Mulajadi Nabolon: From Indigenous Religious Practice to Contemporary Society in the Public Sphere

Abstract

Mulajadi Nabolon is a personification of God in the tribal religious concept that departs and develops from within the culture of the Batak tribe in Indonesia. Its images and teachings are not only limited to epistemological constructions of religion that persist in dogmatic beliefs but become instructions, norms, ways of life, and behavioral control integrated into modern society’s social life in the technological era. Even this concept rests on the harmony that humans are part of nature and vice versa, so the two should not destroy each other. This concept bequeaths knowledge and instructions to the Batak people in building social behavior wherever they are from generation to generation. The movement of religion and culture triggers the indigenous religion’s travel to contemporary society. This research will answer why the Mulajadi Nabolon concept persists in contemporary Batak society in this all-digital era. The problem statement of this research is discussed with the critical thinking method and sociological religion approach through books, journal articles, and the old manuscripts of the concept of Mulajadi Nabolon. This research shows that the indigenous belief system sustains and impacts contemporary society. In conclusion, personifying Muljadi Nabolon creates the space of traveling the local religion to contemporary religion through the local values as the holder for behaving and instructing ways of life.