Notes on the Autochthonous Religions of Southeast Asia

NOTES ON THE AUTOCHTHONOUS RELIGIONS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA

Introduction The following article is an attempt at summarising the extensive and complex subject of the religions of the Southeast Asian peoples as they were before the advent of Buddhism. Some discussion of the historical evolution will be, I trust, to the readers’ advantage. Three major religions have advanced into Southeast Asia1 from India during the past three mil- lennia, and two still dominate the area: Buddhism and Islam. We should mention that in the Philippines, a country that is occasionally drawn into the discussion for comparative reasons, Christianity now dominates2. Islam3. Only in two regions of the Philippines, the Sulu Islands and Mindanao, a total of four small groups of Muslims live, viz. Maranaw

1 For Southeast Asia see: BASTIAN, Adolf, Die Geschichte der Indochinesen, Leipzig, 1866. BAUSANI, Alessandro, Le Letterature del Sud-est Asiatico, Sansoni Accademia, Firenze, 1970. CAMERLING, E., Ueber Ahnenkult in Hinter-Indien und auf den Grossen Sunda-Inseln, Nÿgh & Van Ditmar, Rotterdam, 1928. COMRIE, Bernard, The Major Lan- guages of East and South-east Asia, Routledge, London, 1987. ELIOT, Joshua, BICKER- STETH, Jane, MILLER, Jonathan and MATTHEWS, Georgina, Thailand, Indochina and Burma Handbook, Passport Books, Lincolnwood (Chicago), 1994. ELIOT, Joshua e.a., Thailand, Indochina & Burma Handbook, Bath, England, 1992. FAHRENFORT, J. J. Het Hoogste Wezen der Primitieven, Groningen, J. B. Wolters, 1927. GANSEL, Mireille, (tr.), Chants et Poèmes des Monts et des Eaux, Sudest-Asie Unesco, Paris, 1986. HALL, D. G. E., A History of South-east Asia, Macmillan, London 1973. KNAPPERT, Jan, Pacific Mythology, London, 1992. 2 For the Philippines see: ALIP, Eufonio M., The Philippines of Yesteryears: The Dawn of History in the Philippines, Manila, 1964. BARTON R. F., The Religion of the Ifu- gaos, Am. An. Ass., Menasha, Wisconsin, October 1964, Vol. 48, p. 27ff. BLUMENTRITT, Ferdinand, Diccionario Mitológico 1-2, Madrid, 1896 (?). COLE, Mabel Cook, Philippine Folk Tales, R. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1916, p. 44ff. COOPER-COLE, Fay, Traditions of the Tinguian, Chicago, 1915, p. 35ff, Field Museum of Natural History Pbl. 180. COOPER-COLE, Fay, The Tinguian, Social, Religious and Economic Life of a Philippine Tribe, Chicago, 1922, p. 295ff. FANSLER, Dean S., Filipino Popular Tales, Publications of the American Folklore Society, Vol. XII, New York, 1921. GARDNER, M. D. Fletcher, Philippine Folklore, Palm Tree Press, San Antonio, Texas, 1941. GURREA, Adelina, Cuentos de Juana, Prensa Española, Madrid, 1943. JENSEN, E., The Iban and their Reli- gion, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1974. KROEBER, Alfred L., The Peoples of the Philippines, American Museum of natural History, New York, 1919. MACDONALD, Charles, L’Eloignement du Ciel, Invention et Mémoire des Mythes chez les Palawan du Sud des Philippines. Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Paris, 1988. 3 For Islam see: AL-ATTAS, Syed Muhammad Naguib, The Mysticism of Hamzah Fansuri, The University of Malaya Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1970. AL-NAWAWI, Minhadj 190 J. KNAPPERT and Samal on Mindanao, and Yakana and Tausug on the Sulu Islands. They receive a great deal of media attention. In Indonesia4 the government forces the ‘tribal’ (read: non-Muslim) peoples to migrate to the towns by cutting the forest on which they depend for the continuation of their natural existence. In the towns these people have to become Muslims for social and administrative reasons. Peoples who used to live quite isolated on their islands like Nias or in the forests of Borneo-Kalimantan, are thus compelled to become slum dwellers in the towns; their religion is doomed to die with their elders. In this way Islam is spreading at the expense of the native religions from Sumatra to New Guinea (Irian). In Malaysia conditions are only slightly better for the forest dwelling ‘old’ or ‘tribal’ peoples. The last vestiges of the aboriginal religions are being replaced by Islam through social pressure. In northern Burma, Islam increases as a result of the abnormally high birth rate of the Bengali speaking Muslim people ‘spilling over’ the border from Bangladesh. In Thailand in the extreme south along the Malaysian border, there are a number of Thai speaking Muslim towns, chief among which is Pattani.

at-Talibin, ed. L. W. C. Van den Berg, Batavia 1883. DREWES, G. W. J., Drie Javaansche Goeroes, Vros, Leiden, 1925. ESPOSITO, John L., The Oxford Encyclopædia of the Mod- ern Islamic World, Oxford University Press, New York, 1995, Vol. I. FYZEE, Asaf A. A., A Shi’ite Creed, Oxford University Press 1942. JOHNS, Anthony H., The Gift addressed to the Spirit of the Prophet, Australian National University, Canberra, 1965. JUYNBOLL, Dr. Th. W., Handleiding tot de Kennis van de Mohammedaansche Wet Volgens de Leer der Sjafi’itische School, E. J. Brill, Leiden 1930. KNAPPERT, Jan, The Encyclopaedia of Mid- dle Eastern Mythology and Religion, Shaftesbury 1993, p. 303-9. 4 For Indonesia see: ALKEMA, B. and BEZEMER, T. J., Beknopt Handboek der Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch — Indië, Tjeenk Willink, Haarlem, 1927. BRAASEM, W. A., Pantuns, Djakarta Moderne Boekhandel, 1950. Encyclopaedie van Nederlands Oost Indië, The Hague — Leiden, 1917-1921. GONDA, J., Letterkunde van de Indische Archipel, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1947. HEEKEREN, H. R. Van, The Stone Age of Indonesia, The Hague, 1957; do. The Bronze-Iron Age of Indonesia, The Hague, 1958. HEERKENS, P., ‘Het Lied van Saka Ladja’ in: Onder Palmen en Waringins, ed. by J. Poortenaar & Dr. W. Ph. Coolhaas, Naarden, In Den Toren, 1939. KENNEDY, Raymond, Bibliography of Indonesian Peoples and Cultures, Oxford University Press, London, 1945 & YUP, New Haven, 1945. KLEIWEG de ZWAAN, J. P., The Anthropology of the Indian Archipelago and its Problems, Weltevreden, 1929. KNAPPERT, Jan, Myths and legends of Indonesia, Heine- mann, Singapore, 1977. MOSS, Rosalind, The Life after Death in Oceania and the Malay Archipelago, London, 1925. NOORDUYN, J., Een Achttiende Eeuwse Kroniek van Wadjo, Thesis, Leiden, 1955. VRIES, Jan de, Volksverhalen uit Oost-Indië, 2 vols., Thieme & Cie, Zutphen, 1925, 1928. ZOETMULDER, P. and STOEHR, W., Die Religionen Indonesiens. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart, 1965. NOTES ON THE AUTOCHTHONOUS RELIGIONS 191

Buddhism5. Before Islam, Buddhism had spread to the far corners of Southeast Asia, from Sri Lanka and from Bengal, and to Vietnam from China. Buddhism gradually became dominant in Burma, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. It arrived not earlier than c.250 B.C. in Burma where it expanded in very different ways depending on the cultures and inclina- tions of the many distinct peoples and their rulers. One may suspect that Buddhism arrived in all those countries carried by ships, since it seems to have flourished first along the coasts in Burma, Sumatra, Java and Cambodia. In all those countries Buddhism was an Indian religion, but in Vietnam its carrier-language was Chinese. Viet- nam adopted the Chinese script for its language, but syllabaries based on Sanskrit script were designed for Burmese, Mon, Thai, Cambodian, Javanese, Balinese and other Indonesian languages. The use of these scripts in inscriptions began only in the early Middle Ages. In Cambodia and Indonesia a few inscriptions survive in Sanskrit characters. Hinduism6. Hinduism arrived in Southeast Asia a very long time before Buddhism. We may assume that in Burma it ‘percolated’ from Bengal, carried by traders and other travellers from Bengal, whereas Buddhism was carried by monks who travelled with the conscious purpose of teaching Buddhism. Hinduism too, appears to have travelled overseas, from India to Sumatra7, Java8, Borneo9, Bali10 and

5 For Buddhism see: BUTT, E. A., The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha, New York 1955. COOMARASWAMY, A., Buddha and the Gospel of Buddhism, London 1916. FOUCHER, A., La vie du Bouddha d’après les textes et les monuments d l’Inde, Paris 1949. SALOMONS, J. W., Gewijde Verhalen van Hindoes en Boeddhisten, Zutphen 1916. VOGEL, J. Ph., Op het Voetspoor van Boeddha, Haarlem 1934. VOGEL, J. Ph., Het Boeddhisme, in: De Godsdiensten der Wereld, o. l. v. G. van der Leeuw, Amsterdam 1955. WALDSCHMIDT, E., Die Legende vom Leben des Buddha in Auszügen aus den heiligen Texten, Berlin 1929. WIJNAENDTS FRANCKEN, C. J., Het Boeddhisme en zijn Wereldbeschouwing, Leiden 1932. TAKAKASU, J., A Record of the Buddhist Religion as Practised in India and in the Malay Archipelago, Oxford, 1896. 6 For Hinduism see: KNAPPERT, Jan, Indian Mythology, London 1991. KROM, N. J., Hindoe – Javaansche Geschiedenis, Nijhoff, The Hague, 1931. 7 For Sumatra see: LOEB, E. M., Sumatra, its History and People, Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1973. WARNECK, J., Die Religion der Batack, 1909. 8 For Java see: ANDERSON, Benedict R. O’G., Mythology and the Tolerance of the Javanese, Ithaca NY, 1965. ERINGA, F. S., Loetoeng Kasaroeng. Een Mythologisch Ver- haal uit West Java, Ver. v. h. Kon. Inst. v. d. T. L. & Volkenkunde VIII, The Hague, 1949. HOOYKAAS, C., The Old Javanese Ramayana, Koninklijke Nederlandse Academie v. Wetenschappen, Amsterdam, 1958. KNAPPERT, Jan, ‘Java’s Rice Goddess’, The World and I 1, 10, 160 -169, Washington D. C., 1986. ID., ‘The Myth of the Rice Goddess in Java’, in Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica 16, 245 -271, Leuven, Belgium, 1985. MUL- DER, N., Mysticism and Everyday Life in Contemporary Java, Singapore University Press, 192 J. KNAPPERT

Cambodia11. From Cambodia it spread to Thailand12, Laos13 and Cochin- Annam14 (to this last region before the Vietnamese invasion and settle- ment). Hinduism brought the great pairs of gods Vishnu and Laksmi with their incarnations Rama and Sita, and Krishna and Radha; even more popular were Shiva and Parvati with their alternative appearances Rudra and Durga or Kala and Kali; there are many other names for these deities.

1978. PIGEAUD, Theodorus G. Thomas, Javaansche Volksvertoningen, Soerakarta, 1938; do. Javaans — Nederlands Handwoordenboek, Wolters, Groningen, s.d.; ID., The Litera- ture of Java, KITLV & Nijhoff, The Hague, 1967. POERBATJARAKA, R. M. Ng. Dr., Pandji Verhalen Onderling Vergeleken, A. C. Nix, Bandoeng, 1940. RAS, J. J., De Schending van Soebadra, Meulenhoff, Amsterdam, 1976. ZOETMULDER, P. J., Kalangwan. A Survey of Old Javanese Literature, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1974. 9 For Borneo see: EVANS, I. H. N., The Religion of the Tempasuk Dusuns of North Borneo, Cambridge University Press, 1953. ROTH, H. Ling, The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo, 2 vols., London, 1896. RUBINSTEIN, Carol, The Honey Tree Song, Poems and Chants of the Sarawak Dayaks, Ohio University Press, Athens Ohio, 1985. STOEHR, W., Das Totenritual der Dajak, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1959. 10 For Bali see: GORIS, R., Bali, Cults and Customs, Government Printers, Jakarta, 1953. HOEVE, W. Van, Bali, Studies in Life, Thought and Ritual, Van Hoeve, The Hague, 1960. HOOYKAAS, C., Religion in Bali, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1973; do., Cosmogony and Creation in Balinese Tradition, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1974. HOOYKAAS, Dr. Jacoba, Sprookjes en Verhalen van Bali, Van Hoeve, The Hague, 1956. STUTTERHEIM, W. F., Indian Influences on Balinese Art, London, 1935. SWELLENGREBEL, J. L., et alii, Bali: Studies in Life, Thought and Ritual, Van Hoeve, The Hague, 1960. 11 For Cambodia see: AYMONIER, Etienne, Histoire de l’Ancien Cambodge, Paul Bouchard, Strasbourg, 1918. GITEAU, Madeleine, Histoire d’Angkor, Presses Universi- taires de France, Paris, 1974. LECLERE, Adhémard, Contes et Légendes du Cambodge, Paris 1895. ID., Les Livres Sacrés du Cambodge, Leroux, Paris, 1906. MARTINI, François and BERNARD, Solange, Contes Populaires Inédits du Cambodge, Maisonneuve, Paris, 1946. MONOD, G. H., Légendes Cambodgiennes que m’a contées le Gouverneur Khien, Paris, 1922. PAVIE, A., Recherches sur l’Histoire du Cambodge, Du Laos et du Siam, Paris 1898. ID., Contes Populaires du Cambodge, Laos et Siam, Paris 1903. RUSSIER, Henri (ed.), Histoire Sommaire du Royaume de Cambodge, Nouvelle Bibliothèque des Ecoles, Phnom-Penh, 1913. 12 For Thailand see: CHAYA, Prem, Magic Lotus, Bangkok, 1949. MAY, Reginald Le, Thai Tales Old and New, Shanghai, 1945. SATYANANDA, Puri, and SARAKHIRAN, Charoen, The Ramakirti or the Thai Version of the Ramayana, Bangkok, 1940. SIMMONDS, E. H. S., ‘Tai Literatures’, a bibliography, in Bulletin of the Association of British Orientalists Vol. 3, No.’s 1 and 2, London 1965. VELDER, Christian, Märchen aus Thailand, Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Köln, 1968. 13 For Laos see: WAVELL, Stewart, The Naga King’s Daughter, Allen & Unwin, Lon- don, 1964. 14 For Annam see: CHIVAS-BARON, C., Contes et Légendes de l’Annam, Paris, 1917 [G-G 198 22873]. DUMOUTIER, G., Les Chants et les Traditions Populaires des Anna- mites, Ernest Leroux, Paris, 1890. LE VAN PHAT, Contes et Légendes du Pays d’Annam, Imprimerie Nguyen Van Cua, Saigon, 1925. NGUYEN VAN HUYEN, Les Chants Alternés des Garçons et des Filles en Annam, Geuthner, Paris, 1943. TRAN VAN TUNG, L’Annam, Pays du Rêve et de la Poésie, J. Susse, Paris, 1945. NOTES ON THE AUTOCHTHONOUS RELIGIONS 193

These gods were the great spirits that inspired the magnificent literature of the Indian epic which powerfully influenced the literatures of the Thai, Javanese and other peoples. Art15 was an other culture form that expressed the peoples’ devotion for the Hindu gods in all those countries, so that sculpture and painting flourished during periods of prosper- ity. No wonder that the peoples of Southeast Asia found it hard to resist this brilliant culture with its colourful, strong-willed gods. The student of the original religions has to ‘dig deeply’, as it were, to ‘peel off’ layer after layer of some recent and some old veneers of acquired cultures, until he meets the remotest, most isolated forest- dwellers and the inhabitants of little known islands, where he hopes to find the most ancient religions of Southeast Asia. In the beginning of this century they could still be found, until the war of 1941-5. Since that time many of those small village cultures have perished. The following pages contain a survey of those most ancient ‘folk’ religions. It is remarkable that there is so much resemblance between those village cults that one may be excused for concluding that once in pre-Hindu times the whole of Southeast Asia practised very similar forms of spirit religions. The surviving practices have retained much of their influence in all the, now officially, Buddhist areas.

1. Ancestor worship Ancestor worship presupposes the belief in the existence of a human soul which survives the body and remains separated from it, but alive, conscious, intelligent, capable of hearing, seeing and smelling and of communicating with the people who are still in their earthly lives, by sending messages. These souls are not considered immortal by all the peoples of Southeast Asia; some believe that the souls will vanish after a number of generations. Others, some no doubt under Buddhist influence, believe that the soul will come back to earth in a new body, as a baby, without normally remembering its previous lives. The essential aspect of the belief in the souls is that they somehow make their presence

15 For Art see: BERNET-KEMPERS, A. J., Ancient Indonesian Art, Cambridge, Mass., 1959; do, Ageless Borobudur, Pomona, California, 1976. BOSCH, F. D. K., The Golden Germ, The Hague, 1960. COHN, W., Buddha in der Kunst des Ostens, Leipzig 1925, 4to, ill. FOUCHER, A., The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and other Essays in Indian and Central- Asian Archaeology, Paris-London, 1917, 8 vol, ill. KROM, N. J., De Levensgeschiedenis van den Buddha op Barabudur, Gravenhage, 1926, 8 vol, ill. VOGEL, J. Ph., De Buddhis- tische Kunst van Voor-Indië, Amsterdam, 1932, 8 vol, ill. 194 J. KNAPPERT felt, by means of dreams or by haunting the living, causing apparitions or voices or both. These messages from the dead provide jobs for a host of mediators between them and the living, such as priests, prophets, seers, shamans, diviners, faith healers, medicine men and women, magicians, exorcisers, gurus and other saintly persons. In principle all people who die leaving children and grandchildren behind, become ancestors but not all of them are necessarily worshipped. Sometimes only the chiefs’ or kings’ spirits are worshipped, sometimes only the male ancestors. In recent times the term ‘ancestor worship’ has gone out of fashion with scholars of religion, perhaps because they themselves are monothe- ists, and with the peoples themselves who are told by Christians and Muslims, that ancestor worship is something which only primitive peoples do. The present writer maintains that ancestor worship is just as good a religion as any other, and that alternative terms such as ‘veneration of and communication with the forefathers’ are not adequate. The ancestors are indeed worshipped, that is, they are loved, they are prayed to, the people speak to them, sing hymns for them, they put food and other offerings ready for them, often every day, and many peoples have priests or shamans to perform mediating services in order to keep the ancestors happy and satisfied with the living.

2. The soul in Southeast Asia Most of the peoples of Southeast Asia — insofar as we have reports about their religions — believe that every person has a soul. Some peoples are said to believe we have two or even three souls each, but this notion may be the result of their language having more than one word for a spiritual being or existence. Some anthropologist working in Eng- land might conclude that the English believe each of them has three such beings: the soul, the mind and the spirit. Yet we would be hard put to answer the question: is your spirit distinct from your soul? German has only two words: Geist (spirit, mind) and Seele (soul). All languages have a word for ghost in the meaning of the apparition of a dead man’s soul or spirit: German Gespenst, French revenant (‘coming back’), Dutch spook, from which the American word spook has come. The Meo of North Vietnam16 believe that a person has three souls which, a year after his death, enter the womb of a woman and are

16 For Vietnam see: HARRIS, George L. et alii, U. S. Army Area Handbook for Viet- nam, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington D. C., 1962. HO-PHAP (Sa Sainteté), NOTES ON THE AUTOCHTHONOUS RELIGIONS 195 subsequently born as a new baby. This belief has probably been influenced by Buddhism, the dominant religion of the area. Ancestor worship presupposes the belief in the survival of the ancestral spirit as a separate entity, and often includes the belief in the ancestors’ reincarnation. About the Palaung of Upper Burma17 it is reported that they believe a soul is immanent in persons and animals alike. Kar-bu is the word for such a soul. Every man also has two protective or guiding spirits, one good and one prone to wickedness. The kar-bu leaves the body at death and goes in search of a woman who has just become pregnant. During dreams a part of the soul is travelling, leaving behind enough soul-substance for the body to go on living. This division of the soul is the cause of dreams being vague and indistinct. At that time the soul substance in the body is weak so it can be ousted by a lonely wandering kar-bu so that the person suddenly displays a different character. Imbecile children are born without a soul; later the soul may yet catch up with the body so that imbecile children must be treated lovingly. The Kachin of upper Burma believe that each person has a perfect soul, called krin, which remains after death in the house where it receives offerings and can be reborn as a child or a domestic animal. Souls can fly very fast. The Karen18 of Lower Burma believe that each person has a la, spirit, an animal or tree can also have a la. The la wanders about at night causing dreams; it survives the body after death but is neither good nor evil nor responsible for the person’s deeds. The word for the soul is thah which makes its carrier good or wicked. However, the authors who have worked among the Karen (Cross, McMahon, Mason, Forbes, Temple) contradict each other regarding these two concepts, probably because they were working in different parts of the Karens’ habitat. The Semang of peninsular Malaysia19 believe that human souls live on earth before birth in the shape of birds, male and female souls

La Constitution Religieuse du Caodaïsme, Dervy, Paris, 1953. NAYLOR, Kim, Discovery Guide to Vietnam, Immel Publishing, London, 1994. 17 For Burma see: ESCHE, Annemarie, Transl. ed., Maerchen der Voelker Burmas, Insel Verlag, Leipzig, 1976. SANGERMANO, Fr., A Description of the Burmese Empire, Rome, 1833 & Rangoon 1885, 1924. 18 For Karen see: McMAHON, A. R., The Karens of the Golden Chersonese, London, 1876. 19 For Malaysia see: HAMILTON A. W., Malay Pantuns, Donald Moore, Singapore, 1944. HOLLANDER, J. J. De, Handleiding bij de Beoefening der Maleische Taal en Let- terkunde, Breda, 1882. HOOYKAAS, C., Over Maleise Literatuur, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1947. KNAPPERT, Jan, Malay Myths and Legends, Heinemann, Kuala Lumpur — Singapore, 196 J. KNAPPERT incorporated in two distinct species of birds. If a man shoots such a bird down with an arrow this is only possible when and because the time for it has come to become a human soul. The man will give the bird to his wife who will cook it and eat it after which she will give birth to a child, male or female depending on the species of the bird. When this child has grown old and dies, the soul emerges in the shape of a human being, bright red but no bigger than a maize cob. These beings congregate in a different place awaiting a new body to enter. The people of the Andaman Islands believe that the human soul, called otyolo, is like a person’s mirror image in a pond, but with a red colour and an evil character. During sleep this soul leaves the body through the nose. After death the soul goes to heaven. The word for soul, mirror image and dream is the same in several Andaman languages; it is also identified with the breath, which leaves the body at death. A child born by the same mother after the death of a child of the same gender is believed to be the same soul. The Jakun of Johore believe that jelly fish are the souls of unborn children waiting to be born. After death the soul disappears in the wind. The related Batin people believe that their souls, after death, enter the bodies of elephants, tigers, deer, pigs and monkeys. The Kos of Northwest Laos believe that after death the soul lives on in the shape of the deceased and with his or her character, but invisible. The souls will often visit the houses of their relatives, participating in the joys and sorrows of the family, who are somehow aware of their presence. Some Indonesians4 believe that for some time after death20 the soul lingers on in the vicinity of its customary habitation. Some peoples build a small hut on the grave for the soul to dwell in. Food and other offerings can be placed in this spirit house. Even in many Islamised regions this custom is still maintained. In some districts a bed is made for the body to lie in for three or four days, so that the soul can visit it.

1980. LEEUWEN, P. J. Van, De Maleische Alexander-Roman, Meppel B. Ten Brink, 1937. OVERBECK, Hans, Malaiische Weisheit und Geschichten, E. Diederichs, Jena, 1927. SKEAT, Walter William, Malay Magic, London, 1900; do, Fables and Folk Tales from an Eastern Forest, Cambridge, 1901. WILKINSON, R. J., Malay – English Dictionary, MacMillan & Co., London, 1961. WINSTEDT, Sir Richard, Malay Proverbs, John Murray, London, 1950. ID., A History of Classical Malay Literature, Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1969. 20 For Death see: KNAPPERT, Jan, Pacific Mythology, Harper-Collins, London – San Francisco 1992, s.v. Kala. NOTES ON THE AUTOCHTHONOUS RELIGIONS 197

In Ambon it is said that the souls will stay near their graves for as long as these graves are maintained. These souls will often visit the village where their children live, to protect them and give them messages in their dreams. In the Philippines it is believed that the soul visits the body in the house he or she once occupied. People put water ready so that the soul can wash the earth off itself. Some people scatter ashes hoping to see the footsteps of the otherwise invisible ghost. In Minangk- abau the soul returns to the home after burial and sits in the loft of the house on one of the beams. This place is cleaned regularly. In Minahassa the souls can no longer communicate with the living three days after their death, only with the other souls that are wandering about. For this reason the local Christians insist that their dead must be buried in Chris- tian cemeteries so that the souls can converse with like-minded souls. Among the Olo Dusun on Borneo it is said that the priestess invites the soul of a recently deceased person to enter her so that it can speak through her mouth. The other souls arrive from Hades to convince the ‘new’ soul that it is dead. At first it refuses to believe it is dead, then finally it bursts into tears (i.e. the priestess does). In the Bataklands too, the soul does not realise at first that its body is dead. Only when it sees the family weeping and hears the coffin being made, does it realise the truth. In Nias the priest has to perform a ceremony to ban the soul from the house forever. Among the Dayaks, if a person has died far from home or has been carried off by a crocodile, his relatives will bury his clothes, hoping the soul will stay near its old clothes. The idea is that a soul hates living abroad where it cannot converse with other souls. In their dirges, the Dayaks beg Tempon Telon, the Dayak equivalent of Charon, to fetch the soul from where the body has been buried. If it proves impossible to carry the whole body home then the head by itself will suffice. In the Bataklands an effigy is made of the dead person out of banana wood and this dummy is then buried with the dead man’s clothes. As long as the body smells, the soul is also still impure and not quite dead, not quite released from the body. Therefore the soft parts of the body have to be disposed of. To this end the body is placed well away from the village in a pit or a cave. After a set time when the flesh has totally putrefied and been consumed, the bones or just the skull, are deposited in special places, such as dead-houses or caves, or buried. This is done with variations in the eastern Archipelago: Aru, Ceram, Key. The Ngaju Dayaks place the bones of the dead, after a great funeral 198 J. KNAPPERT feast, in a large collective coffin, sandong, at some distance from the village, in a sacred place. In Nias a slave used to be sacrificed during the funeral festivities. A statue of a funerary god, Taragoli, was placed on the grave. Stones were erected (for men) or laid (for women) on the grave. Some Dayak and Batak groups cremate their dead; these Dayaks9 place the bones, after the flesh has been consumed by fire, in the sandong. The Toba Bataks burn the bones of their dead and place the ashes in earthenware urns or in wooden boxes which are then buried in the forest. Some Karo Batak groups place the urn in a miniature boat and let it float down a river. Statuettes of the dead are the object of lamentations. In Bali, the significance of cremation lies in the belief in reincarnation. The body is burnt so that the soul is released to travel up to heaven, then descend back to earth in order to enter a new body. Without cremation the soul stays on earth and becomes one of the pitara21 or ghosts. The bodies of men sentenced to death, smallpox patients and women who have died in childbirth are not cremated. The cremation of royal persons is preceded by embalming and wrapping of the body in a linen shroud. The cremation takes place in public in a richly decorated catafalque in the shape of a pyramid. Ordinary people may be cremated collectively so the expenses can be shared. Cremation, wherever it occurs in Indonesia, is almost certainly the result of Hindu influence. The peoples along the coasts practise it much more frequently than the peoples in the interior of the islands (in Borneo and even Bali). For the original Indonesian peoples the soul was still almost corporeal; it retained its identity as the soul of a particular deceased. For the Hindus however, the soul is a completely spiritual concept, not linked to one individual only.

3. Conducting the soul In many cultures the soul of the deceased had to be conducted out of the village by means of a dance party; this seems to be the original significance of funerary dances. A korwar or statue of the deceased was kept by his heirs. These rituals were still practised on New Guinea a century ago. In Halmaheira too, the funerary dances appear to have the purpose of saying farewell to the deceased and ‘seeing him off’ with due

21 Pitara (ghosts): This is evidently the Sanskrit word pitaraÌ ‘fathers’. NOTES ON THE AUTOCHTHONOUS RELIGIONS 199 honours’. The deceased will join the jini and bidasari; both words mean ‘spirits’, one word being of Arabic origin, the other Sanskrit via Malay. In that land of the dead the soul is harassed by evil spirits tokata, who will seize it, but the priest officiating at the ceremony can liberate it by means of his own jini. If the relatives do not give a proper feast, the soul of the deceased will itself become an evil spirit. The people of Sumba likewise, believe that the souls for whom no proper ceremony has been held, wander round and cause suffering to the living. In Savu it is believed that the funerary feast helps the dead to find their way to the boat of the spirit Amma-piga-laga, who is the equivalent of Charon; he ferries the dead to an overseas island. In some of the Moluccan islands (Luang, Babar) the relatives build a miniature boat which is buried with half a goat, after an old person has called the soul or souls for whom the ceremony is intended. Clearly the soul receives the boat so that she can sail to the land where the dead belong. In Babar the skulls of the deceased are exhumed, cleaned, given food, and then taken, after a ceremony, to a cave, where they are left. Evidently, the skulls contain the souls which have to be conducted outside the village. During an elaborate ceremony among the Ngaju Dayaks, the priests used to sing a long litany in which they supposedly enumerated the place names in the other world which the dead souls would pass during their journey. Dr F.E. Braches, analysing the litany, discovered that these were existing place names in up-country Borneo, between the present habitat of these Dayaks and the town where their ancestors lived many generations ago. Originally the bones of the dead were transported by proah upriver to the (dead) ancestral town to be placed in the sacred sandong. Later the journey was made only in song by the soul, not to a physical place but to the mythical country of the dead ancestors. In general the belief among the Dayaks is that the soul cannot find the way to the Land of the Dead without the help of the living, in particular the wadian-matai or priestess for the dead. She has to accompany the souls in person, though in spirit form, until the ‘new’ souls meet the elders of the Land of the Dead, who are pacified by the pig that is being slaughtered by the dead person’s relatives specially for this purpose. The Dayaks of Kutai relate that the souls of the dead have to travel past rivers and mountains. If they meet any people (i.e. spirits) these have to be given clothes or other offerings. They will meet numerous animals (a dangerous caterpillar, a bear, a swarm of flies) all of whom have to be 200 J. KNAPPERT propitiated in a particular manner. Various men and a mysterious woman have to be ‘made friendly’ by offerings, or avoided. One woman has ears as large as umbrellas. Burning logs will block the path, over which the soul has to jump. After these trials the soul has to climb Mount Bul- huli, then Mount Gili, and yet more mountains. Crossing more rivers the soul finally arrives in a world where she will meet her parents who live on the hill of her tribe. There she can bathe and eat some fruits. Only rarely do these encounters in the Afterworld seem to be linked to a reward or retribution. The soul must carry offerings for particular beings (e.g. nuts for a hog) that block her path. The ‘sins’ for which the soul is punished most severely are miserliness and debauchery, or not planting a pandanus tree. Curiously, in several traditions, the souls meet a dangerous dog in the underworld, often with two heads. We should not be tempted to suspect Greek influence here. The association of dogs and wolves with death is probably universal in mythology. The Torajas related that the gatekeeper of the Afterworld is Langkoda, a blacksmith, who will interrogate adults (children may pass without question), asking them whether they have killed anyone, and whether they have had sexual intercourse. Adults will be punished for a sexless life by being beaten with a hammer. In Minahasa the gatekeeper’s name is Makawalang, who sends the souls of the rich to the world of the gods, whereas the poor souls stay in a forest forever. The people of Angkola believed that there are two guards at the gates of the Afterworld, called Sinang and Jelma. They are taller than humans, have bulging eyes and protruding teeth like axes, black mouths and tongues. They interrogate the soul while holding it in a trap. If the soul lies they kill it, but if it confesses all its sins honestly it will then be taken to the court of the Afterworld, to be judged by the ‘spirit head’, i.e. a panel of skulls placed on a shelf. The Karo Bataks describe the journey to the Afterworld as having to cross a river. As soon as the soul has crossed over, the bridge disappears and the person can never go back to life again. The soul is then brought before the king of Soul City who will ask it why it did not come sooner. The soul will reply: “I have made regular payments.” The explanation for this defence statement is as follows: if during his life on earth a person falls ill, he will pay the spirits ‘replacement dolls’, figurines which represent the sick person himself whose soul has been ‘caught’ by the spirits so that he will die soon unless he ‘pays’ the spirits a doll, hoping that they may let him go, so curing the illness. Souls who have stolen or NOTES ON THE AUTOCHTHONOUS RELIGIONS 201 begotten illegitimate children are punished in the stocks where they sit imprisoned forever. Children who died before they had teeth are sent to another area where they live pleasantly. In Nias it was related that the souls would be judged by Kalekamo — probably derived from Kala ‘black’, a name for Shiva as the god of death22 — who would question them. Those who have organised many feasts for the community will pass over the river walking along the flat of Kalekamo’s sword, those who committed adultery, treason, bribery, theft and murder will have to walk barefoot on the sharp edge of the blade, off which they fall down into the water. Others will have to face dogs who will chase them back to earth so that they will suffer a pro- longed time on their sickbed before being allowed to die. The Papuas23, when entering Suruga, the Afterworld, will have their earlobes and nasal septum examined. If these are not pierced, it will be done there and then. After this the soul may enter the family house in Hades to meet relatives and friends. Elsewhere the people tell about a female gatekeeper, Imbiasi, who inspects the dead man’s skin. All tattoo figures will be removed but those dead people who do not have them will be rejected. It is necessary for the relatives to kill a pig or at least a dog as an offering, otherwise the ghost will come back to haunt them until they do. Only then may the soul enter the Afterworld. In Java the gatekeeper is called Dwarakala — from Sanskrit dvara, ‘door’; he is seated at the cross-roads where he points the souls onto the road which leads to Yama’s kingdom. Yama is the god of the dead24.

4. Where do the dead live? The Orang Benua of Malaya believe that the souls of the dead who have led a good life will go to Pulau Buah, the island of fruits, which lies in the far west where the sun sets. The soul (sumangat) lives there together with all the other souls in perfect harmony, eating happily of the fruits of the many trees. They marry and have children as on earth, but pain, disease and death are unknown to them. The souls who died a violent death, however, have to live in Tanah Merah, ‘Red Country’, a

22 See Jan KNAPPERT, Indian Mythology, Harper Collins, 1991, s.v. Kala, Shiva. 23 For the Papuas of West Irian see: BAAL, J. Van, Dema, Description and Analysis of Marind-anim Culture, The Hague, 1966. HELD, G. J., The Papuas of Waropen, The Hague, 1957. KAMMA, Freerk C., Religious Texts of the Oral Tradition from Western New Guinea, 2 vols., E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1975. ID., Koreri, The Hague, 1972. 24 KNAPPERT, Indian Mythology (see note 22), s.v. Yama. 202 J. KNAPPERT desolate and barren place. Others say that the bad souls are devoured by evil spirits one week after the bodies have been buried. For this reason the living light bonfires on the graves at this time to drive away the evil spirits. On several Indonesian islands (Letti, Luwang, Babar and a few others) it is believed that the souls of the dead travel ‘back’ to the island from where their native island was originally colonised, according to the popular traditions. The Alfures of Buru describe the Afterworld as situ- ated on the other side of the River Wai Ili. There the dead eat, drink and celebrate continuously. In general the Indonesian peoples let their dead live similar lives to the ones they led on earth. Usually those who were rich on earth also lead a pleasant life in the hereafter since their means enabled them to sacrifice animals and reserve offerings for the gods of Hades. The majority of peoples situate the Afterworld under the earth. The Javanese, however, believe that the dead travel to the south, to the kingdom of Yama, a Hindu concept. The Sumba islanders place the After- world in a forest in the centre of the island, Perai Merapu ‘Sacred Land’. Some Dayak groups maintain that the dead live on the mountains, have what they wish and speak their own language distinct from ours. The dead do not live forever. Many peoples in Sulawesi believe that the dead die seven times until they finally evaporate like dewdrops. Some souls are ‘reborn’ as ricestalks and thus make the rice more nutri- tious. Some dead souls live hanging upside down in caves like bats. The souls are too ethereal to live forever, they finally fade away like fog. Land-Dayaks believe that the souls pass through several soul-lives until they finally disappear into the trees to make them stronger. In Minangkabau people say that the souls enter animal bodies, like fireflies, worms, moths, etc.

5. The veneration of the dead The people of Galela are convinced that the souls of the dead watch over the welfare of their descendants; they keep the evil spirits at bay, and keep themselves abreast of the lives of the living, provided the latter bring them offerings of food and beverages to honour them. When the people of Nias feel an illness approaching and if they fall seriously ill in spite of offering sacrifices to the ancestors, then they know that someone has sinned against the ancestral laws, the adat. They will make a new ancestor’s statue and inaugurate it solemnly with the whole family present, to signify they have begun a new life. NOTES ON THE AUTOCHTHONOUS RELIGIONS 203

The ancestors will help only their own descendants to prosper. Out- siders will not benefit from their goodwill, nor will they be harmed by their wrath when they break the law of the land. No one will therefore worship foreign gods before a social revolution has taken place. Three categories of souls are worshipped by many peoples right across Indonesia: firstly those of the men who fell in battle while defending the tribe. These heroes are venerated in a special temple by the Torajas. Secondly, the ancestors and thirdly the founders of the village. The last two categories are frequently identical. A man who raises a large family will have created a new village by building huts for his sons and grandsons to live in with their wives and children. The people of Galela call the protective spirit of the village, the ancestor of the clan dodadi, the begetter, the first man. He is venerated in a temple. However, he is only invoked in times of disaster, such as an attack by enemies. In Letti the ancestral couple is venerated in the shape of two statues. Only their descendants are allowed to offer sacrifices to these founders of the village. In every house there is moreover a statuette of the builder, which is kept in a special place where the owner feeds it daily. On the Key Islands there used to be a statue of the tribal founder in a squatting position, called Sedeu. Sacrifices were offered to it in order that the soul of the priest would enter the image and answer questions as to how a disaster could be prevented and good order restored. The Torajas do not live in the same village for very long, so they have placed all the statues of people who have powerfully influenced the life of the tribe together in one temple, where they are venerated as anitu, the spirits.

6. Seeing, hearing and feeling spirits Spirits can be heard, for instance when an owl hoots in the night this may be an ancestor warning his people. The spirits can also speak to people while remaining invisible. Very common are the reports of people seeing spirits in the dark while walking alone. The mere presence of a spirit may cause death, for the spirits can take the life-substance out of a person. No one should walk alone at night! If a woman meets a spirit, it can make her pregnant. In Madura it is said that a jihin (spirit) may copulate with a woman, preferably his own medium. The fruit of such a union is called anak seloman because some time after birth it will suddenly disappear. The Ngaju Dayaks believe 204 J. KNAPPERT that a kambe spirit may mate with a woman. The children from such a union will soon run into the woods. The origin of albino children is even more curious, so the Dayaks say, since they are born after a woman has been fertilised by the moon. The Toba Bataks believed that the famous king Singa was the son of a human woman and a begu (spirit). The souls cannot be seen but they are often heard: they growl or make a noise by stamping their feet, or they throw plates and cups onto the floor at night. The Torajas believe that the souls can cause dizziness and itching where they touch. If a dead soul ‘seizes’ a living person, he or she will surely die. Spirits can cause headaches, fever and sickness by merely moving closely past a person, unseen. A dead soul can curse a living person, and if that happens the latter is doomed. An angry spirit may bite a person so fiercely that the tooth marks are actually visible. When seized by a spirit the victim’s body will actually show a scar. Spirits may beat a person or even urinate on him, after which the skin will come up in a rash. A priest has to be invited to the victim’s bedside. He can ‘suck’ the wound or scar from the victim’s skin. Children — always in danger of catching numerous ailments — can get pimples after being ‘touched’ by an evil spirit. The mother will rub the child’s skin with her hair to cure it. Tree spirits will throw things at passers-by on the forest path, causing illness. In the Batak lands, if someone has been touched by a spirit he will shiver as if in a fever. He must lie down immediately, hoping to mislead the spirit into thinking that its victim is already dead.

7. The veneration of souls The souls of the dead linger on invisibly in or near the places where they used to live. ‘Venerating’ these souls is in the first instance done by sharing. The living give to the dead a little of everything good they receive and enjoy, mainly food. On Halmahera, when a man has received some meat, fish or other delicacy, he will put a piece near the edge of the banana leaf from which he is eating and say: “This is for you, souls!” When he has finished his own portion he will eat that little piece too, the souls having enjoyed its essence. In the Minahassa (Sulawesi) people will put a handful of rice on the corner of the table and pour some palm wine on the ground as the souls’ share. When a Toraja gives a party at home or in the garden, someone will ask at the beginning: “Have the souls got their share?” At once the host will place NOTES ON THE AUTOCHTHONOUS RELIGIONS 205 the souls’ share near the entrance gate of the house. In the mountains of Southwest Sulawesi (where the people have not yet been Islamised) they will ask the patuntung (priest) to officiate at a festive meal. He will pray: “You people who sleep in the earth, you who lean against your boards (= coffin), please eat the fragrance (literally ‘contents’), we will eat the rest.” At the time of planting the rice on Halmahera, the people will make a small offering to the ‘soul of the rice’. After the harvest an offering of rice, egg and meat or fish is prepared for the ‘souls of the house’. When, after that, the people in the house hear a chichak (wall lizard) clicking, they will know that the souls have finished their meal, so the leftovers can be removed. Whenever one of the Dusun people of Kalimantan drinks some palm wine, he will throw a little of it upward to Hyan Pyumbung, the Supreme God, and some more downward for the Adiau, the souls of the deceased. Food is also offered to the souls, but the blood of sacrificial animals is offered only to Hyang Pyumbung. In the Minahassa, a tiny field for cultivation was reserved for the spirits, complete with imitation farmers’ tools in miniature. Beans, rice and yams were planted so the spirits could do their own harvesting. The reason for this was, it appears, the expectation that the souls or spirits would cause no damage to the cultivated fields of the living. A small table for the offerings was placed in the field. The Torajas had exactly the same customs. They even built tiny smithies next to a newly built smithy. When the Torajas have built a new house they also build a tiny house for the souls, which is suspended in the rafters. It is very simply constructed from bamboo and wicker and decorated with chicken feathers, signifying that it is the property of the spirits. In Galela such spirit-houselets are likewise in use; from time to time offerings are placed inside on the floor of the spirit-house. A piece of the clothing belonging to the deceased was also hung from the rafters, by which the soul was ‘tied and bound to stay in the house’. Similar customs have been reported in Nias and among the Dayaks. In Ceram (Seran), likewise, the souls are worshipped with offerings in the house; these spirits live in the roof and are called watchmen. In Tombulu the souls of the dead live in the loft too; regular offerings are placed there and all the magically laden objects are kept there. The Tontemboans sus- pend a type of tray from the loft on which the ‘food’ for the souls is regularly placed. The souls will descend from their loft to partake of it. The souls of the ancestors thus ‘look down’ on their living descendants. 206 J. KNAPPERT

Around Macassar people place tiny beds in the loft for the souls to repose upon. The spirits who are so venerated in the houses are the souls of the ancestors of the house owners. The spirits who are venerated outside are the ancestors of the local chiefs and the souls of heroes and other persons of historical memorability. These include, of course, the founding fathers of the village or tribe, insofar as their spirits are not worshipped separately. The chief’s ancestors and souls of the past chiefs are worshipped in a large spirit house, a temple. These powerful spirits, the great men of past ages, will protect the village of their grandchildren against attacks and will join the living men in battle against their enemies. The Toraja chief will inform the spirits that a war has started and will also, when he comes back from the war, announce the victory of his tribe. The heads of the vanquished enemies will be brought before the ancestral spirits and be dedicated to them. The ancestors will rejoice that their great-grandsons are keeping up the good work of maintaining and continuing the clan’s existence.

8. Temples

On the island of Solor the temple is called bale; it is erected of wood on a stone platform, curtains of plaited palm leaves form the walls and the ridge pole is decorated with a naga (serpent), symbol of the rain deity. Prayers for rain are aimed at the sky through bamboo tubes. The pillars are decorated with blue crocodiles, lizards, tortoises and cocks. On the island of Sumba the temple is called uma marapu, ‘house of the deceased’. Outsiders are not admitted to it. On the island of Timor the temple is called ‘House of the Gods’. Inside, gold and silver is kept in a pot in the form of necklaces consist- ing of strings of golden and silver disks. A gong and a buffalo horn and a few swords hang on the wall. Roots and colourful stones are kept in a basket. When war breaks out, the priest will come and address all these objects which nobody may touch except the warriors, who will come, take the swords and whet them. The ears of a goat and a pig are offered to the gods. The beating of the gong and blowing of the horn will announce the march to the war front. The warriors will put the golden necklaces on, signifying their military task. No one may enter this ‘House of the Gods’ except the warriors and the priest, who is also a warrior. At the end of the war the objects are returned. At the beginning NOTES ON THE AUTOCHTHONOUS RELIGIONS 207 of the rainy season the ‘House of the Gods’ is fed with pigs’ ears and rice. The same occurs at harvest time. On the island of Seran the temple functions secondarily as the meet- ing house for the warriors. Young men are invited at special times to be introduced to the gods as the warriors of the future. The temple of the Galelarese people is called Seri; it is inhabited by the protective spirit of the village. Every village has its own temple. The spirit lives in the attic of the building, just under the roof. The souls of those who fell in the war reside here also. The ruling spirit is depicted on the pillars as an eagle, serpent or crocodile. The temple of the Tobelorese people is inhabited by the Supreme Spirit, Wongene, and the souls of those who perished in some accident for whom the Afterworld is barred. Finally there are the mawongene or spirits of the four brothers who became the four ancestors of the four chief clans of the tribe. A hero, i.e. a warrior who has killed an enemy in battle, is placed on a chair in front of the temple. As soon as he comes home from the war, he is fed special food, after being bathed, anointed and dressed in the old warriors’ ‘gala’ costume. Wongene is invoked with all these rites, for Wongene is the protector of the adat, customary law. Transgressors of the adat are punished by him with scabies or dizzy spells. A sacrifice is necessary to atone for such sins against the law. Before a battle the priest will pray to the spirits to join the fighting. He will also endeavour to make a spirit ‘enter’ into each of the warriors. The Nuforeans of Northwest Irian once possessed a temple of which we have a detailed description by Dr. N.P. Wilken. It was built in the shallow waters off the coast on twenty-four wooden pillars. Each pillar had a name and represented one of the ancestors. Each pillar was carved into the shape of a living being, a man, a woman, a fish, a serpent or a crocodile. Inside the eighty-five foot long building, there were also statuettes, two to three feet in height. At the eastern and western sides of the building there stood two pairs of statues representing human couples in the act of intercourse. The purpose of the veneration of the ancestral spirits in this temple was the invocation of their assistance in warfare. On their return from a head-hunting expedition, another ceremony was performed at the temple. It is said that originally the enemies’ skulls were kept in it. In the districts of Bugi and Makasar every village used to have its own temple in which the protective spirit of the village lived. Cere- monies are organised only in times of disaster, and are conducted by the 208 J. KNAPPERT village head or, curiously, the Islamic guru or religious leader, showing an example of the syncretism of the Islamic borderland. In central Sulawesi the temple is a small building inside a larger meet- ing hall for the elders. The temple is the abode of the anitu (spirits) who live above a ceiling of palm leaves. Skulls of the enemies were placed in special niches and dedicated to the anitu, the souls of the heroes of the past. They are also the protective spirits of the village, and of the agri- cultural production.

9. The other world The Thô of North Vietnam believe that there is a hell where the souls of the sinners undergo punishment for the misdeeds committed during their lives on earth. When they are purified they have to appear before the throne of the Jade Emperor. The pure souls will become demigods and live in the emperor’s heaven, the others will be reborn as birds, fishes, reptiles or other animals. These notions seem to be of Buddhist and Chinese origin. The Thay of North Vietnam believe that the souls of the deceased go to the kingdom of the dead, except the souls of women and children who died in childbirth. Special ceremonies are required to prevent them from becoming evil spirits on earth. The soul of the last ancestor, the one who died most recently, will also stay on earth, but as a good spirit, looking after his dear descendants. The king of the Underworld is Po Tlen. The dead cultivate rice as they did on earth. However they have no possessions, so if they need a pig or a buffalo which is the tax due to Po Tlen, they will send a message to their descendants to say they require a sacrifice. The Meo of North Vietnam believe that the souls of the dead enter the wombs of pregnant women, provided they can find their placentas. To this end the placentas of baby boys are buried just outside the door of the hut in which they are born, those of girls are buried near the fireplace. The souls of those young persons, once they have grown old and died, will find their placentas where they were buried on the day of their birth, put them on and so, wrapped in their first garment, they will enter the womb of a woman. Other spirits remain in the earth because they have not been properly buried. If the descendants sacrifice a dog, this dog will show the spirit the path to the Land of the Dead where the spirit becomes a worshipped ancestor. NOTES ON THE AUTOCHTHONOUS RELIGIONS 209

Among the Akhas of Laos the priest will recite for the dead man the directions for the way to the Kingdom of the Dead, Nemikhang. During the annual ceremonies for the ancestors the spirits will come back to their village to partake in the food offered them by their descendants. The soul may after some years, be reborn as an animal or as a human being, depending on whether the soul has led a good life on earth. The Palaung of Upper Burma believe that all souls reincarnate seven days after death so there is no notion of an abode of the dead. The karbu (spirit) leaves the body and sets out on the path of the dead towards the Big Tree, under which there sit a man and a woman. The descendants should have given the dead person some money and with that he or she can buy a fruit from the tree. Having eaten it the dead man will forget all his previous life and so, will be ready to start a fresh life. The soul will then go back to his village and become a tiny insect. This insect will perch on a grain of cooked rice just before it is eaten by a woman. If that woman is not good enough to be the mother for that soul, he will see a wall of fire surrounding her and so he will know that she is not right for him. The insect-soul will then fly away from the rice and find another woman who is just making ready to eat her rice, and, if all is well, she will become pregnant. The Palaung will make marks with charcoal on the body of the deceased, believing that the same marks will appear in blue on the child’s body if it has the soul of that dead person. If the father was kicked by a horse and died before his son was born, the people will expect to find the hoof mark on the child’s body. Souls of murder victims will not go to the tree but will be reborn as plants or animals, others will wander on earth forever after, looking like the dead man’s ghost. The Kachin of Upper Birma speak of Tsu Ga the Land of the Spirits, or of the Distant Country, or the Realm of the Ancestors to denote the land of the dead. It is usually located in the north, the direction from which the ancestors entered the present Kachin lands. In their country the dead live much as they did on earth, they do not change their social status, so that slaves will still be slaves and masters will remain masters. The dead still need food, money, weapons and tools. A hunter, for instance, will need his weapons to defend himself against the angry spirits of the animals he killed during his life, who will try to bar his way into his ancestral land. So, his descendants will place his weapons in his grave with the body. The priest will recite the directions for the journey to the Land of the Dead after the funeral. Souls who died an unnatural 210 J. KNAPPERT death wander with the wild beasts in the jungle. Women who have died in childbed have their own Land of the Dead to go to. People who have died of epidemics such as smallpox will become evil spirits. Murder victims become, in the hereafter, the slaves of their murderers. In order to liberate them the living relatives will have to sacrifice an ox or a pig, after which the priest will recite the directions for the journey to the Land of the Dead for them. Mad men too have their own Land of the Dead, but they cannot be redeemed. The Semang of the Malay Peninsula believe that old and wise people who have died go to the Island of Fruits where they lead a pleasant after- life. To that end their bodies are placed on the branches of trees so that they can fly over all hurdles to their destination. Ordinary dead go to a country across the sea where palm trees grow. There the souls live in daytime, far above the earth. At nightfall, however, they descend to earth in the shape of owls or bats and haunt the places where their bodies lie buried, causing terror among the living. The spirits of unmarried men are very vicious because in the land of the Dead they are likewise alone while other dead men live with their wives if they too have died. The dead, it seems, sleep in daytime and wander about at night in search of food. The Sakai of peninsular Malaysia believe that the souls of the dead have to cross a ravine by walking along a thin bamboo bridge. The wicked souls, who are black, will fall into a cauldron of boiling water where they stay until they are purified. Then they will be fished out by a giant woman called Gendui Lanyut. They then have to wait until the Lord of the Dead sends to each soul a friend who will guide them to the Land of the Dead. Those who have never made friends will have to follow the other souls in good faith. Children’s souls are not judged, they may live with the Lord of the Dead. There seems to be some Islamic influence here25. The Jakun of the Malay Peninsula believe that the Island of Fruits is on the moon; the good souls arrive there easily, but the souls of the wicked stay on earth doing mischief, while the good souls just live in peace making music. The bad souls may appear as tigers, crocodiles, wild hogs and other harmful beasts. The souls who died a violent death go to a special ‘blood-red’ country.

25 The thin bridge, ∑ira† al-Mustaqim occurs in the Koran, sura I. It is believed to be the bridge to Paradise where the souls of the just will pass after judgment. NOTES ON THE AUTOCHTHONOUS RELIGIONS 211

10. Annamitic ancestor worship In South Vietnam16, outside the areas that have been strongly influenced by Buddhism, ancestor worship is widespread, partly perhaps because the Chinese brought it, or reinforced it at the same time as they introduced their form of Buddhism. It seems obvious that before the arrival of imported religions, ancestor cults were universal in Southeast Asia, being practised by almost all the tribes. The concept of the soul in Annam was tripartite, comparable perhaps to our soul, mind and spirit, or will, feeling and reason. After death this threefold spirit goes to heaven. The phach on the other hand, the vege- tative life-soul of the deceased, returns to the earth. The phach is again divided into seven via, spiritual life-elements. A woman’s phach is composed of nine such via-elements, no doubt because a woman pos- sesses more lines of access to life. The souls of good people will be reborn as human beings, whereas the wicked will come back as animals. At the same time it is believed that the souls of the good go to heaven. This contradiction is also prevalent in other Southeast Asian religions. During one month in the Annamatic year the souls descend from heaven to visit their living relatives on earth. It is during this time that the living can communicate with them by means of sacrifices and by receiving messages from the dead. It is then that the priests are active. A priest in Annam is usually the head of the clan. When he dies he is succeeded by the eldest son of his chief wife. If she has no sons, the eldest son of the first concubine will succeed as priest and as clan head. A son may be adopted for this purpose. Com- municating with the dead entails certain dangers, so the priest has to observe prescribed taboos and rites. He must refrain from intercourse with his wife before a ceremony, bathe and dress in special ceremonial garments, and keep to a specific diet. He will also adopt the name of the ancestor he is officiating for. He will wear a blue robe, the colour of the sky, and a black cap. In a South Vietnamese house in the country a special space is reserved for the cult of the ancestors. The family books are kept in a special shrine near the shelves on which offerings are placed. Like the Chinese, the Vietnamese preserve the tablets with the names of the patrilinear ancestors, with their life dates. Some of these tablets have a vaguely human shape; the tablet of a recently deceased ancestor is placed on the grave and after a hundred days it is solemnly carried into the family 212 J. KNAPPERT house and placed on the old father’s chair. The eldest son will worship- fully address the spirit, begging it to take its seat there where it (he) belongs and receive the family’s homage. There follows a period of 27 months during which the ancestral spirit will gradually become purified until it can finally take its place in the shrine or house-temple beside the other, older, spirits, in a three day ceremony in which the entire clan must participate. The ‘new’ generation of ancestral spirit-tablets is installed and the oldest (fourth) generation is removed from the shrine and given a final burial. It is obvious from these ceremonies that there is in the people’s minds a curious identification of the tablets with the ancestral spirits. The purpose of the third day’s ceremony is to open the gate of heaven for the ancestral spirits of the oldest generation. Both the male and the female ancestors are worshipped at this farewell ceremony, and both types of tablets are interred. The primal ancestor, the founder of the clan continues to be worshipped in all the ceremonies. Only family patriarchs and their chief wives receive spirit-tablets. The offerings always consist of food which is later consumed by the family. The ancestors are often consulted when important enterprises are being considered. When a young man has reached the age of eighteen, he is pre- sented to the ancestral tablets which he greets respectfully, pouring some liquor for the spirits. When negotiations for a marriage partner are initi- ated, the ancestors of both clans are solemnly addressed and sacrifices are offered on the day of the betrothal.

11. Summary of the ancestral cults of Southeast Asia 1. There is in many customs a smooth transition between the religions of Assam and adjacent parts of India and Burma, all the way to Vietnam and the non-Islamised regions of Malaysia and Indonesia. 2. Only on the Andaman Islands is there a ‘passive’ veneration of the ancestors, who influence the lives of their relatives on earth. The latter, however, perform no ceremonies, have no priests and do not pray. 3. Active cults of the ancestors may be temporary or permanent. Tem- porary cults may last one year or up to three years, during which occa- sional ceremonies remind the living of the ancestors and the latter of the continued devotion of their descendants. ‘Permanent’ cults last at least until the death of the children of the venerated ancestors. The latter will often communicate with their children in dreams and will receive offerings of food which may be administered by special priests. NOTES ON THE AUTOCHTHONOUS RELIGIONS 213

4. There is a widespread (but, it seems, unconscious) paradox between the belief that the ancestral spirits live in heaven, or in their country of origin (where they lived before their migration to their present lands) or in the immediate vicinity of their present homes, of even reincarnated in a new body. 5. The religious community, that is the unit responsible for worship, may be the family, the extended family, the clan or the village. In the smaller groups the head of the family usually officiates as priest, in the village or larger community a special person may be charged with the responsibility of the sacrifices. 6. Offerings either consist of food (rice, etc.) or of sacrificial animals such as cocks, pigs, cows or buffaloes, to be consumed by the community after the ceremony. Human sacrifice was very rare. 7. Totemism is rare. Only in a few cases are the ancestors believed to have been, or to have become, animals like tigers or wild boars. 8. Wives and mothers have their own ancestors. After their deaths their children will venerate them side by side with their husbands. 9. The ancestors participate in the cyclic festivities of life such as planting and harvesting, marriage and birth, death and succession. 10. The ancestors may appear to the living in the form of flying beings, such as (nocturnal) birds, bats, moths and other insects.

Huize Glory J. KNAPPERT Elzenlaan 2 NL-1865 BM Bergen a. Zee (The Netherlands)