The Classes

Abstract

In the district of Kesu’ the society of the Sa’dan-Toraja displayed rather sharp class divisions. The myth which relates how separation between the free and the unfree originated, is told in the Passomba Tedong, the chant recited at the consecration of the buffalo sacrificed at the merok-feast (Merok: 110). Pande Nunu (‘the skilful observer’)¹ married Kandaibubun of Illin. This woman, also called Tumba Bollan,² wore a bracelet made of clay, and an anklet fashioned of an alloy, probably not including gold, silver or brass;³ these ornaments betray that she was a slave. Female slaves were not permitted to wear ornaments of such precious metals. Pande Nunu consumed the left-overs from his brothers’ meal, an act further associated with the class of the unfree. Two children were born to this pair, two sons, Datu Bakka’ and Pong Malaleong (though datu means ‘lord’, the title datu is not associated with nobility). When the ‘House of Iron’ in the upperworld had been completed (Merok: 132–133) and the buffalo for the primeval merok-celebration was about to be sacrificed, firewood had to be chopped, and branches which would cast dense shadows needed to be inserted in the earth. These tasks were assigned to Datu Bakka’ and his brother,⁴ but they refused.

“Then Datu Bakka’ and Pong Maleleong, completely exhausted, bowed their bodies, thereon they were treated like buffaloes used for work on the ricefields, they were handled like kerbau used for labour on the sawahs.”

(Merok: 137)