The western Karo Bataks lost creation myth / Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barbier-Mueller, Jean Paul, 1930-2016, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Karo-Batak (Indonesian people)--Origin.

Karo-Batak (Indonesian people).

Karo-Batak (Indonesian people)--Religion.

Physical Description:

108 pages : chiefly illustrations (chiefly colour), colour maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Leiden : Brill, [2014]

Summary:

The Batak people of northern Sumatra are divided into five groups. The northern group, the Karo, is less numerous and prosperous than that of the centre, the Toba. Unlike the Toba Batak, their more populous and powerful neighbours, the Karo Batak today claim they have no creation myth. Yet certain clues point to shared cosmogony among several Batak groups, now reinforced by Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller's discovery of a very old traditional house among the western Karo. The symbolic decoration of the house eliminates all doubt: the Karo once viewed the cosmos as divided into three worlds - Upper-, Middle and Underworld. The giant dragon who lived in the Underworld carried the Middle World (where humans reside) on its back, while the Upperworld was the abode of a supreme deity accompanied by his sons, various spirits and the souls of human ancestors who had been rich and powerful during their lifetimes. Book jacket.

Contents:

Chapter I A Traditional Western Karo Mouse 18

Chapter II The Notion of "Divinity" Among the Karo and the Toba 52

Chapter III Karo Worship of Souls (Tendi) 66

Chapter IV The Social Organization of the Karo Batak 74.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 94-95) and index.

ISBN:

9789004288188

900428818X

OCLC:

895301995