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‎Pustaka. (Pustaha) - Miniatur Zauberbuch eines Batak-Stammes von Sumatra, wohl 19. Jhd.‎

‎ 19th c., ca. 18x12 cm, Gesamtgr. ca. 5,5 Meter lang, Hs. beidseitig auf Baumrinde geschrieben u. in Leporelloform gefalt. 48 Bl., mit Ausbrüchen und Fehlstellen, housed in a handmade box with leather covers / in einer speziell angefertigten Lederschachtel.‎

‎Original handwritten magic or divination book of the Batak-People (Sumatra) on tree bark. This special type of book called ,Pustaha’ or ,Pustaka’ is made of folded treebark (bast) and contains informations about magical practises and divinity in the form of text and drawings of magical symbols. It is handwritten in a syllable script derived from the Indian Sanskrit. The language is one of the dialects of the 6 groups of the Batak people, living around the vulcanic Toba Lake and in the surrounding mountains in northern Sumatra. The Batak had the reputation to be fierce warriors who practised ritual cannibalism until they became subjects of the colonial Dutch East Indian government. They have a rich animistic tradition with complex rituals (funerals etc.). In most Batak communities, only the priests, or ,datu’ were able to use the Batak script, and use it mainly for magical texts, divination, fortune telling, calendars and medicine. Only the datu and their students were supposed to know the secrets contained within these books. A rare item. cf..The history of the Book, J. Hauck collection N° 41. Image disp.‎