Textiles of Southeast Asia. Robyn Maxwell
Batak cloth, the ulos rujat, it has contributed to the textile's name. Many of these cloths are used in situations where notions of protection are implicit. In Java, however, the parang rusak was a batik pattern traditionally restricted to the palace circles, which meant that the protective qualities of the symbol were exclusive to the rulers of central Java.
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While ritual cloths are often rich in decorative symbolism, the importance of simple and unpretentious cloths in certain cultures may easily be overlooked. Typically, these cloths are either monochrome77 or woven with a plain, striped warp or weft. Despite their apparent simplicity, these cloths may still be ritually important and many are also regarded as talismans when woven by knowledgeable women or according to particular magical formulae. Some of the simple Sasak textiles woven in Lombok (in particular, the kekombongor umbaq) are an excellent illustration of these themes. Specific combinations of coloured warp stripes are used to create the soul cloth in which a new-born baby is wrapped. The same cloth is present at the child's first hair-cutting, and at rites associated with the attainment of adulthood, such as circumcision. It is then stored away carefully by the individual to whom it belongs so that it can be produced as a protective talisman at any time in the future when danger or disaster threatens. The Sasaks also use simple striped cloths as waist-ties, often loosely and hurriedly woven, to prevent all manner of illness or anti-social behaviour, especially in the case of children. The names given to these simple cloths vary according to the particular ailment for which they are prescribed.78
In other parts of Southeast Asia the most elaborate and prestigious cloths must be used on occasions associated with changes of status - birth, marriage, initiation into adulthood, pregnancy, and death. The ritual function of many magnificent cloths explains why so much energy and enormous care is expended. This contrast between the most simple textiles and the most elaborate is strikingly evident in the case of Bali. In addition to the complex double ikat textiles of Tenganan Pegeringsingan that display extraordinarily elaborate patterns, the Balinese also weave many quite simple cotton textiles composed of narrow warp stripes known as wangsul. Both of these types of cloth are believed to have magical endowments. Furthermore, when the need for protection arises, such as in cases of illness, both may be required.
It is interesting to note that many textiles featuring elaborate designs and complex weaving techniques also retain the stripes and bands found on the most simple cloths. As well as the technical and aesthetic advantages of including these elements as part of the design, stripes are often considered to contain protective qualities, both for the central motifs of the cloth itself and also for those who use it.
The addition of headwork not only contributes to the value of a textile but it also enhances its ritual significance, in particular, its protective qualities, for the toughness and durability of beads are considered to be a source of strength to those who wear them. Beads and shells, like other rare and foreign objects traded into inland regions, assume special supernatural qualities and the use of beads as magical talismans and charms is particularly evident throughout Borneo.79 The history of particular beads and the heroic feats of the ancestors who set out in quests to obtain them have been recorded in the legends of the Maloh people of west Kalimantan J.R. Maxwell, 1980: 136). Strands of beads play a role similar to that of sacred textiles, being used in Maloh marriage rites and placed in the holes prepared for the main poles of a Maloh longhouse (King, 1975: 114-15).
pua kumbu ceremonial cloth Iban people, Sarawak, Malaysia handspun cotton, natural dyes warp ikat 252.0 x 120.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1981.1098
(detail) pua kumbu ceremonial cloth lban people, Sarawak, Malaysia. handspun cotton, natural dyes warp ikat, twining 239.0 x 130.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1980.1657
Paired male and female figures present powerful images on cloths intended for fertility rites such as the collecting of heads. The cloth in Plate 198 is especially powerful as it depicts ancestral figures or spirits (antu) who prey on animals and human beings represented by the small figures lodged between the larger spirits. It presents a frightening pattern to an Iban weaver, and would only be undertaken at some risk. The pua in Plate 199 displays small paired figures wearing earrings and head-dresses. An Iban informant interpreted the large abstracted figures below them as water spirits (antu at) spurting from whirlpools, and she identified the lower border pattern as cats sleeping in the recess of the hearth. A creeper pattern binds the various elements into a coherent and satisfying design. The colour of the natural dyes on both these early twentieth-century textiles has been excellently preserved.
FERTILITY AND INCREASE
The motifs and designs on textiles required particularly in marriage and agricultural rites frequently contain messages that relate to the notion of fertility. Male and female figures, or symbols representing male and female qualities, are one prominent design category found on many Southeast Asian textiles.
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Like the carved ancestor figures and guardian spirits that are strategically located to protect houses, rice-barns, clan and spirit houses or family shrines and to ensure fertility and agricultural success, male and female figures are often depicted on textiles in pairs, seated or standing, realistic or highly stylized. On certain examples, the sex of the human figures is clearly distinguished by obvious and explicit genitalia. Occasionally, specific items of clothing or jewellery, such as earrings and head-dress, may identify a figure's sex or status. Like carved sculptures, the association of paired figures with notions of fertility is most evident on some textiles where figures are presented in the act of copulation. Paired male and female figures are prominent on Iban textiles, and frequently a band of each appears at opposite ends of a pua kumbu used at rites which promote fertility and agricultural increase.
With simplification and stylization, the male and female elements of the design are sometimes reduced to phallic and vulval symbols. This has occurred in the case of certain Batak textiles, where these motifs appear as ancient rhomb and triangular schematic shapes in the decorative panels at each end of the cloth. Similar motifs are found on many other textiles throughout the region. Although the hooked rhomb design has few conscious associations with fertility and female symbolism among present-day weavers, many textiles containing this design are used in rites by peasant farmers and villagers seeking to secure a successful harvest. In these cases this motif appears to be symbolic of the fruitful mother. Its appearance on many Toraja and Iban ikat cloths used at funerary and head-hunting ceremonies is also appropriate, for although these rites are connected with death they are also intended to promote the abundance of life.
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As well as the rhomb and triangle, the human form is represented by a number of other geometric symbols, in particular a simple cross. Sometimes, however, the association of these motifs with the human form is not readily apparent. In the case of the Bagobo of Mindanao, the development of anthropomorphic motifs has passed through several stages and different types of abstracted human figures sometimes appear together on the same garment. On the ends of traditional Iban loincloths (sirat) clearly defined human motifs are only immediately evident on certain old examples. However, when these realistic designs are compared with other more abstract examples, the weavers' intentions can be discovered and human figures emerge from the simple cross form. It is reasonable to assume that many other symbols, now merely seen as geometric decoration, were also intended to represent humans, animals and other important creatures and objects.80
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