The Symbols and Myths of Rice in Sasak’s Culture: A Portrait of Hybrid Islam in Lombok

Abstract

This article aims at discussing two important points of rice ethnophilosophy in Sasak society. First, it explains how various symbols of language and culture and local mythos of rice in agricultural Sasak society experienced reinterpretation over key concepts of Islamic Worldview. Second, it illuminates how those modified symbols and mythos in Sasak society contains similarities with the ones in Malay culture as recorded in Hikayat Asay Pade manuscript and Kitab Berladang. The study uses ethnohermeneutic method in reading the text in the context of Sasak culture. The result shows some points of transformation in the symbols and mythos about rice in Sasak culture after being adapted to Islamic Worldview. The reinterpretation clarifies a spirited ethnophilosophy about harmony and equilibration of human life with nature and God. Adaptation conducted by the Islamic carrier among the agricultural Sasak society at the beginning of Islamic influence exemplifies how the spreading of Islam was undertaken peacefully through the confirmation of symbols and local mythos to maintain stability and harmony.[Tulisan ini mendiskusikan tentang simbol (bahasa dan budaya) dan mitos padi lokal dalam masyarakat Sasak agraris yang mengalami reinterpretasi setelah konsep-konsep kunci Islamic worldview mulai diadaptasi dan disebarkan oleh para penyebar Islam awal di kalangan petani tradisional. Selanjutnya, didiskusikan pula tentang persinggungan simbol dan mitos lokal Sasak tersebut (setelah mengalami reinterpretasi dengan konsep-konsep kunci Islam) dengan budaya Melayu yang terekam dalam manuskrip Hikayat Asay Pade dan Kitab Berladang. Berdasarkan hasil pembacaan dengan metode etnohermeneutik dapat dipahami tentang apa saja hasil reinterpretasi masyarakat Sasak agraris mengenai simbol dan mitos padi lokal setelah mengalami persentuhan dan penyesuaian dengan Islamic worldview. Hasil reinterpretasi tersebut menjelaskan pandangan budaya (etnofilosofi) yang sangat bernas tentang harmonisasi dan keseimbangan hidup manusia dengan Tuhan dan alam. Selain itu, adaptasi yang dilakukan oleh penyebar Islam awal di kalangan masyarakat Sasak agaris ini merupakan contoh bagaimana Islam disebarkan dengan damai dan adaptif terhadap simbol dan mitos lokal supaya keseimbangan dan keharmonian tetap terjaga.]

Leksikon Pertanian Tradisional Suku Sasak Di Pulau Lombok: Kajian Etnolinguistik

“…Selanjutnya, leksikon pertanian tradisional suku Sasak (khususnya leksikon menanam padi) di pulau Lombok juga pernah dikaji oleh beberapa linguis (Saharudin 2010(Saharudin , 2016(Saharudin , 2019a(Saharudin , 2019bSyarifuddin, Saharudin, and Syarifuddin 2012). Hanya saja, kajian yang dilakukan oleh ahli-ahli tersebut difokuskan pada topik-topik khusus sehingga jumlah leksikon yang diidentifikasi terbatas.…”

Sufism and the Sacred Feminine in Lombok, Indonesia: Situating Spirit Queen Dewi Anjani and Female Saints in Nahdlatul Wathan

“…The Sasak Boda indigenized Sufi Islam and henceforth it became known as 'Wetu Telu' (for a detailed description see Budiwanti 2000;Cederroth 1981). The work of Indonesian scholars (see Budiwanti 2000;Fitriani 2015;Muliadi 2019;and Saharudin 2019) demonstrates how Sasak indigeneity agentively absorbed Sufism into all aspects of life including agrarian rites, life-rites and worldview including the integral role of lontar (palm leaf) manuscripts in providing references for teaching. To this, I add understandings about gender, which I explore in the following section.…”

“…Ethnography on Sasak Sufism pays no attention to what feminist anthropologist Sanday (2002) calls 'female-oriented webs of significance' or gendered aspects from a feminist standpoint. This is quite surprising given the prominent feminine symbology found on the island in the form of myths about Dewi Anjani, legends about princesses with supernatural powers, 7 the esteemed position attributed to mothers and feminine associations with rice cultivation and sacred rituals that draw on the Goddess of Fertility, Dewi Sri, in her various forms (Saharudin 2019).…”

“…Sasak culture, dialect and lexicons are heterogeneous across the island (Mahyuni 2007) and yet there is consistency in reference to and maintenance of the centrality of a notion of the feminine. The island of Lombok in the Sasak language is known by several names, including Gumi Sasak (Land of the Sasak) and Gumi Nina (Land of Women) (Muliadi 2019, p. 32;Saharudin 2019). Local narratives relate that the reference to Lombok as 'feminine' reflects the island's fertility, abundance in water, and prosperity.…”

Ritual Domestikasi Padi Lokal dalam Budaya Sasak-Lombok

“…(b) Pare buyuq dipandang sebagai pelindung-penjaga bagi padi yang lain. (c) Keberkahan padi itu sesungguhnya terletak pada keberkahan yang tersimpan dalam buyuq, yakni yang direpresentasikan melalui istilah buyuq sari 'spirit/roh padi' dalam pare buyuq (Saharudin, 2018;Saharudin, 2019).…”