Book of Ritual Knowledge - Sumatra, Indonesia (1895)
The book contains magical formulas, divinations, recipes, and laws. The pustaha is written and compiled by a Batak magician-priest known as the datu (or sometimes the guru). A datu wrote the pustaha in Batak script using an ancient language style.
The book contains magical formulas, divinations, recipes, and laws. The pustaha is written and compiled by a Batak magician-priest known as the datu. A datu wrote the pustaha in Batak script using an ancient language style. The pustaha is used by the datu as a reference for him and for his students for all kind of information related to magic, rituals, prescriptions, and divination.
The magic knowledge contained in a pustaha is known as the hadatuon ("knowledge of the datu"). Johannes Winkler, a Dutch doctor was sent to Toba in 1901 and learned the pustaha from a datu priest. The result of his study divided the content of the pustaha into three types of main knowledge: the art to sustain life (white magic), the art to destroy life (black magic), and the art of divination.
What happened to all the historic books in Sumatra? Something similar to this:
Of the thousands of books written by the ancient Maya, only three - possibly four-survive today. On one night in July 1562 Bishop Diego de Landa destroyed thousands of Maya books, but throwing them on a bonfire. Overnight, the literature, science, and myths of the Maya was lost
