Batak book about magic, rituals, prescriptions and divination

This Batak book dates from the middle of the nineteenth century, around 1850, and comes from the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. The top of the book is a sort of lid with a serpent-like figure, and on the underside you can see something very much like animal legs, a kind of hooves; in between are the pages of the book. The pages are folded accordion-like, rather like the book music used in a street organ. The pages are made of tree bark, a special material, and if you unfold it completely you get a strip seventeen metres long. The book contains descriptions of all kinds of spells and incantations needed by priests in the north of Sumatra. Formulas for, for example, destroying other villages or eliminating opponents or causing them to fall ill.
The wisdom of nine generations of priests is stored within these pages. The museum has around 150 examples of this kind of book – known as a pustaha – but this is the finest example in the collection, and maybe the finest in the world. The serpent depicted on the top of the book is probably Naga Padoha. The origin myth tells the story that, back in the time when there was only sea and no islands, the serpent stirred up the sand in the ocean bed and so created the islands which make up Indonesia – all 18,000 of them.

We know who collected the book: Herman Neubronner van der Tuuk. He was sent to the Batak regions by the Netherlands Bible Society to translate the bible into Batak. This meant he had to study the language. He started collecting objects because he hoped that this would help him in his efforts to learn the language.

This book is one of the many items he collected. And it is probably the largest Batak book in the world. As far as we know, it is the only book that has been decorated with such a beautiful animal, the Naga Padoha, the mythical snake of the primordial waters before the beginning of the world.

If Van der Tuuk acquired the book around 1853, it was probably already 50 years old at the time, and possibly even a lot older, we don’t know for sure. What we do know is that Van der Tuuk donated it to what is now Artis. The book was seen as a unique object even then, because it was put on public display on a special platform. It has been on display ever since.

circa 42 x 35 x 52cm (16 9/16 x 13 3/4 x 20 1/2in.)

Source: collectie.tropenmuseum.nl