568
Berichte und Kommentare
1) The Creator God, Ranying Hatalla Langit,
was declared an almighty, most holy, and elevated
deity. Naturally he was also all-knowing, mysteri
ous, and everlasting (Baier 2006: 15 f.). He became
more like the Hindu Trimurti, who is creator and
simultaneously supporter and destroyer of all life.
Like Trimurti, Ranying Hatalla Langit penetrates,
fills, and completes the world and the cosmos and
is one with them. Jata, the Ngaju deity of water and
the underworld, was degraded to become a mani
festation of Ranying Hatalla Langit. All other de-
was, spirits, spirit-like beings, or “lords in heaven”
were similarly degraded, either as manifestations
of the creator or else as angels, prophets, or jinns
(Baier 2006: 17-19). As far as comparison with
Islam went, Ranying Hatalla Langit was equal to
Allah: owing to his everlasting, esoteric perfection;
no human being can adequately describe him. The
qualification “all-loving,” with which he was also
endowed, may have been modelled on Christianity.
2) A holy book. The Dutch scientist Mallinck-
rodt and the Swiss theologian Scharer before the
Second World War proposed that genealogies of
deities, spirits, spirit-like beings, as well as of an
cestral spirits and human ancestors were an in
tegral part of the Ngaju creation myth. The two
scholars had compiled and interpreted this in ac
cordance with the recitals of Ngaju ritual specialists
(Mallinckrodt and Mallinckrodt-Djata 1928; Scha
rer 1946, 1963). Their creation myth, available in
print before the colonial phase ended, was that of
the Kapuas and lower Kahayan area. However, the
individuals who later promoted Kaharingan as a
high religion came from the middle reaches of the
Kahayan. Therefore, in 1973, they readapted the
existing Middle-Kahayan myth to their own pur
poses. In 1996, at Palangka Raya, where the final
version of the myth was formally agreed upon by
a committee of leaders representing all Kaharingan
communities, it was printed and made available as
a holy text entitled “Panaturan. Tamparan Taluh
Handiai” viz. “The Origins. The Source of All Be
ing.” If one compares this with earlier versions,
a number of discrepancies and manipulations be
come apparent. For instance, the new text, among
other things, refers to confusion of languages and
the building of a tower, just as the Koran and the
Bible have it (Genesis 11), a detail which is entirely
missing in earlier Ngaju references (,Majelis ...
1996: 172).
3) Until the 1970s a building for religious ser
vices, which were held every week did not exist in
Central Kalimantan, and this is still so in the far in
terior, where a “hall” (balai) is built only for burial
feasts. The first building for regular services (balai
basarah) 6 was erected in Palangka Raya some
thirty years ago. Every Thursday evening the com
munity congregates for a short ritual with recitals
and sermon, song and collection. The particular
day of the week, however, for Kaharingan service
may vary. In Pendreh, close to Muara Teweh on th e
Barito, the community meets on Friday morning 5 -
Women take part in meetings and also share ritual
duties. Other services are performed incidentally
and on feast days. The Indonesian government sub
sidizes the erection of a balai basarah.
4) Regular feast days. The curriculum for sec
ondary schools recommends three feast days p ef
year. 7 First, the “agricultural day” after the M a y
harvest is a thanksgiving feast with rest, cleaning»
and blessing of agricultural tools. Deified ancestor 5
are asked during a service to render their blessing
for the coming season. The second is a “cultnf a
day,” when the gift of knowledge and culture 15
credited to Bawi Ayah, a deity similar to Saraswab»
the Hindu equivalent of Bawi Ayah in Bali- Tb e
third feast is a day of “general thanksgiving”
the blessings the community received during b 16
previous year. Rituals in honour of Pataho, founds
of communities, are performed at his shrines. C 0lil
plete rest from work is an important requirerncn ■
This practice was also apparently influenced by
Balinese Nyepi day. 8 *
In May 1980, when the Kaharingan commnnw
obtained official recognition by the state goved 1 ^
ment, not as Indonesia’s sixth religion but as
branch of Hinduism, the name Hindu Kaharing
was formalized. Direction and competence of ^
cision were delegated to the Great Council
the Hindu Kaharingan Religion in Palangka
A local Hindu Kaharingan academy became an
ficial educational state institution. Hundreds ot
ligious teachers are trained there. The state a ^
formally subsidizes this teaching via the l ea t
of the Hindu communities in Bali. So it was
ahm afl
until the visit in 2001 of President Abduln
Wahid in Palangka Raya that money was gi ve °
to
afl ts
6 Apparently A. Schiller took some unqualified inf° r ar ah>
to explain the etymology and history of the word # t o
to conduct a religious worship (2005: 117f.). ^ cC ° X ^ a $af a '
these informants the word basarah is derived fr orn . vV jit'
to litigate. First, Schiller does not notice that basarah t
ten and in Malayan languages spoken with -h, ^ asar ^ ar a, t0
out -h\ Secondly, basara is derived from bicara, bic . aref
talk (Hardeland 1859; Bingan and Ibrahim 1997: 29,
1946: 11; Wilkinson 1959/1: 135), and bisarah is a W® (li jce
from the Indonesian root serah, thus menyerahkan
the Arabic root and meaning of “Islam”).
7 It is not yet adopted (March 2006). 1964
8 Lembaga ... 2003 in Baier 2006; 20; Zimmermann
358.
Anthropos