{{Short description|Indonesian ossuary}} {{italic title}} {{Cleanup lang|article|date=August 2021}}[[File:Sandung 101014-7588 mp.JPG|thumb|right|Details of a sandung of Pesaguan people in Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan. Note a sculpture of a dragon above it.]] '''''Sandung''''' or '''''sandong''''' is the ossuary of the Katingan, Ngaju, and Pesaguan people native to southern and central Kalimantan in Indonesia who still remain of the Kaharingan religion, as well as the Dayak people of neighbouring Malaysian state Sarawak, altogether in the island of Borneo. It is an integral part of the {{lang|nij|Tiwah}} ceremony of the Ngaju people, which is basically a secondary burial ritual where the bones of the deceased are taken from the cemeteries, purified, and finally placed in a sandung.
==Form and types== thumb|left|A sandung in Central Kalimantan ca. 1915. The ''sandung'' is a wooden ossuary shaped like a small house, with ornate roofs, windows, doors, and miniature stairs. Ideally, a sandung is made of ironwood or any fruit-bearing tree like that of the durian,{{sfn|Mersat|2021|p=115}} although today lighter wood from any kind of trees can also be used.{{sfn|Schiller|1997|p=59}} The house-shaped ossuary will actually be brought by the deceased to paradise to become their house. ''Sandungs'' are painted in bright colors and decorated with carvings representing various religious symbols and patterns. The base of the sandung container is usually decorated with foliage pattern representing the mythical tree of life. Figures of man and woman painted on both side of the miniature door is said to represent a couple which would marry and produce children who will assist their parents in guarding the repository.{{sfn|Schiller|1997|p=60}} Other figures painted on the walls of the sandung represents different Ngaju deities from the Kaharingan folk religion.{{sfn|Waterson|1999|p=49}} Painting or carving of moon and stars is painted on the downriver side of the sandung, while painting of the sun is depicted on the upriver side; these astronomical landmarks are related with the journey that must be passed by the souls on their way to the Kaharingan paradise, the Lewa Liau.{{sfn|Schiller|1997|p=60}} The roof of a sandung is usually decorated with a type of wild chicken. This bird, known as the ''piak liau'', will become a possession for the deceased in the afterlife.{{sfn|Schiller|1997|p=60}}
Some sandung are built to contain the bones of a single individual, while others for fifty or more persons.{{sfn|Schiller|1997|p=60}} In general, the Dayak people of the Kahayan region prefers large sandung capable of storing remains of many kin, assuring that they will form another household in the afterlife.{{sfn|Metcalf|Brookes|2014}}{{sfn|Metcalf|1999|p=135}} The Dayak of the Katingan region prefer smaller sandung. A sandung for an individual person (''sandung tunggal'', "single sandung") is usually build for persons who had died a "bad" or unnatural death, or other reasons which deemed the person remains is inappropriate to be interred with the bones of other family members.{{sfn|Schiller|1997|p=60}}
A sandung is normally set high above poles, although there are some sandung simply placed on the ground (known as ''sandung munduk'').{{sfn|Schiller|1997|p=60}} Some sandung reach the height of {{convert|20|ft|m}} while others at the height of only {{convert|4|ft|m}}. The poles supporting the sandung are often carved with ferocious faces, bulging eyes and protruding tongues. This figure represents the animate essence of the sandung (''ganan sandung'') which protects the inhabitant of the sandung from potential threats.{{sfn|Schiller|1997|p=60}} The main pole of some sandungs take on the motif of the ''ijuk'' (''Arenga pinnata'') palm.{{sfn|Mersat|2021|p=115}}
There are many varieties and shapes of sandung, among those discovered in the villages of Ngaju people along the Kahayan River include:.<ref name="sandung">{{cite journal | last1 = Iban | first1 = Carlos | last2 = Elfrida | first2 = Tuti | date = November 2017 | title = Arsitektur Religi Pesta Tiwah Dayak Ngaju | journal = Atrium: Jurnal Arsitektur | volume = 3 | pages = 101–112 | doi = 10.21460/atrium.v3i2.15 | url = https://starsykpn.ac.id/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Jurnal-ATRIUM-Vol-3-No-2-Nov-2017_MP120_.pdf | issn = 2442-7756 | eissn = 2684-6918 | accessdate = 31 October 2023 | language = id}}</ref> *''Sandung buwuk'', a sandung made from a tree trunk and carved with a single opening. This type of sandung is very uncommon. *''Sandung tunggal'', a sandung which stands on a single pole. *''Kariring'' or ''sandung kariring'' is a long sandung supported by two poles. *''Sandung keratun'' is a sandung supported on four poles. *''Sandung raja'' is an enormous sandung supported on more than four poles. *''Sandung samburup'' is a Chinese jar in a small, open-sided hut. An uncommon type of sandung. *''Sandung munduk'' is a sandung built directly on the ground. *''Sandung tingang'' is a brass container placed in an open-sided hut with a roof carved to resemble a hornbill. *''Pambak'' resembles a stone or wooden crypt. Pambak is not buried, and sometimes valuables are placed in the crypt.
Unlike graves which is usually located some distance downriver away from the village, sandungs are located in the center of villages. Some sandungs are hundreds years old.{{sfn|Schiller|1997|p=61}} A collection of sandungs are kept in the Balanga Museum, Palangkaraya.{{sfn|Schiller|1997|p=59}}
=={{lang|nij|Tiwah}} festival== The ''sandung'' is an integral part of the {{lang|nij|Tiwah}} dead festival. The {{lang|nij|Tiwah}} is the most important festival of the Ngaju people, where the soul of the dead is ensured safe journey to paradise. During the {{lang|nij|Tiwah}} ceremony, the bones of the dead are dug from the cemetery and carried back to the village. The bones will be purified, cleaned and anointed with oil and gold dust by their closest kin e.g. their children or their grandchildren. After the purification, the bones are carefully wrapped in cloth and placed in the sandung.{{sfn|Metcalf|Brookes|2014}}{{sfn|Metcalf|1999|p=135}}
==Modernity== Since the mid-1960s, the increasing availability of cements means that cement ossuaries are becoming more popular. These are usually of ''sandung munduk'' type, the type of sandung which stands on ground. Fragments of tile and mirror are pressed into the drying cement to decorate it.{{sfn|Schiller|1997|p=60}} As more Dayak people adopt Christianity or Islam, sandung is becoming rarer, but can still be seen in a few place of Central Borneo/Kalimantan. Many ancient sandung and sapundu (mortuary pole) are stolen because of their historic value.<ref name="kapuas">{{cite web|url=http://www.kapuas.info/2013/02/bukan-sapundu-asli.html|publisher=kapuas.info|title=INFORMASI KAPUAS: Bukan Sapundu Asli|access-date=2016-11-27}}</ref>
==Gallery== <gallery mode="packed" widths="160px" heights="160px"> File:Sandung 101013-7585 mp.JPG|Sandung Tunggal in Ketapang, West Kalimantan File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Model van een knekelhuis TMnr A-1545.jpg|Sandung Tunggal in a museum collection File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Model van een knekelhuis TMnr A-1544.jpg|Sandung Munduk without wooden pole File:Sandung 1.jpg|Side of a Sandung filled with paintings of crescent moon, stars, and celestial spirit with two wings File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Geestenhuis bij Pangkoh aan de Kahajan-rivier versierd met vele beelden en schilderingen TMnr 10001020.jpg|Historical image of a Sandung surrounded by Sapundu File:SANDUNG SOEKAH.jpg|A Sandung Raja in Palangka Raya city File:Sandung Keratun.jpg|Sandung with four wooden poles File:Sandung Munduk.jpg|Sandung Munduk without any poles and put directly on the ground File:Sandung 2.jpg|Side of a Sandung filled with a painting of sun </gallery>
==See also== {{Portal|Indonesia|Malaysia}} * pātaka – stilted food storehouse made among the Māori of New Zealand
==References== {{commons category|Sandung|lcfirst=yes}} {{reflist}}
==Cited works== {{refbegin}} * {{cite journal |last1=Mersat |first1=Neilson Ilan |title=Collective Memories and Narratives of Iban Kua' |journal=Jurnal Borneo Arkhailogia (Heritage, Archaeology and History) |date=Dec 2021 |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=107–119 |doi=10.51200/jba.v6i1.3519 |url=https://jurcon.ums.edu.my/ojums/index.php/JBA/article/view/3519 |publisher=Universiti Malaysia Sarawak |doi-broken-date=12 July 2025 |issn=2600-8726}} *{{cite book |editor-last=Fox |editor-first=James J. |date=1999 |series=Indonesian Heritage |title=Religion and Ritual: Secondary Mortuary Rituals |last=Metcalf |first=Peter |location=Singapore |publisher=Archipelago Press |isbn=9813018585 }} *{{cite book |date=2014 |title=Indonesia's Hidden Heritage |last1=Metcalf |first1=David |last2=Brookes |first2=Stephanie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AKcqBQAAQBAJ |location=Jakarta |publisher=NOW! Jakarta Publications |isbn=9786029797152}} *{{cite book |date=1997 |title=Small Sacrifices: Religious Change and Cultural Identity among the Ngaju of Indonesia |last=Schiller |first=Anne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sEjzUQDYaVQC |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195357325}} *{{cite book |editor=Gunawan Tjahjono |date=1999 |series=Indonesian Heritage |title=Architecture: Houses for the Dead |last=Waterson |first=Roxana |location=Singapore |publisher=Archipelago Press |isbn=9813018585}} {{refend}} {{Indonesian architecture}}
Category:Dayak people Category:Death customs Category:Kaharingan Category:Ngaju people Category:Religion in Indonesia Category:Architecture in Malaysia Category:Architecture in Brunei