From divine descent to administration; Sacred heirlooms and political change in highland Goa

Abstract

Before the kingdom of Goa was occupied by the Dutch in 1906, it had been composed of several minor principalities (kakaraengang), each, of which consisted of distinct village territories (paqrasan-gang). Since each of these village territories may also be defined as a distinct adaq (Indonesian adat) unit, the Dutch suitably designated the principalities as adatgemeenschappen. . , Warfare among principalities, as well as among village communities, had been quite common before the arrival of the Dutch, and therefore the boundaries of each principality were by no means fixed. [...]to these subordinate heirlooms, which in the area under investigation are usually designated according to the title of the office (such as paggallarangang for the sacred heirloom f the gallarang's descent group), the sacred object of the ruler's descent gfoup is believed to extend its spiritual power to all members of the whole kin group ruled by the karaeng. Since intermarriage between the several descent groups within a village community is, of course, very frequent, the kalompoang should not be regarded as a symbol that, irrespective of kin relations, is only worshipped because it represents a political power.5 Social structure, religion, and sacred heirlooms On the village level, a sacred heirloom should iristead be conceived as the symbolic focus of the whole kin group (pammanakang), because it is kept by the ruler whose descent group is part of the whole kinship network within the village community. Since such a buffalo was very hard to find, the kepala desa went on, it would be easier to leave the kalompoang where it was. 19 I could not cross-check these contradictory data concerning the kalompoang of Batulangga, because I did not have the opportunity to have a look at it. 171 550 Martin Rssler in only two villages, namely Bontoloe and Likopancing, are the kalompoang still kept by the karaeng as the head of the local adaq council, while only in Likopancing does the karaeng at the same time hold the formal office of the village head. [...]the significance of sacred heirlooms with regard to the general principles of leadership in the highland villages also declined, since any kindof formal (that is government-sanctioned) leadership is in no way tied to. kalompoang, while traditional leaders in most instances no longer perform any official functions.