University of Chicago, Codex Ms. 82j

Metadata

DS ID:

DS16701

Shelfmark:

Codex Ms. 82j

Title:

Small pustaha fragment

Pustaha

Date:

manuscript /

nineteenth century (dates CE) AAT

Language:

In Batak (Poda, Toba script)

Batak WIKIDATA

Material:

illustrations

Physical Description:

Extent: 20 unnumbered pages : illustrations ; 5 x 6 cm

Note:

Page orientation: portrait.
Condition: Virtually all pages are severely damaged and the text has disappeared from many pages.
Physical appearance: This very small bark book has no covers.
Description: Pustaha (bark book) made by the Batak people in North Sumatra (Indonesia) most likely in the nineteenth century.
Paper and ink: The manuscript is made of the bast (inner bark) of the aquilaria tree. Only black ink has been used.
No transliteration is possible. From the few legible words I could pick up: unte mungkur (a kind of citrus fruit often used in divinations and rituals), bulung ... (certain leaves), boras (rice). Some passages seem to be instructions as evident from the use of the word poda.
Collected by Frederick Starr, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, 1892-1923.

Keyword:

Manuscripts, Batak

Bark inscriptions

Indonesia--Sumatera Utara

Divination

Batak (Indonesian people)--Religion

Institutional Record:

http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/9106936

Holding Institution:

University of Chicago