6Story

07 September 2009

North Sumatra: The Batak

In northern Sumatra : The Batak

 

Pieter Ter Keurs (Former Curator East Asian Collections in Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden, Head of Collections and research department in the Museum of Antiquities in Leiden) and Constance de Montbrison (curator for the Insular Southeast Asia in the musée du quai Branly) have created this exhibition which has been presented in Paris from 19 February to 11 May 2008.

 

The Batak live in northern Sumatra, in a large region in which Lake Toba is the clearest natural marker. Lake Toba is seen as the origin area of the Batak and because of this special status the white colonizers were often, and for a long time, prevented from reaching the shores of the Lake. Some researchers even doubted the existence of Lake Toba and it was only in the Mid Nineteenth century that the first European saw it. The name of the Lake equals the name of the population living on its southern and eastern shores and on Samosir, a large peninsula located in the lake. Samosir is considered to be the place of origin of Batak culture, particularly at Pusuk Buhit (the Navel Mountain).

Large pirogue  with a head of singa on the prow. Boards of the Toba Lake. Photograph realised by Feiberk in 1870. © Leiden, Museum Volkenkunde, inv. a13-25.

 

 

In fact, the name Batak is a gross simplification of the actual cultural situation in the area. In the beginning of the colonial period the European intruders were not very knowledgeable about the cultures they wanted to subjugate and they often gave names to ‘the people of the interior’, without specifying how many different groups were living in the interior. The term Batak is such a simplification. In reality it refers to six different groups, although these groups do claim to have a certain historical relationship. Usually western scholars distinguish the following Batak groups: Toba, Karo, Simalungun, Pakpak, Angkola and Mandailing. The natural environments of these groups are very different and, although they are all referred to as Batak, their cultural outlooks are as diverse. The Toba and the Karo are Christians, while the Mandailing in the south are Muslims. The history of these groups, including the contacts with Christian and Muslim outsiders or with their direct neighbours (the Gayo-Alas in the north and the Minangkabau in the south) initiated quite different developments. Because of continuous developments, information available to western onlookers can be outdated rather quickly. And finally, many regions in the Batak area (such as the Angkola region) are still hardly known to serious anthropological researchers. Information is scattered and not always reliable. Therefore, it remains difficult to get a clear overall picture of the whole region.

 

 

Detail of a ceremonial toba knife. This knife undoubtedly belonged to a priest-magician, a raja or a datu. © musée du quai Branly, Patrick Gries 70.2001.27.341.1-2   << Read more about this masterpiece>>

 

 

Much of the literature on the Batak used to be dominated by information about the Toba, particularly because of the activities of German missionaries in the area, but recently a lot more information became available on the Karo, thanks to research by German, American and Dutch scholars. In this article some of this recent literature will be used to clarify parts of Batak history and culture. However, the old German and Dutch sources remain indispensable. Although biased, as our own recent work no doubt also is biased, the old sources contain an enormous amount of information and are essential for any attempt to understand Batak life and art. Batak life has changed enormously since the arrival of the foreign colonizers. Batak art became part of the tourist market and Batak objects regularly are offered for sale both in Northern Sumatra as well as in Europe. The Batak have changed and continue to change, they became Christians or Muslims, they became western style entrepreneurs, they have left their regions of birth and live in Indonesian cities such as Medan or Jakarta. Others stayed in their own villages. Without giving a moral judgement about all the changes that took place, it is striking to observe that despite the new challenges and threats of the modern world, the Batak have survived, thrive and have maintained a clearly recognizable identity. This identity is partly shaped by their fascinating art forms.

 

 

 

The Batak

Contents - The history and western discovery of the Batak - Social and political life - Religion and rituals             * The beliefs             * Tondi and begu - The objects of the priest: the datu items - The Death - Synopsis of the exhibition             * The Workd of the Dead             * Singa             * Musical instruments             * The Toba House             * Enclosing the world             * Weapons and associated objects             * The datu items             * The protection - Bibliography

 

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