The Ngajus and the Bridge to the Upper World.
The Ngajus are a major population in Borneo. They call themselves by the river they inhabit, rather than being lumped together by anthropologists. Thus, you have the uluh Ngajus, the upriver people, the uluh Ngawa the low river people, uluh Kahayan, people of the Kahayan River or uluh Rungan, people of the Rungun River.
Basa singiang is the language used to communicate with the upper spirits. Tandak are phrases within that language and designate places, people and objects. They are used to accompanying souls to the upper world.
The first death ritual occurs three to seven days after demise. A secondary ritual, called Trawh, is performed nine months or so after the first ritual. When a priest uses basa singiang, he automatically assumes that the upper deities are involved.
The conversation begins with two sentences which are spoken in the ordinary language. The second two sentences are related in a language used to communicate with the upper spirits.
The first two sentences are closely related. For example, “they turn around on their ivory seats nearing the drums and gongs that make thunder” followed by the second line “they turn around on their ivory seats seeing the drums and gongs that make lightening“
The second two verses contain words that are part of the vocabulary used only when addressing the gods. An example would be a “prosperous village* of gold* sand*, of diamond* beaches, carpeted with silk, of jasper* pebbles, heaps of jasper beads, a grand place where bones never decay, carrying the burden of the glorious flesh where the muscles never tire” where *= words, not used in common speech, address the gods only. There is a list of these words, but some western authorities say they were words once used but are now obsolete.
Becoming a Priest
The basir begins to learn the vocabulary of the Basa Singiang. He may chant some verses on happy occasions where he can practice the chants. He usually chants to the children first and up chronologically to the village elders. As he becomes more proficient, he learns the names of all the village elders. He can officiate at marriages, build a bone-house and other rituals.
While some decide to become regular priests, others become “guides of the souls”. He must internalize the language to become fluent and performs only for death. He should be able to chant through the night. A dead person has four souls which must be guided.
Guiding the Soul
The paths to the upper world must be memorized by the basir. The soul must not only be sent to the upper world but must find a pathway back. The parties engaged in the tradition should not fall asleep.
The upper world is conceived as layers separated by streams. These separating streams can be crossed by bridges or landing places when the soul is being transported by boats. Such entry points between layers are called jamban.(bridge) The landing points must be known because the souls of the living and dead differ. When reaching a crossing point, it is essential that the basir utter the correct name.
The basir gains financially by guiding the souls. There is a passage in the prayers where the souls of the dead must cross a jamban (bridge). At this point, he is given a beautiful cloth and agate stone by the followers. At the next jamban he may be given a few grains of gold. There are seven jambans to cross, and the gifts range from gold to a hen egg. Without receiving these gifts, the basir will not allow the soul to “cross the bridge”.
While in training, the basir’s sit in a line, with the one knowing the most vocabulary sits next to the pangapit (the head basir and teacher). When chanting, there are 35 ways to play the drums, each connected with an individual ceremony. For example, the wedding ceremony would have a group of drum beats and each change of the beats is announced by the basir. However, they are unique only to the wedding ritual. A good basir will time the beats and chants to last the entire night. When a basir dies, he can navigate the jambans and the ritual of gifts is not needed.
Every deity has a specific chant. When planting rice, for example, the basir utters the magical words but the key word for the deity to appear is not made public.
Drawings
There are drawings scattered in the museums of Europe. These are parts of the upper world made by the basir. The final jamban in the upper world is depicted with a male and female tiger on top, followed by a variety of gongs and Chinese jars and several plants, followed by a palm tree. Circles represent the division between the upper and lower worlds.
When pictures of these jamban from various museums were shown to various basir, they were able to tell which boat it was crossing to one of the seven points in the upper world. For example, the basir looks for pointers such as which bird, weapon or gong and compares them to which of the seven jamban’s crossed over in the maze of the upper world.
Many people of the Ngajus could not afford these rituals and became Christian or Moslem, where the upper world and its seven boats were cast aside. There was no hierarchy in these new religions.
Jani Sri Kuhnt Saptodewo A Bridge to the Upper World in Borneo Research Bulletin Vol 30, 1999 condensed by Tom McLaughlin with permission from the Borneo Research Bureau.