ofthe SAME TREE

archaeological finds at Padang Lawas. Yet despite these cultural incursions, the
Batak were not absorbed into the expansive Malayu language and culture. 135
The survival and persistence of the pustaha tradition may have been a deliberate
political choice at a time when the Batak were becoming increasingly
involved in economic rivalry with their neighboring communities. As Pollock
so succinctly explained, “Vernacular literary languages do not ‘emerge’ like
buds or butterflies, they are made.” 136 A Batak world was thus inscribed and
circumscribed by the pustaha, which not only performed a magico-religious
role but also became an important marker of Batak identity.
Often in the introduction to the pustaha, a chain of transmission of
knowledge from the legendary founder to the current writer is listed. Teachers
and pupils from different regions traveled together throughout Batak areas
because their services were sought everywhere. 137 When the intrepid Italian
traveler Elio Modigliani journeyed through the Toba Batak area in 1890, he
befriended the great datu Guru Somalaing. From him, Modigliani was able to
obtain a text from the “wandering datu” of the Simanjuntak marga intended
for his pupils belonging to the Siagian marga. The itinerant quality of these
datu is emphasized in another of Modigliani’s collected texts, where one of
the great masters is called “Singa Mortandang,” or “the wandering lion.” 138 It
was commonplace for pupils to travel long distances to study with famous
datu. 139
Through long and intensive study the datu acquired an incomparable
knowledge of the future, the characteristics of plants, and the wisdom contained
in the writings of the ancestors. The wandering datu was described as
not simply a religious practitioner, but also “a man of science who embodies
all current available historical, medical, theological and economic knowledge.”
Through his mastery of the contents of the pustaha, he became the
primary source of old tales, legends, and traditions from which the Batak
gained an understanding of their ritual ceremonies. 140 This latter function
continues to survive among the Batak today. Ginting describes a Karo guru
(the Karo equivalent of the datu) who can “recite in a sing-song tone the old
legends and myths which are important in the performance of a ritual so that
the participants understand its background and can therefore experience the
ritual more intensely.” 141 The datu was also able to use his knowledge of plants
and the spirit world to concoct the various medicines to treat and to prevent
illnesses, conduct special rituals to ward off evil or recall a spirit which had
wandered away from a body, and prescribe potions to assist in affairs of the
heart and to give self-confidence. 142
Because of the datu’s ability to assure the well-being of the community in
so many different ways, he gained the confidence and support of the people.
He thus became an influential advocate and ideal conduit of information
168 Chapter 5