the healing arts of the malay mystic - d.s. farrer.pdf

7/27/2019 The healing arts of the malay mystic - D.S. Farrer.pdf

1/18

The Healing Arts of the Malay Mystic

D. S. FARRER

The legacy of Alfred Gell offers a rich stock of ingenious ideas to apply and extend to the thought-provoking artwork of

Mohammad Din Mohammad, who combines the skills (ilmu) of the Malay martial art silat with the knowledge of the

traditional Malay healer, to press life, breath, and divine power into his painting and sculpture. The artists agency is

said to open a gateway to the unseen realm. By painting calligraphic motifs derived from the Quran with his bare hands,

the artist channels Allahs energy from within, energy that is embodied and suspended within his artworks, to protect

the patient from spiritual attack. The artwork serves as a protective talisman during spiritually vulnerable moments,

such as birth, marriage, fasting, and death. During crisis, the power stored within the artwork may be unleashed to

counter attacks from ghosts, vampires, or other nefarious creatures. [Key words: agency, calligraphy, enchantment,

silat, Sufism]

Introduction

Just as Chinese kung fu may be referred to as med-

itation in motion, the Malay martial art (silat) is

the moving embodiment of Malay magic and reli-

gion.1 This article is concerned with the doings of

magic, mysticism, and religion, and with agency as

exemplified through works of art, ritual, and perfor-

mance (Hughes-Freeland 1998:46; V. Turner 1988).

I discuss silat at length as embodied magic elsewhere

(Farrer 2006a, 2006b, in press).2 Here I focus on the art-

work of a contemporary Malaysian artist (pelukis),

Mohammad Din Mohammad, a member of the Singapore

Modern Art Society, who has generously given permission

for his paintings and sculptures to appear in Visual An-thropology Review.3 Mohammad Din is a master (guru silat)

of the secretive Malay martial art (silat Melayu). He became

a mystical healer after a motorcycle accident and several

years of treatment from his own guru silat, Pak Hamim

Bujang. Through these experiences Mohammad Din has

become a master of the unseen realm (alam ghaib). A

graduate in fine art from The Nanyang Academy of Fine

Art in 1976, Mohammad Din now eschews the pen and

the brush to paint with his bare hands. He infuses mysti-cal power (tenaga batin) into his sculpture and painting,

and transforms these mediums of expression into a ve-

hicle for Malay mysticism and the celebration of God.

In much the same way that westerners regard clas-

sical music and ballet as art, the Malays generally regard

silat as an artFhence seni silat. Seni is the Malay term

for art, but it also denotes aesthetics. Seni, more-

over, refers to the skill involved in the production of

art. Seni applies to modern painting and sculpture as

well as to all the traditional Malay arts, including

batik, Arabic calligraphy, wood-carving, jewelry,

silverwork, weaponry, music, and the performance arts

of dance, theater, and puppet theater (wayang kulit)

(Frey 1995; Ghulam-Sarwar 1997, 2004; Sedyawati

1998; Sheppard 1972, 1983). Therefore, any definition of

art must be wide enough to embrace performance and

not be narrowly confined to objects.4

Considering silat as an art drew me toward Gells Art

and Agency (1998), and suggested the intriguing possi-

bility for the anthropology of martial arts. However,

because difficulties must be surmounted one at a time,

Gells definition of art excludes verbal and musical arts,

and refers primarily to objects including paintings,

carvings, and sculpturesFto what he calls visual art

(1998:13). Despite his narrow definition, Gell does con-sider dance, body-paint, tattoos, mazes, sand-drawings,

knots, and even animal traps as art forms in his Art and

Agency and in books and articles throughout his career

(Gell 1975, 1999[1985], 1993, 1999[1992], 1999[1996]).

Furthermore, in Art and Agency, Gell does discussnonmaterial types of art, particularly the relation be-

tween drawn patterns and dance, where performance art

complements graphic art. Regarding Mohammad Dinsartwork alongside Gells anthropology of art opens an

interpretive window onto contemporary Malay mysti-

cism, and illustrates the continuing utility of Gells

Visual Anthropology Review, Vol. 24, Issue 1, pp. 2946, ISSN 1053-7147, online ISSN 1548-7458.& 2008 by the American Anthropological Association. DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-7458.2008.00003.x.


2/18

theory of enchantment (Gell 1999[1992], 1998). Ziaud-

din asserts, despite the formalism of Malay

interpretations of Islam, Malay Islam leans heavily to-

wards a mystical spirituality that draws its sustenance

from myths, miracles and magic (2000:133). Art critic

Rubin Khoo says that it would not be an exaggeration

to say [Mohammad Din paintings] have the ability tocommand the viewer, adding that they exude a certain

energy that draws you in (Mohammad 2001). Khoo is

on the right track when he supposes that the uncanny

result of the artwork is achieved through the artists

technique of applying the paint straight from the tube

onto the canvas with his bare hands. This supports Gells

theory of the technology of enchantment, the undeci-

pherable skill of the artist, leading to the enchantment

of technology, which is a propensity to see the world in

enchanted form (1999[1992]).

Art and Agency

Gells master project was to establish the anthropology

of art upon the study of social relations, and not upon

aesthetics, culture, or Saussurian semiotics. This proved

to be a controversial move that went against the grain of

much of the contemporary anthropology of art (Morphy

1994:648685), and has stirred up some bitter criticisms

(Bowden 2004), to which I shall return shortly.

Gell underscores agency and challenges repre-

sentational strategies in the anthropology of art, asking

not what art objects such as Asmat shields or paintedprows on Trobriand canoes represent, but what they

doFwhich for Gell (1998:6, 31) is to inspire fear and

awe in the enemy (see also Pinney and Thomas 2001:4).5

Gells task is to figure out how indigenous artworks

inspire fear and trepidation in the enemy. In Art and

Agency, Gell outlines the concept of captivation

(1998:6872) developed from his earlier theories

concerning cognitive traps (1999[1996]), the en-

chantment of technology, and the technology of

enchantment (1999[1992]).

Gell emphasizes that social agency, primarily an at-

tribute of the human actor, is also invested in things.

Proceeding implicitly upon the commodity fetishism ofMarx, and citing Mausss work on the gift, Gell argues

that art objects, cars, dolls, and even antipersonnel

mines act as sites of congealed agency (1998:1821).

Art objects therefore may be considered to act as

second-class agents or as secondary agents (Gell

1998:17, 2021). Secondary agents possess within them

congealed power to act upon the world. According to

Gell, such agency should be the proper focus of the an-

thropology of art.Gell formulates his theory of visual art in terms

of the abduction (inference) of agency, namely the

index (the agency of the artwork), the artist (the

originator of the agency of the artwork), the recipi-

ent (those who exert agency or have agency exerted

upon them via the artwork), and the prototype (the

entity represented in the artwork) (1998:1227). Gell

implicitly follows Campbells (2002:56) use of the term

patient, where the artist becomes a vessel for other-

worldly powers, these powers somehow assuming the

role of the agent (contra Bowden 2004:310).Layton perceptively notes that while Gell makes a

good case for the agency of art objects he does not ex-

plain the distinctive ways in which art objects extendtheir makers or users agency (2003:447). My intention

here is not simply to adopt or critique Gells conceptual

apparatus, but to apply and extend his insights con-

cerning enchantment and captivation to the artwork of

Mohammad Din. In a rather complicated passage, Gell

explains that by abductionFa notion derived from logic

rather than linguisticsFhe is looking to adopt a non-

linguistic model of causality, where abduction refers

to inferential schemas (Gell 1998:1416; cf. Schutzs

[1944] scripts). I think reading Batesons Style, Grace

and Information in Primitive Art (2000) gives a firmer

grip on what Gell is trying to achieve. Gell disdains aes-thetics in relation to the anthropology of art in much the

same way that Bateson is not interested in translating

mythology into an understanding of particular artworks.

What is essential for Bateson and Gell is not the

message but the code. Moreover, Gells scientific-

looking notation obviously derives from Bateson,

where square brackets enclose the universe of relevance

and parentheses [universe (of relevance)] (Bateson

2000:132, 134). However, whereas Bateson employs an

oblique stroke/within the brackets to represent a slash

across which some guesswork is possible, and Gell sub-

stitutes the notion of abduction to reason across the

slash from the known artwork back to the unknownagent, I am fortunate to have known both the artwork

and the artist.

Describing himself as a Sunday painter (1998:72),

Gell was fascinated and mystified by the amazing skill

Dr. Douglas Farrer earned a doctorate in social anthropology from the National University of Singapore in the Department of

Sociology in 2006. His thesis focuses upon the Malay martial art, silat. Dr. Farrer has practiced martial arts since 1975 and is a

qualified instructor in kung fu and silat. Dr. Farrer resided in Singapore and Malaysia from 1998 to 2007; he is currently based in

Micronesia.

30 VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGY REVIEW Volume 24 Number 1 Spring 2008


3/18

of art masters in the production of the masterpiece. He

refers to the application of the skills of the virtuosi to

the production of works of art as the technology of

enchantment (Gell 1999[1992]). Here the agency of

the artist eludes the comprehension of the viewer, who

is left mystified as to how the artwork was produced.

The resulting enchantment of technology refers toa spell cast over those who would see the real world in

an enchanted form (Gell 1999[1992]:163; Campbell

2001:123). The artwork appears as miraculously fash-

ioned, an exalted masterpiece produced through divine

inspiration, exerting an indecipherable agency that

traps the spectator within the index, a process Gell dubs

as captivation. In Gells terms, captivation or fasci-

nationFthe demoralization produced by the spectacle

of unimaginable virtuosityFensues from the spectator

becoming trapped within the index because the index

embodies agency which is essentially indecipherable(1998:71). Therefore, captivation occurs when the spec-

tator cannot reason across the slash.

Tambiah notes that the knotted corded bracelets

given by Buddhist monks beguile spirits who, instead of

entering the body, are kept busy trying to figure out how

the knots were tied (1984). Similarly, Gell notes that

apotropaic patterns are demon traps (1998:84). Be-

guilement is the key concept in Gells explanation of

complex designs sketched on the doorsteps of Indian

houses that lure and trap spirits to prevent them from

entering the house (1999[1996]:187214). Furthermore,

Gell claims that Asmat shield designs beguile their

enemies and make them fearful (1998:6, 31). Accordingto Gell, the power of the index may captivate, demoral-

ize, or even horrify the opponent, through its

objectification of emotion:

The tiger which is about to pounce and devour hisvictim looks, above all, terrifiedFof itself, as it

wereFand the same is true of warriors bearing

down with grimaces of fear and rage. The Asmat

shield is a false mirror, which seems to show the

victim in his own terror when, in fact, it is anoth-

ersFand in this way persuades him that he is

terrified. Like the famous trompe-lil image (by

Parmigianino) of the Medusas head in the mirror of

Perseus (in the Uffizi gallery) the shield terrifies us

by persuading us that we are what it shows.

[1998:31; also 1998:6872]

Even though the index may captivate, demoralize,

and horrify the recipient as opponent, the recipient is

also the benefactor of the artworks agency and of the

indexs capacity to fortify and delight. Across the slash

of demoralization lies inspiration. Simultaneously, flow

states and moments of astounding creativity may be ac-

companied by sensations of euphoria and a sense of the

uncanny.

Gells Art and Agency reverses Freuds ideas of the

uncanny (1990[1919]). Freud reminds us that the un-

canny is part of a little known branch of aesthetics, and

locates the source of uncanny sensations or feelings

within the individual recipient, anxieties from whichwe moderns have never become free, including

silence, solitude, darkness, and death (1990:339). On

the other hand, in his anthropological Grundrisse, Gell

locates the source of uncanny sensations within the

social context (artist, index, and recipient) in the pro-

duction, exchange, consumption, and distribution of art

and fetish objects. Freud juxtaposes art and experience;

Gell attempts to bridge that gap through anthropological

theory; and Mohammad Din attempts to bring the un-

canny into quotidian life through his art. Mohammad

Dins artworks have social and psychological functionsas they approach ancient anxieties and reflect specific

Malaysian anxieties concomitant with rapid moderniza-

tion, problems of religious identity between Sufism

to Wahabbism, and comparative ethnic fear of failure.

This supports Campbells point that the enchantment

effected by art is frequently mediated by culturally

specific references (2001).6

Turning to an altogether different type of false mir-

ror, Bowdens principal argument, in his Review of

Gells Art and Agency, hinges upon his complaint of

Gells handling of the ethnographic evidence (2004:

312313).7 Bowden argues that Gell overrelies upon a

picture of a newly decorated prow board originally takenby Campbell in 1977 (see also Campbell 2002) as evi-

dence for his theory of enchantment, in both his earlier

article and his later book (Bowden 2004:312313; Gell

1999:164 [1992]; 1998:70). According to Bowden, who

admits that he has never sailed off the southeast coast of

New Guinea, the choppy seas around the Trobriand Is-

lands would remove the paint from the prow board,

rendering the image far less imposing than the spectac-

ular prow board of Campbells picture, thus negating any

supposedly enchanting effect (2004:312). However, as

Shirley Campbell put it to me:

[Bowden (2004)] misses the point entirely and ap-parently has not been able to grasp the central

argument of Gells thesis. It doesnt matter that the

paint may or may not be washed off [from the prow

of the boat] on the out-going journey. When occa-

sion allows the fleet stops near to their destination to

freshen up the paint of the prowboards and their

own decoration. However, this is not essential as it is

the knowledge or expectation that there are pow-

erful elements displayed on the boards and that the

The Healing Arts of the Malay Mystic FARRER 31


4/18

paint itself has been imbued with magic to alter the

minds of the hosts. Essentially then, what Gell was

arguing, which he took from my own analysis of the

situation, was that people believe that the designs, the

paint, [and] the magic that is encased within all of

these are powerful elements that will [affect] people

and their behaviors. [pers. comm, February 3, 2007]

As far as I am aware, the somewhat ad hominem

postmortem criticisms of Gell made up by Bowden

(2004) have remained unchallenged. This is not to say

that Gells 1998 book is beyond reproach, but there is a

significant difference between the sour grapes of de-

structive criticism and an attempt to appreciate it for

what it is worth.8 For example, in order for a theory to

adequately account for the performance of martial arts,

cognition and rationality need to be recognized as

embodied phenomena that are manifested through

performance. Therefore, Gells concepts of the technol-ogy of enchantment and the enchantment of

technology could be recast as the performanceof en-

chantment and the enchantment of performance for

the purposes of understanding silat. Here the perfor-

mance of enchantment refers to the esoteric abilities or

skills of the silat practitioner to confound and confuse

the enemy with devious maneuvers (possibly vanishing

right under their nose), and the enchantment of perfor-

mance refers to the animist, Hindu, Tantric, Buddhist,and Islamic cosmologies embodied within the practice

and performance of silat (Farrer 2006b, in press).9

While I agree with Campbells comments concerning

Bowdens misreading, my contribution to this debate isto illustrate Gells theory with the artwork of Mohammad

Din, where art, magic, and healing coalesce. In the fol-

lowing account, I pursue the complex multiplicity of

silat (which fuses art, enchantment, medicine, ritual,performance, and skill) poured into the artwork of Mo-

hammad Din, an artist who paints with his bare hands

onto canvas using the movements of silat. The finished

products are supposed to be able to spring into action

automatically in times of crisis, and act as a reservoir for

the divine agency of the artist to serve and protect the

recipient against the forces of evil.

Mohammad Din Mohammad

In his early 50s, Mohammad Din is soft-spoken and

slightly built. He has a youthful, thoughtful counte-

nance, a quick smile, and a sharp wit (Figure 1). He has

exhibited in Bahrain, China, Dubai, Germany, Holland,

Indonesia, Istanbul, London, Macau, Malaysia, New

York, Paris, Perth, and Singapore. Born in Melaka, now-

adays, he resides mostly in Singapore and Malaysia

where his work, examples of which are displayed in the

Singapore Art Museum and the National University of

Singapore Museum, is recognized as a tidy investment.

Polymath Mohammad Din is renowned for his abil-

ities as a martial arts expert, natural healer and herbalist

(pawang), stage and film actor, musician, and song-

writer. He is an avid collector of Southeast Asian arti-facts and has an impressive collection of Malay art,

antiques, and exotica, including sculptures, shadow

puppets, and traditional Malay weapons (throwing axes,

daggers, halberds, knives, shields, spears, and swords).10

Every item carries a biography and most have magical

properties (Kopytoff 1998). For example, one keris (dag-

ger), named kelap lintah, is said to grow to hundreds of

feet in length when drawn in battle, and dwarfs the

combatants. The material object partially supports the

story, because when the blade is slowly drawn it appears

far too long to have emerged from its scabbard. Mo-hammad Din says the name kelap lintah means the blade

moves like a leech, appearing small and then big as

it feeds upon blood. The clever gestalt design uses the

angles of the hilt of the keris against the scabbard to trick

the eye into seeing the blade appear to grow too long for

the scabbard.

According to Mohammad Din, his silat style, which

he describes as Seni Silat Pusaka Hang Tuah, dates back

to the famous Malay warrior, Laksamana (Lord Admiral)

Hang Tuah, who resided in Melaka during the 16th

century.11 In the Middle Ages, Malacca was the cosmo-

politan capital city of the Malay (Melayu) people, who

safeguarded trade and commerce across large coastalareas of Southeast Asia until 1511, when the Portuguese

sacked the city (Andaya and Andaya 2001; Reid 1988,

1993). Nowadays, Melaka is widely regarded as a rather

sleepy tourist town, although for Malaysian silat practi-

tioners it is the Mecca of silat.

Supposedly first developed exclusively by and for

the Malay aristocracy, silat Melayu (Malay silat) is an

especially elegant-looking fighting art where the move-

ments of the waist transmit a smooth, flowing, whipping

power into gestures akin to Balinese and Javanese dance.

Despite a preference for very low stances, the footwork

is light, fast, and nimble, with the performer veering off

at unlikely or inconceivable angles. The best exponentscan move like a shadow, and Mohammad Din demon-

strates superb balance, control, power, and speed in his

silat forms. In Dance and Drama in Bali, de Zoete andSpies (1952:256) describe the silat performers arms,

wrists, and hands as carving intricate mysterious circling

patterns through the air in gestures of adjuration or

exorcism as if weaving charms. In the same sense that

Japanese kendo is generally understood to embody Zen

Buddhism, and Chinese taijiquan and baguazhang to



5/18

embody the Taoist philosophies of yin and yang, Mo-

hammad Din understands silat Melayu to embody

Islamic mysticism. Therefore, from his point of view, it

may be said that silat is Sufism in motion, with the hands

weaving Islamic calligraphy through the air in remem-

brance of Allah.

Mohammad Din adopts a holistic approach to art,

calligraphy, martial arts, medicine, and nature, which hesays are all part of the One. According to him, warriors

in Southeast Asia were always and necessarily involved

in healing because the practice of silat leads to many

injuries, including bruises, broken limbs, burns, concus-

sions, cuts, stab and puncture wounds, strained muscles,

and torn ligaments. Sickness, induced from poisoning,

witchcraft, and war sorcery, must be added to this list.

Mohammad Din emphasizes that the knowledge (ilmu)

of healing and silat are contiguous, asserting that it is

rare to find a guru silat who is not also a healer, or a

Malay healer who has not been a practitioner of silat.

Gallery Mystique

As I visited his home gallery one day in Singapore, Mo-

hammad Din suggested that we travel to Melaka to

practice silat in his chicken shack. I embarked upon

the journey with some trepidation, having just complet-

ed several weeks of rank fieldwork in a silat training

ground (gelanggang) covered in cat feces, musk, and ur-

ine. However, while we were driving, Mohammad Din

decided that we should take a detour to Kuala Lumpur

instead. Late that night, we arrived at Gallery Mystique,

located in Bukit Tunku, the Beverley Hills of Kuala

Lumpur, perched atop the sprawling capital of Malaysia.

Nestling on the brow of a precipice, the five-story man-

sion boasts a huge reception area encompassed by four

alfresco dining areas. From the third story, a swimming

pool yawns out into the sky like a sparkling blue bottomlip. The entire house is saturated with Mohammad Dins

paintings and sculpture.

For one night only Gallery Mystique was opened to

the public, for an event mischievously called the Night

of the Secret Wine.12 Secret wine does not just refer to

proper wine drinking at the artists exhibitions, but also

to the ecstasy of the mind and the feeling of the soul

when the viewer becomes intoxicated by the artwork, as

Mohammad Din noted to me. In the words of the great

Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi, as quoted by Mohammad Din:

Of the secret wine

all drank but just a sipFso as to become

so as to exist.

But I

drank barrels and barrels

of that wine so as to become

a mirror pure.

Such feelings, summoned by the skills of the artist,

captivate viewers and function to draw them into a

larger cosmology that the artwork embodies rather than

represents. None of this relies on cultural or performa-

FIGURE 1. Mohammad Din in his studio at Gallery Mystique.



6/18

tive notions of aesthetics, which Gell argued must be

bracketed for the purposes of understanding art anthro-

pologically (1999[1992], 1998).13

Entering the mansion through the imposing stone

entrance, one first encounters a small wooden sculpture

of a dragon behind which are situated two paintings: The

Conference of the Birds and the Garden of Revelation(Figures 2 and 3).

The downstairs wall space mainly displays Moham-

mad Dins work on the Zikr theme, completed in

calligraphic style, done in black and white, or in bright

vibrant colors all painted with his bare hands. Upstairs

are the private apartments of the owners and the artists

studio, featuring a series of paintings including those

from Mohammad Dins series entitled Flora and Nature.

Less abstract than Jackson Pollocks drip technique,

these stunning works of abstract expressionism enchant

the space around them.The Conference of the Birds refers to the story related

by the Sufi, Farid Ud-Din Attar, and although not cal-

ligraphic in its visual style, it has been painted by hand

in what Mohammad Din calls the free style of calli-

graphic rendition.

The picture and the story concern the hoopoe bird

that becomes the leader of the birds around it in their

quest to find the King of the Birds (simorgh). Many birds

failed to find the King, although in the end 30 birds

managed to reach the door of the King of the Birds.

When the door was opened, they discovered that the bird

they were seeking was in fact their own self. As Mo-

hammad Din says, this is a direct reflection, or a

symbol, of mankind trying to look for the truth, and the

truth is of course, within yourself.

The Garden of Revelation reveals how the hoopoe

bird stopped along the way of the journey to interview

all the birds around it. Mohammad Din says, It is

done in a very aggressive calligraphic style and

continues,

Many birds complained about how they didnt have

the ability to look for the truth because either theywere obsessed by their singing ability, or the beau-tiful color of the peacocks, or whatever thing has

stopped them from being able to go on with the

journey. But of course. . .thirty of these birds have

managed to pass through the test, and thirty of these

birds have found out that the bird they were looking

for, the King of the Birds, is Simorgh. Simorgh in

the Persian language means thirty birds. They have

found themselves.

The Art of Silat

My work responds to Kapferers call to explore realms

beyond rationalism (2003) by deconstructing parts

of the colonial legacy of analytical constructs concern-

ing religion and magic (Farrer 2006b, in press). Decon-

structing such categories exposes a blind spot of the

Victorian colonial ethnographers who ignored embodi-

mentof magic and religion (Csordas 1994a, 1994b, 1999,

2002; B. Turner 1995, 1997). In contrast to the insightsFIGURE 2. The Conference of the Birds. Acrylic on canvas. 9090cm.

FIGURE 3. The Garden of Revelation. Acrylic on canvas. 9090cm.



7/18

of Africanist anthropology, Michele Stephen claims

that in Melanesia the shaman, the sorcerer, and the

meditative mystic are part of the same complex of

practitionersFeach is a master of soulsFwith the

difference being that the shaman has simply been more

accessible to anthropological inquiry than the sorcerer

(1987:67, 7375; Farrer 2006b:3, in press). Similarly, inthe Malay world, which spreads across a region charac-

terized by great geographical and historical complexity

and diversity, clear distinctions between sorcerer, sha-

man, Imam, and the martial arts expert are difficult to

maintain. My view is that the analytical separation be-

tween the indigenous Malay bomoh and the guru silat

has been exaggerated. Originally an analytical error of

the colonial ethnographers (Skeat 1984; Winstedt 1993),

the error continues to rebound into the current litera-

ture.14 Given the regional cultural complexity, the guru

silat could be regarded as warriors and healers, artistsand religious virtuosos, sorcerers or shamans, or as

war-shamans, war-sorcerers, war-magicians, warrior-

alchemists, or even warrior-priests (Farrer 2006a, 2006b,

in press; Shaw 1976; Werner 1986, 2002).15 Obviously,

each of these concepts involves a different set of an-

thropological problems, but without an understanding

of silat the anthropology of Malay healing, magic, per-

formance, and shamanism remains patchy (Farrer

2006b, in press).16 One way of bracketing this complex-

ity, for discursive convenience, is to adopt the Malay

vernacular, where in Malay the term mystic is rendered

mystik, pertaining to activities that western viewers

would understand as sorcerous or magical.As the definition of a shaman is generally some-

one who goes into trance to commune with the spirits in

another realm so as to facilitate healing on patients

in this realm, the term warrior shaman may be inappro-

priate for the Muslim guru silat on two counts

(Crapanzano and Garrison 1977; Eliade 1972; Halifax

1991; Heinze 1988; Lewis 2003). First, Islam forbids

trance; second, guru silat summon spirits or shades of

dead heroes into this realm, rather than enter another

dimension themselves.17

Sorcery involves the magical empowerment of the

individual through the summoning of supernatural

entities or powers from other realms. The spontaneousbodily movement employed in the ritual creation of new

forms of Islamic silat, referred to colloquially in Malay-

sia as gerak (movement), is basically a displacement ofthe Javanese menurun (trance).18 In menurun the spirit

of a horse, an eagle, a tiger, or another animal is sum-

moned (berseru) into the body of the silat practitioner,

who then spontaneously adopts the movements of the

animal.19 However, in the esoteric language of Malay

silat, gerak serves as a gloss for spontaneous bodily

movement where the spirit of a dead human being takes

animal form to enter the body of the practitioner (Farrer

2006a:41). Both menurun and gerak use the power of

Allah to summon the spirits. The practitioner remains

unpossessed only in gerak, unlike menurun, where the

spirit takes over the will and the body of the practitioner.

It is but a short step to conceive the summoning ofan animal soul, a divine spirit, or a human ghost in ani-

mal guise not solely into the body of a practitioner, but

as passing through them to be contained within a sculp-

ture, painting, or other receptacle such as a blade, a ring,

or a stone. Such a distribution of the person or of the

entity is the essence of Mohammad Dins artwork (also

see Gell 1998:96155; Strathern 2001).

Although Malay mysticism combines elements from

many different arcane Gnostic, magical, and religious

traditions, the influence of Islamic Sufism on the art-

work of Mohammad Din needs to be emphasized. Ratherthan using jampi (spells) to infuse his art with the magi-

cal power conveyed through breath, Mohammad Din

chants dhikr (also spelled as zikr), a term that means

remembrance of God and refers to the rhythmic

chanting of the 99 names of Allah. Dhikr may be audible

or inaudible. The audible form is usually accompanied

by gentle to increasingly vigorous swaying movements

of the head. This is commonly performed by Sufis at the

Sufi lodges (zarwiah) spread across Malaysia on Thurs-

day nights and is done on many other ritual occasions of

the Islamic calendar.

To more fully understand Mohammad Dins artwork

requires a brief summary of the Malay notion of the soul.Semangatis the term for spirit or life force, as well

as being an umbrella category covering the seven ele-

ments of the soul. Early texts regarding Malay magic

fleetingly report the components of semangat as the

shadow soul, reflection soul, puppet soul, bird

soul, and the life soul (Skeat 1984:50 n. 2). The

sevenfold soul or the seven souls of Malay cosmol-

ogy are simultaneously separate elements and a totality.

The sevenfold soul may also include badi (the evil im-

pulse), which is possibly a ghostly remainder left in the

world by murder victims (Endicott 1970:73), and may

now be fused with the Islamic additions ofroh (the indi-

vidual identity from the spiritual breath of God) andnyawa (the part that goes to heaven or hell upon death).

The Malay term bayang means both shadow and reflec-

tion. Wilkinson sums up the bayang epistemology: manis but a mirror, God is the resplendent sun; man is a

phantom, God is absolute being (1906:15).20

A clinical separation of animist, Hindu, Buddhist,

and Islamic elements is problematic because they over-

lap, blur, and fold into one another under the hegemony

of Malay Sufism, resulting in fuzzy religious/magical



8/18

categories. Mohammad Dins painting Confused Lover

(Figure 4), where the lover is confused by his own

shadow (Mohammad Din), reflects and reinvents the

tradition of Malay mysticism, and is painted in the style

of wayang kulit (Hobsbawm and Ranger 1983). Some of

Mohammad Dins pieces can be directly read as Islamic

calligraphy. Others, such as Confused Lover, exploremore ancient Southeast Asian themes, including silat,

Malay weaponry, shadow puppet theater (wayang kulit),

and the Javanese hobby horse dance (kuda kepang),

which, although centuries old, is probably a relative

newcomer to Southeast Asian performance art (Burridge

1961; Sedyawati 1998).

The guru silat attain their special powers by under-

going fearsome ascetic ordeals, ritual practices linked to

the esoteric indigenous animist belief system known as

kebatinan.21 Batin (inner/hidden/mind), the root word

of kebatinan, is of Arabic derivation and contrasts withzahir (outer/manifest/bodily). Cultivating the breath,

known as tenaga dalam, tenaga batin, orprana, awakens

the power of the naga or dragon.22 Bertapa (ascetic

seclusions) may involve fasting, meditation, prayer, and

solitary survival in the rain forest, undertaken as steps

along the path toward the mystical revelation of self and

the attainment of magical powers. Mohammad Din, for

example, relates a ritual where he had to stand alone in a

well with the water up to his neck for seven days and

seven nights. Unfortunately, on the sixth day, a woman

came to draw water from the well and disturbed him, and

so he did not complete the test.

Mohammad Dins sculpture, Dragon Journey, illus-

trates the journey into the hidden dimension (Figure 5).

Dragon Journey, as Mohammad Din says, is a

journey into the unknown, into a dimension where the

end is unknownFa journey, real, and mystical, repre-

sentational, yet very abstract. Made in Paris, the head

comes from discarded bits of a crab dinner; the bodyconsists of coconuts found in a Vietnamese shop strung

together with plastic rings; the tail is an old moose horn;

the eyes are made from a stone once embedded in

Mohammad Dins broken ring; the eyebrows come from

the heels of his shoes; and the eye sockets are made from

the cork of a wine bottle. As Mohammad Din notes,

I think the whole philosophy of this artwork is actually

getting into its oneness, of the whole creation, you and

what you create, you and what you see and what you

feel, even you and what you have been collecting to

produce the artwork.In sum, guru silat harness inner powers (tenaga da-

lam) to harm or kill their enemies, and conversely, use

the same energy to heal the victims of black magic.

Mohammad Din pours this energy into his artworks, and

paints with his bare fingers so as not to impede its flow.

Thus, he is both agent and patient, creator and ves-

sel for powers emerging from the unseen realm (alam

FIGURE 4. Confused Lover. Acrylic on canvas. 8686 cm. FIGURE 5. Dragon Journey. Mixed media.



9/18

ghaib). These powers are stored in his artworks ready to

leap into life during times of emergency, akin to what

Gell calls the homunculus effect (1988:133).

The Art of Healing

Mohammad Din walks with a limp due to a motorcycle

accident he had more than 20 years ago. A truck forced

him off the road and flung him down a cliff. His foot

twisted 360 degrees around and dangled from his ankle

by a sliver of flesh. In the hospital, due to the onset of

gangrene, the surgeon decided to amputate. Mohammad

Din refused the procedure, insisted the doctor stitch his

foot back together, and promptly discharged himself.

Tending to him first in Singapore and then in Perak, PakHamim Bujang searched for ubi nyaharu (an inedible

wild yam) in the rain forest, which was crushed into apowder and mixed with turmeric, spiders web, and soot

to form a poultice applied twice daily. Pak Hamim Bujang

spent two years healing and removing the bits of dirt and

debris from Mohammad Dins foot. Mohammad Din then

vowed to God that if he were to keep his foot he would

himself become a traditional Malay healer and devote his

life to alleviating the suffering of others. Mohammad Din,

who learned some French while painting and exhibiting

in Paris, says that alleviating suffering is the prime mo-

tivation of his art and provides its raison de tre.

From his house he treats people with all kinds of

ailments, from headaches to cancer. Generally the can-

cer patients come as a last resort, he says. He tells themhe can offer no guarantees, but can sometimes help to

stop the growth. Failing that, he will stay with them until

they die, in order to ease their passage into the hereafter.

He treats his patients with massage (urut), stones, in-

cluding petrified dew (geliga embun), prayer (doa), jampi,

and herbal medicine (ubat), for topical application or

ingestion. In 2005, I witnessed Mohammad Din in action

when I took the French Canadian filmmaker Josette

Normandeau, the black-belt presenter of the Deadly Artsseries, on a reconnaissance trip to see him in Melaka at

his kampong (village) house. While tucking into a home-

cooked lunch of fresh river fish accompanied by hot and

spicy coconut gravy, Josette snared a fish bone in herthroat. She began to asphyxiate and clutched her own

neck in blue-faced agony. Mohammad Din sidled over to

her and asked, Do you want to spit it out or swallow it?

Looking more dead than deadly at that moment, the

deadly arts star rasped spit it out, whereupon he

pressed a nerve in her throat with a pincer grip, making

her vomit the bone out in a fit of coughing.

For the most part, Mohammad Din uses his paintings

and sculptures to act as a kind of preventative medicine.

For example, he himself wears a talisman (azima) sus-

pended from a string about his neck, made from wood with

a petrified hailstone inserted in the back.23 The idea, he

explains, is to have an upright alifon ones chest in the form

of a miniature sculpture (also see Gell 1993).24 Alifis the

first letter of the Arabic alphabet, and represents the stand-

ing posture at the beginning of the Muslim daily prayer(solat), which precedes kneeling and placing the forehead

onto the prayer mat (Figure 6). The postures of the prayer

embody the Arabic calligraphy for Ahmad, comprised of

the letters alif, ha, mim, and dal.25 From this vantage silat is

Islamic calligraphy in motion, just as the daily prayer is Is-

lamic calligraphy in motion, an idea recognized by Muslims

worldwide.26 Incidentally, in the painting Alif (Staircase of

Life) the image is also suggestive of the straight (aristocratic)

Malay keris and of a dragons head.

Hence, guru silat Mohammad Din paints dhikr directly

onto the canvas with his bare hands, using his bodilymovements of silat as a transducer of divine power

from the sacred to the profane realm (Csordas 2002:163).

The Art of Nature

Mohammad Din draws his inspiration from nature, in-

cluding sunshine, rain, the sea, lakes, rivers, streams,

mountains, and waterfalls, and takes long sojourns into

the Malaysian jungle to experience its natural calligra-

phy. For him, the oil palm appears calligraphic because

FIGURE 6. Alif (Staircase of Life). Acrylic on canvas. 10590cm.



10/18

of its uprightness; the money plant grows in harmony

with the wall; and epiphytic ferns live in harmony with

their hosts as they know how to share a space to survive.

Knowing how to share, Mohammad Din says, is the

whole idea of being on earth, and the plant knows it very

well; this is of course what we need in human life. He

points out that there are more than 50 species of he-liconia, a plant that is extremely difficult to draw unless

drawn in the form of calligraphy. Furthermore, the Great

Frangipani, known as a haunted temple and graveyard

tree, produces beautiful firm-looking leaves and flowers,

and has many medicinal qualities, being used to cure

boils, blisters, and swollen gums.

To paraphrase the artist, the Flora paintings (there

are four in the series) look like flowers, but if one refuses

to focus on the flowers then many other images may be

seen behind them (Figure 7).

The dreamlike quality of the Flora series accordswell with the following comment of Ziauddin:

One of the most notable characteristics of Malay

mysticism is its emphasis on miracles . . . . But the

Malays do not demand any old miracles. Since the

quest for miracles is essentially a desire for a belief

in the necessity of spiritual life, the miracles have to

be firmly outside the boundaries of rationality and

material signs, areas Islam rules firmly within the

boundaries of routine normality. So dreams often

play an integral part in these miracles. [Ziauddin

2000:138]27

The viewer of paintings in the Flora series sees im-

ages of nature, of the garden, and looking deep enough

may discover a host of avatars or dreamlike apparitions

(see also Figure 1). Such enchanted beings are normally

unseen by human eyes, and may include ancestors, the

angelic host, faeries (pari pari), dragons, chthonic man-

ifestations of mythical heroes (such as Hang Tuah and

Hang Jebat), the black warrior spirit who protects the

gelanggang (Panglima Hitam), ghosts (hantu), female

vampires (pontianak), birth demons (toyol), the shadow

and reflection souls (baying-bayang), were-tigers (ha-

rimau), and any number of the vast pantheon of good

and evil indigenous and Islamic spirits (jinn).

28

The images are polysemic and suggestive, and con-

tinuously provoke attribution and reattribution. By

hinting at a kaleidoscope of meanings they fascinate

spectators, transforming their role from passive observer

to eyewitness. Julie, for example, the owner of a brace of

paintings by Mohammad Din on the black warrior

Panglima Hitam in calligraphic styles, hangs the paint-

ings on either side of her bed. One night she awoke to the

sound of scraping noises coming from outside her win-

dow when suddenly the figure from the painting (Gells

prototype) leaped into the room. Julie was unsure

whether this was a startling dream or a shocking vision,

but now rests assured that the paintings will protect herduring her sleep.

During fieldwork, I trained silat, slept, and wrote my

field notes on the floor of the artists studio in a space

submersed in paintings and sculptures (Figure 1). The

Malaysian days commenced with thin rays of light, pro-

gressed to the white glare of noon, faded to the yellow

afternoon sun, and melted into the incarnadine dusk,

only to plunge back into night. Mohammad Din would

teach me silat by starlight, usually at about 3:00 a.m. The

prototypes in the Nature and Flora paintings change

markedly during the transitions from dawn to dusk. I

first noticed the transmogrifications when I awoke with

a sudden jolt on a moonlit night. Weird forms and im-ages appeared within the paintings and their familiar,

taken for granted appearances vanished to reveal other

imagery, or calligraphy, depending on the strength and

the direction of light.29 The effect is startling, eerie, and

uncanny. From an innocuous-looking bit of Holy Scrip-

ture, a monstrous form would emerge and then vanish as

the gestaltcontinuously shifted. The slow subtle shift of

light causes an uncanny sense of cognitive disturbance:

one does not realize that the light has changed untilFIGURE 7. Flora (in red). Nature series. Acrylic on canvas.



11/18

something different registers in the painting. Upon twi-

light black lines writhe beneath the now-invisible bright

colors that dominate the pictures at noon, and it is then

that one can best see the strange subterranean calligra-

phy underlying these images. As Mohammad Din

explains, the shadowy images running around behind

the flowers make them appear to move. The backgroundconsists of a clear energy flow, like a hurricane brought

into the forest.

While Mohammad Din sits in the garden a brigade of

corpse ants (semut mayat) traverse his foot without

pausing to bite him. He does not need my citronella re-

pellent against the ubiquitous mosquitoes because they

refuse to suck his blood. I ask him, How is this possi-

ble? His reply is that one must catch a mosquito or an

ant and request them not to bite, asking not the individ-

ual critter, but their collective soul (semangat). He says

his ability is only possible given the living power of theQuran, read not as series of dead words on paper, but

as the embodiment of Allah in all creation. Thus, he

demonstrates his oneness with the jungle and nature,

something modern Malay people are now more dis-

tanced from than ever, as everywhere hefty concrete

bungalows replace stilted wooden houses, while oil palm

plantations inexorably overwhelm the ancient rain for-

ests. Aside from reasons of propriety, deep-rooted fears

of losing control (amok or latah), death, and the super-

natural underlie the religious motives for owning the

protective talisman of Allah and Mohammad seen above

or upon the door of virtually every Malay house. Mo-

hammad Din casts his charms into this milieu: the artistas hero using scripture from a divine book to battle the

powers of the unseen world surfacing through accident,

impotence, misfortune, sickness, and death.

For Mohammad Din, the Flower series above all, is

a reflection of calligraphy in nature. In his terms, medi-

cine, which largely derives from plants, is substance for the

essence of art. In sum, he takes his inspiration from what he

calls natural calligraphy, the calligraphy of the jungle in

the line of a branch against the sky, the ribbed pattern of a

leaf, and the trickle of water down a brook. His artwork

reveals and records his sensuous communion with the

ubiquitous spirits (semangat) of nature, including insects,

birds, and animals, trees, blades of grass, rocks, the sun andthe moon, night, different types of daylight, the sea, rivers,

lakes, and waterfalls, to name but a few.

The Modern Art of Calligraphy

The dreamlike quality of the Flora series is less pronounced

in Mohammad Dins calligraphic Zikr series, which offers

the Islamic rationality of the material calligraphic signs of

the Quran to protect routine normality, but also to celebrate

nature and the origin of the universe (Figure 8). Here he

breaks with tradition in his rendition of the seven styles of

traditional Islamic calligraphy known as khat, comprised

of the kufic, rikaah, diwani, nastaliq, thuloth, and naski

styles, because he does not paint with a kalam (bamboo

pen), but renders the paint directly onto the paper or thecanvas with his bare fingertips (Mohammad 2000).30 He

has a sophisticated theory of contemporary Islamic callig-

raphy as an endless form of creation: My form of

calligraphy is limitless, it should be able to express not just

technique, not just feeling, but concept and philosophy,

and it comes back to Sufi thinking, looking for the essence

of things.

As noted above, Mohammad Din fuses natural cal-

ligraphy, traditional medicine, and martial arts into his

paintings and sculpture. Therefore, when you see the

line, you also see the stroke, the therapeutic energywhich is transferred into calligraphy (Mohammad Din).

Yet there is more to Mohammad Dins calligraphic style

of painting than meets the eye, because the artist pro-

vides an audiovisual experience for those able to read

Arabic. As Dzul Haimi observes, these expressive let-

ters contain sound and this sound only exists in the mind

of the audience (2000).

Coming after the Nature and Flora series, the more than

50 paintings of the Zikr series, many in black and white,

comprise the majority of Mohammad Dins recent artwork.

These stark renditions of Arabic calligraphy perform a host

of specific functions to ensure good health, fortune, pros-

perity, sexual potency, and spiritual cleanliness. Toh, for

FIGURE 8. Ah-Rahman (Blessing Light). Acrylic on canvas. 9191cm.



12/18

example, is a calligraphic figure that looks like an enormous

phallus and testicles. Another painting in the Zikr series is

the Call of Blessing,Allah hu akbar(God is great), painted in

black and white to reflect the need to cleanse oneself in and

out, especially during the month of Ramadan. Throughout

Ramadan, Muslims must fast during the daylight hours and

avoid physical and spiritual vices, a difficult task that re-quires much effort to accomplish properly.

Raja Majun

Raja Majun means the King of Medicine (Figure 9).

Majun is a traditional Malay medicine made from medic-

inal herbs, roots, and honey mixed into a small black ball.

This sculpture, the head of which is made with a

large round cannonball fruit, incorporates medicine into

art. The upright spine symbolizes the strength of the alif,and the arms reflect human bones. The idea is to stretch

to feel good and strong, and to stand upright like the alif.

According to Mohammad Din, majun combines the

primitive and the modern to strengthen the body: Ev-

erything starts with a dot and continues after only that.

In calligraphy, as with everything else, it is the start, or

the essence that counts, whether its a seed, a drawing, a

painting, architecture or a human life.

Mohammad Din regards Arabic calligraphy as the

language of God inscribed upon all creation. By his Sufi

reckoning Arabic words are polysemic, bearing multiple

layers or dimensions of meaning that stretch back

through history to the beginning of creation, religion,

writing, and the first day of humanity, a beginning that

starts from monochrome, before entering into color. Forhim, black is the last part of color and white is the first

part. Hence, in his work, there are many black and

white pieces, to act as a reminder of the present, the past,

and the future.

Conclusion

This article has provided an in-depth case study of the

work of one Malay artist through which to regard Gells

theories of captivation and enchantment. Such a narrow

focus does not mean I subscribe to an art-cult whereMohammad Din stands beyond his socio-historic con-

text. Many other Malay artists express Malay mysticism

through their artwork, including Ahmad Zakii Anwar,

Syed Hussein Alatas (the political writer, not the late

sociologist), and Raja Shahriman (of Perak). In other

words, Mohammad Din is an exemplar rather than an

exception. His work shows how calligraphy contains the

power of God in Islamic societies, although that power

is beyond representation. The beyond-representationin the representation of the beyond resonates with the

central condition of Islam (lit. submission), namely that

there is no God except Allah.

To skeptics, Mohammad Din may appear as a newbreed of bomoh, guru silat, and artist, one who feeds

upon the profits of artwork sold to royalty, multinational

corporations, banks, and private businessmen in the su-

pernatural rat race of modern Kuala Lumpur. Accordingto Ziauddin, in his discussion of Kuala Lumpur:

In these fantastical realms of the modern city, new

breeds of bomoh have adapted themselves to the

rapidly changing nature of Malay society. There are

the bomohs consulted by party officials and up-

wardly aspiring businessmen, not for exorcism in

the old sense, but a more proactive kind of exorcis-

ing of the constraints to advancement and theaccumulation of wealth and power. The existence of

the transmuted bomoh became evident in the most

sensational murder trial in KLs history. Mona Aff-

andi was a female bomoh with, according to repute

and the rumour mill, an illustrious clientele of

movers and shakers. She was convicted of murder-

ing one of her clients, a member of parliament,

in circumstances that suggest the bomohs too are

seeking their share of wealth and profit by legalFIGURE 9. Raja Majun. Mixed media.



13/18

pragmatism as well as by magical means. [Ziauddin

2000:161]

However, Ziauddins comment ill applies to the Ma-

lay (martial) artist, who genuinely believes that

maleficent forces exist in the community, which must bechecked by self-defense, combined with the arts of

healing, nature, and calligraphy.

Gells theory of Art and Agency and the essays col-

lected for his Art of Anthropology open an interpretive

window upon the artwork of the Malay artist Moham-

mad Din, just as Mohammad Dins artwork provides

ample ethnographic evidence in support of Gells no-

tions of captivation and enchantment. Bowdens (2004)

posthumous criticisms of Gell are premature when situ-

ated against the utility of Gells ingenuity, which is

better read together with Batesons (2000) essay on style

and Freuds (1990) work on the uncanny. More than

simply a criticism of Bowdens review essay (2004), thisarticle vindicates Gells coupling of art and enchantment

to explore the culturally distinctive ways in which art

objects extend their makers or users agency (Campbell

2001; Layton 2003:447). While Gell neglected perfor-

mance art, and did not provide an adequate account of

aesthetics, his insights concerning enchantment and

captivation operate well beyond his own ethnographic

examples. Mohammad Din Mohammad, through his

painting and sculptures, advances the direction of wis-dom against a purely formalist approach to Islam that

would decry the representation of God. Against repre-

sentation, Mohammad Dins art is a divine embodiment

of calligraphy.

Acknowledgments

Mohammad Din Mohammad passed away in May 2007. He is sur-

vived by his wife and five children. He carefully read thismanuscript and made several important adjustments. He said he

found the article unusual as he was used to art reviews, butwhen I asked him, with furrowed brow, whether he liked it, he said,

No, I love it. Ellis Finkelstein, Julie Farrer, and Roxana Watersonalso read through drafts of the article and offered valuable sug-

gestions. I must thank Mohammad Din and his wife, Hamidah, fortheir help and guidance in my journey through Malay art and cul-ture.

Notes

1 Benjamin points out that: Historically, the Isthmus of

Kra, the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, Riau, Sumatra, and

Kalimantan have belonged to one historical realityFthe

Malay World (Benjamin 2003:5 n. 2), regions that were

historically ruled by a Malay Sultanate (Benjamin 2003:7;

Milner 1981).

2 The literature regarding silat includes Anuar (1992),

Chambers and Draeger (1978), Cordes (1990), de Grave

(2001), Draeger (1972), Farrer (2006a,2006b, 2007, in

press), Gartenberg (2000), Hamzah (1967), Ku and Wong

(1978), Orlando (1996), Maliszewski (1996), Maryono

(2002), Mohd. Anis Md. Nor (1986), Pauka (1998, 2002),Rashid (1990), Shamsuddin (2005), Sheppard (1972, 1983),

Tuan Ismail Tuan Soh (1991), Wiley (1993, 1994, see also

1997), J. Wilson (1993), and L. Wilson (2004). Useful dis-

cussions of silat are scattered across the literature on

Southeast Asian dance and theater, including de Zoete

and Spies (1952:252257), Fernando-Amilbangsa (1983),

Mohd. Chouse Nasuruddin (1995), and Simatupang (n.d.).

Silat also features in books on Malay magic: Skeat (1984),

Shaw (1976:2229), Werner (1986:2239).3 Performance ethnography was the primary research

method I used to study the secretive Malay art of silat be-

tween 1996 and 2003. Performance ethnography is a

fieldwork method whereby the researcher actively joins in

and learns the performance genre of the informants (Farrer2006b, 2007, in press; Zarrilli 1998). Unless otherwise not-

ed, the material on Mohammad Din in this article consists

of verbatim conversation (barring grammatical adjust-

ments for readability) collected in field notes from 2002

to 2007 and from a video interview I filmed with him in

2003.4 Likewise, Burrows (1963), in the first U.S. study of Micro-

nesian art (based on Ifaluk Atoll), had to redefine the study

of art given the apparent lack of sculpture, paintings, and

drawings in a region where there is little pigment

for paints, where coral is too crumbly for sculpting, and

where coconut wood is unsuitable for carving (Burrows

1963:6; Rainbird 2004:3536). As Rainbird sums up,

Burrows soon found that there was much to be studiedin the art of Ifaluk when a broader understanding was

adopted and detailed issues of body art, poetry, dance and

song (2004:36).5 There are several aspects to Gells discussion of agency.

Fundamentally, whenever an event is believed to happen

because of an intention lodged in the person or thing

which initiates the causal sequence, that is an instance of

agency (Gell 1998:17).6 My thanks to a Visual Anthropology Review anonymous

reviewer for supplying this reminder.7 Bowden (2004:309) also criticizes Gells supposed errors

and his supposed lack of originality.8 Gell was working on the draft ofArt and Agency(1998) on

his deathbed and consequently his book lacks polish.9 The term performance in my formulation dispenses with

the notion of technology, itself probably an outcome of

Mausss (1979:107) techniques du corps. I prefer to use the

term skill (Ingold 2000:5) in place of Gells ([1999]1992)

technical complexity. However, skill and performance ad-

dress only half of Gells equation, the other half being

enchantment, which Gell tackles in many ways, including

volt sorcery, necromancy, demon traps, and transmogrifi-

cation.



14/18

10 On the impressive arsenal of Indonesian and Malay weap-

onry, see Draeger (1972).11 On Hang Tuah, see Sheppard (1964), the recent film Putri

Gunung Ledang: A Legendary Love, and the classic P. Ram-

lee movie Hang Tuah.12

In Malaysia it is illegal for Muslims to consume alcohol.13 See also Pinney and Thomas (2001) and, for a con-

trary view, Sharman (2002) and Hobart and Kapferer

(2005).14 For example, Winstedt (1993), in his book The Malay Ma-

gician: Being Shaman, Saiva and Sufi, omits the guru silat,

a colonial categorical error which then rebounds down

through the literature (see, e.g., Endicott 1970; Rashid

1990).15 Several indigenous terms for traditional healer may be

mentioned here, including bomoh (of which bomoh silatis

a derivative). Believed to enter trance and practice relig-

ious beliefs outside of Islam, the bomoh is considered to be

objectionable in the current and ongoing dakwah climate

of Islamic reform (Hussin 1993; Nagata 1980, 1984;Shamsul 1997:212217). Dukun orpawang are sometimes

employed as alternatives forbomoh, although for Moham-

mad Din pawang (herbalist) is more acceptable. In

contemporary Singapore, many bomoh now refer to them-

selves with the Arabic substitution of tabib (traditional

Arabic doctor), or may simply refer to themselves as guru

silat. According to Werner (1986:17), a western doctor

who studied traditional medicine in Kelantan, the bomoh

may become a specialist in one of three fields to become

an herbalist (bomoh akar-kayu), an herbalist and med-

ical specialist (bomoh jampi), or a puppeteer of wayang

kulit (dalang). Werner (1986:17 n. 1) lists eight other types

ofbomoh, including the bomoh patah (bone setter), tukang

urut(masseur), tukang bekam (specialist in blood-letting),tok mudim (circumciser), bidan (birth-attendant), tok put-

eri (shamanic ritual specialist in the border region of

Thailand and Malaysia), tok minduk (the tok puteris in-

terpreter), keramat hidup (a living saint), and pawang (a

nature-hygienist, spiritual protector of the fields and

crops, but also in various specialties, including pawang

ular[snake specialist], pawang buaya [crocodile specialist],

and pawang laut[sea specialist]).16 The embodied performance of healing in Malaysia is ad-

vanced by Laderman (1991, 1995, 2000) and Roseman

(1991).17 At this juncture I have refined my earlier views (Farrer

2006a, 2006b).18 Alternate states of consciousness take subtler forms than

trance, including ASCs resulting from dancing, day-

dreaming, deep thought, drugs, inhalation of smoke or

incense (benzoic stone), percussion from drumming or

gongs, sleep deprivation, and yoga-like martial arts move-

ments (Tart 1990).19 On trance and possession in Southeast Asian performance

genres, for example, see Burridge (1961), Heinze (1988),

Rashid (1990), and Shaw (1976).20 This paragraph is adapted from Farrer (2006b:186187).

21 On kebatinan, see Beatty (1999), Errington (1989), Geertz

(1976), Keeler (1987), Maryono (2002), Mulder (1980),

Rashid (1990), and Wilson (1993).22 In silat, control over the breath may be achieved through

breath training while submerged in the sea, rivers, wells, or

waterfalls, and through chanting dhikr at length.23 On Malay magical stones, see Sheppard (1972).24 Tattooing is forbidden in Islam.25 Allah:Alif5A, Lam5L, Lam5L, Ha5H. There is a missing

a after the second L because Lam with a stroke on top is also

pronounced as la (Farrer 2006b:212213, in press).26 Regarding mystical experience and various silat applica-

tions for the same postures, see Farrer (2006b:213219, in

press).27 Shanafelt suggests the term marvel should be given to mir-

acles, the appearances of ghosts, UFOs, vampires, and

suchlike, where marvel refers to any event or effect of

extraordinary wonder, thought to be tangibly real, that is

claimed to be the result of ultra-natural force (Shanafelt

2004:336). Because it disassociates miraculous phenom-ena from religious discourse, it is somewhat tempting to

dub miraculous, magical, or mystical phenomena as mar-

vels. However, to my mind, the term also conjures images

of Batman and a host of comic-strip heroes.28 See Werner (1997) for a fascinating and beautifully illus-

trated study ofMah Meri carvings in Malaysia.29 Of course, comprehending the specific details of the imag-

es depends on the cultural capital the observer brings to

the artwork, but the ability to perceive changes occurring

as one set of images changes to another, as signs become

symbols or vice versa, is facilitated by the strength, inten-

sity, and angle of the light.30 For a spectacular visual introduction to Islamic calligraphy

combined with a thoughtful analysis from an Islamic per-spective, see Khatibi and Sijelmassi (2001).

References

Andaya, Barbara Watson, and Leonard Y. Andaya

2001 A History of Malaysia. 2nd edition. Basingstoke:

Palgrave.

Anuar Abd, Wahab

1992 Teknik dalam seni silat melayu. Kuala Lumpur: Per-

cetakan Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

Bateson, Gregory

2000 [1972] Style, Grace and Information in Primitive Art.

In Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Mary CatherineBateson, ed. Pp. 128152. Chicago: The University of

Chicago Press.

Beatty, Andrew

1999 Varieties of Javanese Religion: An Anthropological

Account. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University

Press/Harvard University Press.

Benjamin, Geoffrey

2003 On Being Tribal in the Malay World. In Tribal Com-

munities in the Malay World: Historical, Cultural, and



15/18

Social Perspectives. Geoffrey Benjamin and Cynthia

Chou, eds. Pp. 776. The Netherlands/Singapore: In-

ternational Institute for Asian Studies/The Institute of

Southeast Asian Studies.

Bowden, Ross

2004 A Critique of Alfred Gell on Art and Agency. Oceania74(4):309325.

Burridge, K. O. L.

1961 Kuda Kepang in Batu Pahat, Johore. Man 61:3336.

Burrows, E. G.

1963 Flower in My Ear: Art and Ethos of Ifaluk Atoll. Uni-

versity of Washington Publications in Anthropology,

14. Seattle: University of Washington Press. Cited in

Rainbird, Paul (2004:36).

Campbell, Shirley F.

2001 The Captivating Agency of Art: Many Ways of Seeing.

In Beyond Aesthetics: Art and the Technology of En-

chantment. Christopher Pinney and Nicholas Thomas,

eds. Pp. 117136. Oxford: Berg.

2002 The Art of Kula. Oxford: Berg.Chambers, Quentin, and Donn F. Draeger

1978 Javanese Silat: The Fighting Art of Perisai Diri.

Tokyo: Kodansha.

Cordes, Hiltrud

1990 Pencak silat: Die Kampfkunst der Minangkabau und

ihr kulturelles Umfeld. Ph.D. dissertation, University

of Cologne.

Crapanzano, Vincent, and Vivian Garrison, eds.

1977 Case Studies in Spirit Possession. New York: Wiley.

Csordas, Thomas J., ed.

1994a Embodiment as a Paradigm in Anthropology, the 1988

Stirling Award Essay. Ethnos 18:547.

1994b Embodiment and Experience: The Existential Ground

of Culture and Self. Cambridge: Cambridge Universi-ty Press.

1999 The Bodys Career Anthropology. In Anthropological

Theory Today. Henrietta L. Moore, ed. Pp. 172205.

Cambridge: Polity Press.

2002 Body/Meaning/Healing. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

de Grave, Jean-Marc

2001 Initiation rituelle et arts martiaux: trois ecoles de

kanuragan Javanis. Paris: Association Archipel.

de Zoete, Beryl, and Walter Spies

1952 Dance and Drama in Bali. London: Faber and Faber.

Draeger, Donn F.

1972 [1992] Weapons and Fighting Arts of Indonesia.

Boston: Tuttle Repr.

Dzul Haimi, bin Md. Zain2000 N.p. in In Zikr: Hands on Calligraphy, Mohammad Din

Mohammad. Kuala Lumpur: Tinta.

Eliade, Mircea

1972 Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. Willard

R. Trask, trans. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University

Press/Bollingen.

Endicott, Kirk Michael

1970 An Analysis of Malay Magic. Singapore: Oxford Uni-

versity Press.

Errington, Shelly

1989 Meaning and Power in a Southeast Asian Realm.

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Farrer, D. S.

2006a Deathscapes of the Malay Martial Artist. Social

Analysis: The International Journal of Cultural andSocial Practice. Noble Death (Special Edition)

50(1):2550.

2006b Seni Silat Haqq: A Study in Malay Mysticism. Ph.D.

dissertation, National University of Singapore.

2007 The Perils and Pitfalls of Performance Ethnography.

International Sociological Association E-Bulletin,

No. 6.

In press In the Shadow of the Prophet: Martial Arts and Sufi

Mysticism in Malaysia. Muslims in Global Societies

Series. The Netherlands: Springer.

Fernando-Amilbangsa, Ligaya

1983 Pangalay: Traditional Dances and Related Folk Ar-

tistic Expressions. Philippines: Ayala Museum.

Freud, Sigmund1990 [1919] The Uncanny. In Art and Literature, vol. 14.

Albert Dickson, ed. James Strachey, trans. Pp. 335

376. London: The Penguin Freud Library, Penguin.

Frey, Edward

1995 The Kris: Mystic Weapon of the Malay World. 2nd

edition. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.

Gartenberg, Gary Nathan

2000 Silat Tales: Narrative Representations of Martial

Culture in the Malay/Indonesian Archipelago. Ph.D.

dissertation, University of California at Berkeley.

Geertz, Clifford

1976 The Religion of Java. Chicago: University of Chicago

Press.

Gell, Alfred1975 Metamorphosis of the Cassowaries: Umeda Society,

Language and Ritual. London: University of London/

The Athlone Press/Humanities Press.

1993 Wrapping in Images: Tattooing in Polynesia. Oxford:

Clarendon Press.

1998 Art and Agency: An Anthropological Theory. Oxford:

Oxford University Press.

1999 [1985] Style and Meaning in Umeda Dance. In The

Art of Anthropology, Essays and Diagrams. Eric Hi-

rsch, ed. Pp. 136158. London: The Athlone Press.

Originally appeared in Society and the Dance: The

Social Anthropology of Process and Performance,

Paul Spencer, ed. New York: Cambridge University

Press, 1985.1999 [1992] The Technology of Enchantment and the

Enchantment of Technology. In The Art of Anthro-

pology, Essays and Diagrams. Eric Hirsch, ed. Pp.

159186. London: The Athlone Press. Originally ap-

peared in Anthropology, Art and Aesthetics. J. Coote

and A. Shelton, eds. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

1999 [1996] Vogels Net: Traps as Artworks and Artworks

as Traps. In The Art of Anthropology, Essays and Di-

agrams. Eric Hirsch, ed. Pp. 187214. London: The



16/18

Athlone Press. Originally appeared in Journal of Ma-

terial Culture 1(1):1538.

Ghulam-Sarwar, Yousof

1997 The Malay Shadow Play: An Introduction. Penang:

Asian Centre.

2004 Panggung Inu: Essays on Traditional Malay Theatre.Singapore: Unipress.

Halifax, Joan

1991 Shamanic Voices: A Survey of Visionary Narratives.

New York: Penguin Compass.

Hamzah, bin Ahmad

1967 Silat terlak nata: pesaka hulubalangmelayu. Kuala

Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

Heinze, Ruth-Ingle

1988 Trance and Healing in Southeast Asia Today. Bang-

kok: White Lotus.

Hobart, Angela, and Bruce Kapferer, eds.

2005 Introduction: The Aesthetics of Symbolic Con-

struction and Experience. In Aesthetics in Per-

formance: Formations of Symbolic Construction andExperience. Pp. 122. New York: Berghahn Books.

Hobsbawm, Eric J., and Terence Ranger, eds.

1983 The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Hughes-Freeland, Felicia, ed.

1998 Recasting Ritual: Performance, Media, Identity. Lon-

don: Routledge.

Hussin, Mutalib

1993 Islam in Malaysia: From Revivalism to Islamic State.

Singapore: Singapore University Press.

Ingold, Tim

2000 The Perception of the Environment: Essays in Liveli-

hood, Dwelling and Skill. London: Routledge.

Kapferer, Bruce2003 Beyond Rationalism: Rethinking Magic, Witchcraft

and Sorcery. New York: Berghahn Books.

Keeler, Ward

1987 Javanese Shadow Plays, Javanese Selves. Princeton,

NJ: Princeton University Press.

Khatibi, Abdelkebir, and Mohammed Sijelmassi

2001 The Splendour of Islamic Calligraphy. London:

Thames and Hudson.

Kopytoff, Igor

1998 The Cultural Biography of Things: Commoditization

as Process. In Economic Anthropology. Stephen Gu-

deman, ed. Pp. 426456. Cheltenham: Elgar.

Ku, Ahmad bin Ku Mustaffa, and Kiew Kit Wong

1978 Silat Melayu: The Malay Art of Attack and Defence.Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Laderman, Carol

1991 Taming the Wind of Desire: Psychology, Medicine and

Aesthetics in Malay Shamanistic Performance.

Berkeley: University of California Press.

1995 The Poetics of Healing in Malay Shamanistic Perfor-

mances. In The Performance of Healing. Carol

Laderman and Marina Roseman, eds. Pp. 115142.

New York: Routledge.

2000 Tradition and Change in Malay Healing. In

Healing Powers and Modernity: Traditional

Medicine, Shamanism, and Science in Asian

Societies. Linda H. Connor and Geoffrey

Samuel, eds. Pp. 4263. Westport, CT: Bergin and

Garvey.Layton, Robert

2003 Art and Agency: A Reassessment. Journal of the

Royal Anthropological Institute 9:447464.

Lewis, I. S.

2003 [1971] Ecstatic Religion: An Anthropological Study

of Spirit Possession and Shamanism. 3rd edition.

London: Routledge.

Maliszewski, Michael

1996 Spiritual Dimensions of the Martial Arts. Rutland, VT:

Tuttle.

Maryono, OOng

2002 Pencak Silat in the Indonesian Archipelago. Ruth

Mackenzie, trans. Yogyakarta: Yayasan Galang.

Mauss, Marcel.1979 Sociology and Psychology: Essays. Ben Brewster,

trans. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Milner, Anthony

1981 Islam and Malay Kingship. Journal of the Royal Asi-

atic Society 1:4670.

Mohammad Din Mohammad

2000 Zikr: Hands on Calligraphy. Kuala Lumpur: Tinta.

2001 Vers Mon Unite: Towards Self Unification. Atelier

Annette Huster du 29 mars au 22 avril.

Mohd. Anis Md. Nor

1986 Randai Dance of Minangkabau Sumatra with Laba-

notation Scores. Kuala Lumpur: University of

Malaya.

Mohd, Chouse Nasuruddin1995 The Malay Dance. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa

dan Pustaka.

Morphy, Howard

1994 The Anthropology of Art. In The Companion Ency-

clopedia of Anthropology: Humanity, Culture and

Social Life. Tim Ingold, ed. Pp. 648685. London:

Routledge.

Mulder, Neils

1980 Mysticism and Everyday Life in Contemporary Java.

2nd edition. Singapore: Singapore University Press.

Nagata, Judith

1980 Religious Ideology and Social Change: The Islamic

Revival in Malaysia. Pacific Affairs 53(3):405439.

1984 The Reflowering of Malaysian Islam: Modern Relig-ious Radicals and Their Roots. Vancouver: University

of British Columbia Press.

Orlando, Bob

1996 Indonesian Fighting Fundamentals: The Brutal Arts

of the Archipelago. Boulder, CO: Paladin Press.

Pauka, Kirstin

1998 Theatre and Martial Arts in West Sumatra: Randai and

Silek of the Minangkabau. Athens: Ohio University

Center for International Studies.



17/18

2002 Randai: Folk Theatre, Dance, and Martial Arts of West

Sumatra. CD-ROM. N.p.: The University of Michigan

Press.

Pinney, Christopher, and Nicholas Thomas

2001 Beyond Aesthetics: Art and the Technology of En-

chantment. Oxford: Berg.Rainbird, Paul

2004 The Archeology of Micronesia. Cambridge: Cam-

bridge University Press.

Rashid, Razha

1990 Martial Arts and the Malay Superman. In Emotions

of Culture, a Malay Perspective. Wazir Jahan Karim,

ed. Pp. 6495. Singapore: Oxford University Press.

Reid, Anthony

1988 Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 14501680.

Vol. 1, The Lands Below the Winds. New Haven, CT:

Yale University Press.

1993 Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 14501680.

Vol. 2, Expansion and Crisis. Thailand: Silkworm

Books.Roseman, Marina

1991 Healing Sounds from the Malaysian Rainforest:

Temiar Music and Medicine. Berkeley: University of

California Press.

Schutz, Alfred

1944 The Stranger: An Essay in Social Psychology. In Col-

lected Papers II: Studies in Social Theory. Arvid

Brodersen, ed. Pp. 91105. The Hague: Matinus Nijhoff.

Sedyawati, Edi, ed.

1998 Performing Arts. Singapore: Archipelago Press.

Shamsuddin, Sheikh

2005 The Malay Art of Self-Defense: Silat Seni Gayong.

Berkeley: North Atlantic Books.

Shamsul, Amri Baharuddin1997 Identity Construction, Nation Formation, and Islamic

Revivalism in Malaysia. In Islam in an Era of Nation-

States: Politics and Religious Renewal in Muslim South-

east Asia. Robert W. Hefner and Patricia Horvatich, eds.

Pp. 207230. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Shanafelt, Robert

2004 Magic, Miracle, and Marvels in Anthropology. Ethnos

69(33):317340.

Sharman, Russel Leigh

2002 Duke Versus Tito: Aesthetic Conflict in East Harlem,New

York. Visual Anthropological Review 18(12):321.

Shaw, William

1976 Aspects of Malayan Magic. Kuala Lumpur: Yau Seng

Press.Sheppard, Mubin Tan Sri Datuk

1964 The Adventures of Hang Tuah. 5th edition. N.p.:

Eastern Universities Press.

1972 Taman Indera: A Royal Pleasure Ground, Malay Dec-

orative Arts and Pastimes. London: Oxford University

Press.

1983 Taman Saujana: Dance, Drama, Music and Magic in

Malaya Long and Not-so-Long Ago. Malaysia: Inter-

national Book Service.

Simatupang, R. O.

N.d. Dances in Indonesia. Indonesia: Jajasan Prarantja.

Skeat, Walter William

1984 [1900] Malay Magic: An Introduction to the Folklore

and Popular Religion of the Malay Peninsula. Singa-

pore: Oxford University Press.Stephen, Michele, ed.

1987 Sorcerer and Witch in Melanesia. New Brunswick, NJ:

Rutgers University Press.

Strathern, Marilyn

2001 The Patent and the Malanggan. In Beyond Aesthetics:

Art and the Technologies of Enchantment. Christo-

pher Pinney and Nicholas Thomas, eds. Pp. 259286.

Oxford: Berg.

Tambiah, Stanley Jeyaraja

1984 The Buddhist Saints of the Forest and the

Cult of Amulets: A Study in Charisma, Hagiography,

Sectarianism, and Millennial Buddhism. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Tart, Charles T., ed.1990 Altered States of Consciousness. 3rd edition. San

Francisco: Harper.

Tuan Ismail Tuan Soh

1991 Silat sekebun: seni silat melayu dengan tumpuan ka-

pada seni. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka

Kermenterian Pendidikan Malaysia.

Turner, Bryan S.

1995 The Body and Society. 2nd edition. London:

Sage.

1997 The Body in Western Society: Social Theory and Its Per-

spectives. In Religion and the Body. Sarah Coakley, ed.

Pp. 1541. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Turner, Victor W.

1988 The Anthropology of Performance. New York: PAJ.Werner, Roland

1986 Bomoh/Dukun: The Practices and Philosophies of the

Traditional Malay Healer. Switzerland: The University

of Berne Institute of Ethnology.

1997 Mah Meri of Malaysia: Art and Culture. Kuala Lump-

ur: University of Malaya Press.

2002 Royal Healer: The Legacy of Nik Abdul bin Hj. Nik Dir

of Kelantan. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya

Press.

Wiley, Mark V.

1993 Silat Gayong: Seven Levels of Self-Defence. Journal

of Asian Martial Arts 2(4):7695.

1994 Silat Kebatinan as an Expression of Mysticism and

Martial Culture in Southeast Asia. Journal of AsianMartial Arts 3(4):3845.

1997 Filipino Martial Culture. Rutland, VT: Tuttle.

Wilkinson, Richard James

1906 Malay Beliefs. The Peninsula Malays, vol. 1. London/

Leiden: Luzac/E. J. Brill.

Wilson, James

1993 Chasing the Magic: Mysticism and Martial Arts on the

Island of Java. Journal of Asian Martial Arts 2(2):

1043.



18/18

Wilson, Lee

2004 The Management of Tradition: The Constitution of a

National Martial Art, Dencat Silat in Indonesia. Ph.D.

dissertation, University of Cambridge.

Winstedt, Richard

1993 [1925] The Malay Magician: Being Shaman, Saivaand Sufi. Kuala Lumpur. Oxford: Oxford University

Press.

Zarrilli, Phillip B.

1998 When the Body Becomes All Eyes: Paradigms, Dis-

courses and Practices of Power in Kalarippayattu,

a South Indian Martial Art. New Delhi: Oxford Uni-

versity Press.

Ziauddin, Sardar2000 The Consumption of Kuala Lumpur. London: Reaktion

Books.


the healing arts of the malay mystic - d.s. farrer.pdf

Documents