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The protective power of ‘wearing letters’ and ‘attiring texts’ in eighteenth-century Bali

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Kaja M. McGowan
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Extract

When confronted with Hindu and Islamic script-bearing objects in Southeast Asia, I often find myself asking ‘What is a text?’ Such dynamic objects are often believed to be imbued with life and to partner with humans and other sentient beings in ritual exchanges, particularly where protection is required. This question has deeply informed my own work so, when reading Richard Fox's More than words: Transforming script, agency, and collective life in Bali (Cornell University Press, 2018), I felt I was in the presence of a like-minded scholar whose interests resonate with my own. It is an honour then to contribute to this collection of essays celebrating Fox's important book for the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies.

Type
Short Essay
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 53 , Issue 1-2 , June 2022 , pp. 349 - 352
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Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore, 2022

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Footnotes

A version of this essay was presented in Berlin at the EuroSEAS Conference in 2019. I am grateful to my colleague Nina Capistrano-Baker for organising the panel. I would also like to thank Richard Fox and Thomas Hunter for this collaborative opportunity to engage with the materiality and talismanic properties of Balinese letters.

References

1 Kidung Panji Wijayakrama (I. 56–60) in Sumaryoto, Woro Aryandini, ‘Textiles in Javanese texts’, in Weaving patterns of life: Indonesian Textile Symposium 1991, ed. Nabholz-Kartaschoff, Marie-Louise, Barnes, Ruth and Stuart-Fox, David J. (Basel: Museum of Ethnography Basel, 1993), p. 34Google Scholar.

2 Ramseyer, Urs, ‘Magical protection and community identity’, in Hauser-Schaublin, Brigitta, Nabholz-Kartaschoff, Marie-Louise and Ramseyer, Urs, Textiles in Bali (Singapore: Periplus, 1991), pp. 117–36Google Scholar.

3 Gittinger, Mattiebelle, Splendid symbols: Textiles and tradition in Indonesia (Washington, DC: Textile Museum, 1979), pp. 31, 45–8Google Scholar.

4 Ibid., p. 48.

5 Vickers, Adrian, Journeys of desire: A study of the Balinese text Malat (Leiden: KITLV Press, 2005), pp. 141–2CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 Ramseyer, ‘Magical protection’, p. 133.

7 Rubenstein, Raechelle, Beyond the realm of the senses: The Balinese ritual of kakawin composition (Leiden: KITLV Press, 2000), p. 61CrossRefGoogle Scholar.