Torajan architecture: Order in symbolic designs

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.