Torajan architecture: Order in symbolic designs

Text by Stanislaus Sandapura and photos by Mulkan Salmona

TANA TORAJA, South Sulawesi (JP): This article focuses on the symbols on Torajan architecture, particularly on the symbolic designs known as passura, or carving. The term is derived from the root word sura (to write). As the name implies, Passura is equivalent to the system of writing used by the neighboring Buginese on lontar (palmyra) palm leaves.

It is an effective medium for communicating ideas from generation to generation. The designs of the Torajans tell us something about their belief system, rituals, cosmology, society, orderliness and the principles of classification.

The designs are carved on various cultural objects, including erong, (large wooden coffins), exterior and interior walls of tongkonan (boat-shaped houses), exterior walls of alang (rice barns) and on such ritual paraphernalia as sarita maa' (sacred cloths) and surasan tallang (bamboo tubes).

However, with the arrival of tourism Torajans have extended the context of use for the designs. The designs are now used to decorate hotels, restaurants and various kinds of souvenirs. In this connection then, the value system that underlies the use of these designs has changed from ritual value to exhibition or aesthetic value.

The uses and meanings of the carvings vary from house to house, depending on social positions and functions in society, and from village to village. Described here are the use of designs on tongkonan, particularly those designs that are portrayed on tongkonan layuk Kesu, the principal tongkonan in the Ke'te' Kesu area.

According to Ne' Sando Tato Dena, there are different kinds and levels of rituals that have been performed. So, these symbolic designs are closely related to the accumulated ritual capital of people who live there.

In some villages simple designs made of vertical lines carved on the horizontal beam of the house, pa'sussuk, are used. This is done once the family has performed the one-night ritual, or the three-night ritual. Some houses only have this design.

The design pa'tedong sang bua -- pa'tedong the buffalo, sang bua one -- could be carved on the vertical beam which ties together the walls of a tongkonan after the one-night ritual has been performed. If the three-night ritual has been performed, a family could then continue to carve the facade of their tongkonan with three designs of pa'tedong (pa'tedong tallung bua).

If the next level of funeral rituals, pa'baba gandang (from five-night ritual to seven-night ritual) have been completed, the facade as well as the back of the house could be carved.

If the highest level of the funeral ritual, rapasan, has been performed, the facade and sides of the house could be carved with various symbolic designs. The visible symbols of this ritual include designs of pa'manuk londong (cockerel), pa'barre allo (sunburst), pa'ka'pu' baka (bindings of the basket), pa'tanduk ra'pe (the horns that stretch out), and pa're'po (a body with legs bent).

Above all, these various designs on the facade of the tongkonan layuk in Ke'te Kesu' reflect the principles that underline symbolic classification with reference to different social, cosmic, and ritual contexts.

Tinting Sarungallo points out that the facade of the house is organized into para (the triangular protruding upper part), indo para (the middle part), kale banua (the body of the house), and sulluk tang kaballa (the lowest part of the facade).

This organization actually represents the division of the cosmos into a pair of complementary categories: the sky and the earth. Indo para is obviously a part of para and they refer to the upper world (upper and lower skies). Kale banua and sulluk tang keballa represent the earth and the underworld, so they refer to the earth. The complementary binary opposition then, is between indo para and kale banua, or between sky and earth.

The representation of the upper sky comes in a triangular form, which constitutes an iconic representation of the belief in three deities deata titanan tallu, consisting of Puang Matua (Creator), Pong Banggai Rante, the god of earth, and Pong Tulak Padang, the god of the underworld.

This space is in turn divided by a sodo (a vertical beam) into east and west, which are, respectively, associated with the life ritual and the death ritual.

On the upper part of the facade are two designs in which the cockerel surmounts the sunburst motif. These two designs have mythical and cosmological references. In the story of Tulang Didi for example, it is said that Tulang Didi is killed by her father in the forest. Before she leaves the house her mother gives her an egg which hatches after she has been killed. The chicken grows by living on the worms and the decomposed body of Tulang Didi.

The chicken becomes a powerful cockerel which brings Tulang Didi back to life and makes her a wealthy woman. Once her parents hear this, they rush to the forest to find her. Tulang Didi welcomes her mother warmly but not her father. He is made to fall through the floor of the house and the buffaloes underneath trample him to death.

One day the rice pounder hits the cockerel, which then flies up to the sun with Tulang Didi hanging on to its tail feathers. So now she lives in the sun.

These two designs are associated in such a way that the cockerel refers to katonganan (truth) and sanda salunna (justice), and has an understanding of untandai allo (the sun) and can measure ussuka bongi (day and night).

Tinting Sarunggallo further explains this association by pointing out that sunbursts refer to the energy and strength needed to establish justice. Below these designs comes that of the pa'daun bolu (betel leaf), which signifies the main ingredients of a sirih (offering) given to the deities during a ritual.

Lower sky

Indo para represents the lower sky which is considered to be the realm of deified ancestors to membali puang (the souls of the dead persons who have turned into deified ancestors). This space is set in separation by the design and is the symbol of passekong, lightning from the upper part and from the body of the house. This design is the symbol of male strength. Within this space, there appear others designs that symbolize masculinity, such as pa'tanduk ra'pe, the stretch of buffalo horns which clearly show the strong support upward.

The other motifs that appear in this space consist of pa'tedong (buffalo) and pa barana (banyan tree). These motifs represent grandeur, majesty and nobility, the qualifications that characterize the deified ancestors (to membali Puang) who have become exemplary models (both sangka and salunna) for the living. The motif of pa'kolong rombe follows. This motif is actually the inverted motif of pa'tanduk ra'pe. This inversion shows the strong protection downward to the people as a whole. This section as a whole represents the male category.

The above section then, contrasts rather nicely with the section of the body of house below. Its designs represent femininity and contain the indigenous view about Torajan society. The beginning of this space is marked off by the motif pa doti langi, spots of heaven, which is carved on the long rear beams (sambo rinding). This motif indexes the female symbol. Within this space, one can see the other motifs such as pa'tangke lumu, branch of the moss, pa'ulu karua, eight heads, pa' baranae, the upper part of banyan tree and of pa'kanu baka, binding of the basket.

These express the kinds of social ties that exist within Torajan society. First are the designs that show strong internal social relations.

This is expressed nicely in pa'ulu karua, which refers to the relation of marriage and of the kinship organization of a bilateral system that counts both male and female ancestors, the great grandparents, which total eight.

In addition, pa'kapu baka refers to the unity of the family members who are compared with precious materials that are collected in a lidded basket.

Second are the designs that show external relationships. This can be read in pa'tangke lumu, which refers to the horizontal social ties with other people in general, and pa'baranae, which refers to the vertical social ties that rank people into noble class, middle class and commoners.

Finally, we come to sulluk tang keballa, which represents the underworld. Within this space, we can see the designs of pa daun bolu, which also signifies a ritual offering to deities of the underworld.

The designs on the tongkonan layuk in Ke'te represent dual symbolic classification and their worldview. It represents the complementary binary oppositions between sky and earth, male and female, life and death, ritual of the east and ritual of the west and society and religion.

Moreover, there is a differential ranking of complementary categories that expresses hierarchical relationships. The designs that are portrayed on the space of the upper part of the facade are marked superior to the lower ones and are given higher value than those of the lower ones. The designs of the upper part may represent the whole. The placement of these designs follow the principle of onoran pasura, the fixed arrangement of designs from top to bottom, the order of which can not be reversed.

Colors

Torajans use four different colors: black, white, red and yellow. Black soot is taken from cooking pots, yellow and red are from colored earth and white is from lime. Red, yellow and white are mixed with palm wine or vinegar to enhance staying power.

As recounted above, the design passekong indexes male sex, which stands in opposition to the design of pa'doti, which indexes female sex. Passekong colors consist mainly of red and white, while the colors used for pa'doti are black and yellow, and a small amount of white.

We come to the complementary binary opposition again between red and white, which represent the male sex and black, yellow and white, which represent female sex where the former is marked as superior.

This binary opposition can be applied and extended to various contexts. Red and white characterize the aluk rampe matallo (life-related rituals), while black, yellow and white are related to aluk rampe matampu (funeral ritual).

The writer is on the teaching staff of the School of Letters at Hassanudin University and a Ph.D candidate in anthropology at the University of Chicago, U.S.A. He is currently doing his field work in Tana Toraja under the sponsorship of the Ford Foundation, Jakarta.