Order and Disorder in Toraja Thought and Ritual

Abstract

An important conceptual dimension for the Toraja of South Sulawesi, Indonesia is the relationship between order, constraint, and coolness, on the one hand, and disorder, lack of constraint, and heat, on the other. Following a discussion of order and disorder in Toraja life and thought, the article explores the relevance of this conceptual dimension to: (1) an understanding of Toraja ideas concerning the attainment of fertility, prosperity, and general vitality, ideas that I will place into a comparative context in relation to similar ideas elsewhere in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, and (2) an understanding of recent changes in Toraja ritual, specifically, the decline of smoke-ascending rituals. The Toraja (more precisely, the Sa'dan Toraja) number approximately 350,000, speak an Austronesian language closely related to other South Sulawesi languages (Mills 1975), and are wet rice agriculturalists whose homeland comprises the administrative region (kabupaten) of Tana Toraja, located in the mountainous interior of South Sulawesi. Among the Toraja, descent is traced bilaterally and residence is bilocal, although there is a tendency for uxorilocal residence. Traditionally, there were three main social strata: nobles, commoners, and dependents or slaves. Nobles claimed to be direct descendants of beings (to manurun) who long ago descended from the upperworld (LangV) to earth. In contrast to the lowland kingdoms of the Bugis and Makassar, the Toraja area prior to the early 20th century was politically decentralized, with nobles competing for control of various local areas. Most activities of a legal or political nature were conducted at the village level, although larger territorial groupings performed certain ceremonial and at times legal and political functions (Nooy-Palm 1979:63, 7991). This article is based on material collected primarily in the village of (a pseudonym) located in the northwest district of Rindingallo. Within Tana Toraja, there is considerable regional variation in terminology and cultural beliefs and practices and what is presented here may not apply elsewhere (cf. Crystal and Yamashita 1987:58-63, 70). Although the majority of the population of Tana Toraja is now Christian, in the Paku Asu area there are still many adherents of the traditional religion, referred to as Aluk To Dolo (Religion/Way of People Who Came Before), or more commonly in the Paku Asu area, Alukta (Our Religion/Way or Religion/Way of People), and the residents of Paku Asu in many ways continue to maintain a traditional orientation to the world. The main feature of the traditional religion is the