Wooden Figures of the Katingan River
The Dayaks of south-central Kalimatan practice a religion called kaharingan. It is practised by the people on the Katingan River.This essay deals with the sculptures called hamptaong.
The hampatongs are statutes that represent the souls of the departed. They distinguish themselves by their shape and location within the village.
At the entrance to a village, are small figures whose function is to protect the community against illness, deaths or enemy attacks. They are arranged in odd numbers, seven, five or three, beneath a miniature shelter which is the home of the patah spirits. The job of the wooden figures is to bring other spirits to be deployed among the people.
Inside the shelter are peculiar rocks which harbour spirits sought by the villagers for their own protection. The village shaman (pisort), by meditating with an eagle, (antang) finds the first rock. When the first rock is placed, the remaining rocks are arranged and receive the powers of the first rock.
The number of statutes depends on the number of rocks. Seven small statutes denote the mother village. New villages, where a family has left the mother village, will take a rock from the original village. The next village, after the first one, will have five rocks, while the next village after that one will have three rocks. All rocks are taken from the mother village. They are always replaced by a new rock after the shaman consults with the eagle.
Placing flowers and incense in the shelter provides help in critical situations. In daily life, when the rocks slam against each other or if there is a knocking on the shamans’ door, there is impending danger.
The balai tajahan stands as a courthouse away from the houses and dwellings. Inside the tajahan is a rock that organizes the trial, while the hampatong tajaong (another statue?) represents executive power (?) .
The village chief chooses when the court will convene. He calls the pisort (shaman) to bring matters before the court.(balai tajahan) He does this when he and the villagers cannot find an answer to a dispute.
The two parties to the dispute, the chief and the pisort (shaman) first turn to the spirit and ask him to proceed with the matter and organize the trial. The “executioner” spirits also show up to enforce the sentence. He then turns to the antang (the eagle spirit) asking him to consult the creator.
The two parties in the dispute receive from the pisort (shaman) a rattan thread for each of them to hold at opposite ends while the thread runs over the hampatongs tajahans head. The pisort (shaman) asks the defendant if he is guilty. The defendant then enters a triple denial. The pisort then cuts the thread at the point above the head of the hampatong tajahans thus starting the trial and releasing the executioner’s spirits.
Once Ranying Hatalla(?) has been consulted, antang will carry the verdict to the executiontioner spirits which will carry out the sentence which can range from sickness to death. However, because people fear the consequences, the thread is very rarely cut. The place where the bali tajahan is kept is avoided because of the fear of evil spirits.
In the immediate vicinity of the village, near where the bones of the departed are kept, there are commemorative hampatongs ( statutes).
In the mausoleums (pambak), the bones are arranged to reproduce the shape of the deceased body. The mausoleum is built like a house and raised above ground, or it can be constructed, so the side walls touch the ground. (sekrup) In the pambak, the bones are bundled together, wrapped in red cloth and placed in a large jar.
Both of these mausoleums are only for those that have received the tiwah, a long complex burial feast in which the animals or slaves are sacrificed so that the victim’s soul might serve the soul of the departed(?) during its journey to the afterworld.
In front of the mausoleums, the hampatongs are reminded of the various aspects of existence and will bear witness to the deceased through the ages and serve as reminders of what the deceased did during his lifetime.
Hampatong in the Daily Life of the Ngaju Dayaks by Paolo Maiullari in Borneo Research Bulletin vol. 35 2005
