R.

Wessing
A tiger in the heart: the Javanese rampok macan

In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 148 (1992), no: 2, Leiden, 287-308

This PDF-file was downloaded from http://www.kitlv-journals.nl

ROBERT WESSING

A TIGER IN THE HEART:

THE JAVANESE RAMPOK MACANI

Introduction
Over the years, mentions of a Javanese ceremony called rampok macan
have appeared occasionally in the literature, the most recent references
being those in Nieuwenhuys and Jaquet 1980 and Nieuwenhuys 1984 and
1988, and in a comment on these by Kousbroek (1984). These, however,
are only the latest in a long series of references to this ceremony, which
ceased to be performed in the early decades of the twentieth century.
As far as the details are concerned, the descriptions of this ceremony
- in which several tigers or panthers2 were killed in either of two ways -
are al1 very similar. Several writers (Pigeaud 1938:424; Nieuwenhuys
1984:9; Nieuwenhuys and Jaquet 1980:88) mention that this killing of
tigers had a more or less religious significante. Pigeaud (1938:424) inter-
prets it as the execution of an evil being on the orders of the ruler. This
execution was carried out by the community, he writes, in order to safe-
guard individuals from revenge by the tiger's soul. The death could even
be blamed on the tiger himself, because he himself jumped onto the spear
points in his attempt to escape, as wil1 be made clear below.
Nieuwenhuys and Jaquet (1980) closely echo this interpretation by
Pigeaud and add that the sacred aspects of the event are reflected in the
genera1 solemnity with which al1 the actions in the ritual were performed.
As Nieuwenhuys and Jaquet (1980:9) point out, the rampokan was part of
a series of ceremonies at the courts of the Centra1 Javanese rulers on the
occasion of the celebration of the end of the fast of Ramadan and the
beginning of the Muslim new year (cf. Ruzius 1905).
Aside from these mentions of the sacred nature of the event, the con-
sensus seems to have been that the tigers were killed in revenge for the
I An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Conference on Man and the Anirnal
World, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 22 and 23 September 1988.1 would like to thank Huub
de Jonge for helpful cornrnents on this earlier draft.
2 The category macan includes both the tiger and the panther. Cornpare Wessing 1986.

ROBERT WESSING, presently a consultant with the Madura Research Center in Jernber,
Indonesia, is an anthropologist who obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois in Urbana.
His publications include Cosmology and Social Behavior in a West Javanese Settlement and
The Soul of Ambiguity; The Tiger in Southeast Asia. Dr. Wessing's address is: c/o Prof.
Asselbergsstr. 4, 6524 RR Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
288 Robert Wessing

damage they had caused in killing livestock and people (Ruzius 1905:
3 1-32; Hope 1958:3). Hope sums it up by saying that the tiger was a feared
and hated animal, but that it was not permissible to kil1 him, except once
a year at Idul Fitri.
This view of the tiger as solely an evil being fit to be executed is
contradicted by other facts we know about attitudes towards tigers. As I
have shown elsewhere (1986), while the tiger is perceived as dangerous,
he is not considered evil per se. Aside from the occasional killing of
livestock, the nature of the tiger's evil or of the evil he represented (Pigeaud
1938:424-425; Reid 1989:38) is nowhere specified in the reports of the
killings.
In this article I will first of al1 look at the details of the ceremonies and
place them in the context both of what is known about the symbolic
meaning of tigers and of the courts at which these ceremonies took place.
In this way the meaning of the rituals and what the tigers represented may
become apparent. As time went by, the ritual value of the ceremonies
seems to have diminished. Rampokan tended to be 'put on', and even in
179 1 at the court in Yogyakarta had become a regular part of the enter-
tainment~held when receiving European guests (Ricklefs 1974:345-346;
Kern 194 1:29 1). Nieuwenhuys (1984:9- 10) dates the decline somewhat
later. He writes that the rampokan moved away from the courts to other
regencies around the 1860s - ostensibly because many tigers were found
there. I believe, given,'among others, Hogendorp's account, that Nieuwen-
huys' date is rather late.
However that may be, we get the impression that the rampokan slowly
lost its royal and ritual character and that the emphasis shifted towards its
function as a public amusement. Junghuhn ( l 845:206ff) gives no particu-
lar reason for the event which he describes, except that the Susuhunan
(ruler of Surakarta) was having trouble finding enough dogs to feed the
captive tigers that he used to keep in cages on the northern alun-alun
(Zimmerman 1919:318). Other authors speak of an amusement (Raffles
18 17:347), an entertainment (Rigg 1850:79), a festivity (Gevers Deynoot
1864:104), and a sport (Feith 1941). Even Pigeaud, who emphasizes the
ritual nature of the killing, mentions that in the end it tended to turn into
a spectacle. Even with this increased emphasis on entertainment, the whole
performance, writes Nieuwenhuys (1984:9- 1O), remained rooted in the
traditional beliefs concerning the tiger, namely the possibility of purifi-
cation of evil through the killing of this animal.
Onginally the ceremonies seem to have been divided into two parts.3
The first was a fight between a water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) or a banteng
(Bos sondaicus; Simoons and Simoons '1968:15) and a tiger, while in the
second part individual tigers were confronted with thousands of men
3 Reid (1989:37) rnentions the senenan (tournament held on Monday), of which these fights
cometimes forrned part. These senenan also included jousts, which will not be discussed
here.
 A Tiger in the Heart: The Javanese Rampok Macan 289

armed with spears. As time went by and this event moved to the regencies,
the first part seems to have been scrapped (Nieuwenhuys 1984:9).
Before going on to discuss these matters further, I will first give a
description of the two different parts of the tiger killing ceremonies on the
basis of the vanous reports. Since the majority of these reports come from
Surakarta, I will take Surakarta as a focus and speak of the role of the
Susuhunan rather than that of the Sultan. The actual events seem to have
been practically identical in both cities.

The Tiger - Buffalo Fight

Before the commencement of the tiger-buffalo fight the Susuhunan would
come to the pendopo (open pavilion where guests are entertained) at the
foot of the sitinggil (main audience hall at the north end of the kraton;Horne
1974:439,539; see diagram, and De Graaf 1949:288), surrounded by his
bodyguard of elderly women and by his regalia. There he would sit, facing
northward towards the alun-alun.
Gevers Deynoot (1 864: 105) mentions that, prior to giving the signa1 for
the fights to start, the Susuhunan would ask the Raden Adipati, his first
minister, some ceremonial questions concerning the condition of the
people, the rice harvest and so on. Sibinga Mulder (1 944:2 1) describes how
in Kediri the fights were preceded by a procession displaying the agricul-
tural produce of the regency, and especially prominently the rice, inter-
spersed with musicians and a reyog dressed as a tigei-4 and accompanied
by some kuda lumping (trance horses, cf. Pigeaud 1938:215-257). The
questions having been answered, the Susuhunan would walk towards the
cage on the alun-alun where the fight was to take place, followed by his
female bodyguard. He would seat himself about fifty feet away.
The cage was circular, about ten to fifteen feet in diameter and about
fifteen feet high. It was made of wooden posts interwoven with bamboo,
and was partially roofed. Most accounts mention that the water buffalo
was penned up here; only Hogendorp (1837) has the tiger awaiting the
buffalo. The waiting buffalo had his horns whitened, while flower garlands
adorned his horns and neck (cf. De Jonge 1990).
The tigers meanwhile waited in smaller rectangular cages surrounding
the larger cage. Then, at a sign from the Susuhunan, a tiger was introduced
into the larger cage. 'Both animals appeared to be shy and surprised at
4 Huub de Jonge mentioned to me that he had seen only reyog dressed as peacocks. The
peacock, however, is symbolic of Siva's son, Skanda-Karttikeya (Zimmer 1972:48), and
a constant cornpanion of tigers. Pigeaud (1938: 186- 187,425ff) calls the combination of
reyog with trance horses Reyog Panaraga. This reyog consists of a singabarong, a man
weanng a tiger mask with (especially in Kediri and Ponorogo) a peacock or peacock
feathers on his neck, a kedokan (demonic dancer) and two to four kuda kepang. The
singabarong, writes Pigeaud, must always be conquered, and the fight aimed at this is also
known as a rampokan. Its conqueror, however, is a specific figure rather than the anony-
mous mass. Moreover, thesingabarongis not killed but subdued and made into an obedient
follower of his conqueror.
 (De vorsrenenven vorr de k r a t o n te Jogjatarta)

1 = pribajéksà (= .qrliortoportio; 9 : 4 : 3 Kägarakegama).

2 = Langsal këntjlni (= un'tärw op de mior van 9 : 4 : 43.
3 = pelataan (= Mtor met de witdno van 9 : 4 : 1-4), binnenste
voorerf
4 = witdm (9 : 4 : 4) gerecontrueerd.
5 = erf met de grlinìiofniiio (9: 4: 3) gereconstrueerd.
6 = srikatong.
i = .;riiii<.ii:aliti I =r po.i,.;iriir 11 vnii R :C> - 9:2]. iiii<l~lelsic\viorer(
8 = kèman?oeiigati (= poscrtorr l van R : 5). buiteiisre voorert
9 = rilweg i=hortnii va11 8 : 5 : 2).
10 = sitingpil i= ?tnii,rriiiitirr veil 8 : 3;. staatsie-erf.
ll = tratag lugëlaran (= i<~rriiiopnìioìrgkil~iiivaii 8: 3 : 2)
12 = yiiiongpaiigan (= boiirr pn/nrr8ìrroiivan 8: J : 21
l3 = riiksteiiipelerf (8 : J ) perecoiistriieer~l.
14 = inasdjid agoeng
IS = westeliike toepang tot rle aloenalwil (= p~irortobrrn van
8: 1 :Z).
16 = aloenaloen (= IPbirli ngCii,q = bithal).
li = rkgol bràdjànalan (= gopìirn rail R : 2 : 1)
IS = bètenp I = kitin) van 8 : l : 1)
19 = fort.

Diagram of the kraton of Yogyakarta. (From Stutterheim 1948:122- 123. Used withpermission)
 A Tiger in the Heart: The Javanese Rampok Macan 29 1

finding themselves thus unexpectedly in each other's presence' (Rigg

1850:78). As Crawfurd (1967:115-116) describes the fight :
'The first encounter is usually tremendous; the buffalo is the assail-
ant, and his attempt is to crush his antagonist to death against the
strong walls of the cage, in which he frequently succeeds. The tiger,
soon convinced of the supreme strength of his antagonist, endeav-
ours to avoid him, and when he cannot do so, springs insidiously
upon his head and neck. In the first combat of this nature to which
I was witness, the buffalo, at the first effort, broke his antagonist's
ribs against the cage, and he dropped down dead. The buffalo is not
always so fortunate. I have seen a powerful tiger hold him down,
thrown upon his knees for many seconds; and in a few instances, he
is so torn with wounds that he must be withdrawn and a fresh one
introduced. In nineteen cases out of twenty, however, the buffalo is
the victor. After the first onset, there is little satisfaction in the
combat; for the animals, having experienced each other's strength
and ferocity, are reluctant to engage, and the practices used to goad
them to a renewal are abominable. The tiger is roused by fire brands
and boiling water and the buffalo, by pouring upon his hide a potent
infusion of capsicums, and by the application of a most poisonous
nettle (kamadu) a single touch of which would throw the strongest
human frame into a fever.'
The other reports are quite similar to this.
Occasionally, if the tiger did not fight well, he was taken out of the cage
and replaced by a new one. McNeeley and Wachtel (1988:198) mention
that sometimes a second tiger was put into the cage to enhance the
spectacle. Gevers Deynoot (1864:105) also mentions that a tiger who
seemed to be losing was replaced by another. Since the object of the whole
event is to kil1 the tiger, it may be that such a tiger was then saved for the
following rampok macan. Al1 authors agree that the water buffalo almost
always won and that this seemed to be the point of the exercise (cf. Reid
1989:38). Often the buffalo was seriously wounded as wel1 and might
survive for only a few days longer (Raffles 18 17:347),which did not seem
to diminish his victory. Kreemer (1956:87-88), finally, reports that usually
a number of men armed with lances surrounded the alun-alun to spear any
tiger escaping from the fight with the buffalo. This is incorrect, however,
this feature properly being part of the rampok macan.

The Rampok Macan

Following the tiger-buffalo fight, the Susuhunan and his entourage pro-
ceeded to a platform, about eight feet off the ground and facing the
northern alun-alun. Junghuhn (1 845) writes that the Susuhunan took his
seat on the paseban, being the centre of the kraton or royal palace. The
paseban, however, is an audience hall (Horne 1974531;Pigeaud s.a.:45 l),
292 Robert Wessing

which is hardly appropriate for tiger fights. It is likely that what Junghuhn
meant was the pagelaran, where in Surakarta a special area was resemed
for the throne when the Susuhunan wanted to watch a rampokan (Zimmer-
man 1919:310), and which in both Yogyakarta and Surakarta is a tran-
sitional space between the inner kraton and the alun-alun. Other writers
mention seats of some sort for honoured guests erected outside, on the
kraton side of the alun-alun. Underneath the royal platform (Hope 1958:3)
a gamelan (Nieuwenhuys and Jaquet (1980:88) cal1 it a 'sacred gamelan')
played.
The cages containing the tigers or panthers (Sibinga Mulder 1944) were
placed in the centre of the alun-alun, around the fenced waringin (banyan)
trees (Hope 1958:3). Junghuhn (1 845) writes that in Surakarta they stood
in a row facing the Susuhunan. None of the descriptions from Surakarta
mentions the waringin trees in the centre of the alun-alun, although these
trees certainly seem to have been there (Stibbe 192 1:36); Zimmerman
(19 19:308), in fact, informs US that they were named Dewadaru (Heavenly
Wood) and Jayadaru (Conquering Wood). The cages were variously con-
structed so that either they could fa11 apart at the tug of a rope (Ruzius
1905:29) or their door was removable. The cages might be covered with
dry grass, while other flammable material seems to have been kept nearby.
Also somewhere near the centre there were one or two large basket-like
constructions, shaped like turtle shells, underneath which several armed
men were concealed.
The alun-alun itself was surrounded by 2000 to 3000 people armed with
pikes, lances and spears, some of which had poisoned tips, standing three
to four rows deep (Hope 1958:3). Ruzius (1905:26) talks of some Dutch-
men among them, and Sibinga Mulder mentions Chinese participants. The
spears in the inner row were held horizontally, those in the second row at
an angle, and the ones in the outer row were held up straight. The circle
created by these rows of spear-men measured about 300 feet in diameter.
The event began at a sign from the Susuhunan. As Rigg describes it:

'Several men were in attendance at the cages, and as soon as al1

matters were arranged, a deputation came to the foot of the Panggon
[platform] to receive the . . . [Susuhunan's] orders. From a distance
they came tandaking5 along, and as they approached crouched
down, and by degrees drew near, bowing their faces to the ground,
and lifting their clasped hands above their heads. The order was
given to commence, which was intimated to the three men who had
to let loose the tigers, in succession, from the cages. These three men
were now alone in the centre of the ring, and had to perform al1 their
manoeuvres at the nod or the motion of the arm of the . . . [Susu-
5 Rigg (1850) and Junghuhn (1845) say explicitly that these men were 'tandaking', randak
being a kind of dance that is usually performed by women (Horne 1974:588; Pigeaud
s.a.55 1). Others say only that the men leave slowly, walking to the rhythm of the gamelan.
 A Tiger in the Heart: The Javanese Rampok Macan 293

hunan]. Two were squatted at the further end of the cage, each with
a wisp of lighted alang-alang. The third sat cross-legged, at the other
end of the cage, viz. that next to the . . . [Susuhunan], and close to
the door of the den. The . . . [Susuhunan] made a motion with his
hand, which No. 3. immediately perceiving, bowed his head in
reverence, lifted his hands above his head and arose, making obei-
sance before the . . . [Susuhunan]. Next he mounted upon the top of
the cage and stood there a moment upright. The three men were al1
dressed alike, were tal1 and handsome, in the prime of life. They were
in court dresses, and wore long close fitting white trousers. Round
their waists were wrapped batik kain panjangs of large white and
brown pattern; the ends of this article of dress hung in graceful folds
from their sides. The upper body was bare, on their head was a white
court cap, from under which the long black hair, in a twist, hung
down upon their backs. Each had a kris stuck in behind amongst the
folds of his dress. At his side was the court Wadung or chopper. The
man now standing upon the cage, slowly and gracefully drew his
Wadung and with its bright polished blade, after making a kind of
salute, cut the string which bound the door. The Wadung returned
to its sheath, he next grasped the door of the cage - this he drew up
and slapped down in its groove four or five times in quick succession,
and finally pulling it out, projected it upon the ground. Again making
obeisance he descended and reseated himself at the door of the cage,
now open; and in front of which merely a bunch of alang-alang was
hanging by way of a curtain. Here he sat for about a minute, while
the other two behind were arranging their burning wisps, in order
to communicate, after a while, with the grass which hung round the
cage. The dread suspense was at last terminated by the sign of the
. . . [Susuhunan's] hand; - gracefully, reverently and slowly, the man
at the mouth of the den, bowed himself in the dust, arose and joined
the two others; they al1 moved a few paces to the rear, when the
gamelan struck up, and the three together began a dance, one
leading, the other two abreast following. They moved as one man
- each inclination, each movement, each jump was in unison. True
to the tones of the gamelan, they slowly approached the ring of
spear-men, their progress was by a succession of long steps ofjumps,
with pauses between them. Their dresses floating in the air behind
them, they finally reached the circle.
The light did not at once communicate to the cage, and as soon
as the three men were out of the ring, one of the oval bamboo cages
was, al1 at once, seen in motion. Only the feet of the people within
could be seen, lifting it as a mighty shield they thus proceeded. They
poked bamboos through the interstices of their cel1 and pushed the
lighted alang-alang towards the cage, which now became speedily
enveloped in flames, and then returned to their former station. The
294 Robert Wessing

flames arose from al1 parts of the cage, but it was not til1 the door
way was in a blaze that any motion of the tiger could be perceived.
He came first half out but conscious of the company that surrounded
him, bolted back again. The smoke and flames, however, soon
forced him out, and the noble anima1 bounded forth on the open
space. The din of the gamelan was now redoubled, the tiger scowled
around him and prowling backwards and forwards in front of the
. . . [Susuhunan], appeared to be forming a plan of attack upon his
numerous enemies. He would approach the circle, and then as if his
heart failed, at the sight of the glittering spears bristling towards him,
would turn and retreat back to his blazing cage. Here was however,
no place of refuge - he stood stock still with his lower jaw hanging
down. If he communed with the outer world, the din of the gamelan
deprived US of his thoughts. Courage at last he summoned, and
doggedly galloped up to the circle. At the first prick of the spear
points, he partly flew off, but as quick as thought,rushed inwards and
at the circle again. But the sharp spears were too much for him, he
flung himself away, and then instantaneously tried those a-head. In
this way he ran round about one-third of the ring, but the men stood
firm and kept wounding him as he went; he at length rolled and got
up again, but his strength was fast failing, and he came down to rise
no more - a mass of spears being darted into every part of him, and
the stopping of the gamelan showed that he was dead.' (Rigg
1850:80-81.)

As before, other reports, varying in some of the details, are essentially the
same. Raffles (1 817:348) adds only that if the tiger did not attempt to
escape, six or eight men would approach him on the alun-alun and spear
him. As each tiger was killed, exactly the Same procedure was repeated
for each next one, until al1 the waiting tigers had been killed.
It sometimes happened that a tiger would manage to jump over the rows
of spear-men or somehow sneak through the lines. The reports vary on
how these animals were then treated. Gevers Deynoot (1864), Raffles
( l 8 17), Rigg (1 850), Ruzius (1905) and Sibinga Mulder (1944) state that
they were chased and killed, while Hope (1958) and Feith (1941) say that
they were let go because such tigers were sacred.
In order to understand the significance of these tiger killing ceremonies,
we must first look at the ecological and symbolic position of the tiger in
Java, as wel1 as at the nature of Javanese kingship and the symbolic
position of the kraton in the state. Much of what I will say about the tiger
is set forth in far greater detail in Wessing 1986. The tiger is a multi-vocal,
and thus very powerful symbol in Southeast Asia, whose relationship to
man is one as a shaman, ancestor, culture hero, royalty, and much more.
Only a few aspects of this complex relationship are directly involved in the
ceremonies under discussion here, and the focus will therefore be on these.
 A Tiger in the Heart: The Javanese Rampok Macan 295

The Tiger
While the tiger today is an endangered species that has almost disappeared
from Java (Tempo 197953; Wessing 1991), in the past it was a common
anima1 in Indonesia and in Southeast Asia as a whole (Van Balen
1914:384ff;Breeden 1984). The tiger, like man, evolved as a forest edge
anima1 (Sundquist and Sundquist 1983:50). As a consequence, the ecolo-
gical niches of the two are quite similar and they have a tendency to
interfere with each other. Archaeological evidence shows that, since
the lower Pleistocene, human and tiger remains are associated with
each other and with those of the animals that they both hunted, some of
which man later domesticated (Bellwood 1979:58-59; Denis 1964:51;
Cheng 1982:lO-11). This association continues until the present. As man
settled down and made clearings in the forest for his fields and homes,
he created tiger habitat in the resultant new forest edge. At the same
time, his fields attracted the pigs and deer that are a favourite prey of the
tiger's.
Thus tigers came to live near human settlements and were often useful
in eliminating the pests that interfered with man's crops, rarely bothering
humans and only occasionally killing livestock (Kreemer 1922:188; .
Schaller 1967:277; Perry 1965:170- 171). It is only when this balance is
disturbed through a decline in the tiger's ability to procure prey (for
instance, due to man's over-hunting) that the tiger is forced to hunt among
man's livestock, and occasionally among humans themselves (Corbett
1978; Kompas 1980).
In brief, then, the ecological niches of tiger and man overlap enough for
there to be partial competition between them. At the Same time, a partial
symbiosis exists between them, based on man's gardens and the tiger's
prey. It is this ambiguous material relationship between man and the tiger
that is the basis for a symbolic relationship between them. As Sperber
(1974: 129) has pointed out, when animals partially share the human niche,
they are often regarded as neighbouring peoples and become 'candidates
for symbolic elaboration'.
Such a symbolic elaboration of the tiger has taken place al1 over South-
east Asia. Elsewhere (Wessing 1986) I have brought together al1 kinds of
stories from al1 over the region relating the mostly human origin of the
tiger. This idea of common ancestry with man reflects once again the
ecological interference between the two, giving the tiger the status not just
of a neighbour, but of a relative.
Among the Javanese, some of whom als0 ascribe a human ancestry to
him (Wessing 199 l), he is known as nenek (grandparent) or datuk (grand-
father) (Neill 1973:84; Van Balen 1914:359), as wel1 as guda (Sanskrit
gudha: 'hidden, secret', Anonymous 1845:142;Mardiwarsito 1978). These
terms are used instead of the tiger's name so as not to attract him when
in the forest. The implication is that the tiger, because of his human
ancestry, can understand human language. These pseudonyms further-
296 Ro bert Wessing

more indicate his relatedness to man and his mysteriousness in the eyes
of the Javanese.
The tiger is also related to man metaphorically. Occasionally he is
associated with Javanese royalty (De Jonge 1990; Van der Kroef
1954:858), but this association seems to have been subject to change,
depending on the context. In any case, this shows that the tiger cannot have
been purely a symbol of evil and that there must have been something more
to it. At other times the tiger was symbolically associated with the Dutch,
while the buffalo opposing him in the first part of the rampokun ceremony
is said to have stood for the Javanese or Indonesian people (Ricklefs
1974:275; Nieuwenhuys 1984:9). When two tigers put into one cage to
fight a buffalo killed each other instead, the Mangkubumi of Yogyakarta
is said to have been greatly amused, since the 'Dutch' tigers had killed each
other while the 'Javanese' banteng stood by watching (McNeeley and
Wachtel 1988:198).6
This association with the Dutch cannot, of course, have been an original
one, but must be seen as an accretion resulting from colonial intervention
in Javanese society. It shows, however, that the Javanese perception of the
relationship between men and tigers was such that room could be found
in it for placing Javanese-Dutch relations. The question is, then, what was
this perception?
Tigers properly make their home in the forest, a place of mystery (guda)
and danger. Men, on the other hand, live in villages and towns, safe places
of civilization and the known (cf. Lombard 1974).The tiger, however, due
to his ecological relationship with man, has a tendency to invade man's
villages and towns. He comes where he does not belong, to places from
which he has, in fact, according to some stories, been expelled (Wessing
1986:lO-12).The Dutch may be seen in a similar light. They, too, were
symbolically related to the Javanese, at least earlier on, as 'younger broth-
ers' (Ricklefs 1974:374ff), and they, too, were a foreign, disturbing
element in Javanese society. A characteristic of the tiger, then, is that he
is intrusive - a dangerous, unpredictable foreign element in the (at least
theoretically) ordered whole of Javanese society.

States, Courts and Rulers

As Heine-Geldern ( l 942:15- 18) has pointed out, the genera1 idea behind
state organization in Southeast Asia was that there should be a parallel
between the organization of the cosmos and that of the state. If the affairs
of the latter are to prosper, it should be an image or reflection of the former,
'a universe on a smaller scale'.
The centre of the larger universe is Mt. Meru, the place of Indra's heaven
(Dowson 1972:208).Similarly, the state should have a magic centre, which

6 In the context of a conflict with the Minangkabau, the intrusive Javanese were said to be
represented by a tiger, which was defeated by the Minangkabau buffalo.
 A Tiger in the Heart: The Javanese Rampok Macan 297

should be as close as possible to its centre of politica1 power. This centre

could take the form of an actual or an artificial mountain (cf. Wessing
1988), but could also be represented by the Tree of Life, in actuality usually
the waringin (banyan) tree located in the central square (alun-alun) of the
capital. Such centres may in effect be seen as places of intersection
between the sky and the underworld, between SivalVishnu7 and Sri - an
intersection whereby the universe, the world and, on a local scale, the state
is created (cf. Wessing 1988; 1990:245).
In these Southeast Asian cosmologies, furthermore, the centre may
represent the whole. It is clear from Javanese classification systems (Duy-
vendak 1935) that the centre is the place of the ruler, who encompasses
al1 aspects of the realm. It should also be the place of the greatest perfection
or purity in the realm, hence the exemplary centre (Geertz 1973b3332;
1980).
Aside from this organizational rule, the Javanese also have the concept
of kesakten or cosmic power (cf. Anderson 1972), which may be regarded
as the vita1 principle of the universe, animating al1 that is to varying
degrees, and thus a vita1 principle also underlying the state. In fact, without
this power there could be no state. One of the functions of the ruler in the
centre is to attract such power and radiate it throughout the realm, its
intensity diminishing the further removed it is from the source.
If we superimpose al1 these notions on one another, we observe that in
fact the realm occupies the centre of the universe, and the ruler occupies
the centre of the realm, and thus also the centre of the universe. It is for
this reason that the rulers were said to be an incarnation or reflection of
a deity - either Siva, Vishnu, or, later, Allah (Hill 1961:126; Hillenbrand
1988:24). This pivotal position of the ruler is als0 reflected in such titles
as Paku Buana (Spike of the Universe; Axis Mundi).
As long as the ruler is able to function as a centre of distribution of
cosmic power, al1 will be wel1 with the realm. Fertility is sustained, com-
merce prospers, and general welfare will ensue. Foley's (1987:68-69)
translation of Wahyu Makuta Rama, though this text is from West Java,
is illustrative of this. It runs:

'Dalang: This is a kingdom with mountains behind, wet rice fields to the
right, dry fields to the left, and a great port in front. It is fertile and al1 prices
are inexpensive. Peaceful are the journeys of its merchants who enter the
port unceasingly by day and night experiencing no difficulties on their
voyages. Many people have moved here and neighboring houses are so
close that their roofs touch. A place which is broad seems narrow because
of the wealth of the kingdom . . . The ministers and governors and officials
are honest and intelligent as should be in a rich kingdom.'

For the fusion of Siva and Vishnu, see Dowson (1972: 1 17, 297).
298 Robert Wessing

Thus, one measure of the suitability of a ruler is the genera1 welfare, peace
and tranquility of the realm. Psychological tranquility, or quietness of the
heart, was another measure of this. In fact, as Moertono (1981:3) writes,
'The Javanese . . . would not consider the state to have fulfilled its obli-
gations if it did not encourage an inner psychological order (tentrem, peace
and tranquility of heart) as wel1 as enforcing the forma1 order (tata). Only
then is the state of perfect balance, of perfect harmony achieved.'
Such psychological harmony (tentrem) ideally existed in its purest form
in the centre of the realm. There the most refined (halus) behaviour had
to be in evidence, the most halus of al1 being, in theory, that of the ruler.
In fact, theoretically the presence of an appropriate ruler, a reflection of
the deity, in the centre should in itself be enough for the system to work
properly. This is especially true since kesakten, or cosmic power, is mani-
fested on the individual level as semangat, or soul (Wessing 1986:104ff).
In other words, the individual soul (semangat) is the animating cosmic
kesakten uniquely manifested in the individual. Thus, tentrem is at the Same
time an individual psychological tranquility and a harmonious reflection
of kesakten, the universa1 animating force. In the person of the ruler, whose
position at the centre makes him especially vital, this tranquility translates
itself int0 a national, if not cosmic, harmony.
Thus we read that at the beginning of a rampokan the Susuhunan of
Surakarta 'sat staring right before him, towards the north, without moving
a muscle . . .' (Rigg 1850:78) and that 'the Susuhunan resembles a dol1 and
does not show any expression: Javanese etiquette considers it unseemly to
let oneself be moved by passions. Al1 outbursts of feeling are improper
[kasar] and the "Spike of the World" may not let himself be moved out
of his exalted repose by anything' (Junghuhn 1845:208; cf. Anderson
1972:42-43).
According to the ideal model, then, as long as the appropriate ruler, a
reflection of the deity, ruled properly at the centre, welfare, harmony and
tranquility would ensue. That this was so was evidenced by the welfare,
harmony and tranquility at the centre, especially in the person of the ruler.
Yet reality does not always exactly come up to the ideal. Quite often
politica1 and military power struggles violently disturbed the harmony and
tranquility of the centre (cf. Schulte Nordholt 1983:665), while even an
accumulation of smaller disharmonies can pull the system out of align-
ment. If the state was to continue to prosper, however, this disarrangement
had to be redressed, if it was not eventually to cause greater disharmony
and thus put an end to prosperity and an end to the realm. It was necessary,
therefore, to eliminate disruptive disharmony from the system.
One symbol of this force threatening order and life itself is the tiger. As
is demonstrated in Wessing 1986, the relations between men and tigers,
as among men themselves, are ambiguous. Sometimes an ally, at other
times the tiger may suddenly turn and bring on disaster, and in this respect
it seems to have an affinity with men. Unintended slights and perceived
 A Tiger in the Heart: The Javanese Rampok Macan 299

disharmonies may suddenly bring about a rupture in human relations.

Tentrem then is disturbed and the universe put out of kilter.
Yet, the tiger is regarded as being related to man and sharing the human
soul (Wessing 1986). Or perhaps it would be better to say that man
recognizes certain characteristics of himself in the tiger, and that each
person has a bit of the tiger in his soul, namely an element of unpredic-
tability and chaos that may at any time disturb harmonious relations (cf.
Foley 1985: 41). Perhaps that is what Lubis (1975:202) means when he
writes 'before you kill that cruel tiger, first kill the tiger in your own heart'.

Analysis
Although at a later date the rampokan seems to have been staged on
various occasions, it is clear that in the old days at least at the courts of
Yogyakarta and Surakarta it used to be an event associated with the end
of the fast. Al1 the descriptions date from the 19th century, and there is
surprisingly no textual evidence for its pre-Islamic occurrence in Java.
Pigeaud (19625 18-5 19) believed that the ritual probably did occur ear-
lier, and had expected to have found mention of it in the Nägarakërtägama
or other contemporary texts. He attributes this gap in the literature to
difficulties in catching and transporting tigers in the Majapahit period
owing to a scarcity of people and to bad roads.
Staged fights between tigers and other animals seem to have been a
regular feature in 16th- and 17th-century Southeast Asia. Reid (1989:3,
37) mentions weekly anima1 fights in Aceh during the reign of Sultan
Iskandar Muda (r. 1607- 1636), while there are reports from 17th-century
Thailand and Laos of frequent fights between elephants and tigers. Reid
further mentions contests between elephants and buffaloes and tigers in
Southern Vietnam and Malaysia. Further afield, from Mysore, we have a
report of a fight between a buffalo and a tiger (Henty 1895:2 10), and on
a Mohenjo Daro seal the symbolic representation of a buffalo and a tiger
in opposition (Hiltebeitel 1978:774, n. 20), al1 of which indicates that the
ideas behind the ceremony are probably older and more widespread than
Islamic Java.8
Volchok (Hiltebeitel 1978:774, n.20) connects buffalo sacrifices to
Durga in ancient India with the end of the rainy season, which is the time
of the harvest and renewed prosperity. However, the tiger and the buffalo
seem to be the Same to the goddess, who is the source of wealth and
fertility. The blood of either, reports Blaquiere, wil1 satisfy her for 100

8 In Islam there are actually associations with the lion, an animal that is not found in
Southeast Asia, where its functions are superimposed on the tiger. In East Java, in fact, the
tiger is sometimes popularly known as singa (lit. 'lion'). In Middle Eastem lore the lion (Ar.
asad) is associated with Sayyidina Ali (Our Lord Ali), which association is transferred to
the tiger as well. Thus in Cirebon the tiger, 'macan Ali', figures on the flag and on the coat
of arms of the kraton (Martin van Bruinessen, personal communication).
3O0 Robert Wessing

years (Hiltebeitel 1978:781). But, as wil1 be seen, while the buffalo is

associated with order and fertility, its opposite, the tiger, is not.
In any case, the association with the harvest and wealth links up nicely
with the issue of the welfare of the people reported by Gevers Deynoot
(1 864: 105) and with the procession in Kediri (Sibinga Mulder 1944:21).
Both of these can be seen as being connected with the prosperity of the
realm, and thus with the ritual purity of the centre. Incidentally, the
presence of a tiger reyog in this procession indicates that the tiger cannot
just be evil, but must somehow be part of the whole system (cf. Wessing
1986).
The occasion of Idul Fitri is in itself significant as well. This is the time
when people ask ma'af lahir dan batin, or forgiveness in body and soul for
any offence they may have committed during the previous year. Thus a
general purification of the social system and the individual soul takes place
at this time, at least in theory.9
The next point that we should examine is the location of the event.
According to al1 the reports, it took place on the northern alun-alun of the
kraton or dalem. This alun-alun is significant in the first place because it
is the outermost part of the court. Beyond this point, in Yogyakarta lay a
Dutch fort (Stutterheim 1948:122-123) and in Surakarta the markets
(Zimmerman 19 19). The alun-alun, then, is a transitional area between the
outer world of the town and the inner world of the kraton.
In the centre of this intersection between inner and outer space stood
two fenced banyan trees, while along the edges there were banyan trees
growing as well, in Yogyakarta clipped in the shape of umbrellas (payung)
(Crawfurd 1967:164,166; Paulus 19 17:624;Stibbe 192 1:36;Zimmerman
19 19). The banyan, as was mentioned earlier, may represent the cosmic
mountain (Meru), so that this point is liminal not only between the kraton
and the world, but als0 between the sky and the underworld. It may literally
be viewed as the centre of the universe, These fenced banyans are remi-
niscent of the fenced origin stone of Buton reported by Van Eerde
(1930:822; cf. Winstedt 1945:136).
It was at precisely this point, the cosmic heart of the realm, that the
killing of the tigers took place. This was in much the Same way as the
punishment and execution of certain criminals at the sacred centre
(Crawfurd 1967:164, 166; Danasasmita et al. 1977:286; Wessing 1988:
162-163, 185).'0
Thus, in the first part of the ceremony the tiger is on the northern alun-

9 Hefner (1985:46-47) rnentions the sacnfice of the 'fruits of the past year's labors', such
as 'food, crops, money, and smal1 live-stock', during the annual Kasada feast at Mt. Bromo,
which marks the end of the Tengger calendar year.
'0 This arena is reminiscent of the ring used for cock-fights, described as follows by Geertz
(1973a:425): '. . .the cock ring stood in the center of the village near those other rnonuments
of Balinese civility - the council house, the origin temple, the market place, the signa1
tower, and the banyan tree'.
 A Tiger in the Heart: The Javanese Rampok Macan 30 1

alun, which is appropriate since he is sometimes associated with the north

(Hiltebeitel 197k7.77). In the second part, the rampokan, the tiger is
located in the centre of a ring of lance-men. These, under the leadership
of the Susuhunan, represent the community. Note the position of the tiger,
however. He is in the sacred, innermost centre, surrounded by the com-
munity. Thus, totally out of place, he is an intrusive representative of the
wild in the heart of the realm, where he is dealt with by a person qualified
to do so. Sibinga Mulder (1944) says this is a kiai (religious preceptor),
while other authors do not specify the kind of person. Throughout Indone-
sia, the persons who usually deal with tigers are pawang, a kind of shaman;
but in many areas the functions of the shamans and Islamic holy men
tended to merge in the past (Wessing 1986:47-63). Thepawang is the kind
of person who is able to mediate between the forest and the bounded,
civilized areas of man. He goes back and forth between the two, drawing
on the wild for its curative herbs and powers, and protecting both the
community and the forest against each other.
First, however, the tiger is pitted against the buffalo, or banteng, which
is associated with the south and Yama, the Hindu god of the dead (Hilte-
beitel 1978:774-777). Like the tiger, the buffalo has strong connections
with the human soul. Hiltebeitel (1978:770) connects the wild buffalo in
the Vedic literature with the removal of evil and impurity, even though this
animal was not sacrificed.ll In many parts of Indonesia (Kreemer 1956),
as wel1 as Southeast Asia in genera1 (Simoons and Simoons 1968), the
buffalo, banteng and mithan (Bosffontalis; Simoons and Simoons 1968:15)
are regarded as vehicles for the human soul on its way to the hereafter,
the soul of the buffalo in some places being almost identical with that of
a human being (Kreemer 1956:161; cf. Waterson 1990; Loeffler 1968:27;
Mills 1926:245).
This latter detail is reminiscent of the Javanese wayang (shadow play)
story Manikmaya (Rassers 1959:14-19), in which, in the battle to defend
the rice (= Dewi), the wild bul1 and buffalo are tamed and put in the service
of the community. These animals are als0 used for the ploughing of the
furrow, the symbolic boundary around the realm, at coronations in many
parts of Southeast Asia (Paranavitana 1970; Wessing 1988:178- 180).
Both the tiger and the buffalo are furthermore associated with Siva, who
encompasses both in his person (Stutley and Stutley 1977:279; Skeat
1972:91), and via him with royalty and the Dewi (Wessing 1986:28, 108;
cf. O'Flaherty 1988:183, n.56). It should be noted at this point that the
kraton, the home of the ruler, while closely connected with the centre, is
not itself the centre. The actual centre, as was seen earlier, is Mt. Meru,

11 O'Flaherty (1988:86) points out that wild animals, because they are divine, may only be
sacrificed by the god, who himself participates in wildness. Since the ruler is in a sense
identical with the god, the role of the Susuhunan in the ritual descnbed in this paper
becomes much clearer.
302 Robert Wessing

in this case the alun-alun with the banyans. The kraton is slightly to the
south of the centre, appropriate to the buffalo.
The buffalo, however, like the tiger, is ambiguous. As was evident from
the Manikmaya story, the buffalo is a 'wild' beast from 'outside' which was
brought int0 the community, as opposed to the tiger, which, according to
some stories, was an insider who was cast out (Wessing 1986). The tiger
and the buffalo, then, both belong to the inside and the outside, and thus
both are ambiguous. They also both reside in the human soul and in the
Dewi, who is the sakti (divine power or cosmic energy; Stutley and Stutley
1977:74) of SivaIVishnu.
The ruler of the realm is associated wiih SivaIVishnu, and Siva again
is connected with the bull (Nandin) and with the tiger, like his sakti, the
Dewi (Dowson 1972:217,299). As Hiltebeitel (1978:778) observes, fur-
thermore, Vishnu is always associated with the centre, whereas Siva may
be characterized as an outsider. Yet Siva, in his manifestation as ruler of
human realms, belongs to the centre, and so we see the ambiguity of the
bull and the tiger once again.
This exteriority of both is also clear from the kayon or gunungan, the
centra1 prop in the wayang (shadow play) performance (cf. Wessing 1988;
Rassers 1959). This mountain- or tree-shaped object, symbolizing Mt.
Meru, often displays the buffalo confronting the tiger. On a Mohenjo Daro
seal the Same scene is depicted, but here there is a mediatior in the form
of a horned centra1 figure (Siva; Dowson 1972:298) - the outsider who has
penetrated to the centre.12
Rassers (1959: 184) has described the opposition between the buffalo
and the tiger as 'the emblem of the two sides of the [sacred] men's house
and thus, as it were, the totems of the rival phratries of this community
. . .', which view is shared by Van der Kroef (1954:858) and Pigeaud
(1938:435). This interpretation may be too concrete, however, and what
is expressed here may be something far more subtle.
Since both the buffalo and the tiger are associated with the human soul,
it may perhaps be fruitful to view their opposition as a confrontation
between different, ambiguous aspects of this soul. After all, the tiger
belongs to the wild, chaotic and dangerous outside, although it also brings
health and salvation (Hiltebeitel 1978:783; Wessing 1986:51-63). The
buffalo, being of the south, is associated with death and disease, but also
with rebirth and continuity (Hiltebeitel 1978:783) and, having been do-
mesticated, with the social order. This then may be what is expressed by
the confrontation on the alun-alun - a confrontation between order and
chaos, between the known and safe world and the dangerous forces
threatening to take it apart.
This Same conflict must also have been perceived as existing in the ruler,
l2 In a sense, this would imply that the tiger, an outsider, has grown (buffalo) horns. This is
evocative of thejenggiri, an animal with the body of a tiger and the head of a bovine, which
served a prince as vehicle (R. Ng. Yasadipura I 1982:16 1).
 A Tiger in the Heart: The Javanese Rampok Macan 303

who, as we have seen, possesses the qualities both of the buffalo (fertility
and domesticity) and of the tiger (wildness, slyness and danger), leading
US to conclude that both sets of qualities, although in opposition to each
other, were considered desirable for the ruler - those of the buffalo for the
promotion of internal welfare, and those of the tiger as evidence of his
power, authority and ability to face external danger. This way, both inside
and outside, civilized culture and wild nature, were combined in the person
of the ruler, making him the summation of all. The tigrine qualities,
however, useful though they may be in situations of conflict, may have
been viewed as a disturbing influence in times of peace, as an influence
to be controlled if not eliminated.
And so the buffalo and the lance-men indeed represented the com-
munity, as was observed in some of the descriptions of the ceremony. But
the tiger was not just some evil being that had to be dispatched. He was
the spiritual antithesis to civilized life and tenfrem, the intrusion of chaos
into the heart of the realm as wel1 as that of men. He was an intrusive
presence that had to be destroyed, over and over again, because, in the
Same way as in the wayang (shadow play) the two sides never defeat each
other once and for al1 (Anderson 1965), the chaos, too, continually reap-
pears and thus must be defeated over and over again. It was for this reason
that so much emphasis was placed on the defeat of the tiger (Pigeaud
1938:424, 434; Crawfurd 1967:116; Ricklefs 1974:275; Reid 1989:38).
As the tiger is killed, at the beginning of the new year (itself a boundary
and the mark of a new beginning), the centre is once more purified, and
thus welfare and harmony are ensured and, metaphorically, the hearts of
the realm and the ruler are cleansed.

Conclusion
It remains for US now to look at the changes that occurred in the ceremo-
nies with time and to see how this whole discussion fits in with recent
models of. state ceremonies in Indonesia. Earlier-I noted that changes
began to occur in the ceremonies around the early 18th century. This was
a gradual process and represented not so much a sudden change as a slow
shift in the way the ceremonies were perceived. The exact dates are of
course difficult, if not impossible, to trace. However, if these events, in
Geertz' (1973a:448) words, are local readings of local experiences, 'a story
they tel1 themselves about themselves', then a change in the way the story
is told must indicate something about changes in local experience. In any
case, at about this time the ceremonies moved away from the courts of
Centra1 Java to areas like Tumapel, Blitar and (Kediri, where tigers were
more plentiful. About this Same time, the confrontation between the buf-
fa10 and the tiger seems mostly to have been dropped, and what was left
of the rampokan more and more took on the appearance of a public show,
an entertainment for visiting Dutch dignitaries, or a fun way to dispatch
excess tigers. The participation of Dutch and Chinese pike-men seems to
304 Robert Wessing

point in this direction, as does an incident reported by Van Hogendorp

(1837:156- 157). He writes of a strangely perverted tiger-buffalo fight in
Tumapel. Here, after the tiger had been killed, the spectators, wanting to
continue the fun, hoisted the dead tiger a few feet into the air'with a rope.
The buffalo, thinking his adversary was still alive, attacked and gored him
anew, to the great hilarity of the audience.
One way of viewing these activities would be, as Reid (1989:32) seems
to do, as some form of theatre in the Geertzian sense (Geertz 1973b, 1980).
With a cast of thousands, offering drama and excitement, they may wel1
have resembled certain modern Hollywood productions. Yet, were these
activities really only a form of theatre?
Geertz writes about Bali (1973b:334-337) that 'The expressive nature
of the Balinese state, and of the politica1 life it supported, was apparent
through the whole of its known history for it was always pointed .. . toward
spectacle, toward ceremony, toward . . . public dramatization . . .' And, 'It
was a theatre-state in which the kings and princes were the impresarios,
the priests the directors, the peasantry the supporting cast, stage crew and
audience'. The massive ceremonies were 'the ends themselves, they were
what the state was for'. Effective government was exercised at the local
level, and the activities of the courts, according to Geertz, had little to do
with this. The gentry was owed 'military-ritual support, land rent, and
taxes, which were collected not through a monolithic system but diffusely'.
Although I am aware of the ritual roots of theatre, both in the west and
in Southeast Asia, the use of the word 'theatre' here nevertheless strikes
me as an infelicitous one. For in its current meaning it has an implication
of artificiality or unreality and amusement (Coulson et al. 1976:1735;
Dutch 1962:542; Miriam Webster 1961:2369).
While it is true that much display went int0 court activities, and that such
display may be entertaining, this does not mean that, at least in pre-
colonial and early colonial times, these activities were no more than
theatrical performances. On the contrary, ideologically, in order for there
to be land rents and taxes to raise and people to enlist, the welfare of the
realm had to be assured. Court ceremonial therefore was not a mere
theatrical performance, but was the solemnly serious business of the
continual maintenance of the state. Just as the bringing together of the
appropriate symbols to make rain is not just a ceremony but is the making
of rain (Wessing 1978), so too the conjunction of these state symbols was
the making or maintenance of the state. This is what the function of the
courts was, and one reason why they needed so many people was to serve
this purpose. Conversely, the presence of al1 these people indicated that
the system was working. The competition for population between royal
lineages which Geertz describes (1973b:335-336) was not only a compe-
tition for political power and prestige, but also an attempt to prove through
these dependants and the prestige they brought that one had kesakten,
cosmic power, and thus was a proper ruler.
 A Tiger in the Heart: The Javanese Rampok Macan 305

As Dutch influence became more and more a factor to be reckoned with

and the concept of rust en orde (peace and order) replaced what Schulte
Nordholt (1983:665) has called 'the contest state' (i.e., the competition
mentioned above), there remained only competition with the Dutch. At an
early stage this competition was fitted into the previous opposition be-
tween the buffalo and the tiger, as was described for 1785 by Ricklefs
(1974:276-277).
With time, however, Dutch influence, as a genera1 indicator of non-
Javaneseness and of al1 that was non-tentrem, became more intrusive and
thus, more importantly, the Javanese universe fel1 further and further into
disarray. As a result, the ceremonies aimed at dispelling chaos from the
centre probably became less and less significant and moved away from the
courts of Central Java to regencies like Kediri, Tumapel and Blitar, of old
centres abounding in tigers and tiger magic (Wessing 1986). It must also
be remembered here that the first two themselves were sites of ancient
kingdoms. Kediri (1050-1222) was one of the heirs to Erlangga's Kahu-
ripan and itself was succeeded by Singasari (Tumapel) (1222- 1292) and
eventually Majapahit (De Graaf 1949:48-57). Perhaps here the tiger
killings came to resemble a theatrical performance when the symbolic
meaning of the ceremonies ceased to be relevant.
One might ask why, in the face of this threat, exorcism was not perfor-
med more frequently and more intensively. But then it should be remem-
bered first of al1 that, rather than being performed randomly, these cere-
monies formed part of an annual event marking the beginning of a new
calendrical cycle, so that an increase in their frequency would have been
difficult to achieve. Further, the number of the descriptions we have may
wel1 reflect an intensification, given the absence of such descriptions in the
earlier literature. This is a question we wil1 probably never be able to settle.
However that may be, in the centres the ceremonies ceased being perfor-
med, as the intrusive element they were meant to exorcize did not go away.
The tiger remained in the heart, the centre ceased to be purified, and the
universe as it had been known collapsed.

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