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FROM SINGA TO NAGA PADOHA, THE MAKING OF A MAGICAL CREATURE

One of the most treasured objects in Indonesian collection of the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam is a pustaha, an ancient book used by Batak priests in north Sumatra. It is unique for its size, decoration and content. It was collected around 1852 and has been on public display ever since: first in the Ethnographic Museum of the Zoological Society in Amsterdam, then at the Colonial Museum, and finally, the Tropenmuseum. The book has drawn attention because of the large creature carved on it – variously interpreted as a singa (a mythical lion) and later, as a Naga Padoha, the mythical snake of the primordial waters. Another fascination of westerners with this book was its content of gruesome sorcery and magical practices. This stereotyped the image of the Batak as ferocious, primitive and heathen – a view held even by museum curators that has prevailed for more than a hundred years. However, a new perspective which takes into account the anthropology of the senses and other ways of looking at the book would show different aspects of the culture, such as its use by its indigenous owners and thus putting it into context and shedding light on its people and culture without the sensationalism.