ASIAN TEXTILES - OATG. Oxford Asian Textile Group

17 IBAN TEXTILES
Seated, from left: Grand aunt Jelia with aunt Nancy leaning against her, great-grandmother Sendi
(grandmother's mother) holding Aunt Magdalene, great-grandmother Rimbu (grandfather's mother)
with Aunt Alice and grandmother Inja holding father. Singapore, 1939
1909, with seed brought back from Singapore by his son Lumpoh. Another early planter, Penghulu
Saang, obtained seeds from Stambak to plant at Pelandok in the Paku branch of the Saribas in
1912‖. (12) ―The Saribas Iban ‗experienced unparalleled material prosperity‘, enabling further investment
in agriculture, business and trading, as well as the construction of ‗palatial‘ ironwood
longhouses and the celebration of elaborate gawai festivals on an unprecedented scale‖. Pringle
succinctly commented that ―it is no exaggeration to say that any knowledge of Saribas history in
the Brooke era begins with knowledge of this family.‖ (13)
The women of this family, in turn, were grandmaster weavers whose authority and influence
in weaving was unchallenged throughout the Saribas, although very little was recorded of their
achievements by writers of the time who did not yet realise the significance of Iban ritual textiles.
Mengan Tuai, the wife of the Orang Kaya Pemancha Dana Bayang and her granddaughter Mindu
(14) were both known to have been patronised by Indu Dara Insin Temaga, the daughter of wargod
Sengalang Burong. Although Indu Dara Insin Temaga is not exclusively the goddess of weaving,
mythology states that her weavings are the most beautiful and her threads as fine as silk.
Mindu‘s eldest daughter Mengan was named after her grandmother and brought up as an
anak umbong (15), where she was confined to the attic and schooled rigorously by her elderly female
relatives in all the arts of weaving until the day she was given away in marriage. Mengan was
to become the most well-known indu takar in the Saribas, superseding even the fame of her
mother and grandmother before her as tuai takar. An indu takar is a woman who knows the secret
measurements of mordant and dyes and conducts the ritual of soaking yarns in a pre-treatment
bath. It is also the highest social status for a woman. A tuai takar is the lead or principal amongst
the indu takar. Heppell further remarked that ―it was probably in just such a Stambak attic that
Saribas design took the fork in the road it did and started producing the rich and complex designs