Abstract
Healing is an integral component of Local Islams the world over.1 While some healing techniques, including reciting passages from the Qur’an and belief in the healing power of the barakah (blessing) of saints and descendants of the Prophet Muhammad are universal or at least nearly so, others are unique to particular cultures. This chapter concerns the religious and cultural foundations of Javanese traditional medicine. Geertz has described curing as being among the central features of what he considers to be the animistic substratum of Javanese religion.
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Notes
- 1.
See, for example, E. Doumato, Getting God’s Ear. Women, Islam and Healing in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, New York: Columbia University Press 2000, and S. Beckerleg, “Medical Pluralism and Islam in Swahili Communities in Kenya” in Medical Anthropology Quarterly, new series vol. 8, no. 3, 1994, 299–313. I would like to thank Ary Budiyanto for information concerning the healing practices of Javanese and other Indonesians of Arabic descent and the early history of commercialized traditional healing, and in general for reintroducing me to the world of the dukun and Sarah Krier for sharing her observations concerning the commercialization of jamu production.
- 2.
C. Geertz, The Religion of Java, Glencoe: Free Press, 1960.
- 3.
A. Kleinman, Patients and Healers in the Context of Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980.
- 4.
Here is use the term Malay in an inclusive sense to refer the peoples of insular and mainland Southeast Asia who speak one of the many Malayo-Polynesian languages.
- 5.
R. Keesing, “Linguistic Knowledge and Cultural Knowledge: some Doubts and Speculations,” American. Anthropologist vol. 81, no. 15, 1979
- 6.
J. Piaget, Psychology and Epistemology: Towards a Theory of Knowledge. New York: Penguin Books, 1977.
- 7.
Saliba and Miyazaki report similar finding. Saliba reports that a patient with whom she worked was terrified by the fact that her husband had become a dukun even though his reason for doing so was to combat sorcery. M. Saliba, “Story Language: A Sacred Healing”. In: Literature and Medicine, vol. 19, no.1, 2000, 38–50. Miyazaki writes that in Malaysia dukun descendant from Javanese immigrants are some times accused of using their powers to murder people for financial gain. K. Miyazaki, “Javanese-Malay: Between Adaptation and Alienation”. In SOJOURN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, vol. 15, no. 1, 2000, 1–18.
- 8.
There is a substantial community of Hadrami (Yemini) Arabs in Java and elsewhere in Indonesia. Many Hadrami families have lived in Indonesia, and elsewhere is the Malay world of Southeast Asia, for generations and move easily between Javanese or Malay and Arabic cultures, collective and personal identities. They are clearly distinguished from Saudi Arabian and Gulf Arabs who have come to the region in recent decades and who have scant knowledge of local cultures. There are also many Javanese, especially among aristocratic and clerical families, who claim Arabic descent.
- 9.
Anyone believed to have mystical powers is thought to have at least the potential to be a healer. Among the recognized signs of mystical attainment are devotion to meditation and pilgrimage, the possession of magical heirlooms (pusaka), Islamic learning, and expertise in martial arts or the Javanese fine arts of gamelan (percussion orchestra), dance, or wayang (show play performance).
- 10.
C. Geertz, “Person Time and Conduct in Bali: An Essay in Cultural Analysis,” New Haven: Yale Southeast Asia Program, Cultural Report Series No. 14, 1966.
- 11.
On this teaching see R. Nicholson, The Mystics of Islam: An Introduction to Sufism. New York: Schocken Books, 1975. Traditional Javanese medical practice does not seem to be related to the Greco-Islamic “high” medical tradition of the classical period Arab Middle East. For a brief description of this system see A. Majeed, “How Islam Changed Medicine” in British Medical Journal vol. 331, 2005, 1486–1487
- 12.
See Chapter 5 and M. Woodward, Islam in Java. Normative Piety and Mysticism in the Sultanate of Yogyakarta, Tucson: University of Arizona Press, pp. 79–199.
- 13.
This discussion is based on field work conducted in Yogyakarta in the late 1970s. At that time Muhammadiyah Muslims and other reformist santri generally did not accept the teaching of Union with God, but rather explained that one draws “close to” and develops an intuitive understanding of God. The growth of Wahhabi influenced Islamism since the late 1980s has led to heightened controversy concerning all mystically tinged understandings of Islam, including those of all but the most “Islamic” traditional healers. Islamist organizations and particularly the Front for the Defense of Islam (Front Pembela Islam/FPI) vociferously and often violently oppose Sufism and its cultural derivatives. In addition to bars and nightclubs they attack and ransack the clinics of traditional healers. For them the distinction between agama and kebudayaan that has developed over the past several decades is nothing more than a ruse intended to justify the continued practice of what they believe to be bidah, kufarat, and shirk. Their opposition to traditional healing practices, including those of explicitly Muslim healers, is an element of a grand strategy to transform the entire complex of religion, culture and nationality in terms of their own understandings of Islam. Their goal is hegemony, not consensus or compromise. This does not mean that they have abandoned non-medical healing. Indeed some are convinced that “western medicine” is actually Jewish medicine and as such, haram (prohibited). There is a growing “Prophetic” medical tradition that relies on healing techniques mentioned in the Qur’an and Hadith.
- 14.
I. Goldziher, Introduction to Islamic Theology and Law, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981.
- 15.
See C. Geertz, op.cit., and P. Suparlan, “The Javanese Dukun”. Masyarakat Indonesia, 1978.
- 16.
More a more detailed exposition see Chapter 4 which explores the articulation of these concepts in the architectural symbolism of the Yogyakarta Kraton.
- 17.
H. Hadiwijono, Man in the Present Javanese Mysticism, Baarn: Bosch & Keuning, 1967.
- 18.
Anonomous, Primbon Wali Sanga, Surakarta, 1978.
- 19.
Members of the Sultan’s ceremonial guard are now unpaid volunteers, and do not have the time to learn these intricate maneuvers.
- 20.
On Ramadan in Yogyakarta see Chapter 5. The percentage of Javanese who fast for the entire month has increased significantly since the late 1970s.
- 21.
W. Watt, The Faith and Practice of Al-Ghazzali, London: Allen and Unwin, 1953.
- 22.
B. Anderson, “The idea of power in Javanese Culture”. In: C. Holt (ed.), Culture and Politics in Indonesia, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1972.
- 23.
P. Suparlan, The Javanese of Surinam, Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1976.
- 24.
A book published by the Yogyakarta Kraton, Kraton Jogja. The History and Cultural Heritage, Jakarta: Kraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat and the Indoneisan Marketing Association, 2004, p. 249, list thirty varieties of jamu. In the Yogyakarta Kraton, jamu are prepared in the same kitchens and by the same female abdidalem who prepare both regular meals and foods used in palace Slametan, including the Garebeg. See Chapters 3 and 5.
- 25.
This issue was raised by at a seminar on Reproductive Health Sponsored by the Center for Women’s Studies at Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University in Yogyakarta, October 28, 2008.
- 26.
Here fasting refers to complete abstinence form food, not the daylight fast of Ramadan.
- 27.
A. Al-Jibrin, Biar Sakit, Ibadah. Tetap Fit (If You are Sick, Pray and Certainly be Fit), Surakarta: PT Aqwam Media Profetika, 2008, p. 171.
- 28.
As part of their Hajj management strategy, the Saudis have greatly increased the capacity of the well. Some people say that they simply connect tank trucks to taps.
- 29.
This ritual is conducted annually on the first day of the Javanese year by both Kraton and by private individuals. In Yogyakarta hundreds of gallons of this zam–zam water are distributed to people attending the bathing of the royal carriages.
- 30.
While most Javanese agree that some pusaka are genuinely powerful there are debates about whose these are. Both central Javanese courts claim to have the genuine ones and that those of their rivals are “kosong” (empty). There is a Yogyakarta legend according to which at the kingdom of Mataram was divided Sultan Hamengukuwana I and the Susuhunan of Surakarta alternated choosing pusaka that would become the regalia of the two new kingdoms. The Susuhunan is said, on the advise of the Dutch, to have chosen only those encrusted with precious stones, which were seemingly valuable, but entirely kosong while the Sultan chose those that were apparently plain, but were actually enormously powerful. The Surakarta court vehemently denies this and claims that it has the truly powerful pusaka.
- 31.
I first heard rumors concerning Suharto’s acquisition of Surakarta pusaka in Yogyakarta in 1978. At the time I was inclined to doubt them because they occurred in the contexts of Yogyakarta anti-Surakarta polemics. Sources made public since the fall of Suharto indicate that they were well founded, A. Artha, Dunia Spiritual Soeharto. Menelusiri Laku Ritual, Tempat-Tempat dan Guru Spiritualnya, Yogyakarta: Galang Press, 2007, pp. 52–53, M. Shoelhi, Rahasia Pak Harto, Jakarta: Grafindo, 2008, pp. 34–40. Suharto is said to have “borrowed” some of the most important of the Surakarta pusaka early in his presidency. It is reported that many palace official wept at the loss of these heirlooms, but were powerless to prevent it because the “loan” has been authorized by the Susuhunan.
- 32.
W. O” Flartey, Eroticism and Aeseticism in the Mythology of Siva, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976.
- 33.
For a discussion of this Hadith see USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts accessible at http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/tawheed/abdulwahab/KT1-chap-22.html
- 34.
With the exception of midwives there are very few female dukun. Other female dukun are regarded with extreme suspicion. They are widely believed to specialize in the preparation of “love charms” that make their clients irresistible. Sex workers of both genders often seek out the services of such dukun.
- 35.
Rumors about Suharto’s involvement with the “supernatural” have circulated for many years. I began to hear them almost as soon as I arrived in Yogyakarta for the first time. They did not begin to appear in print until after his resignation on May 21, 1998. They began to appear almost immediately after he announced that he would “Lengser Kaprabon” (renounce the throne) and more than a decade later remain enormously popular.
- 36.
Bernas, June 2, 1998.
- 37.
K. Pamungkas, Rahasia Supranatural Soeharto, Yogyakarta: Penerbit Narasi, 2007, p. 23, Artha, op. cit., p. 157.
- 38.
Artha, op. cit. pg. 160.
- 39.
For a more detailed account of the variety of spiritual beings Javanese recognize see Geertz, op. cit.
- 40.
Throughout Indonesia and much of insular and mainland Southeast Asia tigers are believed to be the forest counterparts of humans and to have the ability to acquire great stores of magical power. Javanese often describe forested areas, including those on other Indonesian islands, as being gawat; powerful, but dangerous and as being populated by “tigers and snakes”. Tigers are now critically endangered if not extinct in Java. Some dukun display snake skins and skulls and those of other jungle animals in their homes and claim to have traveled to remote areas, especially Kalimantan, in a quest for power.
- 41.
Pakubuwana X–XIII of Surakarta are exceptions. They are known as the adopted spiritual sons of Ratu Kidul. There is a Surakarta Kraton tradition that when the future Pakubuwana X was an infant his nurse dropped him. Ratu Kidul appeared and swept him into her arms before he could hit the floor. She exclaimed: “Oh my son!” The precipitous decline of the Surakarta court in the post-colonial era is sometimes attributed to the fact that she is no longer married to the Susuhunan (the Surakarta royal title.)
- 42.
A. Ashcroft, Witchcraft, Violence and Democracy in South Africa, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2005.
- 43.
J. Siegel, Naming the Witch, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006.
- 44.
Kompas, August 1, 2007.
- 45.
On the role of religion in this election see M. Woodward, “Indonesia’s Religious Political Parties: Democratic Consolidation and Security in Post-New Order Indonesia,” Asian Security, vol. 4, no. 1, 2008, pp. 41–60.
- 46.
On Islamic views of the afterlife see J. Smith and Y. Haddad, The Islamic Understanding of Death and Resurrection, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1981.
- 47.
The claim that jamu are hallal is entirely symbolic because all vegetable products are hallal by definition.
- 48.
All of these men are now deceased. My use of the present tense reflects an ethnographic present of the late 1970s.
- 49.
See A. Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1975.
- 50.
See M. Watt, Muhammad, Prophet and Statesman. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 1961
- 51.
On Islamic folk medicine in South Asia see G. Herklots and J. Shariff Islam in India. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1921.
- 52.
The extent of these beliefs was made clear to me when I told my neighbors of my plans to visit Bali. Many warned me of the dangerous spirits that inhabit the island and admonished me about bringing any of them back with me. One gave me a ring that he said had the power to protect me from them.
- 53.
A similar issue arose concerning the pusaka that Suharto had “borrowed” from the Surakata Kraton after his resignation in 1998. According to some sources they were returned by his daughter Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana (more commonly known as Tutut). The fact that the former president suffered a stroke shortly after resigning is sometimes mentioned as evidence that they had been returned and that Suharto had lost the power that had maintained him for so long. Surakarta Kraton sources claim that they have not been returned, Shoelhi, op. cit., p. 37. Some attribute this failure to Tutut’s political ambitions. There are rumors in both Yogyakarta and Surakarta that they will eventually be returned, but not to the kraton. It is said that they will be placed in a museum, either in Surakarta or Jakarta and that they will be considered as national property, not that of the Surakarta Kraton. The affair of the “missing pusaka” is a clear example of the ways in which ethnic Javanese concepts of power and authority have shaped the course of Indonesian national history.
- 54.
On Javanese messianic movements see: J. van der Kroef “Javanese Messianic Expectations: Their Origin and Cultural Context”. Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 2, pp. 229, 1959.
- 55.
S. Tambiah, “The Cosmological and Performative Significance of a Thai Cult of Healing through Meditation”. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, vol. 1, 1977, 97.
- 56.
op. cit.
- 57.
S. Moertono, State and Statecraft in Old Java: A Study of the Later Mataram Period, 16th to 19th Centuries, Ithaca: Cornell University Modern Indonesia Project, 1968.
- 58.
For a discussion of this aspect of Javanese religion see M. Woodward, Islam in Java … op. cit.
- 59.
See Chapter 7 for an analysis of the role of Sultan Hamengkubuwana X and the Yogyakarta Kraton in the democratic transition of 1998.
- 60.
op. cit.
- 61.
H. Schulte Nordholt, The Political System of the Atoni of Timor. Martinus Nijoff, The Hague, 1971
- 62.
I. Mahony, “The Role of Dukun in Contemporary East Java a case study of Banyuwangi Dukun”. http://www.murdoch.edu.au/acicis/hi/field_topics/inez.doc. accessed October 24, 2006
- 63.
Consultations cost anywhere from 25,000 to 100,000 Rupiah or USD 2.50–10.00.This is far beyond the means of the poor many of whom make USD 2.00 per day or less.
- 64.
Meteor, July 25th, 2005, p. 4. This 1 day course was offered for a fee of 300,000 Rupiah or approximately USD 30. For most Javanese this is a substantial sum.
- 65.
http://www.all-natural.com/sufi.html accessed October, 2008.
- 66.
The Jakarta Post, December 6, 2006.
- 67.
The term Salafi refers to those who practice what they believe to be the Islam of the Prophet Muhammad and his close companions. The term “companions” can refer to either those Muslims who actually knew the Prophet or to as many as four generations of their descendants. Muslim extremists have attempted to appropriate the term Salafi in much the same way that American Evangelical extremists have appropriated the term “Christian”. Almost all Sunni Muslims use the term to refer to their own understandings of Islamic faith and practice. Shiah generally do not use it because their understanding of Islam is based on the assumption that, in addition to the Prophet Muhammad, a series of divinely guided Imams were religious authorities. The term has been, and currently is, used by groups including Western oriented educational reformers, Sufi mystics and Wahhabis, who actually are puritanical and exclusivist. To describe “salafis” as puritanical is to mirror the theological views of the most radical among them. It has much the same effect as denouncing “Islam” or “The Muslims”. It plays into the hands of extremists. By far the largest “salafi” movement, with over forty million members and many more supporters, is the Indonesian Nahdlatul Ulama (Renaissance of the Muslim Scholars). Its understanding and practice of Islam includes Sufi theology and devotionalism and the veneration of saints, practices that self proclaimed Islamist Salafis denounce as “unbelief”. Politically it strongly supports pluralism, freedom of religion, democracy and human rights.
- 68.
On religious violence in Post-New Order Indonesia see, A. Azra, Indonesia, Islam and Democracy, Dynamics in a Global Context, Jakarta: Solstice Publishing, 2006, N. Hasan, Laskar Jihad: Islam, Militancy and the Quest for Identity in Post-New Order Indonesia, Ithaca: Cornell University Southeast Asia Publications, 2006 and M. Woodward, Religious Conflict and the Globalization of Knowledge: Indonesia 1978–2004, In: L. Cady and S. Simon (eds.), Religion and Conflict in South and Southeast Asia. Disruption Violence, London: Routledge 2006
- 69.
This is a common theme in Islamist discourse. Indonesian Islamists frequently accuse their cultural and political opponents of this intent.
- 70.
op. cit., There are also Websites devoted to Prophetic Medicine. See, for example, http://www.nursyifa.net/pengobatan/info_penyakit
- 71.
op. cit., p. 174.
- 72.
Mas is a respectful Javanese term of address that translates literary “older brother” Mas Budhi and I have both used this honorific with each other for the entire 30 years we have known each other.
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Woodward, M. (2011). The Javanese Dukun: Healing and Moral Ambiguity. In: Java, Indonesia and Islam. Muslims in Global Societies Series, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0056-7_2
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