Tunggal panaluan

A Tunggal panaluan is the ceremonial staff of a Datu, a magician of the people of Batak in the north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Such a bar, the magical powers are attributed, is in many ceremonies of Datu application and is also its rank.

Purpose and Application

The Datu of Toba Batak ( at the Karo Batak as Guru ) is an allegedly provided with magical powers and abilities medicine man, versed to prevent in " white magic ", which has the task and cure diseases. According to the Batak trigger of the disease, the loss of the soul ( Tondi ), which is caused by the action of evil spirits, the capriciousness of Tondi a patient or by the influence of an evil sorcerer. The Datu can bring back the soul into the body. In addition to its function as a magical healer, he is also soothsayers, oracles and clairvoyant, rainmaker and distributor of storms. He knows the occult chants and formulas and produces magic strong center and medicines. Although the tasks of a Datu in the individual Batak peoples in the details differ somewhat, he cares for the welfare of the social group and is therefore always a person of high standing and great dignity.

Among the most important ritual objects of a Datu, at the same time also an outward sign of his office, is one of the panaluan Tunggal, which finds application in almost all rites practiced by the Datu, for example in the production of Pupuk, a nice strong medicine. While the magic acts, the Datu put into a trance and ritual dances with Tunggal panaluan in hand. The staff serves as a kind of antenna, designed to combine the supernatural power of the gods and demons, and be reconciled to the magician.

Description

For his rites of Datu uses a variety of magic items: amulets (often labeled ) containers to prepare and store medicines and substances, as well as magical calendar ( Porhalaan ) and spell books in secret writing ( Pustaha ). However, the most striking objects are the Zeremonialstäbe. For the Batak, there are two kinds of ritual rods: Tunggal panaluan and Tunggal malehat. They differ significantly in appearance, but whether they are also different in their magical function is not fully understood.

Tunggal panaluan are 110 to 180 cm long rods made of hardwood that are provided in the upper part about ¾ of its length with rich carving ( at Tunggal malehat is only carved the upper end ). The motifs, human and animal figures and hybrids are superimposed and partially overlap. The rod crowned by a freestanding sculpture or a human head. The carving follows a standard pattern, but differs in the arrangement of motifs in the details and execution, because each bar is made ​​specifically for a Datu. The upper end of the rod is wrapped with strips of fabric that form a sort of turban. In these " turban " is supposed to the prepared brain of a sacrificed child's enemy - the Batak were headhunters - have been wrapped. Investigations of Tunggal panaluan in European ethnographic museums, this could not be confirmed so far. From the " turban " sticks out a long, human hair bundle.

Saga

The Dutch missionary JH Meerwaldt, the end of the 19th century, working for the Rhenish Missionary Society in the Toba region has recorded the mythical background, the panaluan the origin of the underlying Tunggal (there are several different versions of locally delivered ):

According to legend, a king was once born a pair of twins, boy and girl, who was inclined to each other after puberty in incestuous love. As their relationship was discovered, they fled into the dense jungle. They found a large, richly draped with succulent fruit tree. Since the girl was hungry and thirsty, it asked his brother to climb the tree and pick some fruit. The boy did as he was told and climbed to the top of the tree. However, since it was a magic tree, this turned him into wood and the boy united with the tribe. When the girl saw what happened with his brother, it also climbed up the tree, hugged her beloved brother and both were as one with the magical tree. When the king finally discovered his enchanted children, he commissioned five Datu to break the spell and free the twins. However, their magic was not powerful enough and they also merged with the tree trunk. A sixth added the called Datu told the king, his children were trapped forever in the tree, since they had been punished for their love of the gods. He therefore advised to cut down the tree to produce from his wood particularly powerful wands.

Collection objects

A particularly decorative objects of folk art Tunggal were panaluan coveted collection objects, so that numerous copies, mainly from the 19th and early 20th century, located in the ethnographic collections in Europe and North America.