Initiation rituelle et arts martiaux: Trois écoles de kanuragan javanais (Ritual initiation and martial arts: Three Javanese kanuragan schools). By Jean-Marc de Grave. Paris: L.Harmattan, 2001, 380 p., pictures, annexes, glossary, bibliography, index. Reviewed by Noel B. Salazar (Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~nsalazar).

French anthropologist Jean-Marc de Grave, himself a practitioner of Javanese martial arts, wrote his doctoral thesis and several articles in French and Indonesian on martial arts. This book, which was awarded the Jeanne Cuisinier Price in 2000, is an elaboration of his doctoral research and is the result of many years of fieldwork on the island of Java. Using Louis Dumont's (1986) comparative method, de Grave gives his readers a detailed description of three Javanese martial arts schools, including the following aspects: the methods used, the ways of transmitting techniques and knowledge, the structural organization of the schools, the values adhered to by the members, the socio-cultural background, and the role the schools have played and still play in Javanese society.

The three schools presented are representative of three particular techniques: kanuragan, tenaga dalam, and pencak silat. The latter has been described by Clifford Geertz (1960) and Dutch and French anthropologists, but the first two techniques are rarely mentioned by Western scholars. Kanuragan is a kind of ritual initiation in which one acquires an aji, both a kind of knowledge and a skill. Each specific aji has particular characteristics. These characteristics vary from forms of invulnerability or exceptional force, over aji enabling to protect others, to helping people in need (especially taking care of the sick) and perfecting meditation techniques.

The aji has an existence on its own and transmits itself from person to person, or it maintains itself through establishing a particular relation with the world of the spirits and the gods. One of the characteristics of the aji is that it does not disappear when its possessor dies. A way to get rid of the aji is to hand it over to somebody who accepts it. The concept aji also refers to the magic formula, the mantra if you wish, through which one acquires and invokes it.  In Trah Tedjokusuman, the school de Grave gives as an example, the apprentice has to fast in order to obtain his aji. At the start of the fasting period, which is marked by an elaborated initiation rite, the master bathes the apprentice with sacred water. After disclosing the magical formula of the aji, the master tests the apprentice's courage by dealing him a blow with the weapon with which the aji is supposed to make invulnerable. The apprentice thanks the master and his family with a ritual meal. De Grave links the kanuragan rituals and practices with wayang kulit, Javanese shadow puppet theater, which has war as a major theme. Wayang kulit has been widely researched by Western scholars.

In most cases, it has been analyzed as a symbolic ritual and figurative artistic expression. De Grave's ethnographic work, however, clearly shows that the practices and aji invoked in the plays have a correlate in reality. This interpretation may shed new light on our understanding of wayang kulit. The ancient character of both the Javanese puppet theater and the aji transmission rituals implies that the practices implicated in both are also very ancient. De Grave even goes as far as to believe that we are dealing here with the real roots of Javanese martial arts. Tenaga dalam stands for 'inner force'. This vital force is quantifiable and its manipulation is the main activity of tenaga dalam schools. In a traditional Javanese context, tenaga dalam is classified under kanuragan activities.

However, its transmission forms are not as ritualized. Transmission used to be surrounded by the greatest secrecy and happened during an elaborated ritual linked to kejawen, the whole of ritual, ceremonial, and customary Javanese activities. Today, tenaga dalam schools take the status of associations and sometimes become active outside their original cultural zone. The most important organizations (Satria Nusantara, Prana Sakti, Marga Luyu) are spread all over Indonesia. Following the example of pencak silat, there are now so many tenaga dalam schools that they became institutionalized by having a National League of Tenaga Dalam Schools (Ikatan Perguruan Bela diri Tenaga Dalam, or IPBETADA). Founded in Yogyakarta in 1990, the creation of this federation is the logical outcome of the rapid development of schools at the end of the 1980s. The official protector is the Sultan of Yogyakarta, Hamengkubuwono X.

In the book, de Grave describes the Marga Luyu school, often considered the oldest tenaga dalam school in Yogyakarta. The school teaches apprentices special strides and breathing techniques, in order to stimulate the potential vital force. The practice is believed to have a beneficial effect on health, allowing people to develop skills such as the capability to cure certain illnesses through tenaga dalam. Pencak silat is a Malay martial arts, widespread not only in Indonesia and Malaysia, but also in Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, and the Philippines. According to the National Indonesian Pencak Silat Federation, there are more than 300 different currents (aliran) in Indonesia. The case study de Grave presents here is the Merpati Putih school, an institution linked to the Javanese silat style. To non-initiated, pencak silat resembles a kind of dance. Following other pencak silat schools, Merpati Putih uses breathing techniques aiming to control the vital energy of the body. It shares these practices with tenaga dalam. The major difference between the two, however, is that at Merpati Putih the breathing training is basically achieved through static positions, without moving one's legs. Merpati Putih, such as other tenaga dalam and pencak silat schools, organizes special training sessions on sacred places linked to the cult of Nyai Ratu Kidul, the Goddess of the Southern Seas. In sum, de Grave's book gives a synthetic but detailed presentation of three Javanese martial arts techniques.

Although some scholarly work has been done on pencak silat, this book is the first of its kind. It is not only worth reading by those interested in Javanese martial arts. De Grave's delving into the Javanese history of martial arts, linking them to other ancient practices and rituals, is fascinating. The book should also be of interest to those interested in transmission of knowledge and education. In a very comprehensive fashion, de Grave shows how the different martial arts techniques are transmitted differently. His descriptions allow us to better understand the weaknesses and limits of modern educational systems, such as the ignorance of the body, the spirit, and emotions. The author notes that scholars would gain much from understanding the martial arts in their efforts to understand current Indonesian society. Unfortunately, this book, written in French, still has no English translation.

(This review was uploaded to www.antarakita.net on January 28, 2004)