Parpanggalahan (powder horn)

Toba Batak chiefs carried their own personal supplies of gunpowder in containers such as this one, which were carved out of water buffalo horn. This parpanggalahan was worn suspended around the neck by threading a chain or cord through two holes in the central projection of the horn, which portrays the face of a singa (a mythical creature symbolizing power, protection, and prestige). Three horns protrude upward from the face, incorporating features of the water buffalo that often appear in depictions of the singa. The central horn is shaped like an arrowhead, while the horns to either side curve outward at the top. The small crescent-shaped mouth, which is flanked by curving forms and ends in what appear to be stylized hands, is incorporated into the sinuous designs that cover the surface of the gunpowder container.


The Batak were skilled in the use of a wide assortment of bladed weapons and firearms. By the eighteenth century, when the first Europeans wrote about those they encountered in Northern Sumatra, they noted the Batak were already skilled in the arts of shooting. Batak men obtained muzzle-loading flintlock guns through trade and they locally manufactured gunpowder from sulfur, which was melted down and mixed with powdered charcoal, saltpeter, and lime extract. Added to this concoction were shredded leaves gathered during a thunderstorm and herbs harvested during an earthquake. These powerful materials would increase the gunpowder’s efficacy by giving it the destructive power of these strong elemental forces.


The Toba Batak, one of six groups among the Batak peoples of northern Sumatra, live in the mountainous highlands surrounding Lake Toba (the birthplace of the Batak, according to oral histories and myths). The Batak maintained trade relations with their Malay neighbors living on the coast but otherwise remained relatively isolated until the 18th and 19th centuries when Dutch and British traders, along with German missionaries, established operations in Sumatra. Although nearly all Batak today are Christian or Muslim, they formerly recognized diverse supernatural beings, including deities, ancestors, and malevolent spirits. The primary religious figures in Batak society were male ritual specialists, called datu by the Toba Batak, who acted as intermediaries between the human and spiritual worlds. Much of Toba Batak sacred art centered on the creation and adornment of objects that would be used by the datu for divination, curing ceremonies, malevolent magic, and other rituals. Among the most important were ceremonial staffs, books of ritual knowledge, and a variety of containers used to hold magical substances.


References


Capistrano-Baker, Florina H. Art of Island Southeast Asia. The Fred and Rita Richman Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994, pp. 68, fig. 32


Kjellgren, Eric. Oceania: Art of the Pacific Islands in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007, pp. 203, fig. 117


Kjellgren, Eric. How to Read Oceanic Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014, pp. 105, fig. 48



Sibeth, Achim. The Batak. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991