How Sumatrans honour the tiger, both mystical and real
Jaka Hendra Baittri
Baca versi Bahasa Indonesia
Sumatran people have special nicknames for tigers, with different regions having their own distinct terms. Each has their own way of showing respect. Let me tell you about two places on the mountainous west coast, and one on the east coast where the tiger is honoured in this way.
'Ngegah Imau' in Kerinci National Park
One day in 2016, there was a hubbub in the courtyard of the Jambi Language Office. Young women and men screamed hysterically, rolling around or kneeling. Their fingers became as hard as feet. They were possessed by the tiger spirit. Incense smoke bathed the scene.
The uproar lasted less than five minutes. The man in charge, Oktora Karim, quickly put an end to the mystical dancing. This was part of the so-called Ngegah Imau ceremony. I spoke to him about it, and asked: How did it start?
'A long time ago, humans and tigers made a treaty to protect each other. So if a tiger dies, we hold a ritual of honour,' he told me.
This mystical relationship is practised in Pulau Tengah, a little town (not an island despite the name) in mountainous Kerinci Regency, Jambi Province. The ritual reminds people of their ancestors’ ancient covenant with the imau, as the people of Kerinci call the Sumatran tiger.
Ngegah Imau was originally a form of martial arts called pencak silat. 'It was only in the last thirty years that music and dance were created for it by Harun Nahri, a maestro from Kerinci,' he said.
Every time Ngegah Imau is held, someone is possessed. It could be the dancers or members of the audience. 'But only spectators who have Kerinci blood or whose roots lie in Pulau Tengah can be possessed. No one else,' he said.
The ritual involves the names of three tigers. They are Pemangku Gunung Rayo, Hulubalang Tigo, and Rintik Hujan Panas. Each has their own role in nature.
Pemangku Gunung Rayo acts as a guide to the forest guardians. Hulubalang Tigo means the Third Warrior. They say he enters the water and becomes a crocodile (ke Aek jadi Buaya). Meanwhile, Rintik Hujan Panas is the gentle rain who attends the fields, and is quick to come when called.
The ritual is normally performed when a tiger dies. Once in the 1970s a large tiger entered the village and ate someone’s goat. The community chased the tiger back to the forest. A few days later a villager found its dead body. It had been torn apart as if clawed by another tiger. Evidently, the dead tiger had broken the agreement, which angered the other tiger, the one guarding Pulau Tengah.
Oktora said the ritual is performed as a debt release, a sign of return and an end to disputes between humans and tigers. Ngegah Imau practitioners prepare various objects to signify parts of the tiger: three pieces of cloth to represent the tiger's stripes, an unsheathed knife (kris) to represent the fangs, a spear for the tail, a glass or shiny object for the eyes, and a gong to represent the voice. Incense is lit, and mantras recited, to signal the start of Ngegah Imau.
These mystical relationships with tigers also give rise to customary rules – unwritten but widely known. For example, when in the forest, never mention 'grandfather' tiger (datuk) in a way that might suggest a challenge.
The mangrove tigers of the east coast
The large Berbak Sembilan National Park is located on Sumatra’s swampy east coast. Once when forest fires struck the area, some tigers came out of the forest. Fleeing the flames, some entered human settlements. Residents of Sungai Palas Hamlet accepted and did not disturb them, and the tigers did not disturb the residents.
The hamlet borders directly on the park. Its head, Yunus, told me he only ever saw tigers coming out of the park in the period 2015-2019.
He was confident that this band of 'kings of the jungle' who had left their homes had no intention of disturbing residents. He was willing to swear to this, because once out of the forest the tigers did not harm a single animal belonging to the village. He said there were about nine of them. They did not just hang around the edge but wandered right into the village.
'We were terrified, to be honest. But we knew they had come because their habitat was burnt out. So we urged people, whether newcomers or long-time residents: Don’t disturb them,' he said.
He could not guarantee everyone heeded his advice; some may have acted in desperation. But he reckons that people's calm demeanour was directly proportional to their safety and that of their livestock. 'Even when dousing the forest fires at night, some residents reported seeing a tiger bathing in the water sprayed to extinguish the peat fires.'
Now that the forest and land-clearing fires have passed, tigers no longer show themselves. None have ever turned up in the settlement again.
Regarding conflicts between tigers and humans, various institutions concerned with protecting the kings of the forest have interesting data. Their conclusion is that the rate of deforestation in Berbak-Sembilang National Park is the main trigger for tiger conflict with humans.
The Sumatran Tiger Project notes that during 2015, the rate of deforestation in Berbak National Park reached 3,947.85 hectares or 4.08 per cent of the primary forest area. Deforestation of 5,142.60 hectares (65.98 per cent) occurred in secondary forests.
Sungai Palas Hamlet is under the administration of Rantau Rasau Village, Berbak Sub-district, East Tanjung Jabung Regency. This hamlet was established a long time before the government formed the national park. This is evident from the old mosque that is still standing, and from the fort that once belonged to Prince Wirokusumo and has since collapsed into the river. The mosque is thought to back to 1817.
The village history might go back even further. Ancient pottery has been found, which archaeologist Ario Nugroho of the Jambi Centre for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (BPCB) said was from the 10th and 11th centuries, the Hindu-Buddhist era. 'The village was officially established by government permit around 1964 or 1965, but it had existed long before getting the permit. It has been around for a long time,' said Abdul Razak, head of the Sungai Palas Fire Awareness Community.
The relationship between residents and tigers is not a matter of competing for mastery. Just how special that relationship is can be seen from the tradition of sharing meat with the king of the forest.
'If anyone in the community slaughters a four-legged animal such as a goat, cow or buffalo, some part of the tongue, ears, meat and liver must be given to the tiger,' he told me. After cutting up the meat, it is delivered to a certain location, about halfway between the village and the forest. 'The location is not exact. The advice from my late grandfather was that it should be close to the forest.'
If a tiger enters their food gardens and there are paw prints as a sign of their presence, the villagers just keep quiet about it. 'We are obliged to cover up the tracks so they won't be noticed. It’s dangerous, you know. Lots of people want to hunt them.'
In his view the relationship is mutually beneficial. Residents and tigers look after each other. 'They don't threaten us. We don't threaten them. When there are pig pests, we ask them to come,' he said.
Regarding the minimal conflict between the residents of Sungai Palas and the tigers, he said, it was not something that had come about instantly. It evolved naturally over a long history, and it was mutually beneficial. The community provides meat, while the tiger protects their gardens and does not disturb them.
Yunus, the head of the hamlet, told me the community also routinely gives the tigers meat after the harvest, or for the Islamic new year. 'Sedekah Bumi' is an ancient thanksgiving festival held at the beginning of the month of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. This, he said, is a form of community gratitude that is held once a year.
'Sedekah Bumi, which we also call Selamatan Barit, is held each year as a prayer of gratitude. So, every time we also honour the tiger, our grandfather (datuk),' he said.
They separate out some of the meat that is prepared for thanksgiving. 'At least there are the hooves, a little liver, meat, then ears again. These are taken out to their habitat, on the edge of the forest,' said Yunus.
Increasingly, this tradition is not used only during the annual Sedekah Bumi; if there is a celebration that involves slaughtering livestock at any time, they will share.
Human-tiger conflict
Conservation and mystical tiger-human relations are common in Sumatra, but the dynamics between humans and tigers are not always peaceful. One such conflict was recorded by the Aaltensche Courant in 1927. The headline in this Dutch newspaper from the colonial period was 'Een tijger gevangen', meaning a tiger has been captured. It quoted a report in a Sumatra newspaper, the Padangsche Sumatra-Bode, that a Malay woman had been eaten by a tiger near Bungus, just south of Padang. The people of Bungus and Teluk Kabung set three traps. When the tiger entered the trap everyone seemed to want to see the tiger, which the newspaper called a 'sinner.'
The writer of the story explained how the people knew that it was this tiger that had eaten the woman. The villagers approached the caged animal and asked if he had eaten their neighbour. The tiger replied with a roar. They took that answer to mean 'It was me.'
Then the villagers paid their last respects to the tiger. For three days and nights, they held a ceremony called ilau around the tiger's cage. They then sang songs. All this was related, the article stated, to the old belief that tigers are considered to be wild beasts that possess the soul of someone who has died. Therefore, when people talk about tigers they refer to them with the title 'inyiak' or in Dutch spelling 'injik' - a noble title for the elderly or the honoured. After that the tiger was executed. So the capture and execution of the tiger was interpreted as penance for the sin of killing the woman.
Two years later, on 23 July 1929, the Nieuwe Haarlemsche Courant quoted the same Sumatra newspaper again, under the headline 'Tijgerplaag' - tiger plague. There were many problems with tigers in the Painan area south of Padang, it said. In Asam Kumbang sub-district, a tiger had torn apart a woman. Four days later the same tiger killed two men, and a week later it killed a buffalo in Teluk Sirih village. Finally Mr Van Vliet together with Young Master Snouck Hurgronje shot dead a tiger at the Ampu Gadang plantation owned by the Koloniale Bank at Ophir (today known as Mount Talakmau). The striped one was hiding in the bamboo bushes. There was no mention of any mystical communication before the Dutch shooters lifted their rifles.
Not enough tigers are left in the wild today to cause 'tiger plagues', but incidents do continue to occur. I spoke with Erlinda C. Kartika, a doctoral graduate from Wageningen University, who has focused on Sumatran tiger research for more than ten years. She said the number of incidents of human-tiger conflicts – particularly livestock deaths – did not necessarily indicate a decline in public tolerance towards these big cats. She said people will sometimes tolerate tigers eating livestock; they say it is the tiger’s good luck (rejeki).
'Tigers have their own position among Sumatrans', she said. In Jambi province they are called datuk, in West Sumatra, inyiak, in Mandailing to the north, babiat and in Aceh, rimueng. Each name is associated with numerous legends. 'These stories exist and have their own position in society', she said.
Jaka HB (jakahb.89@gmail.com) is an Indonesian environmental journalist. He writes often for Mongabay Indonesia, a news platform for nature conservation and environmental knowledge.
