatomy lecturer at Amsterdam University, and married in the same year. The following year, he gave it up to go to the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, to look for fossils of human ancestors. In August 1892 he found an intact skullcap. This fossil became known as Java Man. In 1894 Dubois published a description of this and other fossils, naming them Pithecanthropus erectus, describing it as neither ape nor human, but something intermediate. Dubois had officially retired in 1928 but remained scientifically active until his death in 1940. (Source: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/edubois.html) Copyright © 1996-2001 by Jim Foley 2 Sanskrit, also spelled Sanscrit (Sanskrit samskrta: “prepared, cultivated, purified, refined”), Old Indo-Aryan language, the classical literary language of the Hindus of India. Vedic Sanskrit, based on a dialect of northwestern India, dates from as early as 1800 BC and appears in the text of the Rigveda; it was described and standardized in the important grammar book by Panini, dating from about the 5th century BC. Literary activity in so-called Classical Sanskrit, which is close to but not identical with the language described by Panini, flourished from c. 500 BC to AD 1000 and continued even into modern times. Currently, a form of Sanskrit is used not only as a learned medium of communication among Hindu scholars but also as a language for some original writing. The language, written in the Devanagari script is, in fact, undergoing something of a revival, though it is neither a widespread nor a usual mother tongue. Sanskrit grammar is similar to that of other older Indo-European languages, such as Latin and Greek; it is highly inflected and complex. Sanskrit has three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), three numbers (singular, dual, and plural), and eight cases (nominative, accusative, instrumental, dative, ablative, genitive, locative, and vocative), although only in the singular of the most common declension does a noun show different forms for each case. Adjectives are inflected to agree with nouns. Verbs are inflected for tense, mode, voice, number, and person. (Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica) 3 Pallava script refers to the classical Tamil script in its phase of development during the Pallava reign (4th century-ninth century AD) in Kanchipuram, South India. 4 Candi Plaosan, a Buddhist temple complex not far from Prambanan. Candi means commemorative shrine, and is also used to refer to other types of ancient Indonesian monuments. (Source: Glossary of Indian and Indonesian terms, in Jan Fontein’s The Sculpture of Indonesia) 5 The Batara Guru is a representation of Shiva. 6 Candi Singasari was built during the Singasari king Krtanagara’s rule in the 1200s. This candi was never finished. The statues of Ganesha, Durga, Nandi (Shiva’s mount) and Bairawa are all in the museum in Leiden. (Source: Pieter ter Keurs and Mark De Fraeye’s Indonesia, the island state) 7 W.H. Rassers, 1877-1973. 8 The Ramayana and Mahabarata are ancient Indian epics, passed on orally for over 2000 years. They have served as a source of inspiration for both Indian mythology as well as local folkloric traditions. 9 The Gamelan is the indigenous orchestra of Java and Bali, consisting largely of several varieties of gongs and various sets of tuned instruments that are struck with mallets. A sustained melody is played either by the bamboo flute (the suling) or by a bowed string instrument (rebab) or is sung—the last especially when, as often occurs, the gamelan is used to accompany theatrical performances, or wayangs. The voice is then part of the orchestral texture. Dominating these two groups of instruments is the drum (the kendang), which unites them and acts as leader.

No two gamelans are precisely alike tonally, for each instrument is tuned only to the gamelan for which it is intended rather than to an external standard of pitch. (Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica)

10 Patola is “a type of silk sari (characteristic garment worn by Indian women) of Gujarati origin, the warp and weft being tie-dyed (see bandhani work) before weaving according to a predetermined pattern. It formed part of the trousseau presented by the bride's maternal uncle. Although extant patolas of Gujarat do not predate the late eighteenth century, their history certainly goes back to the twelfth century, if not earlier. Patterns such as a dancing girl, elephant, parrot, pipal leaf, floral spray, watercress, basketwork, diaper (overall diamond pattern) with a double outline, and flowers were employed on a deep-red ground. The extraordinary laboriousness of the work and the high cost of production led to decreased demand and the decline of this important craft. The technique of patola weaving was also known in Indonesia, where it was called ikat.” (Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica) 11 The six Batak groups are the Toba, Karo, Angkola, Mandailing, Simalungun, and Pakpak . (Source: Indonesia in Focus ) 12 A. W Nieuwenhuis, 1864-1953 See also Sudha Rajagopalan’s Through the ethnographic looking-glass: A.W Niewenhuis in Borneo.

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13 The Science Commission for the Dutch Indies or the Natuurkundige Commissie voor Nederlandsch-Indië, was set up in 1820 by King Willem I. Its explicit goal was to collect information about all aspects of life in the colonies in order to facilitate more efficient exploitation of the same. 14 G.A.J. van der Sande was an ethnographer well known for his participation in the Wichmann expedition to Dutch New Guinea in 1903. After six months of research, van der Sande produced a detailed ethnographic work on the region. 15 In Tanimbar, families had ancestor altars or tavu. Its meaning is derived from concepts such as 'beginning' or 'origin'. The name refers to the ancestors as the origin of the family, and to the time of the ancestors, in which they were sometimes depicted as animals, and in which important family heirlooms were acquired. These matters can be found as decorative motifs in the plank statues. Unlike the smaller statues for specific ancestors, tavu altars were an abstract representation of the concept of ancestral parentage. 16 Jan Pieterszoon Coen was born on January 8 1587 in Hoorn, The Netherlands and died September 21 1629 in Batavia, now Jakarta, Indonesia. He was the chief founder of the Dutch commercial empire in the East Indies. As the fourth governor-general of the Dutch East Indies, he established a chain of fortified posts in the Indonesian Archipelago, displacing the Portuguese and preventing penetration by the English. His dream of a vast maritime empire stretching from Japan to India never came to fruition, but his energetic administration established Dutch rule in Indonesia, where it remained for four centuries. (Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica)

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