Subject: warrior chief
Culture: Batak
Setting: Dutch war, northern Sumatra late 19thc
Evolution:
Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Field Notes)
* Schnitger 1989 p
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* Draeger 1972 p
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Costume
* Niessen 1993 p89-91
"In the Southern Batak area ... the impact of the padri had been so devastating that a wholesale rejection of the national ways followed in its wake. This was illustrated in part by the rejection of national garments and the acceptance of Malay garments. The clothing transition was a complex affair if examined in combination with the changed premises of Southern Batak existence. It was not simply a matter of which clothing replaced which other clothing, but also of when and how particular garments were worn. The expression of status and hierarchy was not the same in the new social order as in the old.
"Just as their Northern Batak neighbours, the Southern Batak had dressed themselves in communal egalitarianism -- even though hierarchy was more pronounced here than amongst their Northern Batak neighbours -- the Simalungun excepted. The display of hierarchy was reserved for ceremonial occasions, and this confused missionary Buys:
... the son of the village leader did not look particularly princely. It happened several times, by the way, that we were mistaken in the quality and the rank of the Batak. It is crawling with raja amongst them; each village, almost, has its own. Most of these highly placed persons do not distinguish themselves in their daily dress walking in the sight of their subjects, although they often have the means, and only take on a more formal appearance on ceremonial occasions. ...
In general the Batak does not appear to enjoy showing to the world his status or his relative wealth through his clothing, lifestyle, his home and other externalities. Many of them, who live in a small hut, lacking in almost all conveniences, and walk around with a naked torso, without any other clothing than dirty short pants of coarse blue cotton, are owners of a not unimpressive herd of cattle .... [reference omitted]
"On ceremonial occasions, the regalia of hierarchy was trotted out so that especially the nobility could point out, in fine detail, the status differences amongst themselves and between them and the commoners and slaves. They wore specific capes, hipcloths, and headcloths, and also reserved the colour yellow for themselves. While more specific details of rank are lost to us, we have inherited a clear indication that the expression of rank was something reserved for the ritual occasion."
Guns
* Tagliacozzo 2005 p292
"The resident of Sumatra's East Coast complained to the Dutch governor-general that Enfields and other modern firearms could be had at 'spot-prices' in Singapore by local peoples, which certainly seems to have been true, as these rifles were turning up all over Southeast Asia at the time, even in interior Borneo. The advanced Beaumont rifles being handed out to crew members aboard Dutch blockade ships off Aceh in the 1870s were also appearing, however, in enemy hands, the barrels modified to fit local needs, as Dutch Patrols found out. American Winchesters were also being used against the two colonial regimes by indigenous populations as well, in Aceh and the Batak highlands in Sumatra, but also by Bugis crews coasting between Singapore and Sulawesi. Even German Mausers were available in the region, as witnessed by the seizure of 500 of these guns and 500,000 Mauser cartridges that had left Singapore for Luzon in early 1899."
Swords (Gading/Halasan, Klewang, Podang/Duku)
* Newbold 1839 p212
"The Battas of Sumatra, wear the kalasan, a sort of sword lightly curved, and the jono ...."
* Taylor/Aragon 1991 p100
"Finely crafted Toba Batak swords were valued as prestige objects by local chiefs and passed on to their sons. .... Old swords became classified as sacred lineage inheritance items, only publicly displayed at such ceremonial events as the reburial of bones of a revered ancestor. Upon such occasions, lineage members who participate in the ceremony don their formal attire and bring swords, chains, and other ancestral treasures from out of their storage places."
* Draeger 1972 p
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Shield
* Benitez/Barbier 2000 p146
"Shields ceased being useful to the Batak following the introduction of firearms at a relatively early date. These have been conserved in various locations where they are used in ceremonies or treated as ancestral heirlooms, though some possessed magical value, as was the case with the Pakpak dance shield stretched with human skin that Wilhelm Volz collected at the beginning of the twentieth century.
"The vernacular name for a shield was perise among the Karo, parinse among the Toba, and, for the southern Batak, parise."
* van Zonneveld 2001 p
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Knife
* Newbold 1839 p212
"The Battas of Sumatra, wear ... knives called tombak lada, and terjing, (a long curved knife,) which (it is affirmed by Anderson) they use to cut up human flesh with."
* Draeger 1972 p
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* van Zonneveld 2001 p
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