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THE JILTED SUITOR’S REVENGE Ken Macintyre & Dr Barb Dobson

In some Indonesian societies magical revenge is an accepted means of restoring community harmony. Certain practices such as mild forms of black magic have become institutionalised to prevent on-going social enmity between members. In rural village Lombok where women had multiple suitors, a mild form of black magic known as banggruq was practiced to resolve potential conflict and to restore face to the pride of wounded suitors. In modern day Lombok banggruq is no longer practiced.

The villagers looked up as they heard the frenetic shrieks and screams of a young woman

running down the main street tripping over her sarong as she tried to take it off. Getting

back onto her feet she pulled off her blouse exposing her naked breasts. She then ran on,

screaming and laughing hysterically while her mother and new husband followed,

pleading with her to stop. Other villagers joined in the pursuit. A group of men sitting

on the side of the road laughed while women looked out their windows and pointed to the

half-naked woman running along the street in a state of abandonment.

When the young woman arrived at a garden with betel nut palms, she turned to face her

onlookers and with a crazed expression on her face, began to climb a slender Areca palm

at great speed and agility while her husband and mother pleaded for her to come down.

When she got to the top of the tree she broke into hysterical laughter and urinated on her

audience below. One of the on-lookers yelled out 'layang eroq banggruan ' (kite

shower).

After some time and a great amount of coaxing, the young woman reluctantly came down

from the tree. As soon as she reached the ground a blanket was thrown over her and she

was bundled off by her mother and new husband to a local belian (healer) for treatment.

The young woman was a victim of a mild form of seher (black magic) known as

banggruq.1

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Banggruq is a type of retributive magic or jilted lover's revenge. The magic consists of a

spell (jampi) and a number of substances blended together by a practitioner skilled in the

art of senggeger (love magic).2 The substances are inert and harmless until the name of

the person targeted is ‘called up’ and a trap is laid. The trap consists of a cross-like

symbol known as cupak dara (literally ‘pigeon’s footprint') which is drawn on the road

along which the recipient will walk in the postnuptial procession to her parents' house.

This colourful ceremonial procession is part of the nyongkolan (Sasak wedding rituals).

The cupak dara “pigeon’s footprint” trap resembles a stylized cross

Prior to the procession taking place the jilted suitor seeks his revenge by calling the

woman’s name and announcing the words 'I put a banggruq upon you'. This triggers the

magical formula encapsulated in a small pellet or pil which he carries with him and will

use to draw a cross on the pathway over which the bridal party will pass. He places the

pellet or what is colloquially called the empan or “bait” at the centre of the cross in the

belief that no matter from which direction the bridal party passes, the targeted woman

will tread on the bait and become stricken by the magical powers of the banggruq.

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Only the named victim is affected. It may take several days for banggruq to manifest.

The symbol of the stylized cross and the number nine are important ingredients in the

ritual setting of banggruq. The cross represents all the cardinal points of the compass.

There are eight possible directions and the bait is placed in the ninth position in the

centre. In the preparation of the banggruq it is said nine ancient demons are invoked

through the jampi (spell). No matter which direction the victim passes from, she cannot

escape the influence of one or more of these supernatural beings.

The deranged behaviour associated with banggruq can manifest itself in many different

forms. One belian stated that there was a catalogue of over a hundred different aberrant

behaviours that fit the category of banggruq. However, there is always a common theme

in that the afflicted woman publicly humiliates herself before being rescued by her family

and new husband and taken to a local healer for treatment.

One woman who had been a victim of banggruq described her experience as follows:

I felt that my body was taken over by another person. I was moving but had no control. I was in my body but my body was in someone else's hands. After that I did not remember anything but they told me that I ran naked through the village and picked up a knife and began to chase my new husband.

It was suggested by some of the belian interviewed that women became possessed by a

type of demon that took control of their mind and body, and that it is not the woman who

displays the crazed behaviour but rather the demon possessing her. 3 Banggruq usually

manifests itself while the bride is staying at her parents' house. Her parents often

anticipate this behaviour, as do other villagers, especially if the woman is known to have

been lais, that is, popular with many suitors. In some cases the bride's mother and the

bride herself find out through the village gossip network that a banggruq is to be 'put

upon her' by one or more of her ex-suitors. Whether a young woman has been led to

believe that magic has been put on her or not, the cultural expectation is that she must

necessarily display some form of begeremon or delirious behaviour not only to the

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villagers and her parents but most importantly to her new husband and his family to

prove that she is an attractive and highly sought-after woman.

The young bride is also aware that former suitors will continue to bear grudges and suffer

loss of face (as will their families) if she does not publicly humiliate herself in the

socially acceptable banggruq manner. In the past some young women had up to ten

suitors. If each of these young men felt resentment and loss of face over being jilted by

the same woman, each may attempt to put a banggruq on her. When the woman becomes

afflicted, each suitor claims responsibility, believing that it was his banggruq that

'caught' her. In this way damaged pride and loss of face on the part of the young men and

their families was restored. Banggruq was a socially acceptable and highly effective

means of diffusing jealousy, anger and loss of face on the part of jilted suitors and their

families.

Rival suitors do not usually blame the successful suitor (the woman's husband) for their

feelings of hurt pride and loss of face but rather blame the woman who has jilted them.

As one jilted suitor said: ' I put banggruq on her because I wanted to teach her a lesson.'

Even though he had not had any sexual relationship with the young woman, and had only

visited her two or three times in the company of her auntie, he said that his peers in the

village knew he was interested in her and when she married someone else he had lost face

in front of his peers. He had to recover his honour by putting a banggruq on the woman

who had caused him this distress.

Treatment of Banggruq

Basically there are three kinds of treatment for the condition known as banggruq. The

most common of these is the placing of a brass object, often a spoon (Sasak, sidut

kuningan) between the first and second toes of the victim's left foot. 4 When the toes are

pressed over the brass object, the victim yells out her tumpu, that is, the medicine she

requires to bring her back to normality. This tumpu can be one of a wide number of

medicinal substances used in the relief of mild black magic-induced conditions.

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Pious Moslem healers (Haji) treat banggruq by placing a piece of white paper between

the first and second toes of the victim's left foot. They repeat a doa (Arabic prayer or

supplication) into a glass of water and give this to the patient to drink; the belief being

that the water becomes medicinal under the influence of the sacred doa. Recovery is said

to be instantaneous.

A highly respected belian who had once been a practitioner of the traditional Waktu telu

religion remarked that in the old days magical oil was rubbed on the victim's head and a

small amount of oil was also ingested. This treatment alone brought instant relief. He

stated that by the time the victim was brought to a healer the banggruq had lost most of

its potency. He further commented with a wry smile: 'It only happens to a woman once

in a lifetime.'

Throughout villages in West Lombok there are many anecdotal accounts of banggruq and

its different behavioural manifestations. One of the most incredible accounts is that of a

contagious form of banggruq known as banggruq tolong. Tolong is a Sasak word

meaning 'help'. This type of banggruq is said to manifest itself when a newly married

woman begins singing and dancing for no apparent reason, as if she were intoxicated

from drinking too much tuak (a local alcohol made from the fermented sap of the coconut

palm). Her delirious singing and dancing continue unabated and if a person touches her

in this state, they too will fall victim to banggruq. It is said that a victim can afflict up to

seven other people who in turn can afflict seven others and so on to the point where its

multiplying effects can disrupt whole villages.

Many of the older villagers had heard tales of banggruq tolong from their parents or

grandparents. Only one old man in his eighties (interviewed by us in 1992) had ever

witnessed it and even then it was from afar. None of the belian (traditional healers)

interviewed knew the ‘ilmu’ (knowledge) to control this communal enchantment that

from anecdotal accounts appeared to resemble a type of hysterical contagion brought on

by the communal belief in the power of the jampi (spell). It was believed that the

contagious effects of banggruq tolong lasted for an indefinite period until the recipients

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collapsed in a state of exhaustion. Most belian interviewed stated that the ilmu for the

cause and treatment of banggruq tolong had been lost long before they were born. It was

their understanding that this knowledge was part of a deep and dangerous magic of the

tetoak laek (ancestors) that had long been forgotten.5

Banggruq in its different manifestations is no longer practiced in contemporary Lombok

society largely as a result of urbanisation, modernising influences on courtship practices

and the conservative nature of orthodox Islamic traditions which frown upon occult

practices such as magic in all its ramifications. Based on ethnohistorical and case study

materials it would seem that banggruq was practiced up until the late 1960’s as a socially

acceptable and effective means of restoring harmony and diffusing conflict, anger and

jealousy on the part of jilted male suitors throughout rural Lombok.

EXPLANATORY NOTES 1. Banggruq refers to the retributive magic whereas banggruan is the condition of being afflicted or possessed by banggruq. 2. Sengegger is the Sasak term for ‘love magic’ involving spells and potions, and is equivalent to gunna-gunna (love magic, Indonesian language). 3. The demon is ‘called up’ by the spell put into the banggruq by the dukun senggeger who prepared the potion. This spell usually involves Sasak words which are unintelligible even to the dukun or belian who are unable to understand or explain their meaning. The words are believed to derive from a deep and ancient mystical language of the Sasak. 4. In the treatment of black magic-induced conditions in males the brass object is placed between the first and second toes of the right foot to diffuse the effects of the jampi or spell (see photo below)

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A brass item placed between the first and second toes of a man’s right foot is used by a Sasak belian to diffuse a mild form of black magic known as sokeq. Photo by Ken Macintyre.

5. The magical and healing powers of the ancestors are both revered and feared. As practitioners of the syncretic folk religion known as Waktu telu they are regarded by orthodox Islamic society as primitive worshippers of demons, jinns and other supernatural beings. Waktu telu was an admixture of Hinduism, folk Islam and traditional animism. The term simply means to pray three times a day instead of the orthodox Islamic practice of five times a day. Orthodox Moslems consider this a non-religion or agama belum (‘not yet a religion’). This paper, based on our anthropological field research in Lombok in 1992, was originally written as a paper in 1998 and digitised to website in 2012.