[Batak magic book]. [Pustaha manuscript].

€ 4,500.00

A Batak folding bark manuscript, known as a pustaha, comprising a text on magical practices, diagrams, and divination. This pustaha includes seven diagrams in black and red, many of human figures. On the carved wooden cover is a gecko figure, representing Boraspati ni Tano, also known as Ilik, the gecko earth deity.

Sumatra, and the people who speak Batak languages, have a long manuscript tradition, and one particularly centered around the pustaha. The Batak Surat script was used in schools up until the First World War, and the folding bark books written in this script play an important role in ritual practice, auspicious calendars, divination, and the preservation and (sending onwards) of Batak cultural history.