The origin of the pawang and the berpuar ceremony
Dato’ Sedia Raja Abdullah published this ethnographic account in the Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1927, describing the berpuar ceremony of Negeri Sembilan—a triennial mock-fight ritual aimed at expelling evil spirits from the padi crop. The article presents a mythological etiology for the pawang (ritual specialist) and the berpuar rite, then proceeds to a detailed description of the ceremony’s structure, before concluding with an explicitly modernist dismissal of the practice as an impediment to Malay economic progress.
Summary
The article addresses a ritual that, despite opposition from the ‘Ulama, continued to be observed with enthusiasm by communities in Negeri Sembilan. Abdullah frames the berpuar as a ceremony of agricultural protection: a procession moving from the upper reaches of the principal river (the Hulu) to its lower confluence (the Hilir), during which participants throw stems of the Puar plant (Armonium cardamomum) at one another and at imaginary evil spirits, the louder the noise the more effectively the spirits are driven to the sea. The term berpuar is etymologically linked to the plant itself, while the alternative name bersketa derives from bersingketa (to engage in conflict).
Abdullah supplies a full mythological origin narrative to explain how the pawang and the berpuar came into existence. In this account, the Archangel Gabriel negligently releases a substance from his closed hand, which becomes the source of all evil spirits and demons; a second substance of like nature given by Allah produces humanity. When the spirits begin destroying the padi crop, Allah provides a Book containing miraculous prescriptions, which Gabriel delivers to the Prophet Muhammad for the first pawang, Muhammad Saleh. However, Gabriel then secretly tears out the pages containing the effective cures, leaving the pawang to rely on human ingenuity alone. It is within this diminished Book that the first mention of the words pawang and berpuar is said to appear, and it is the pawang who prescribes the ceremony as a remedy for the failing crop.
The descriptive portion of the article draws on the author’s direct knowledge of the ceremony as practised in his own community. He details the ritual paraphernalia, the order of the procession, the function of the Jamuan (temporary bamboo structures erected at halting-points), the role of the pawang as arbiter of etiquette, and the post-ceremonial obligations including the taboo period and the dual buffalo sacrifices. The narrative is presented in the voice of a local insider who nonetheless positions himself within the colonial-modernist discourse of the 1920s, ultimately arguing that such beliefs are incompatible with scientific agriculture and economic development.
Key Findings
- The berpuar ceremony is practised once every three years and lasts seven days, corresponding to the seven days of the week (p. 311).
- The procession order is fixed: at the head come the Anak Dayong (bearers of streamers and the small gong), followed by the principal Pawang flanked by two Pengapit assistants who carry water mixed with Tepong Tawar and sprinkle it using Daun Sipuleh, then the village folk (p. 312).
- The ritual paraphernalia includes at least fourteen specified items: Puar plants, Batang Keladi, Daun Sedingin (Bryophyllum calycinum), Daun Sambau, Puding Puteh and Puding Merah (white and red crotons), Daun Beribu Padi, Daun Tampang Besi (Artocarpus Gomeziana), Daun Sibalek Angin, Tepong Tawar, Kemenyan (benzoin), Anchak-Anchak (bamboo incense stand), Chanang (small rimmed gong), Tombak Benderang (naked spear with hair tuft), Ular-Ular (pennon), T’unggul (streamer), and Merual (long oblong flag with balls at the end) (p. 311).
- A post-ceremonial taboo (Pantang) of three to seven days forbids the shedding of any living blood—no buffaloes, fowl, or even living twigs may be broken (p. 312).
- Two buffaloes are sacrificed: a pink buffalo (Kerbau Balar) in the Hulu, whose meat is buried as food for the evil spirits, and an ordinary black buffalo in the Hilir, whose meat is distributed equally among households, each house subscribing an equal share toward the purchase of both animals (p. 312).
- Each household owes the pawang a customary fee of one gantang of unhusked padi and a small bag of Emping (rice pounded after frying) after the year’s crop is reaped (p. 312).
Conclusion
Abdullah’s definitive historical takeaway is unambiguously modernist: he declares it “idle to hope for the economic progress of the Malays so long as this and similar beliefs prevail,” arguing that superstition and scientific truth “cannot exist side by side” and that it is “difficult, if not impossible, to deal scientifically with pests if damage to crops is believed to be due to the ravages of evil spirits” (p. 313). The article thus functions as both a valuable ethnographic record of a living ritual and a statement of the colonial-era developmentalist consensus that indigenous cosmological frameworks must be displaced by rational agriculture.
Context
- Dato’ Sedia Raja Abdullah held a hereditary aristocratic title in Negeri Sembilan; his position as a local elite insider gave him direct access to the ceremony, but his concluding remarks align squarely with the colonial administrative discourse of the 1920s that framed indigenous ritual as an obstacle to economic modernisation.
- The article’s mythological narrative (Gabriel, the Book, the Prophet Muhammad) reflects a syncretic Islamic-Malay cosmology that the author presents descriptively without critical interrogation, while his evaluative framework is entirely that of a Western-informed modernist.