I argue
> against Robert Blust's thesis that the rainbow/dragon concept was
> reinvented because of natural human thinking about natural
> phenomena.

Dr. Ehrlich, could you give us some more specifics?

Also, would it be possible to post the list, or partial
list of names, to the group?

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala

When I get a copy, this summer, of Stephen Oppenheimer's book Eden in the East it will prob. address Indian Ocean trade and human dispersal.  I recall that both Amazon.com and Barnes & Nobles sell it. 

  juhavs <juhavs@...> wrote:

Paul, many thanks, although I will probably have hard time to find
them here in Helsinki...Do you know whether there are any new
excavations going in Madagascar to study the very earliest horizons?

What prompts me to ask this is partly the intriguing information you
gave at your site about the spice trade: clearly, some of the exotic
spices Egyptians and other Near Eastern people used could have come
from Island South East Asia. So, I will now engage in frank
speculation, just to identify areas that must be checked to figure
out whether the speculation is on the right track or not.

The Speculation: Assuming that (perhaps very modest) trade with
Island South East Asian spices was in existence already around 2000
BCE, who were the traders and what were there trade routes? My
guess, perhaps unsurprisingly, would be that at least part of the
trade was conducted by Austric speaking people living by the sea.
And given our present knowledge of the population history of
Polynesia (the population of the Marianas etc.), it would not be
unrealistic to assume long distance sea faring. Could they have
found their way to the islands of Eastern Africa (Madagascar,
Zanzibar etc.) already by 2000 BCE? Western Nusantao trading
network?     

Do we have any evidence suggesting either the correctness or the
incorrectness of this speculation?


Regards, Juha Savolainen














--- In austric@y..., a.manansala@a... wrote:
>
> Here are a few refs. from off the web, although these might
> be a bit hard to get a hold of.
>
> Solheim, W.G. 1967 From Southeast Asia to East Africa: An
Archaeological Problem. CEAO Nairobi.
> Solheim, W.G. 1965 Indonesian Culture and Malagasy Origins. Taloha
I 33-42.
>
> Regards,
> Paul Kekai Manansala


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>


> The Speculation: Assuming that (perhaps very modest) trade with
> Island South East Asian spices was in existence already around 2000
> BCE, who were the traders and what were there trade routes? My
> guess, perhaps unsurprisingly, would be that at least part of the
> trade was conducted by Austric speaking people living by the sea.
> And given our present knowledge of the population history of
> Polynesia (the population of the Marianas etc.), it would not be
> unrealistic to assume long distance sea faring. Could they have
> found their way to the islands of Eastern Africa (Madagascar,
> Zanzibar etc.) already by 2000 BCE? Western Nusantao trading
> network?
>

I think this is very possible. Technically, the
ship-building ability was probably already there as
ocean-going ships must have been used in the Nusantao
trading network by at least 3,000 BCE.

The only question here is long-range navigation.


> Do we have any evidence suggesting either the correctness or the
> incorrectness of this speculation?
>
>

Depends on what type of evidence you are referring to. I've
had people come up with theories based mostly on linguistics,
then criticize me for not backing up my own views with
hard archaeological artifacts.

The Ancient Egyptians claimed to have traded bulk
commodoties along with some weapons for the spices
from the south.

So far, no real artifacts resembling the trade weapons
shown on Egyptian reliefs have been found anywhere.

Some evidence of SE Asian spices have been found in
ancient context in Africa and the Middle East. There
were some cloves identified in 2nd millennium BCE jars
in Syria. Tests of a Ptolemaic mummy also uncovered
camphor from Borneo but this dated from only about
200 BCE.

The linguistic evidence regarding the Near Eastern words
for cinnamon, cassia, etc. is tricky.  However, from
my own studies, I'm very confident that such an ancient
trade exited.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala

In my dissertation on the ethnobotany of Cordyline
fruticosa, which has been treated as sacred in different
contexts in Southeast Asia, Papua New Guinea and Oceania, I
began to think that it could be a substitute for a related
plant that produced red resin called "dragon's blood."
Now, I have written a paper on the subject, intended for
In a paper I have just written for the journal Anthropos, I argue
against Robert Blust's thesis that the rainbow/dragon concept was
reinvented because of natural human thinking about natural
phenomena.  He knows I disagree with him and he has been
helpful before, but now I would like further advice about
some of my thoughts and particularly about some of the
names on my long list for Cordyline fruticosa.  Any
thoughts?  It seems to me that this plant has been treated in the same
way as "dragon's blood plants," Dracaena species, with which
Cordylines have been confused.  My dissertation (1999) was on
Cordyline ethnobotany and I have recently published on firewalking and
cordyline in the Journal of the Polynesian Society v. 110 (2).
I would like help in interpreting a long list of names for both
Cordylines and Dracaenas.  Can anyone help with this?
I will be reading your postings with interest.

-----------------------------
Dr. Celia Ehrlich
254 Poverty Lane
Lebanon, NH  03766-2702
cehrlich@...

Paul, many thanks, although I will probably have hard time to find
them here in Helsinki...Do you know whether there are any new
excavations going in Madagascar to study the very earliest horizons?

What prompts me to ask this is partly the intriguing information you
gave at your site about the spice trade: clearly, some of the exotic
spices Egyptians and other Near Eastern people used could have come
from Island South East Asia. So, I will now engage in frank
speculation, just to identify areas that must be checked to figure
out whether the speculation is on the right track or not.

The Speculation: Assuming that (perhaps very modest) trade with
Island South East Asian spices was in existence already around 2000
BCE, who were the traders and what were there trade routes? My
guess, perhaps unsurprisingly, would be that at least part of the
trade was conducted by Austric speaking people living by the sea.
And given our present knowledge of the population history of
Polynesia (the population of the Marianas etc.), it would not be
unrealistic to assume long distance sea faring. Could they have
found their way to the islands of Eastern Africa (Madagascar,
Zanzibar etc.) already by 2000 BCE? Western Nusantao trading
network?

Do we have any evidence suggesting either the correctness or the
incorrectness of this speculation?


Regards, Juha Savolainen














--- In austric@y..., a.manansala@a... wrote:
>
> Here are a few refs. from off the web, although these might
> be a bit hard to get a hold of.
>
> Solheim, W.G. 1967 From Southeast Asia to East Africa: An
Archaeological Problem. CEAO Nairobi.
> Solheim, W.G. 1965 Indonesian Culture and Malagasy Origins. Taloha
I 33-42.
>
> Regards,
> Paul Kekai Manansala

Here are a few refs. from off the web, although these might
be a bit hard to get a hold of.

Solheim, W.G. 1967 From Southeast Asia to East Africa: An Archaeological
Problem. CEAO Nairobi.
Solheim, W.G. 1965 Indonesian Culture and Malagasy Origins. Taloha I 33-42.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala

I am interested in the Asian colonization of Madigasgar as well. The extent of Arabic (and other) trading in the Indian Ocean is not well known.  Keep us posted.

  "pinatubo.geo" <a.manansala@...> wrote:

Hi Juha,

I've had a hard time finding my notes on the relevant articles.

Try searching vol. 18 of __Asian Perspectives_ published in Honolulu.
Also the 1986 isssue(s) of the same journal. I'll get back to you
with more precise references later.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala

--- In austric@y..., Juha Savolainen <juhavs@y...> wrote:
>
> Hi everybody!
>
> My name is Juha Savolainen and I teach philosophy and
> critical thinking in Helsinki. As one of my many
> interests, I am intrigued by the early history of
> South Asia and South East Asia and the role played by
> Austric/Austronesian speaking people in all this. I
> have a question (mainly targeted for Paul): Where can
> I found Wilhelm Solheim´s comments on the archaeology
> of Madagascar?
>
>
>
>
>
> 
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
> http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com


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Hi Juha,

I've had a hard time finding my notes on the relevant articles.

Try searching vol. 18 of __Asian Perspectives_ published in Honolulu.
Also the 1986 isssue(s) of the same journal. I'll get back to you
with more precise references later.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala

--- In austric@y..., Juha Savolainen <juhavs@y...> wrote:
>
> Hi everybody!
>
> My name is Juha Savolainen and I teach philosophy and
> critical thinking in Helsinki. As one of my many
> interests, I am intrigued by the early history of
> South Asia and South East Asia and the role played by
> Austric/Austronesian speaking people in all this. I
> have a question (mainly targeted for Paul): Where can
> I found Wilhelm Solheim´s comments on the archaeology
> of Madagascar?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
> http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com

Hi everybody!

My name is Juha Savolainen and I teach philosophy and
critical thinking in Helsinki. As one of my many
interests, I am intrigued by the early history of
South Asia and South East Asia and the role played by
Austric/Austronesian speaking people in all this. I
have a question (mainly targeted for Paul): Where can
I found Wilhelm Solheim´s comments on the archaeology
of Madagascar?







__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com

--- In austric@y..., a.manansala@a... wrote:

> I guess we might also mention something that we have
> discussed in private email.  The possible connection of
> the buffalo sacrifice with the royal asvamedha sacrfice
> of the Vedas.
> The primary queen is known as mahisi, or water buffalo
> cow, in the asvamedha ritual.

This is a different sacrificial tradition, not necessarily related to
pre-/proto-historic Austric cultures and the annexed mortuary rites,
although I will be pleased to discuss this topic here with you and
other contributors in a subsequent time.

> Royal water buffalo sacrifices still take place in
> South India. I have also heard of traditions in
> Southeast Asia where the tribal chief must take part in
> buffalo sacrifices.

Not specifically in South India, rather in the whole of India! You
are here referring to the Shakta-Tantric tradition of buffalo-
sacrifice, which is yet still another topic.

> Do you have information on the use of the bovine
> sacrifice among royalty or chieftancies in the same
> region?

I will limit myself to indicate some instances of buffalo-sacrifices
among royalty or chieftancies in Southeast Asia. As regards India,
see the past offered by Hindu kings, while the buffalo-sacrifices
offered by the Indian tribals in a funerary context are not connected
with chieftainship).

To start with, you could read the following Web pages (sorry for the
scantiness, but my research was not directly dealing with the buffalo-
sacrifices offered by kings or tribal chiefs of Southeast Asia
inasmuch as I was mainly researching on FUNERARY sacrifices of
bovines in those regions).

For the ancient buffalo-sacrifice festival of Aceh, on the occasion
of which the sultan used to offer hundreds of animals, see the Web
page:

http://www.indonesianheritage.com/Encyclopedia/Early_Modern_History/Is
lam_And_Port_Sultans/Contests_And_Entertainment/contests_and_entertain
ment.html

For the sacrifices of buffaloes performed in diverse contexts by the
sultans of the old princely States of the Malay peninsula, see R. O.
Windstedt's online book reproduced at the following URL:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/sha/sss.htm (use the "Find" tool
with "buffalo" as the key word).

As to the communal sacrifices of bovines performed by the Wa tribal
chiefs, see the Web site:

http://www.wa.peoples.org/Wa01.htm (look for the page "Wa People
Culture" and go to the sub-page "Festivals/Celebration").

As to the communal buffalo-sacrifices celebrated by some tribes of
the Annamite Plateau, I append here the text from the Web page
http://www.batin.com.vn/dbotweb/uir/le_hoi/bs.htm, having now been
removed from the Web:

BUFFALO SLAUGHTERING FESTIVALS OF THE ANNAMITE PLATEAU

Most ethnic groups in the High Plateaux hold the "Slaughtering
buffalo" festival but with some differences in character and purpose.
One may detect four kinds of "slaughtering buffalo" festivals:
Those held after the harvest and at the beginning of a new
agricultural season, and is therefore a harvest festival.
Those connected with the celebration of an important victory or with
a sisters relationship between villages.
Those related to a ceremony designed to drive away evil spirits and
protect a community (against epidemics or bad crop...) or related to
the fate of a person (to cure illness or to express gratitude to
God...).
Those related to a funeral or a marriage. These differences are also
reflected in the scale and organization of the festival which may be:
Organized by family with the participation of the community where the
head at the family which sacrifices the buffalo as offering
officiates al the ceremony.
Organized by a village, and so officiated by the village head.
a combined ceremony between a family and the village, where the
ceremony dedicated to the Earth God is officiated by the village
head.
Organized jointly by several villages, for example, a ceremony
Connected with a sisters relationship.
The venue of the festival is either in front of the "rung" house
(communal house) or in the house of each family. We are giving below
an account of the "Buffalo slaughtering" festival as organized by
three major ethnic groups in the high Plateaux. Buffalo Slaughtering
festival of the Jarai Ethnic Group The festival is held in front of
the "rong" house. In the middle of the yard is planted the "Gingga",
a wooden pule with carved images and decorated in various colors.
Since early morning, a buffalo is lied to the "Gingga" while a big
pig is also lied nearby. When all the villagers are present, the
village head who officiates the ceremony approaches the "Gingga" and
recites the prayers beseeching the Gods to accept the Festival
offering and grant peace and prosperity to the village. The end of
the prayers I; greeted by yells and howls item the villagers and
gongs and drum beats, which the hill; and forests echo back. Then
comes a feast of liquor which is drunk from a common jar with the
help of bamboo tubes. This is followed by dances which buys and girls
perform by joining hands with one another, to the accompaniment of'
the gongs and which last until late in the night. On the next day,
drum and gong beats again resound, this lime signaling the slaughter
of the buffalo. This is preceded by a dance of young men armed with
swords and shields, moving around in quick movements. Then comes the
slaughtering of the buffalo. The young man who succeeds, with one
stroke o his sword, in killing the buffalo is acclaimed as a brave.
Then the buffalo is cut up and distributed in equal shares to member;
of the village. In particular, its head and horns are escorted to
the "rong" house, while its blood is mixed up with liquor and used to
clean valuable decorative item in the "rung" house such as weapons,
gongs, horns, etc...
Buffalo Slaughtering Festival of the Bahnar Ethnic Group (dwelling
mainly in Kontum province an(I in the mountainous areas of Binh Dinh,
Phu Yen provinces ). Several days prior to the festival, people set
about planting the "Gung" pillar which, in fact, consists of 4
decorated and colored poles arranged as a place for the Gods to sit
and witness the festival. Then a Kapok tree is planted in the yard
fur tying the buffalo. On the first day, the village head and 5 or 7
elders perform rituals in front of the "Gung" pillar. Thereafter, the
villagers perform dances around the pillar to the accompaniment of
gongs and cymbals.
A young man long lance, danced to the rhythm of drumbeats, of gong
sounds, and screams of the crowd, and pierced the buffalo's heart.
The buffalo remained standing and the lance was with drawn. Al this
moment a man standing to the side placed a bronze cauldron with some
wine under the wound and caught the splashing blood. The village's
oldest man went to the buffalo to cut some slices out of ears, nose
and some hairs from its tail, which together with the blood were
offered to the God. After the ritual the buffalo was carved and
distributed to all the villages.
Buffalo-killing festivals lake place in many parts of Tay Nguyen
Highland. They may differ in lime and orders of their organization,
but the common point is that each ceremony is, in fact, a martial
arts worship ritual, a festival where the young men of villages are
able to show their skill in hunting. The second day is devoted to
buffalo slaughtering. After a round of drum and gong beats, the young
men set about killing the buffalo, with acclamation going to the
person who succeeds in thrusting the sword into the heart of the
animal. The buffalo is then cut up and given to the villagers in
equal shares. In particular, its liver is cut into small pieces and
distributed to the young men, because it is believed by the Bahnar
people that buffalo liver will give tremendous strength to the person
who eats it. Thereafter, villagers perform the "soang" dance, to the
accompaniment of drums, gongs and cymbals, until late in the night.
Buffalo Slaughtering Festival of The Ede Ethnic Group (dwelling
mainly in Dac Lac province) A Kapok tree is also planted in the yard.
When the festival begins, a buffalo is tied to that tree. The tree
and the buffalo are usually surrounded by the crowd. After several
rounds of drum and gong beats, the village head, who officiates the
ceremony, offers prayers to the Gods and then opens the festival by
striking the front leg of the buffalo with a knife. Then, a young man
(designated in advance), armed with a knife, runs around the buffalo
once and then strikes the hind leg of the animal with his knife.
Seething with pain, the animal breaks free and runs away, but the
young man runs after it and strikes the right hind leg. The animal
falls down.

That's all for now.

Regards,
Francesco Brighenti

Thank you, Francesco for the extensive listing.

I guess we might also mention something that we have
discussed in private email.  The possible connection of
the buffalo sacrifice with the royal asvamedha sacrfice
of the Vedas.

The primary queen is known as mahisi, or water buffalo
cow, in the asvamedha ritual.

Royal water buffalo sacrifices still take place in
South India. I have also heard of traditions in
Southeast Asia where the tribal chief must take part in
buffalo sacrifices.

Do you have information on the use of the bovine
sacrifice among royalty or chieftancies in the same
region?

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
> Dear Paul,
>
> Sorry for the delay in posting this message. I was out of town for
> some days.
>
> The following is my promised compendium of ethnographical data
> documenting that the water-buffalo, along with other horned cattle
> such as the mithun and the zebu, is the most important sacrificial
> animal being traditionally offered at death and ancestor-worship
> ceremonies by a large number of tribal groups or ethnic minorities
> throughout tropical Asia.
>
> Please take it as a basis for further discussion. I am particularly
> interested in comparing more sources with my data. If you have access
> to more pieces of information regarding the interrelationship of
> buffalo-sacrifice and funerary rituals in Southeast Asia, please post
> them here. As you can easily argue, I am still searching for data
> justifying a possible common origin for all of these funerary rituals
> associated with the sacrifice of bovines. Did these ritual traditions
> originate out of the Vedic religious culture (see the symbolical
> connection between Yama and the water-buffalo or the sacrifice of
> cows at Vedic funerals) or are they older than the Veda itself?
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> DRAVIDIAN TRIBES OF THE NILGIRI HILLS (SOUTH INDIA)
>
> *Toda – Buffalo is sacrificed at both primary and secondary funerals.
> The animal is pursued, dragged by the horns, and finally killed with
> an axe stroke (there is no bloodshed). The Todas do not eat the
> sacrificed buffaloes' meat. There is a ritual contact between the
> dead buffalo's horns and the departed person's corpse (at primary
> funerals) or the mourners' hands (at secondary funerals). The latter
> features may be related to the similar usages adopted at ancient
> Vedic funerals with the sacred cows termed as *anustarani* and
> *vaitarani* respectively.
>
> *Kota – Mortuary oblations of buffaloes performed in a fashion
> similar to the Todas'. Main difference: the Kotas, unlike the Todas,
> ritually eat the meat of the sacrificed buffaloes.
>
> MUNDA AND DRAVIDIAN TRIBES OF CENTRAL-EASTERN INDIA
>
> *Gadaba (tribe of Orissa divided in two branches, one speaking a
> Munda language, the other a Dravidian one) – The buffalo is
> sacrificed at both primary and secondary ceremonies for the disposal
> of the dead. The secondary ceremony, memorial in character, is a
> grand affair involving the slaughtering of tens and tens of buffaloes
> (also of cows). This has a direct bearing on the increase of social
> status, hierarchy of kinship ties, reciprocal donations of buffaloes,
> etc. Dedication of megalithic monuments (menhirs and stone slabs).
> Association of each sacrificial buffalo with a branch of silk-cotton
> tree (Bombax malabaricum or Salmalia malabarica). The donors of the
> memorial feast cannot eat the meat of the sacrificed animals.
> Buffaloes are believed to carry off the souls of the departed and to
> become their property in the afterworld, thus increasing their
> relative status in comparison with that of other ancestral spirits.
>
> *Hill Saora (Munda-speaking tribe of Orissa) – Primary and secondary
> ceremonies for the disposal of the dead similar to those of their
> neighbours the Gadabas, with yet much more integration of shamanistic
> practices (mainly carried out by female practitioners). The secondary
> funeral ceremony involved in the past the butchering of hundreds of
> buffaloes.
>
> *Bonda (Munda-speaking tribe of Orissa) – Primary and secondary
> ceremonies for the disposal of the dead pivoted upon zebu- and pig-
> sacrifices. Sometimes buffaloes too are offered. Erection of dolmen-
> like memorial stones beside which branches of the silk-cotton tree
> are planted.
>
> *Kondh (group of Dravidian-speaking tribes of Orissa) – All hill-
> Kondh tribes use to sacrifice buffaloes at funerals. They assign the
> buffalo the role of supernatural soul-carrier. In the past there were
> elaborate and warlike funeral dances performed by dancers wearing
> horned headgears. Many Kondh communities also observe an annual
> ceremony of ancestor-worship centred round the sacrifice of a zebu by
> each household. Inside many Kondh traditional houses there are still
> now horned posts showing nice carved designs (clan marks), which are
> worshipped as symbols of the ancestors.
>
> *Bison-horn Maria, Hill Maria, Muria (Dravidian-speaking tribes of
> the Bastar district of Chattisgarh all belonging to the Gond ethnic
> group) – Sacrifices, performed without bloodshed, of zebu cows at
> cremation or burial ceremonies associated with the erection of
> megalithic monuments such as menhirs, carved memorial poles or forked
> (Y-shaped) posts, with the latter being clearly modelled on the shape
> of bovine horns. The cow's tail is affixed on the top of such
> monuments.
>
> *Koya (Dravidian-speaking tribe of southern Orissa and northern
> Andhra Pradesh culturally and linguistically related to the Gonds) –
> Funerary observances nearly identical to those of the Gonds of
> Bastar, including cow-sacrifice.
>
> *Raj Gond of Adilabad (Dravidian-speaking tribe of Andhra Pradesh
> belonging to the Gond ethnic group) – They sacrifice zebu cows at
> both primary and secondary ceremonies for the disposal of the dead.
> On the occasion of the secondary ceremony the truncated head of the
> animal is placed at the foot of a forked post, while its tail, liver,
> lungs and heart are affixed to the summit of this post.
>
> CHOTA NAGPUR PLATEAU AND ADJOINING AREAS
>
> *Munda of the Ranchi Plateau – Only one important source (W. Koppers)
> mentions a ritual custom of theirs consisting in sacrificing a
> buffalo on the occasion of the ceremony of the secondary burial of
> the bodily remains of the deceased under his/her own family's
> megalithic tomb. Other sources only mention the sacrifice of an ox,
> and still others, none of the two. The animal is killed without
> bloodshed. The mouth, ears and hooves of the dead animal are buried
> in the courtyard of the house of the deceased.
>
> *Santal (Munda-speakers) – They sacrifice a zebu cow during their
> secondary funerals. The oblation is preceded by divination rites
> accompanied by spirit-possession phenomena.
>
> *Sauriya Pahariya of the Rajmahal Hills (Dravidian-speakers) –
> Sacrifices of zebu cows at both primary and secondary mortuary
> ceremonies.
>
> KHASI AND GARO HILLS (MEGHALAYA)
>
> *Khasi (Mon-Khmer-speakers) – Very much elaborate funerary ritual
> characterized by the periodic displacement of the  bodily remains of
> the deceased to a series of different megalithic monuments until they
> find their final resting place inside a matrilineal clan's ossuary.
> This ritual process is accompanied at each stage by sacrifices of
> zebus, which are killed without bloodshed. The horns and the jawbones
> of the sacrificed animals are customarily fixed to posts placed over
> the menhirs that are erected at different stages of the Khasi
> funerary ritual.
>
> *Garo (Tibeto-Burman-speakers) – They too sacrifice zebus at funerals.
>
> INDO-BURMESE BORDER REGION
>
> *Naga tribes (Tibeto-Burman-speakers) – A massive sacrificial
> activity – the bovine victims alternatively immolated are the mithun,
> the buffalo, and the zebu – associated with the erection of
> megalithic monuments and of forked poles (often of gigantic size)
> marks their well-known Feasts of Merit. The latter are not directly
> connected with funerary ceremonies, but yet there are cases (such as,
> for instance, among the Angami Nagas) in which they are celebrated to
> honour the donor's departed father or another eminent dead relative
> of his. Thus, there appears to be some structural similarities
> between the megalithic Feasts of Merit celebrated by the Angami Nagas
> and the megalithic funerary ceremonies of the memorial class observed
> by other ethnic groups of eastern India. While the latter are
> organized to commemorate the dead and/or the ancestors, the former
> are organized to send to posterity the memory of a living man,
> usually a powerful one. Moreover, the Sema Nagas are reported to
> sacrifice oxen and pigs at the funeral of a warrior and then expose
> on a wooden rack the skulls of the sacrificed animals along with
> those of the animals killed during the Feasts of Merit offered by the
> deceased during his lifetime. It is believed that the souls of all of
> these animals will follow the dead to the afterworld. This is
> apparently more in line with the tribal funerary rituals described so
> far and with those, still to be described, prevailing among some
> ethnic groups of Indonesia. The technique adopted by most of the Naga
> tribes to put the sacrificial bovines to death, namely, the spearing
> technique, is also largely prevalent among the buffalo-sacrificing
> tribes of Indo-China. Finally, we can also find among the Naga tribes
> an ubiquitous symbolic use of the motif of the mithun's horns or head
> in art (on village carved doors and drum-gongs), architecture (the V-
> shaped finials at either edge of the roof ridge of the chiefs'
> houses), the paraphernalia of sacred dance (e.g., horned head-hunting
> trophies) and the implements of sacrifice (the huge, Y-shaped
> sacrificial poles, often with a mithun-head motif carved on them,
> which resemble the forked poles with a buffalo-head carved on them
> used by some Desia Kondh communities of Orissa in connection with
> buffalo-sacrifice). Items of religious culture nearly identical to
> these are also noticed among some non-Islamized ethnic groups of
> Indonesia, e.g. among the Torajas.
>
> *Kuki/Chin tribes (Tibeto-Burman-speakers) – Most of the Indian and
> Burmese tribes speaking languages belonging to the Kuki/Chin group
> immolate bovines at funerals. The Kukis of Manipur butcher mithuns,
> buffaloes, cows, and also horses, pigs, goats and dogs, during the
> grandiose funerary feasts celebrated to honour each dead tribal
> chief. They subsequently place the heads of the slain animals under
> the chief's smoked and hardened corpse to symbolize his ownership
> over these animals in the afterworld. The Lushais of Mizoram
> sacrifice mithuns, and also pigs, goats and dogs, to provide meat for
> their funeral feast, and believe that the souls of the sacrificed
> animals will accompany the dead to his final abode in the afterworld.
> In the case of a chief's funeral, the skulls of the sacrificed
> animals, and particularly those of mithuns, are exposed on the stone
> slab, often associated with a menhir, that commemorates the deceased
> person. In ordinary Lushai burials the sacrificed mithun's skull is
> placed above a pole planted near the tomb. The Lakhers of Mizoram
> observe funerary rites nearly identical to those observed by the
> Lushais. The Chin tribes of Burma immolate mithuns on the occasion of
> their funeral ceremonies. Before the sacrifice the animals are tied
> up to forked sacrificial posts.
>
> NORTHERN INDO-CHINA AND SOUTH CHINA
>
> *Wa (Mon-Khmer-speaking tribe of the Burma-Yunnan border region) –
> Sacrifices of buffaloes, oxen and pigs made in different ritual
> contexts, including the funerary one. The animals are speared to
> death after the common practice prevalent in the regions extending
> from Assam to Vietnam. The Wa sacrificial activity, directed by
> shamans-diviners, revolves round the village's sacred wooden drum,
> venerated in the so-called House of Spirits (a cult feature that is
> also found in the Naga religious culture). This drum is regarded as
> the abode of the tribe's Great Ancestress. The bones of the animals
> sacrificed to the Wa divinities and ancestral spirits are affixed to
> the beams of the drum-house. The periodic reinstallation of a newly-
> made sacred drum in the House of Spirits is an important religious
> ceremony that culminates in the sacrifice of a bull, previously tied
> to a Y-shaped post. Y-shaped posts, planted in rows in front of the
> village houses, also commemorate the householders' offerings of
> buffaloes to divinities and ancestral spirits. These poles are
> sometimes of imposing proportions like those erected by the Nagas
> during their Feasts of Merit. The skulls of the sacrificed buffaloes
> are preserved in a heap lying in the house, or are affixed to the
> inner house walls. In the chiefs' longhouses the symbolism of buffalo-
> horns is also present in the V-shaped finials surmounting the edges
> of the roof ridge (a feature which is also found in the Assam-Burma
> border region and in the whole of Indonesia). The reconstruction of
> the chiefs' longhouses is conceived as a ritual of death and rebirth
> (of the house itself), and is thus preceded by sacrifices of
> buffaloes, oxen and pigs on the analogy of the actual funerary
> ritual. The latter religious feature is also present in parts of
> Indonesia, e.g. among the Acehese.
>
> *Lamet (Mon-Khmer-speaking tribe of northern Laos) – They sacrifice
> buffaloes to honour their ancestral spirits. The skulls of the slain
> animals are hung over the altar used to deposit the offerings to the
> ancestors or are affixed to the front wall of the donor's house.
>
> *Jingpo (Tibeto-Burman-speaking tribe settled in the Indo-Burmese-
> Chinese border region and grouped along with its cognate tribes in
> the so-called Kachin people) – They sacrifice buffaloes at funerals.
> The animals are, also in this case, tied up to Y-shaped sacrificial
> posts. The horns of the sacrificed buffaloes are affixed to the
> bamboo huts covered with cloth that are temporarily built upon the
> earth mounds under which the Jingpos use to bury their dead.
>
> *Akha/Hani (Tibeto-Burman tribe speaking a language belonging to the
> Yi/Lolo sub-family and spread over vast areas of mainland Southeast
> Asia which include southern Yunnan and the northern provinces of
> Burma, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam) – Buffalo-sacrifice forms an
> important part of their funerary ritual. The carcasses of the slain
> animals are laid out on the ground, their heads covered with uncooked
> rice heaps, and form, so to say, a supernatural audience for the
> recital, performed by the dead person's eldest son or by a
> professional bard, of the countless names of the ancestors of the
> departed, who are thought to be waiting for him in the afterworld.
> The typical Akha/Hani coffin is shaped as a boat and is adorned on
> the top by two bent protuberances resembling the profile of a pair of
> buffalo-horns.
>
> *Miao/Hmong tribes (Sinitic-speaking tribes whose languages belong to
> the Miao-Yao sub-family, and who are spread over southern China,
> where they are known as Miao, and north-eastern Indo-China, where
> they are known as Hmong) – The Hmong highlanders of North Vietnam
> sacrifice a buffalo, or alternatively an ox, at their funerals.
> Buffaloes are offered as a sacrifice on the occasion of funerals by
> the Miaos of Sichuan too. The Long-Horn Miaos of Guizhou, on the
> contrary, only sacrifice cows at their funerals. Moreover, the Miao
> tribes of Guizhou celebrate, generally every thirteen years, a great
> buffalo-sacrifice festival meant to celebrate a series of good crops
> and, at one time, to honour the ancestors. The buffalo may in some
> cases be replaced by a bull or an ox. The donor's family members take
> away the head of the slain animal, which is fixed on the top of a
> ceremonial post. The horns of the sacrificed bovines are later on
> heaped up in a special room of the house dedicated to ancestor-
> worship. Generally speaking, all the Miao/Hmong tribes conceive
> bovines as the best suited animal symbols for their ancestral heroes.
> The myths of the Miaos of Guizhou preserve the memory of legendary
> buffalo-sacrifices offered in by-gone days by the householders to the
> ancestral spirits. In this class of myths the ancestors are
> represented by a large sacred wooden drum identified as the Great
> Ancestor. These mythological features appear to share a common
> background with the Wa religious tradition about the sacred drum and
> its association with the ancestral spirits and the sacrifice of
> bovines dedicated to them.
>
> *Black Tai (Tai-Kadai-speaking ethnic group of northern Vietnam and
> Laos) – They sacrifice buffaloes, cows or pigs at funerals. Portions
> of meat are then offered to the spirit of the departed before the
> burial ceremony. Once in a year, after the rice harvest, buffalo-meat
> is offered to the ancestral spirits in the room of the house
> dedicated to ancestor-worship.
>
> *Dai (Tai-Kadai-speaking ethnic group of southern Yunnan) – They
> sacrifice buffaloes at funerals, soon after the burial ceremony. The
> heads of the sacrificed buffaloes are affixed to the bamboo hut in
> which the offerings to the departed are deposited. The horns of the
> animals are later on affixed to the inner walls of the house of the
> deceased.
>
> *Zhuang (the largest Tai-Kadai-speaking ethnic minority of China,
> peopling the autonomous province of Guangxi) – They honour and
> propitiate their ancestors with sacrifices of buffaloes.
>
> SO-CALLED MONTAGNARDS OF THE ANNAMITE PLATEAU
>
> *Jarai (Austronesian-speakers) – They sacrifice buffaloes on a mass
> scale during funeral ceremonies. Each dead person is buried under a
> profusely decorated hut burial of his own, which is surrounded by a
> fence having wooden sculptures fixed on it. Outside the fence, at the
> time of celebration of the funerary rites, many forked (Y-shaped or V-
> shaped) poles are planted, which are used to tie the sacrificial
> buffaloes up. The buffaloes are –- if I am not wrong – generally
> speared to death. The heads and hooves of the slain animals are
> finally nailed to the hut burial.
>
> *Bahnar (Mon-Khmer-speakers) – They reportedly observe a funerary
> ritual which is nearly identical to that observed by their
> Austronesian-speaking Jarai neighbours, but it is still not clear to
> me as to whether they, like the latter, use to offer buffaloes in
> sacrifice on a mass scale or not.
>
> *Mnong (Mon-Khmer-speaking tribe also found in Cambodia) – Their
> burials, like the Jarais', mainly consist of hut-like structures. No
> information is available to me as to their eventual performance of
> buffalo-sacrifices at funerals. Yet, it is known to me that they, as
> a norm, place the corpse of each dead person in a buffalo-shaped
> wooden coffin, which is thereafter installed in the hut burial.
>
> *Gie Trieng (Mon-Khmer speakers) – They place their dead in boat-
> shaped wooden coffins on which they use to carve some buffalo
> figures. Similarly, their typical burial monument is surmounted by a
> buffalo-head carved out of wood. No information available as to
> whether they perform buffalo-sacrifices at funerals.
>
> INDONESIA
> Different Austronesian-speaking ethnic groups of Indonesia regard the
> buffalo as the soul-carrier par excellence and consider it the most
> important animal they can offer as a sacrifice at both primary and
> secondary ceremonies for the disposal of the dead, as well as at
> ancestor-worship ceremonies. The identification of a clan's common
> mansion with a celestial buffalo, the main symbol of the clan's
> ancestral spirits taken as a whole, is very commonly found in
> Indonesia. This identification is reflected in the curved shape of
> the roof ridge (Minangkabau, Batak, Toraja), suggestive of the
> profile of the buffalo's horns or of that of a boat –- is that
> the "material" boat by which the ancestors reached the islands of
> Indonesia, or is that some kind of a mythological "buffalo-boat" by
> which the ancestors were carried off to the afterworld? This kind of
> curved roof is already depicted on some Dong-Son bronze drums from
> Vietnam (c. 500 BC – 100 AD). The identification of the clan's house
> with a buffalo is similarly reflected in the V-shaped finials rising
> at either edge of the roof ridge of the houses built by some
> Indonesian tribes. This architectural feature, shared in by some Naga
> and Kuki/Chin tribes as well as by the Wa tribe, already figures in a
> bronze model house from Yunnan dated to c. 300 BC. In many an
> Indonesian language such V-shaped roof finials are generally termed
> as "horns", with this suggesting that they actually symbolize buffalo-
> horns. Also the buffalo-heads made out of wood or straw, which often
> adorn the front porch of the traditional houses built by some Toraja
> and Batak tribes, aim at identifying the clan's house with a buffalo,
> a hypostasis of the ancestral spirits.
>
> *Dayak tribes – The Tunjung and Benuaq Dayaks of eastern Kalimantan
> observe, after the harvest, a seasonal ceremony of secondary burial
> of the bones of the dead on the occasion of which the central rite is
> represented by the sacrifice of buffaloes. The Ngaju Dayaks of
> central Kalimantan observe a similar, yet more complex mortuary
> ritual which is also pivoted upon the sacrifice of buffaloes. The
> animals are speared to death by the kinsmen of the departed. The
> heads of all the slain buffaloes are exposed on a special wooden
> structure (resembling an analogous sacrificial rack commonly used by
> the Naga tribes at funeral ceremonies). When the ceremony of
> secondary burial is concluded, the jawbones of the sacrificed
> buffaloes are affixed to the wooden ossuary containing the ashes of
> all the deceased members of a single lineage. It is maintained by
> scholars that buffalo-sacrifice replaced human sacrifice in the
> mortuary ritual of the Dayak tribes as late as the 19th century. This
> appears to be the case with the Toraja tribes of Sulawesi as well.
>
> *Toraja tribes – Grandiose secondary funeral ceremonies usually held
> after the harvest and centred round the mass sacrifice of buffaloes.
> In past times the Toraja mortuary ritual also contemplated the
> sacrifice of human beings (slaves). In Toraja cosmogonic myths the
> buffalo is described as the mystic brother of the first human being.
> Sacrifices of buffaloes accompany all stages of the Toraja ritual for
> the disposal of the dead, culminating in the ceremony of the
> secondary funeral. Along with the souls of pigs, the souls of
> buffaloes are believed to accompany the dead in his journey to the
> afterworld. There is a complex system of donation of sacrificial
> buffaloes by the kinsmen of the departed which, with its underlying
> social obligation norms, resembles the system in vogue among some
> Orissan tribes (for instance the Gadabas) as well as that in vogue at
> the Feasts of Merit celebrated by the Naga tribes and by some
> Indonesian ethnic groups other than the Torajas. The number of
> buffaloes donated by a family conditions the social recognition of
> the kinship status of the donors. The total number of sacrificial
> buffaloes determines the status of the departed soul in the
> afterworld. In times past these funerary sacrifices were associated
> with the erection of megaliths. The buffalo' throat is cut with the
> use of a short sword, but in the past the animal used to be speared
> to death as per the custom generally prevailing in Southeast Asia,
> Assam included. The horns of the slain buffaloes are affixed to the
> front pole sustaining the roof of the traditional Toraja house, which
> is curvilinear as a pair of buffalo-horns. Also the wooden coffins
> used at funerals, which are shaped as miniature Toraja houses, have
> an identical curvilinear roof. Toraja houses and tombs also feature
> images in bas-relief carved out of wood that depict buffalo heads or
> buffalo-mounted ancestors.
>
> *Tribes of Sumba – The famous megalithic tombs at Sumba are richly
> decorated with archaic sculptures in bas-relief that often represent
> the head or the horns of a buffalo. This is because the rites of
> secondary burial of the bones of the deceased Sumbanese nobles, for
> which the tombs are erected, are pivoted upon the mass sacrifice of
> buffaloes and other animals, among which the horse is also prominent
> and represented in the sculptures adorning the tombs. Also in this
> case, as in that of the Torajas, the Jarais of South Vietnam, and the
> far more distant tribal groups of Orissa respectively, the more
> buffaloes are offered in sacrifice, the more elevated is the status
> putatively reached by the deceased in the afterworld. The buffaloes
> are killed cutting their neck with a short sword or a knife. As among
> the Torajas and Dayaks, the ceremony of secondary burial was once
> accompanied by the ritual murdering of slaves. Many traditional
> houses at Sumba have their outer walls covered with the horns of the
> buffaloes sacrificed at secondary death ceremonies. These horn-
> trophies are disposed in vertical rows as is also common among the
> Torajas. Buffaloes are also sacrificed by some Sumbanese ethnic
> groups, for instance the Weyewas, in the ambit of ancestor-worship
> rites. The Laboya ethnic group of Sumba conceive their houses as
> living buffaloes, identifying them with their ancestors.
>
> *Tribes of Flores – The religion of the Hoga Sara ethnic group of
> Flores is centred round a form of ancestor-cult that requires the
> annual renewal or the fresh installation of a series of family ritual
> objects (sacrificial and memorial posts, stone altars used to make
> offerings to the ancestors, miniature sacred huts dedicated to the
> worship of ancestresses). This annual ceremony involves the sacrifice
> of a buffalo and the aspersion of all the newly-installed or
> regenerated ancestor-cult objects with its blood in order to allow
> the non-placated ancestral spirits to take up their final abode in
> such objects. The buffalo, previously tied up to a forked pole, is
> killed by the village headman with a ceremonial knife.
>
> IGOROT TRIBES OF THE PHILIPPINES
>
> See message no. 6 posted by me in this list.
>
> Regards,
> Francesco Brighenti
>
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> austric-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>

Dear Paul,

Sorry for the delay in posting this message. I was out of town for
some days.

The following is my promised compendium of ethnographical data
documenting that the water-buffalo, along with other horned cattle
such as the mithun and the zebu, is the most important sacrificial
animal being traditionally offered at death and ancestor-worship
ceremonies by a large number of tribal groups or ethnic minorities
throughout tropical Asia.

Please take it as a basis for further discussion. I am particularly
interested in comparing more sources with my data. If you have access
to more pieces of information regarding the interrelationship of
buffalo-sacrifice and funerary rituals in Southeast Asia, please post
them here. As you can easily argue, I am still searching for data
justifying a possible common origin for all of these funerary rituals
associated with the sacrifice of bovines. Did these ritual traditions
originate out of the Vedic religious culture (see the symbolical
connection between Yama and the water-buffalo or the sacrifice of
cows at Vedic funerals) or are they older than the Veda itself?


--------------------------------------------------------------------

DRAVIDIAN TRIBES OF THE NILGIRI HILLS (SOUTH INDIA)

*Toda – Buffalo is sacrificed at both primary and secondary funerals.
The animal is pursued, dragged by the horns, and finally killed with
an axe stroke (there is no bloodshed). The Todas do not eat the
sacrificed buffaloes' meat. There is a ritual contact between the
dead buffalo's horns and the departed person's corpse (at primary
funerals) or the mourners' hands (at secondary funerals). The latter
features may be related to the similar usages adopted at ancient
Vedic funerals with the sacred cows termed as *anustarani* and
*vaitarani* respectively.

*Kota – Mortuary oblations of buffaloes performed in a fashion
similar to the Todas'. Main difference: the Kotas, unlike the Todas,
ritually eat the meat of the sacrificed buffaloes.

MUNDA AND DRAVIDIAN TRIBES OF CENTRAL-EASTERN INDIA

*Gadaba (tribe of Orissa divided in two branches, one speaking a
Munda language, the other a Dravidian one) – The buffalo is
sacrificed at both primary and secondary ceremonies for the disposal
of the dead. The secondary ceremony, memorial in character, is a
grand affair involving the slaughtering of tens and tens of buffaloes
(also of cows). This has a direct bearing on the increase of social
status, hierarchy of kinship ties, reciprocal donations of buffaloes,
etc. Dedication of megalithic monuments (menhirs and stone slabs).
Association of each sacrificial buffalo with a branch of silk-cotton
tree (Bombax malabaricum or Salmalia malabarica). The donors of the
memorial feast cannot eat the meat of the sacrificed animals.
Buffaloes are believed to carry off the souls of the departed and to
become their property in the afterworld, thus increasing their
relative status in comparison with that of other ancestral spirits.

*Hill Saora (Munda-speaking tribe of Orissa) – Primary and secondary
ceremonies for the disposal of the dead similar to those of their
neighbours the Gadabas, with yet much more integration of shamanistic
practices (mainly carried out by female practitioners). The secondary
funeral ceremony involved in the past the butchering of hundreds of
buffaloes.

*Bonda (Munda-speaking tribe of Orissa) – Primary and secondary
ceremonies for the disposal of the dead pivoted upon zebu- and pig-
sacrifices. Sometimes buffaloes too are offered. Erection of dolmen-
like memorial stones beside which branches of the silk-cotton tree
are planted.

*Kondh (group of Dravidian-speaking tribes of Orissa) – All hill-
Kondh tribes use to sacrifice buffaloes at funerals. They assign the
buffalo the role of supernatural soul-carrier. In the past there were
elaborate and warlike funeral dances performed by dancers wearing
horned headgears. Many Kondh communities also observe an annual
ceremony of ancestor-worship centred round the sacrifice of a zebu by
each household. Inside many Kondh traditional houses there are still
now horned posts showing nice carved designs (clan marks), which are
worshipped as symbols of the ancestors.

*Bison-horn Maria, Hill Maria, Muria (Dravidian-speaking tribes of
the Bastar district of Chattisgarh all belonging to the Gond ethnic
group) – Sacrifices, performed without bloodshed, of zebu cows at
cremation or burial ceremonies associated with the erection of
megalithic monuments such as menhirs, carved memorial poles or forked
(Y-shaped) posts, with the latter being clearly modelled on the shape
of bovine horns. The cow's tail is affixed on the top of such
monuments.

*Koya (Dravidian-speaking tribe of southern Orissa and northern
Andhra Pradesh culturally and linguistically related to the Gonds) –
Funerary observances nearly identical to those of the Gonds of
Bastar, including cow-sacrifice.

*Raj Gond of Adilabad (Dravidian-speaking tribe of Andhra Pradesh
belonging to the Gond ethnic group) – They sacrifice zebu cows at
both primary and secondary ceremonies for the disposal of the dead.
On the occasion of the secondary ceremony the truncated head of the
animal is placed at the foot of a forked post, while its tail, liver,
lungs and heart are affixed to the summit of this post.

CHOTA NAGPUR PLATEAU AND ADJOINING AREAS

*Munda of the Ranchi Plateau – Only one important source (W. Koppers)
mentions a ritual custom of theirs consisting in sacrificing a
buffalo on the occasion of the ceremony of the secondary burial of
the bodily remains of the deceased under his/her own family's
megalithic tomb. Other sources only mention the sacrifice of an ox,
and still others, none of the two. The animal is killed without
bloodshed. The mouth, ears and hooves of the dead animal are buried
in the courtyard of the house of the deceased.

*Santal (Munda-speakers) – They sacrifice a zebu cow during their
secondary funerals. The oblation is preceded by divination rites
accompanied by spirit-possession phenomena.

*Sauriya Pahariya of the Rajmahal Hills (Dravidian-speakers) –
Sacrifices of zebu cows at both primary and secondary mortuary
ceremonies.

KHASI AND GARO HILLS (MEGHALAYA)

*Khasi (Mon-Khmer-speakers) – Very much elaborate funerary ritual
characterized by the periodic displacement of the  bodily remains of
the deceased to a series of different megalithic monuments until they
find their final resting place inside a matrilineal clan's ossuary.
This ritual process is accompanied at each stage by sacrifices of
zebus, which are killed without bloodshed. The horns and the jawbones
of the sacrificed animals are customarily fixed to posts placed over
the menhirs that are erected at different stages of the Khasi
funerary ritual.

*Garo (Tibeto-Burman-speakers) – They too sacrifice zebus at funerals.

INDO-BURMESE BORDER REGION

*Naga tribes (Tibeto-Burman-speakers) – A massive sacrificial
activity – the bovine victims alternatively immolated are the mithun,
the buffalo, and the zebu – associated with the erection of
megalithic monuments and of forked poles (often of gigantic size)
marks their well-known Feasts of Merit. The latter are not directly
connected with funerary ceremonies, but yet there are cases (such as,
for instance, among the Angami Nagas) in which they are celebrated to
honour the donor's departed father or another eminent dead relative
of his. Thus, there appears to be some structural similarities
between the megalithic Feasts of Merit celebrated by the Angami Nagas
and the megalithic funerary ceremonies of the memorial class observed
by other ethnic groups of eastern India. While the latter are
organized to commemorate the dead and/or the ancestors, the former
are organized to send to posterity the memory of a living man,
usually a powerful one. Moreover, the Sema Nagas are reported to
sacrifice oxen and pigs at the funeral of a warrior and then expose
on a wooden rack the skulls of the sacrificed animals along with
those of the animals killed during the Feasts of Merit offered by the
deceased during his lifetime. It is believed that the souls of all of
these animals will follow the dead to the afterworld. This is
apparently more in line with the tribal funerary rituals described so
far and with those, still to be described, prevailing among some
ethnic groups of Indonesia. The technique adopted by most of the Naga
tribes to put the sacrificial bovines to death, namely, the spearing
technique, is also largely prevalent among the buffalo-sacrificing
tribes of Indo-China. Finally, we can also find among the Naga tribes
an ubiquitous symbolic use of the motif of the mithun's horns or head
in art (on village carved doors and drum-gongs), architecture (the V-
shaped finials at either edge of the roof ridge of the chiefs'
houses), the paraphernalia of sacred dance (e.g., horned head-hunting
trophies) and the implements of sacrifice (the huge, Y-shaped
sacrificial poles, often with a mithun-head motif carved on them,
which resemble the forked poles with a buffalo-head carved on them
used by some Desia Kondh communities of Orissa in connection with
buffalo-sacrifice). Items of religious culture nearly identical to
these are also noticed among some non-Islamized ethnic groups of
Indonesia, e.g. among the Torajas.

*Kuki/Chin tribes (Tibeto-Burman-speakers) – Most of the Indian and
Burmese tribes speaking languages belonging to the Kuki/Chin group
immolate bovines at funerals. The Kukis of Manipur butcher mithuns,
buffaloes, cows, and also horses, pigs, goats and dogs, during the
grandiose funerary feasts celebrated to honour each dead tribal
chief. They subsequently place the heads of the slain animals under
the chief's smoked and hardened corpse to symbolize his ownership
over these animals in the afterworld. The Lushais of Mizoram
sacrifice mithuns, and also pigs, goats and dogs, to provide meat for
their funeral feast, and believe that the souls of the sacrificed
animals will accompany the dead to his final abode in the afterworld.
In the case of a chief's funeral, the skulls of the sacrificed
animals, and particularly those of mithuns, are exposed on the stone
slab, often associated with a menhir, that commemorates the deceased
person. In ordinary Lushai burials the sacrificed mithun's skull is
placed above a pole planted near the tomb. The Lakhers of Mizoram
observe funerary rites nearly identical to those observed by the
Lushais. The Chin tribes of Burma immolate mithuns on the occasion of
their funeral ceremonies. Before the sacrifice the animals are tied
up to forked sacrificial posts.

NORTHERN INDO-CHINA AND SOUTH CHINA

*Wa (Mon-Khmer-speaking tribe of the Burma-Yunnan border region) –
Sacrifices of buffaloes, oxen and pigs made in different ritual
contexts, including the funerary one. The animals are speared to
death after the common practice prevalent in the regions extending
from Assam to Vietnam. The Wa sacrificial activity, directed by
shamans-diviners, revolves round the village's sacred wooden drum,
venerated in the so-called House of Spirits (a cult feature that is
also found in the Naga religious culture). This drum is regarded as
the abode of the tribe's Great Ancestress. The bones of the animals
sacrificed to the Wa divinities and ancestral spirits are affixed to
the beams of the drum-house. The periodic reinstallation of a newly-
made sacred drum in the House of Spirits is an important religious
ceremony that culminates in the sacrifice of a bull, previously tied
to a Y-shaped post. Y-shaped posts, planted in rows in front of the
village houses, also commemorate the householders' offerings of
buffaloes to divinities and ancestral spirits. These poles are
sometimes of imposing proportions like those erected by the Nagas
during their Feasts of Merit. The skulls of the sacrificed buffaloes
are preserved in a heap lying in the house, or are affixed to the
inner house walls. In the chiefs' longhouses the symbolism of buffalo-
horns is also present in the V-shaped finials surmounting the edges
of the roof ridge (a feature which is also found in the Assam-Burma
border region and in the whole of Indonesia). The reconstruction of
the chiefs' longhouses is conceived as a ritual of death and rebirth
(of the house itself), and is thus preceded by sacrifices of
buffaloes, oxen and pigs on the analogy of the actual funerary
ritual. The latter religious feature is also present in parts of
Indonesia, e.g. among the Acehese.

*Lamet (Mon-Khmer-speaking tribe of northern Laos) – They sacrifice
buffaloes to honour their ancestral spirits. The skulls of the slain
animals are hung over the altar used to deposit the offerings to the
ancestors or are affixed to the front wall of the donor's house.

*Jingpo (Tibeto-Burman-speaking tribe settled in the Indo-Burmese-
Chinese border region and grouped along with its cognate tribes in
the so-called Kachin people) – They sacrifice buffaloes at funerals.
The animals are, also in this case, tied up to Y-shaped sacrificial
posts. The horns of the sacrificed buffaloes are affixed to the
bamboo huts covered with cloth that are temporarily built upon the
earth mounds under which the Jingpos use to bury their dead.

*Akha/Hani (Tibeto-Burman tribe speaking a language belonging to the
Yi/Lolo sub-family and spread over vast areas of mainland Southeast
Asia which include southern Yunnan and the northern provinces of
Burma, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam) – Buffalo-sacrifice forms an
important part of their funerary ritual. The carcasses of the slain
animals are laid out on the ground, their heads covered with uncooked
rice heaps, and form, so to say, a supernatural audience for the
recital, performed by the dead person's eldest son or by a
professional bard, of the countless names of the ancestors of the
departed, who are thought to be waiting for him in the afterworld.
The typical Akha/Hani coffin is shaped as a boat and is adorned on
the top by two bent protuberances resembling the profile of a pair of
buffalo-horns.

*Miao/Hmong tribes (Sinitic-speaking tribes whose languages belong to
the Miao-Yao sub-family, and who are spread over southern China,
where they are known as Miao, and north-eastern Indo-China, where
they are known as Hmong) – The Hmong highlanders of North Vietnam
sacrifice a buffalo, or alternatively an ox, at their funerals.
Buffaloes are offered as a sacrifice on the occasion of funerals by
the Miaos of Sichuan too. The Long-Horn Miaos of Guizhou, on the
contrary, only sacrifice cows at their funerals. Moreover, the Miao
tribes of Guizhou celebrate, generally every thirteen years, a great
buffalo-sacrifice festival meant to celebrate a series of good crops
and, at one time, to honour the ancestors. The buffalo may in some
cases be replaced by a bull or an ox. The donor's family members take
away the head of the slain animal, which is fixed on the top of a
ceremonial post. The horns of the sacrificed bovines are later on
heaped up in a special room of the house dedicated to ancestor-
worship. Generally speaking, all the Miao/Hmong tribes conceive
bovines as the best suited animal symbols for their ancestral heroes.
The myths of the Miaos of Guizhou preserve the memory of legendary
buffalo-sacrifices offered in by-gone days by the householders to the
ancestral spirits. In this class of myths the ancestors are
represented by a large sacred wooden drum identified as the Great
Ancestor. These mythological features appear to share a common
background with the Wa religious tradition about the sacred drum and
its association with the ancestral spirits and the sacrifice of
bovines dedicated to them.

*Black Tai (Tai-Kadai-speaking ethnic group of northern Vietnam and
Laos) – They sacrifice buffaloes, cows or pigs at funerals. Portions
of meat are then offered to the spirit of the departed before the
burial ceremony. Once in a year, after the rice harvest, buffalo-meat
is offered to the ancestral spirits in the room of the house
dedicated to ancestor-worship.

*Dai (Tai-Kadai-speaking ethnic group of southern Yunnan) – They
sacrifice buffaloes at funerals, soon after the burial ceremony. The
heads of the sacrificed buffaloes are affixed to the bamboo hut in
which the offerings to the departed are deposited. The horns of the
animals are later on affixed to the inner walls of the house of the
deceased.

*Zhuang (the largest Tai-Kadai-speaking ethnic minority of China,
peopling the autonomous province of Guangxi) – They honour and
propitiate their ancestors with sacrifices of buffaloes.

SO-CALLED MONTAGNARDS OF THE ANNAMITE PLATEAU

*Jarai (Austronesian-speakers) – They sacrifice buffaloes on a mass
scale during funeral ceremonies. Each dead person is buried under a
profusely decorated hut burial of his own, which is surrounded by a
fence having wooden sculptures fixed on it. Outside the fence, at the
time of celebration of the funerary rites, many forked (Y-shaped or V-
shaped) poles are planted, which are used to tie the sacrificial
buffaloes up. The buffaloes are –- if I am not wrong – generally
speared to death. The heads and hooves of the slain animals are
finally nailed to the hut burial.

*Bahnar (Mon-Khmer-speakers) – They reportedly observe a funerary
ritual which is nearly identical to that observed by their
Austronesian-speaking Jarai neighbours, but it is still not clear to
me as to whether they, like the latter, use to offer buffaloes in
sacrifice on a mass scale or not.

*Mnong (Mon-Khmer-speaking tribe also found in Cambodia) – Their
burials, like the Jarais', mainly consist of hut-like structures. No
information is available to me as to their eventual performance of
buffalo-sacrifices at funerals. Yet, it is known to me that they, as
a norm, place the corpse of each dead person in a buffalo-shaped
wooden coffin, which is thereafter installed in the hut burial.

*Gie Trieng (Mon-Khmer speakers) – They place their dead in boat-
shaped wooden coffins on which they use to carve some buffalo
figures. Similarly, their typical burial monument is surmounted by a
buffalo-head carved out of wood. No information available as to
whether they perform buffalo-sacrifices at funerals.

INDONESIA
Different Austronesian-speaking ethnic groups of Indonesia regard the
buffalo as the soul-carrier par excellence and consider it the most
important animal they can offer as a sacrifice at both primary and
secondary ceremonies for the disposal of the dead, as well as at
ancestor-worship ceremonies. The identification of a clan's common
mansion with a celestial buffalo, the main symbol of the clan's
ancestral spirits taken as a whole, is very commonly found in
Indonesia. This identification is reflected in the curved shape of
the roof ridge (Minangkabau, Batak, Toraja), suggestive of the
profile of the buffalo's horns or of that of a boat –- is that
the "material" boat by which the ancestors reached the islands of
Indonesia, or is that some kind of a mythological "buffalo-boat" by
which the ancestors were carried off to the afterworld? This kind of
curved roof is already depicted on some Dong-Son bronze drums from
Vietnam (c. 500 BC – 100 AD). The identification of the clan's house
with a buffalo is similarly reflected in the V-shaped finials rising
at either edge of the roof ridge of the houses built by some
Indonesian tribes. This architectural feature, shared in by some Naga
and Kuki/Chin tribes as well as by the Wa tribe, already figures in a
bronze model house from Yunnan dated to c. 300 BC. In many an
Indonesian language such V-shaped roof finials are generally termed
as "horns", with this suggesting that they actually symbolize buffalo-
horns. Also the buffalo-heads made out of wood or straw, which often
adorn the front porch of the traditional houses built by some Toraja
and Batak tribes, aim at identifying the clan's house with a buffalo,
a hypostasis of the ancestral spirits.

*Dayak tribes – The Tunjung and Benuaq Dayaks of eastern Kalimantan
observe, after the harvest, a seasonal ceremony of secondary burial
of the bones of the dead on the occasion of which the central rite is
represented by the sacrifice of buffaloes. The Ngaju Dayaks of
central Kalimantan observe a similar, yet more complex mortuary
ritual which is also pivoted upon the sacrifice of buffaloes. The
animals are speared to death by the kinsmen of the departed. The
heads of all the slain buffaloes are exposed on a special wooden
structure (resembling an analogous sacrificial rack commonly used by
the Naga tribes at funeral ceremonies). When the ceremony of
secondary burial is concluded, the jawbones of the sacrificed
buffaloes are affixed to the wooden ossuary containing the ashes of
all the deceased members of a single lineage. It is maintained by
scholars that buffalo-sacrifice replaced human sacrifice in the
mortuary ritual of the Dayak tribes as late as the 19th century. This
appears to be the case with the Toraja tribes of Sulawesi as well.

*Toraja tribes – Grandiose secondary funeral ceremonies usually held
after the harvest and centred round the mass sacrifice of buffaloes.
In past times the Toraja mortuary ritual also contemplated the
sacrifice of human beings (slaves). In Toraja cosmogonic myths the
buffalo is described as the mystic brother of the first human being.
Sacrifices of buffaloes accompany all stages of the Toraja ritual for
the disposal of the dead, culminating in the ceremony of the
secondary funeral. Along with the souls of pigs, the souls of
buffaloes are believed to accompany the dead in his journey to the
afterworld. There is a complex system of donation of sacrificial
buffaloes by the kinsmen of the departed which, with its underlying
social obligation norms, resembles the system in vogue among some
Orissan tribes (for instance the Gadabas) as well as that in vogue at
the Feasts of Merit celebrated by the Naga tribes and by some
Indonesian ethnic groups other than the Torajas. The number of
buffaloes donated by a family conditions the social recognition of
the kinship status of the donors. The total number of sacrificial
buffaloes determines the status of the departed soul in the
afterworld. In times past these funerary sacrifices were associated
with the erection of megaliths. The buffalo' throat is cut with the
use of a short sword, but in the past the animal used to be speared
to death as per the custom generally prevailing in Southeast Asia,
Assam included. The horns of the slain buffaloes are affixed to the
front pole sustaining the roof of the traditional Toraja house, which
is curvilinear as a pair of buffalo-horns. Also the wooden coffins
used at funerals, which are shaped as miniature Toraja houses, have
an identical curvilinear roof. Toraja houses and tombs also feature
images in bas-relief carved out of wood that depict buffalo heads or
buffalo-mounted ancestors.

*Tribes of Sumba – The famous megalithic tombs at Sumba are richly
decorated with archaic sculptures in bas-relief that often represent
the head or the horns of a buffalo. This is because the rites of
secondary burial of the bones of the deceased Sumbanese nobles, for
which the tombs are erected, are pivoted upon the mass sacrifice of
buffaloes and other animals, among which the horse is also prominent
and represented in the sculptures adorning the tombs. Also in this
case, as in that of the Torajas, the Jarais of South Vietnam, and the
far more distant tribal groups of Orissa respectively, the more
buffaloes are offered in sacrifice, the more elevated is the status
putatively reached by the deceased in the afterworld. The buffaloes
are killed cutting their neck with a short sword or a knife. As among
the Torajas and Dayaks, the ceremony of secondary burial was once
accompanied by the ritual murdering of slaves. Many traditional
houses at Sumba have their outer walls covered with the horns of the
buffaloes sacrificed at secondary death ceremonies. These horn-
trophies are disposed in vertical rows as is also common among the
Torajas. Buffaloes are also sacrificed by some Sumbanese ethnic
groups, for instance the Weyewas, in the ambit of ancestor-worship
rites. The Laboya ethnic group of Sumba conceive their houses as
living buffaloes, identifying them with their ancestors.

*Tribes of Flores – The religion of the Hoga Sara ethnic group of
Flores is centred round a form of ancestor-cult that requires the
annual renewal or the fresh installation of a series of family ritual
objects (sacrificial and memorial posts, stone altars used to make
offerings to the ancestors, miniature sacred huts dedicated to the
worship of ancestresses). This annual ceremony involves the sacrifice
of a buffalo and the aspersion of all the newly-installed or
regenerated ancestor-cult objects with its blood in order to allow
the non-placated ancestral spirits to take up their final abode in
such objects. The buffalo, previously tied up to a forked pole, is
killed by the village headman with a ceremonial knife.

IGOROT TRIBES OF THE PHILIPPINES

See message no. 6 posted by me in this list.

Regards,
Francesco Brighenti

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> --- In austric@y..., "pinatubo.geo" <a.manansala@a...> wrote:
>
> > The date and place of water buffalo domestication may be relevant to
> > the current discussion.
> >
> > The dates for the swamp buffalo vary from 5000 to 2500 BCE.
>
> Thank you for posting the abstract attached below re: the divergence
> of the swamp and river types of wild Asian buffalo from a common
> *Bubalus arnee*-like progenitor.
>
> You add that the domestication of the swamp variety of buffalo took
> place -- evidently in (southern?) China,


It must be in tropical areas of China like Yunnan, since
it must be somewhere with the range of the wild water
buffalo, an animal which only survives in dense tropical
forests.

Of course, it could just as easily be anywhere in adjacent
SE Asia.

> The nature and function(s) of the sacrifices of buffaloes performed
> by the peoples of the SIVC are still a matter of debate. It is
> apparent from a number of SIVC seals  that buffeloes were speared to
> death in some unknown religious ritual. In his _Deciphering the Indus
> Script_ A. Parpola connects this hypothetical sacrificial activity
> with the cult of what he considers to be one of the paramount gods of
> the Harappans, the male buffalo-horned figure represented in some of
> the seals. Parpola looks at this figure as the supreme god of both
> the terrestrial and celestial waters, of life, death and fertility,
> and identifies him as one of the archetypes of the Vedic god Varuna
> through religious syncretism with Indo-European cult elements. He
> also connects this supposed Harappan supreme deity with the Vedic god
> of death Yama, whom he regards as a doublet of Varuna, and whose
> mythical mount is, as it is well-known, the water-buffalo. Parpola
> also discusses the possibility of an evolution of the Vedic royal
> horse-sacrifice (*as'vamedha*) from the buffalo-sacrifice tradition
> which, according to his views, might have been prevalent in the pre-
> Aryan SIVC (his argument is here mainly based on the appellation of
> the royal Vedic sacrificer's chief consort as *mahis.I*, i.e.,
> buffalo-cow).
>
> The topic of the discussion I am still attempting to start with the
> kind members of this forum is the possibility of a pre-historic
> cultural influence, coming from Southeast Asia, on the development of
> the above described religious components of the SIVC and Vedic
> religions.
>
> The point is: since the water-buffalo acts as the chief sacrificial
> animal in a class of structurally similar death  and ancestor-worship
> ceremonies peculiar to a chain of archaic and sometimes isolated
> tribal cultures of India, Burma, Indo-China, southern China and
> Indonesia, and since this archaic sacrificial tradition is unknown to
> the Vedic funerary ritual (in which the typical animal offered as a
> sacrifice in order to honour the dead or the ancestors was, in case,
> the cow), could not it be that the association of both Yama and the
> (earlier?) Harappan divinity presiding -- if Parpola's thesis is
> accepted -- over death with the water-buffalo symbolism had its
> ultimate origin in a complex of funerary rites having developed in
> pre-historic times among the Austric-speaking peoples and their
> Tibeto-Burman,-, Tai-Kadai- and Miao-Yao-speaking neighbours in
> Southeast Asia?
>

As you note, cattle takes the place of the buffalo among
some of the peoples mentioned, so that could also be
the case in the Vedic ritual

If the miniature sculpture from Ban Chiang and other
early SE Asian sites really have religious significance,
as some have theorized, then both the water buffalo
and zebu were sacred animals. They could have been
interchangeable in the sacrifice at one time.



> If requested, I will post the list of all the tribes of India, Indo-
> China, southern China and Indonesia who sacrifice buffaloes in
> connection with funerary or ancestor-worship rituals.

I, for one, would like to see this list as well as any
instances of cattle sacrifice that involve funerary/ancestor
worship rituals.

Many of the highland tribes of Vietnam and Laos sacrifice cattle
at funerals. This, of course, would bring into question
Paul Benedict's Austro-Thai theory and what relation it
has to the Austric family of languages.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala

--- In austric@y..., "pinatubo.geo" <a.manansala@a...> wrote:

> The date and place of water buffalo domestication may be relevant to
> the current discussion.
>
> The dates for the swamp buffalo vary from 5000 to 2500 BCE.

Thank you for posting the abstract attached below re: the divergence
of the swamp and river types of wild Asian buffalo from a common
*Bubalus arnee*-like progenitor.

You add that the domestication of the swamp variety of buffalo took
place -- evidently in (southern?) China, as the authors of the
abstract posted by you maintain, and subsequently in the whole of
Southeast Asia -- between the fifth and the third millennium BCE.
These, I believe, are also regarded by the archaeologists as the term
dates for the domestication of the river variety of buffalo in the
regions of the Indian subcontinent where the Sarasvati-Sindhu
civilization later flourished. I will post some extracts from a paper
by R. Meadow supporting this datation.

The nature and function(s) of the sacrifices of buffaloes performed
by the peoples of the SIVC are still a matter of debate. It is
apparent from a number of SIVC seals  that buffeloes were speared to
death in some unknown religious ritual. In his _Deciphering the Indus
Script_ A. Parpola connects this hypothetical sacrificial activity
with the cult of what he considers to be one of the paramount gods of
the Harappans, the male buffalo-horned figure represented in some of
the seals. Parpola looks at this figure as the supreme god of both
the terrestrial and celestial waters, of life, death and fertility,
and identifies him as one of the archetypes of the Vedic god Varuna
through religious syncretism with Indo-European cult elements. He
also connects this supposed Harappan supreme deity with the Vedic god
of death Yama, whom he regards as a doublet of Varuna, and whose
mythical mount is, as it is well-known, the water-buffalo. Parpola
also discusses the possibility of an evolution of the Vedic royal
horse-sacrifice (*as'vamedha*) from the buffalo-sacrifice tradition
which, according to his views, might have been prevalent in the pre-
Aryan SIVC (his argument is here mainly based on the appellation of
the royal Vedic sacrificer's chief consort as *mahis.I*, i.e.,
buffalo-cow).

The topic of the discussion I am still attempting to start with the
kind members of this forum is the possibility of a pre-historic
cultural influence, coming from Southeast Asia, on the development of
the above described religious components of the SIVC and Vedic
religions.

The point is: since the water-buffalo acts as the chief sacrificial
animal in a class of structurally similar death  and ancestor-worship
ceremonies peculiar to a chain of archaic and sometimes isolated
tribal cultures of India, Burma, Indo-China, southern China and
Indonesia, and since this archaic sacrificial tradition is unknown to
the Vedic funerary ritual (in which the typical animal offered as a
sacrifice in order to honour the dead or the ancestors was, in case,
the cow), could not it be that the association of both Yama and the
(earlier?) Harappan divinity presiding -- if Parpola's thesis is
accepted -- over death with the water-buffalo symbolism had its
ultimate origin in a complex of funerary rites having developed in
pre-historic times among the Austric-speaking peoples and their
Tibeto-Burman,-, Tai-Kadai- and Miao-Yao-speaking neighbours in
Southeast Asia?

If requested, I will post the list of all the tribes of India, Indo-
China, southern China and Indonesia who sacrifice buffaloes in
connection with funerary or ancestor-worship rituals. Since my list
will be necessarily incomplete, I kindly invite all the list members
to post here new evidence for this class of tribal mortuary
sacrifices.

That is all for now.
Kindest regards,

Francesco brighenti








> An abstract from the latest research:
>
> Anim Genet 1998 Aug;29(4):253-64
>
> Genetic diversity of Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis):
> mitochondrial DNA D-loop and cytochrome b sequence variation.
>
> Lau CH, Drinkwater RD, Yusoff K, Tan SG, Hetzel DJ, Barker JS.
>
> Department of Biology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia.
>
> Swamp and river buffalo mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was sequenced for
> 303 bp of the cytochrome b gene for 54 animals from 14 populations,
> and for 158 bp of the D-loop region for 80 animals from 11
> populations. Only one cytochrome b haplotype was found in river
> buffalo. Of the four haplotypes identified in swamp buffalo, one
found
> in all populations is apparently ancestral both to the other swamp
> haplotypes and to the river haplotype. The phylogenetic
relationships
> among the 33 D-loop haplotypes, with a cluster of 11 found in swamp
> buffalo only, also support the evolution of domesticated swamp and
> river buffalo from an ancestral swamp-like animal, most likely
> represented today by the wild Asian buffalo (Bubalus arnee). The
time
> of divergence of the swamp and river types, estimated from the D-
loop
> data, is 28,000 to 87,000 years ago. We hypothesise that the species
> originated in mainland south-east Asia, and that it spread north to
> China and west to the Indian subcontinent, where the rive type
evolved
> and was domesticated. Following domestication in China, the
> domesticated swamp buffalo spread through two separate routes,
through
> Taiwan and the Philippines to the eastern islands of Borneo and
> Sulawesi, and south through mainland south-east Asia and then to the
> western islands of Indonesia.

--- In austric@y..., "pinatubo.geo" <a.manansala@a...> wrote:
> --- In austric@y..., "sferrarini" <sferrarini@h...> wrote:
> > Dear Sirs,
> >
> > I write from Italy and i've a great interest for austroasiatic
> > peoples. Particularly, in these last times i'm looking for recent
> > news and images related to some small cambodian ethnic groups
> > belonging to the Pearic branch of austroasiatic family.
>
>
> Here's one image of the Pearr I was able to find on the web:
>
>
> http://angkor.com/pearr.jpg


i think that is stefano's picture, actually. :)

"Call for info on Cambodian aboriginal groups

Stefano from Italy is looking for any recent news or photos
concerning small Cambodian aboriginal groups located in remote
mountainous areas. Particularly the "Kuy" and "Samrč" in the
Dangrek
chain, "Pearr" or "Porr" in the Cardamom chain, and "Saoch" in the
Elephant chain. The only info he has found is a very old photo (1923)
portraying three "Pearr" men (44KB). Does anyone have any recent
photos of them, or any recent news about their lifestyle and
integration with Khmer society? Email angkor.com and we will pass
along the info to him." http://www.angkor.com/news.shtml

stefano, ethnologue's database lists many alternate names for these
groups under the cambodian language section.  also, khmer seem to
apply the term "khmer leu" or "khmer loeu" (highland khmer) to all
hill tribe minority groups.  have you already attempted thorough
searches with those terms?
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=Cambodia

an informative resource (in french):
http://www.refer.org/cbodg_ct/tur/tribus.htm

--- In austric@y..., "sferrarini" <sferrarini@h...> wrote:
> Dear Sirs,
>
> I write from Italy and i've a great interest for austroasiatic
> peoples. Particularly, in these last times i'm looking for recent
> news and images related to some small cambodian ethnic groups
> belonging to the Pearic branch of austroasiatic family.


Here's one image of the Pearr I was able to find on the web:


http://angkor.com/pearr.jpg


  I refer
> to "Pearr" and "Chong" who live near the Cardamom chain, in addition
> to "Samrč" living close to koulen mountains and the "Saoch" located
> not far from Elephant mountains. Many anthropologists have classified
> them in the past as "veddoid" (mainly Pearr and Samrč)
> and "negritoid" (mainly Saoch) or a mixture between them. I've found
> some old documents about these populations, mainly of 40's. I think
> it should be very interesting to compare these ones with recent ones
> to verify if they have been absorbed by khmer society or they have
> kept their cultural identity and their physical features. Therefore i
> would like to know if you hold any recent (i mean throughout last 10
> years) resources about these interesting and little-known peoples.
> Please let me know. Also, i would ask what's your opinion about the
> whole austro-asiatic stock of peoples: do you think they took origin
> by a common place from where they moved towards two different routes
> (India on the one hand and South-East Asia on the other side)? or
> rather do you think they originally occupied the whole tropical Asia
> area and afterwards they were scattered by indo-aryan and mongolic
> invasions?
>


I believe that if the Proto-Austric period was sometime between 7,000
and 15,000 bp, which I believe it was, that the speakers of this
language were already highly variable or "mixed" if you like.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala

Dear Sirs,

I write from Italy and i've a great interest for austroasiatic
peoples. Particularly, in these last times i'm looking for recent
news and images related to some small cambodian ethnic groups
belonging to the Pearic branch of austroasiatic family. I refer
to "Pearr" and "Chong" who live near the Cardamom chain, in addition
to "Samrč" living close to koulen mountains and the "Saoch" located
not far from Elephant mountains. Many anthropologists have classified
them in the past as "veddoid" (mainly Pearr and Samrč)
and "negritoid" (mainly Saoch) or a mixture between them. I've found
some old documents about these populations, mainly of 40's. I think
it should be very interesting to compare these ones with recent ones
to verify if they have been absorbed by khmer society or they have
kept their cultural identity and their physical features. Therefore i
would like to know if you hold any recent (i mean throughout last 10
years) resources about these interesting and little-known peoples.
Please let me know. Also, i would ask what's your opinion about the
whole austro-asiatic stock of peoples: do you think they took origin
by a common place from where they moved towards two different routes
(India on the one hand and South-East Asia on the other side)? or
rather do you think they originally occupied the whole tropical Asia
area and afterwards they were scattered by indo-aryan and mongolic
invasions?

Thank you very much for your attention and my best regards,

Stefano Ferrarini

The date and place of water buffalo domestication may be relevant to
the current discussion.

The dates for the swamp buffalo vary from 5000 to 2500 BCE.

An abstract from the latest research:

Anim Genet 1998 Aug;29(4):253-64

Genetic diversity of Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis):
mitochondrial DNA D-loop and cytochrome b sequence variation.

Lau CH, Drinkwater RD, Yusoff K, Tan SG, Hetzel DJ, Barker JS.

Department of Biology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia.

Swamp and river buffalo mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was sequenced for
303 bp of the cytochrome b gene for 54 animals from 14 populations,
and for 158 bp of the D-loop region for 80 animals from 11
populations. Only one cytochrome b haplotype was found in river
buffalo. Of the four haplotypes identified in swamp buffalo, one found
in all populations is apparently ancestral both to the other swamp
haplotypes and to the river haplotype. The phylogenetic relationships
among the 33 D-loop haplotypes, with a cluster of 11 found in swamp
buffalo only, also support the evolution of domesticated swamp and
river buffalo from an ancestral swamp-like animal, most likely
represented today by the wild Asian buffalo (Bubalus arnee). The time
of divergence of the swamp and river types, estimated from the D-loop
data, is 28,000 to 87,000 years ago. We hypothesise that the species
originated in mainland south-east Asia, and that it spread north to
China and west to the Indian subcontinent, where the rive type evolved
and was domesticated. Following domestication in China, the
domesticated swamp buffalo spread through two separate routes, through
Taiwan and the Philippines to the eastern islands of Borneo and
Sulawesi, and south through mainland south-east Asia and then to the
western islands of Indonesia.

from doug weller's website:
http://www.ramtops.demon.co.uk/migrate.html

--- In austric@y..., a.manansala@a... wrote:
>
> > --- In austric@y..., a.manansala@a... wrote:
> >
>

>
> I wonder what a linguistic investigation would uncover?
>


One possibiity with regard to Austronesian. There is a vague
remeblance between the Igorot word "ato" for stone platforms
associated with upright stones, and the Polynesian "ahu"
for stone platforms associated with menhirs.  I'll try to
followup on this when I have time.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala

> --- In austric@y..., a.manansala@a... wrote:
>


> > Btw, some more recent radiometric testing from this area
> > tends to support Beyer's dating more than Fox's.
>
> Please write more about Fox's and Beyer's datings of the rice
> terraces in the Luzon Cordilleras and their relation to the advent of
> carabao breeding in that area. I am very interested in knowing more
> about this subject.
>

Fox theorized the terraces were built only after the coming
of the Spanish when the Igorots were forced into the mountains.
I think that's hard to establish on linguistic grounds.
It seems to me that the terraces are connected with very
old migrations and region-wide terrace-building know-how.
It may even be that the original terrace builders were
only root farmers (taro, yams, etc.) and did not yet know
about rice agriculture.

Beyer dated the terraces to at least 1,000 BCE based on
diggings he made in the area.

There is one Philippine researcher who dates the terraces
to pre-fourth millennium BCE based on geological dating.
Unfortunately, I can't remember his name.


> Thus, once again, my query is: what has this kind of a carabao-
> butchering activity in common with the analogous sacrifices of
> buffaloes performed by sone Indonesian tribes on the occasion of
> funeral ceremonies? Is this a recent tradition or an archaic one? Can
> these funerary sacrifices of Luzon be compared to those occurring
> among the tribes of Sulawesi and Sumba? Is there any common religious
> strain below? If so, can such a supposed common religious strain be
> defined as peculiar to the proto-Austronesians?
>

Most Igorots now have been Christianized or partially-Christianized.
Maybe the butchering of buffaloes and other animals has lost the
original religious significance in many of the Igorot areas.

For example, I've seen Christian wedding ceremonies in the
Ifugao region that were mostly indigenous in ritual but were
the religious significance had been shifted toward Christianity.

Maybe some linguisitic investigation might indicate whether
the buffalo sacrifice extends back to the proto-Austronesian
period.

> > How do the Igorot megaliths compare with those in Indonesia?
> > Those used in the Philippines seem mostly used for communal
> > gatherings.  I don't know if they have any special connection
> > with funerary rites.
>
> I frankly know little or nothing about the Igorot megalithic
> traditions. Please write more about this topic.
>

The latest work on these megaliths that I'm aware of his
H.H.E. Loofs "Some remarks on the 'Philippine megaliths" in
_Asian Studies_.  Unfortunately, I don't have the exact
citation right now, but I'll try to get that for you.

Loofs theorizes the megaliths may be related to Cham or Moi
influence. He notes though that there has been no systematic
study of megaliths in the Philippines as compared to
Indonesian and Indochina.

The Philippine megaliths consist of stone platforms known
as ato, which are associated with upright stones
that may be up to 1.5 meters high. There are also huge
flat circular flat stones known as dap-ay.  There are also
stone backrests known as handangan that bear close
resemblance to similar backrests among the Yami of
Taiwan.

A megalithic site has also been found in the island  of
Iloilo in the Visayas.

Here is an abstract of a relevant article:

QUOTE

Geological Study on the Megalithic Structures in
Agsalanan, Dingle, Iloilo
by Luis Omana

A geological study on the reported "Megalithic Structure"
in Agsalanan, Dingle, Iloilo was conducted in order to
  determine the nature, occurrence and to assemble a
comprehensive knowledge of the geology of the area
which will be used as s basis in determining if said
structure is a natural geologic formation or not.
Structural, lithological and rock weathering were
reviewed during the course of investigation.

Two phases of study were recommended: 1) stratigraphic
correlation which yielded positive of these so called
"Megalithic structures"; and 2) deep excavation far
away from Agsalanan digging 2500 meters away to find
out an extension of the same rocks.

UNQUOTE

National Museum Papers (1992), Vol. 3 No 2


> >Horses are depicted on early Dong-son-like bronzes from Sunda. There
> >is a strong argument for an ancient presence of horses in SE Asia.
>



> Thank you for this precious piece of information. I am aware that the
> ceremonies of secondary burial of the Sumbanese noblemen, on the
> occasion of which megalithic tombs are erected, culminate in the mass
> slaughter of water-buffaloes, horses, pigs and dogs, followed by
> grandiose funerary banquets during which the meat of such animals is
> eaten by large crowds of people.
>
> The role of soul-carrier (to the afterworld) is attributed by the
> Sumbanese to the water-buffalo and the horse alike. Therefore, the
> tombs of the noblemen in Sumba are carved with images of both
> buffaloes (normally only the head of the horns of the animal) and
> horsemen.
>
> The horse has also a fundamental role in the classic shamanistic
> religion of the Batak tribes of northern Sumatra. They used to breed
> sacred horses for sacrificial purposes only. These animals appear to
> have been customarily slaughtered in the past in the ambit of
> ancestor-worship rituals performed by the descendants of common
> ancestors called *begu*. For discussion, check the following web page:
>
> http://www.holocaustrevealed.org/english/s/b7_9html
>
> To conclude this long post, I invite you not to lose sight of the
> original thread, that is, the supposed (by me anyway) relationship
> uniting the funerary sacrifices of buffaloes being still today
> performed by a chain of tribal peoples settled in the Indian sub-
> continent, southern China, Indo-China and Indonesia (adding perhaps
> the Philippines too). No specific discussion about my argument has
> started so far. Any comment on my original post?
>


There are some who believe that Proto-Austronesian people
erected megaliths since these are found all over SE Asia
and Oceania.  Since megaliths are also widely found among
Austroasiatic people, it may be possible that this practice
dates back to the Proto-Austric period, although the
archaeological evidence is lacking.

I wonder what a linguistic investigation would uncover?

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala

I've added your site to the list.  If nayone knows of any other sites,
there's still space for at least a few more.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala


--- In austric@y..., LV Hayes <lvhayes@w...> wrote:
> The list of related web sites should include my own at
>
> http://home.att.net/~lvhayes/home.htm
>
> This site includes a large section on Austric linguistics.  See the
Table
> of Contents on this page for available links.
>
> By Austric, I mean the language superfamily envisioned by Wilhelm
Schmidt
> in 1906 as comprising the Austroasiatic and Austronesian language
families.
>  Sufficient linguistic evidence exists to confirm the existence of this
> Austric; other concepts of what language families Austric should
include,
> such as those of Pejros and Ruhlen, remain to be proven in my opinion.
>
> LV Hayes
> <lvhayes@w...>

--- In austric@y..., "frabrig" <frabrig@y...> wrote:

> The horse has also a fundamental role in the classic shamanistic
> religion of the Batak tribes of northern Sumatra. They used to
>breed sacred horses for sacrificial purposes only. These animals
>appear to have been customarily slaughtered in the past in the ambit
>of ancestor-worship rituals performed by the descendants of common
>ancestors called *begu*. For discussion, check the following web
>page:
>
> http://www.holocaustrevealed.org/english/s/b7_9html

Oops! Sorry, the correct URL is:

http://www.ccg.org/english/s/B7_9.html

Regards,
Francesco Brighenti

--- In austric@y..., a.manansala@a... wrote:

> It may be that the carabao sacrifice, if indeed that is what
> it is, is not related to that in Indonesia.
>
> As for the carabao being imported only after the arrival of the
> Spanish is that based on Fox's theories. Personally,
> I don't think much of his dating of the rice terraces.
>
> Btw, some more recent radiometric testing from this area
> tends to support Beyer's dating more than Fox's.

Please write more about Fox's and Beyer's datings of the rice
terraces in the Luzon Cordilleras and their relation to the advent of
carabao breeding in that area. I am very interested in knowing more
about this subject.

In a personal e-mail message posted to the present writer on 16 Nov
2001, Prof. Patricia Afable, Research Associate, Asian Cultural
History Program, NMNH, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC wrote:

"I believe that the use of water buffalo... in rituals of any sort in
the northern Philippines is recent, and is primarily associated with
the need to feed large numbers of visitors... Carabaos were generally
brought from the lowlands... The Ibaloy people in the southern
Cordillera, along with the Kalanguya- and I'uwak-speaking people,
also have large funerary feasts, and carabaos as well as cows are
slaughtered at death feasts of rich people. The Ibaloy started
raising cattle in the Spanish period... Carabaos are also 'offered'
(i.e. through invocation) to the ancestors, but the pigs must be
offered first. There are no rituals that involve only carabaos alone
(or cows for the matter). That is what makes me believe that it is
the necessity of feeding large crowds that has brought in the carabao
and the cow. A hundred years ago, large animals like carabaos or
cattle were very scarce in the Luzon highlands, except in the Benguet
(Ibaloy and Kankanaey) area, where cattle ranching was quite common.
These large livestock are called 'animal' (from the Spanish word,
with the accent on the last syllabe) in these languages, for example,
which is a sign that they were considered foreign and from the
outside. Therefore, although the peoples of the Benguet area had
cattle for much longer than everyone else, they have not really
incorporated it into their ritual. In fact, among some families, when
they kill a cow or carabao for a large feast, they kill a small pig
first to use for invoking the spirits they want to reach. This is a
real proof (for me anyway) that they can not reach the ancestors
except through the traditional ritual animals... Note that in upland
areas, it is not always possible to bring carabaos into the rice
fields because the terrace stone walls are too high" (referenced to
P. Afable's article "Mortuary Ritual among the Ibaloy", *Asian
Folklore Studies* Vol. 34-2, 1975).

However, other Igorot informants of mine maintain that carabaos are
killed in elaborate funerary rituals in northern Luzon. Cases are
recorded in Scott's *Complete Works* of some Kalinga dying persons
seeing a carabao-like apparition -- a hint at the carabao's role as a
superbatural soul-carrier, a role which is similarly attributed to
the water-buffalo by a number of Indonesian, Indo-Chinese and Indian
tribal peoples? Another informant of mine reported he witnessed a
carabao-sacrifice during a burial ceremony in the Benguet area of
Luzon. In answer to his inquiry, relatives of the deceased explained
that the carabao will pull the coffin to the destination of the dead
yonder.

Thus, once again, my query is: what has this kind of a carabao-
butchering activity in common with the analogous sacrifices of
buffaloes performed by sone Indonesian tribes on the occasion of
funeral ceremonies? Is this a recent tradition or an archaic one? Can
these funerary sacrifices of Luzon be compared to those occurring
among the tribes of Sulawesi and Sumba? Is there any common religious
strain below? If so, can such a supposed common religious strain be
defined as peculiar to the proto-Austronesians?

> How do the Igorot megaliths compare with those in Indonesia?
> Those used in the Philippines seem mostly used for communal
> gatherings.  I don't know if they have any special connection
> with funerary rites.

I frankly know little or nothing about the Igorot megalithic
traditions. Please write more about this topic.

>Horses are depicted on early Dong-son-like bronzes from Sunda. There
>is a strong argument for an ancient presence of horses in SE Asia.

Thank you for this precious piece of information. I am aware that the
ceremonies of secondary burial of the Sumbanese noblemen, on the
occasion of which megalithic tombs are erected, culminate in the mass
slaughter of water-buffaloes, horses, pigs and dogs, followed by
grandiose funerary banquets during which the meat of such animals is
eaten by large crowds of people.

The role of soul-carrier (to the afterworld) is attributed by the
Sumbanese to the water-buffalo and the horse alike. Therefore, the
tombs of the noblemen in Sumba are carved with images of both
buffaloes (normally only the head of the horns of the animal) and
horsemen.

The horse has also a fundamental role in the classic shamanistic
religion of the Batak tribes of northern Sumatra. They used to breed
sacred horses for sacrificial purposes only. These animals appear to
have been customarily slaughtered in the past in the ambit of
ancestor-worship rituals performed by the descendants of common
ancestors called *begu*. For discussion, check the following web page:

http://www.holocaustrevealed.org/english/s/b7_9html

To conclude this long post, I invite you not to lose sight of the
original thread, that is, the supposed (by me anyway) relationship
uniting the funerary sacrifices of buffaloes being still today
performed by a chain of tribal peoples settled in the Indian sub-
continent, southern China, Indo-China and Indonesia (adding perhaps
the Philippines too). No specific discussion about my argument has
started so far. Any comment on my original post?

Regards,
Francesco Brighenti

The list of related web sites should include my own at

http://home.att.net/~lvhayes/home.htm

This site includes a large section on Austric linguistics.  See the Table
of Contents on this page for available links.

By Austric, I mean the language superfamily envisioned by Wilhelm Schmidt
in 1906 as comprising the Austroasiatic and Austronesian language families.
  Sufficient linguistic evidence exists to confirm the existence of this
Austric; other concepts of what language families Austric should include,
such as those of Pejros and Ruhlen, remain to be proven in my opinion.

LV Hayes
<lvhayes@...>

> --- In austric@y..., "frabrig" <frabrig@y...> wrote:
> > --- In austric@y..., "pinatubo.geo" <a.manansala@a...> wrote:
> > >


> Regarding the Igorots, I may benignly mention here that last year I
> had a long discussion online with some ethnic Igorots based in the
> U.S.A. about their own tradition of carabao/karabau-sacrifice. The
> pattern  in this case appears to differ from the one being typified
> by the funerary sacrifices performed by some tribal groups of India,
> Indo-China and Indonesia. For instance, my Igorot informants denied
> carabaos to be sacrificed in Luzon on the occasion of tribal
> funerals. They even denied carabaos to be actually *sacrificed* at
> all, for, they said, these large animals are just killed in order to
> provide abundant meat on the occasion of certain communal feasts. An
> American professor wrote me that carabao-sacrifice cannot be so much
> an age-old tradition in the Luzon Cordillera as much as buffalo-
> sacrifice is in Indonesia, because carabaos, according to her
> researches, was imported from the plains into the mountain
> territories inhabited by the Igorot tribes only after the Spanish
> conquered the Philippines. I can provide some references about this
> topic to anyone interested.
>

It may be that the carabao sacrifice, if indeed that is what
it is, is not related to that in Indonesia.

As for the carabao being imported only after the arrival of the
Spanish is that based on Fox's theories. Personally,
I don't think much of his dating of the rice terraces.

Btw, some more recent radiometric testing from this area
tends to support Beyer's dating more than Fox's.

How do the Igorot megaliths compare with those in Indonesia?
Those used in the Philippines seem mostly used for communal
gatherings.  I don't know if they have any special connection
with funerary rites.


> Regarding the horse-sacrifices performed in Indonesia during funeral
> ceremonies, don't you think this tribal ritual tradition is of more
> recent origin than that pivoted upon buffalo-sacrifice?
>


It could be.  Horses are depicted on early Dong-son-like
bronzes from Sunda. There is a strong argument for
an ancient presence of horses in SE Asia.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
http://home.attbi.com/~a.manansala/vedicindia.html

--- In austric@y..., "frabrig" <frabrig@y...> wrote:
> --- In austric@y..., "pinatubo.geo" <a.manansala@a...> wrote:
> >
> > * Megalithic culture is also found among the Igorots of the
> >Philippines
> > who use paved stone platforms known as ato along with standing
> >stones
> > and other megaliths like stone circles, backrests, seats, etc. The
> > water buffalo sacrifice is also found widely among these peoples
> > but I don't know if this pattern fits into the same pattern as
> > described by Brighenti.
> >
> > * In Sumba and other areas of E. Indonesia, the horse sacrifice
> > is used at funerals with the same idea of the horse's soul
> > accompanying the deceased to the afterlife.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Paul Kekai Manansala

Your comments are pertinent in this context, although I would like to
focus the discussion specifically on the archaic cultural links
uniting some ethnically etherogeneous tribes of India, Indo-China and
Indonesia who still today immolate buffaloes in honour of the dead
and/or the ancestral spirits in the ambit of their death and/or
ancestor-worship rituals.

Regarding the Igorots, I may benignly mention here that last year I
had a long discussion online with some ethnic Igorots based in the
U.S.A. about their own tradition of carabao/karabau-sacrifice. The
pattern  in this case appears to differ from the one being typified
by the funerary sacrifices performed by some tribal groups of India,
Indo-China and Indonesia. For instance, my Igorot informants denied
carabaos to be sacrificed in Luzon on the occasion of tribal
funerals. They even denied carabaos to be actually *sacrificed* at
all, for, they said, these large animals are just killed in order to
provide abundant meat on the occasion of certain communal feasts. An
American professor wrote me that carabao-sacrifice cannot be so much
an age-old tradition in the Luzon Cordillera as much as buffalo-
sacrifice is in Indonesia, because carabaos, according to her
researches, was imported from the plains into the mountain
territories inhabited by the Igorot tribes only after the Spanish
conquered the Philippines. I can provide some references about this
topic to anyone interested.

Regarding the horse-sacrifices performed in Indonesia during funeral
ceremonies, don't you think this tribal ritual tradition is of more
recent origin than that pivoted upon buffalo-sacrifice?

Regards,
Francesco Brighenti

--- In austric@y..., "pinatubo.geo" <a.manansala@a...> wrote:

> Welcome Austric members!
>
> I'm posting relevant parts of a message I received from Dr.
>Francesco Brighenti.
>
> Some comments i would like to add to his observations:
>
> * Megalithic culture is also found among the Igorots of the
>Philippines
> who use paved stone platforms known as ato along with standing
>stones
> and other megaliths like stone circles, backrests, seats, etc. The
> water buffalo sacrifice is also found widely among these peoples
> but I don't know if this pattern fits into the same pattern as
> described by Brighenti.
>
> * In Sumba and other areas of E. Indonesia, the horse sacrifice
> is used at funerals with the same idea of the horse's soul
> accompanying the deceased to the afterlife.
>
> Regards,
> Paul Kekai Manansala

Unfortunately my message contained a lot of typos, caused by its
conversion from Winword format into html.

The correct form of the message goes as follows:


Wheeler used Fuerer-Haimendorf's theory while discussing the origin of
the megalithic traits occurring in some tribal cultures of eastern
India. Although rejecting any connection between the first millennium
BCE megalithic archaeological complex of South India, which he
ascribes to the ancient Dravidians, and the megalithic cultures of
Indonesia, whose archaeological remains apparently all date to later
epochs, Wheeler yet accepts Fuerer-Haimendorf's hypothesis about a
cultural bridge which would link the megalithic rituals diffused
among some modern Austroasiatic-, Dravidian- and Tibeto-Burman-
speaking tribes of central-eastern and northeastern India, settled
along the Eastern Ghats, on the Chota Nagpur Plateau and in the
Assamese area, to the structurally similar megalithic rituals
diffused among some Austronesian-speaking tribes of Indonesia. One of
the possible ethnic vehicles of such a process of cultural
interaction would be represented, in the two scholars' hypothesis, by
the Austroasiatic-speaking tribes of India and mainland Southeast
Asia.

I made some ethno-archaeological research in this line, being focused
on the sacrifices of bovines -- mainly buffaloes, but also zebu cows
and bulls and, along the Indian-Burmese border, mithuns -- which are
still today customarily performed, on the occasion of either *green*
and *dry* funerals, by a large number of Indian, South Chinese, Indo-
Chinese and Indonesian tribal communities. My purpose was to verify
the possibility of the existence of a common ritual prototype for
such funerary sacrifices. I found that many a religio-cultural
element is shared in common by most of the tribes who use to sacrifice
bovines in order to satisfy the dead relatives and the ancestral
spirits. In my opinion, the most important among these
religio-cultural elements are the following:

1) The role of supernatural carrier of the dead's soul attributed to
the sacrificial bovine, and particularly to the water-buffalo;

2) The very common association of megalithic rites (erection of
menhirs, dolmens, memorial poles, etc.) with the tribal funerary
ceremonies involving the sacrifice of bovines;

3) The ritual installation of the horns or the skulls of the
sacrificial bovines on such megalithic monuments, whether they belong
to the memorial or to the burial class;

4) The frequent use of forked (Y-shaped) posts, resembling bovine
horns in their shape, in connection with such mortuary ceremonies;

5)The presence of the stylised motif of the bovine horns in the
architectural traditions of many among the tribes who immolate bovines
to the dead or the ancestors, with this feature being widespread, in
particular, in Assam/Burma and in Indonesia (please note that,
especially in Indonesia, tribal longhouses are decorated with real or
wooden buffalo horns or with buffalo-heads made of straw, and they
are commonly identified with the clan's ancestors and, in some cases,
with the Sacred Buffalo symbolising the same);

6) The socio-economic functions -- e.g., in the redistribution of
cattle wealth and the redefinition of a family's kinship links with
their own clan on the basis of the major or minor lot of cattle
wealth offered to common ancestors -- which is attributed to the
funerary sacrifices of bovines by some of the tribal groups at issue,
with the best examples being represented by the Nagas of the Assamese
area (whose well-known Feasts of Merit are associated, in certain
instances, with ancestor-cult), by the Gadabas and Lanjia Saoras of
Orissa and, as far as Indonesia is concerned, by the Torajas of
Sulawesi and by the tribes of Sumba.

I do not envisage any relevant influence of Vedic religious beliefs or
practices on this widespread class of tribal mortuary rituals. True,
the *Brahmana* texts describe the sacrifice of the *anustarani* cow
besides the funeral pyre, and the donation of the *vaitarani* cow to
the Brahmins, as parts of two different, and yet interrelated, Vedic
funeral ceremonies, but, nevertheless, these texts are absolutely
silent about some form of buffalo-sacrifice having ever been
performed in Vedic times on the same ritual occasion, as well as
about the water-buffalo's role -- found among many tribal groups of
India and Southeast Asia -- as the carrier of the soul of the dead to
the afterlife. This role, on the contrary, is reserved in the
*Brahmana* literature -- as also in the actual ritual of disposal of
the dead followed by some Hindu castes till a few decades ago -- to
the *vaitarani* only, that is, a FEMALE ANIMAL OFFERED TO THE
BRAHMINS, AND NOT OFFERED AS A SACRIFICE, which, in my opinion, is
something very different from the MALE ANIMAL (water-buffalo, mithun
or zebu) that is ACTUALLY OFFERED AS A SACRIFICE in the course of the
funeral rites observed by the tribal groups of India and Southeast
Asia I have researched upon.

On the other hand, the Shakta form of buffalo-sacrifice -- namely, the
one and only known form of a buffalo-sacrifice which can historically
have influenced the sacrificial traditions having evolved out in
different tribal contexts from India to Southeast Asia -- is *not*
related to funeral ceremonies and cannot, therefore, be considered to
be a Tantric archetype for the sacrifices of bovines performed by
those tribal groups in connection with their own mortuary/megalithic
rituals.

Hence a series of questions. Which, if any, was the ultimate
ethno-cultural source for the sacrifices of buffaloes/mithuns/zebus
associated, both in India and in Southeast Asia, with tribal
ceremonies of first and second funeral and, more in general, with
tribal ancestor-worship? Out of which religious ideas did such a
sacrificial complex -- if I am allowed to describe it as an unity --
evolve? Was there any core geographical area where this sacrificial
tradition developed in an undeterminable epoch? Is this area, as one
may conjecture given the wide diffusion of tribal funerary sacrifices
of bovines from central-eastern India to Vietnam and from southern
China to Sulawesi, to be located somewhere between southern China and
northern Indo-China, which are considered by some scholars to have
represented the most important areas from which the dispersion of
Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Miao-Yao and Tai-Kadai language families
started?

To this I would like to add another crucial theme of debate: has the
Hindu god of death Yama's association with the water-buffalo, an
animal acting as his *vahana*, anything to do with the funerary
observances peculiar to the tribal peoples of India and Southeast Asia
who sacrifice buffaloes, or other bovines, during their death rituals?
In other words, did Yama's association with the water-buffalo, through
a process of acculturation vehicled by the eastward expansion of
Indian civilization, contribute to generate this class of tribal
sacrifices of bovines connected with death rituals, or was it the
reverse?

Or, again, may some kind of a religio-symbolic association of
the water-buffalo with the concept about death (one which, in the
pre-historic epoch, was possibly recognized throughout tropical Asia)
have influenced both the tribal mortuary observances in discussion and
the specifically Vedic relationship uniting the god of death Yama to
the water-buffalo?

The debate is open!

Cheers,
Francesco Brighenti

Welcome Austric members!

I'm posting relevant parts of a message I received from Dr. Francesco
Brighenti.

Some comments i would like to add to his observations:

* Megalithic culture is also found among the Igorots of the Philippines
who use paved stone platforms known as ato along with standing stones
and other megaliths like stone circles, backrests, seats, etc. The
water buffalo sacrifice is also found widely among these peoples
but I don't know if this pattern fits into the same pattern as
described by Brighenti.

* In Sumba and other areas of E. Indonesia, the horse sacrifice
is used at funerals with the same idea of the horse's soul
accompanying the deceased to the afterlife.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala


---begin forwarded message

Wheeler used Fuerer-Haimendorf?s theory while discussing the origin of
the megalithic traits occurring in some tribal cultures of eastern
India. Although rejecting any connection between the first millennium
BCE megalithic archaeological complex of South India, which he
ascribes to the ancient Dravidians, and the megalithic cultures of
Indonesia, whose archaeological remains apparently all date to later
epochs, Wheeler yet accepts Fuerer-Haimendorf?s hypothesis about a
cultural bridge which would link the megalithic rituals diffused among
some modern Austroasiatic-, Dravidian- and Tibeto-Burman-speaking
tribes of central-eastern and northeastern India, settled along the
Eastern Ghats, on the Chota Nagpur Plateau and in the Assamese area,
to the structurally similar megalithic rituals diffused among some
Austronesian-speaking tribes of Indonesia. One of the possible ethnic
vehicles of such a process of cultural interaction would be
represented, in the two scholars? hypothesis, by the
Austroasiatic-speaking tribes of India and mainland Southeast Asia.

I made some ethno-archaeological research in this line, being focused
on the sacrifices of bovines - mainly buffaloes, but also zebu cows
and bulls and, along the Indian-Burmese border, mithuns ? which are
still today customarily performed, on the occasion of either ?green?
and ?dry? funerals, by a large number of Indian, South Chinese,
Indo-Chinese and Indonesian tribal communities. My purpose was to
verify the possibility of the existence of a common ritual prototype
for such funerary sacrifices. I found that many a religio-cultural
element is shared in common by most of the tribes who use to sacrifice
bovines in order to satisfy the dead relatives and the ancestral
spirits. In my opinion, the most important among these
religio-cultural elements are the following:

1)
The role of supernatural carrier of the dead? soul attributed to the
sacrificial bovine, and particularly to the water-buffalo;

2)
The very common association of megalithic rites (erection of menhirs,
dolmens, memorial poles, etc.) with the tribal funerary ceremonies
involving the sacrifice of bovines;

3)
The ritual installation of the horns or the skulls of the sacrificial
bovines on such megalithic monuments, whether they belong to the
memorial or to the burial class;

4)
The frequent use of forked (Y-shaped) posts, resembling bovine horns
in their shape, in connection with such mortuary ceremonies;

5)
The presence of the stylised motif of the bovine horns in the
architectural traditions of many among the tribes who immolate bovines
to the dead/ancestors, with this feature being widespread, in
particular, in Assam/Burma and in Indonesia (please note that,
especially in Indonesia, tribal longhouses are decorated with real or
wooden buffalo horns and are commonly identified with the clan?s
ancestors and, in some cases, with the Sacred Buffalo symbolising the
same);

6)
The socio-economic functions ? e.g., in the redistribution of cattle
wealth and the redefinition of a family?s kinship links with their own
clan on the basis of the major or minor lot of cattle wealth offered
to common ancestors ? which is attributed to the funerary sacrifices
of bovines by some of the tribal groups at issue, with the best
examples being represented by the Naga of the Assamese area (whose
well-known Feasts of Merit are associated, in certain instances, with
ancestor-cult), by the Gadaba and Lanjia Saora of Orissa and, as far
as Indonesia is concerned, by the Toraja of Sulawesi and by the tribes
of Sumba.

I do not envisage any relevant influence of Vedic religious beliefs or
practices on this widespread class of tribal mortuary rituals. True,
the Brahmana texts describe the sacrifice of the Anustarani cow
besides the funeral pyre, and the donation of the Vaitarani cow to the
Brahmins, as parts of two different, and yet interrelated, Vedic
funeral ceremonies, but nevertheless these texts are absolutely silent
about some form of buffalo-sacrifice being ever performed on the same
ritual occasion, as well as about the water-buffalo?s role - found
among many tribal groups of India and Southeast Asia - as the carrier
of the soul of the dead to the afterlife. This role, on the contrary,
is reserved in the Brahmana literature ? and also in the actual ritual
of disposal of the dead followed by some Hindu castes till a few
decades ago - to the Vaitarani only, that is, a FEMALE ANIMAL OFFERED
TO THE BRAHMANAS, AND NOT OFFERED AS A SACRIFICE, which, in my
opinion, is something very different from the MALE ANIMAL
(water-buffalo, mithun or zebu) that is actually OFFERED AS A
SACRIFICE in the course of the funeral rites observed by the tribal
groups of India and Southeast Asia I have researched upon.

On the other hand, the Shakta form of buffalo-sacrifice ? namely, the
one and only known form of a buffalo-sacrifice which can historically
have influenced the sacrificial traditions evolved out in different
tribal contexts from India to Southeast Asia ? is not related to
funeral ceremonies and cannot, therefore, be considered to be the
Tantric archetype for the sacrifices of bovines performed by those
tribal groups in connection with their own mortuary/megalithic rituals.

Hence a series of questions. Which, if any, was the ultimate
ethno-cultural source for the sacrifices of buffaloes/mithuns/zebus
associated, both in India and in Southeast Asia, with tribal
ceremonies of first and second funeral and, more in general, with
tribal ancestor-worship? Out of which religious ideas did such a
sacrificial complex ? if I am allowed to describe it as a unity ?
evolve? Was there any core geographical area where this sacrificial
tradition developed in an undeterminable epoch? Is this area - as one
may conjecture given the wide diffusion of tribal funerary sacrifices
of bovines from central-eastern India to Vietnam and from southern
China to Sulawesi ? to be located somewhere between southern China and
northern Indo-China, which are considered by some scholars to have
represented the most important areas from which the dispersion of
Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Miao-Yao and Tai-Kadai language families
started?

To this I would like to add another crucial theme of debate: has the
Hindu god of death Yama?s association with the water-buffalo, an
animal acting as his vahana, anything to do with the funerary
observances peculiar to the tribal peoples of India and Southeast Asia
who sacrifice buffaloes, or other bovines, during their death rituals?
In other words, did Yama?s association with the water-buffalo, through
a process of acculturation vehicled by the eastward expansion of
Indian civilization, contribute to generate this class of tribal
sacrifices of bovines connected with death rituals, or was it the
reverse? Or, again, may some kind of a religio-symbolic association of
the water-buffalo with the concept about death - one which, in the
pre-historic epoch, was possibly recognized throughout tropical Asia ?
have influenced both the tribal mortuary observances in discussion and
the specifically Vedic relationship uniting the god of death Yama to
the water-buffalo?

The debate is open!