The tree of life is the source of all that all that lives, of all wealth and welfare. The idea of upperworld, underworld, and the tree of life as devine unity is met in many parts of Indonesia. Pohon hayat / pohon kehidupan (the tree of life) is the symbol of the highest unity.
In some part of Indonesia we still find the tree of life as a sacred tree planted in the centre of the village on a small stone terrace, on the terrace are placed the skulls of sacrificed kerbau (water buffalo). At certain festivities some times an artificial tree of life is placed and decorated...
From the earliest sources of Sansekerta (Sanskrit) literature, the tree of life is mentioned. Kalpataru *in Sanskrit kalpa (menas life and taru means tree* *scientific name is Barringtonia asiatica*, is a wish fulfilling devine tree in Hindu mythology. Often described as a grand tree jeweled in strings of beautiful precious stones, Kalpataru is the tree of life, a divine tree, a celestial tree or a spiritual tree. It is told, that the king of all Gods, Indra, took a kalpataru tree and plant it in his beautiful paradise filled with many shady trees and most juicy delicious fruits at the top of Mount Mehru, Java.
Certain Dayak believe in a god of the upperworld, symbolized by the hornbill and in a god of the underworld, symbolized by the water snake. Over this two deities there is still another god which comprises both of the upperworld and the underworld and is symbolized by the tree of life. Pictured below an example, a mat of very finely woven of rattan strips, from Kuala Kapuas, Borneo.
On the woven cloth from South Sumatra pictured below, we find the tree standing on a terrace. Woven on the cloth images of horns of kerbau (water buffalo), birds, and on the terrace there are human figures with sun shades and spears (maybe symbolizing the ancestors).
Another example of the tree of life is pictured here in the wood carving, from Cirebon, Java. Here the upperworld represented by a bird, the underworld by a snake and the unity by the tree of life (more less ss a leaf) springs of a lotus and rest on a mountain.
Gunungan. In the Javanese shadow play, the wayang kulit, before the performance begins and after its end and also in between the acts a fan shaped figure is place in front of the screen. The screen is called gunungan (mountain range), gunungan symbolizes the totality or unity, therefore equivalent to the tree of life. The gunungan may occurs in various forms and all sorts of motifs are worked up in it, but the principal motif is always the tree in the centre, the tree of life.
*most of this post is summerized from the great book of
Indonesische Siermotieven
Ragam-ragam Perhiasan Indonesia
Indonesian Ornamental Design,
By A. N. J. Th. a Th. Van der Hoop
1949
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