The Roles of Liang Sites in the Settlement System of the Torajan Community

Abstract

There is a wealth of scientific literature written by scholars on the traditional settlements of the Torajan community, but none of those works discusses the roles of burials (liang) in the Torajan settlement system. This paper describes the liang and its roles in the settlement system of the Torajan community because, in fact, every tongkonan has its own pair, the liang. Liang, for the Torajan people, is regarded as banua tang merambu, which has an equal value to tongkonan—that is, part of their priceless heritage and bequest. The results of this study show that the liang site has a function as a burial site for a family or a particular community, such as a customary group. For the Torajan community, the burial complex is considered a place for ancestral souls to stay in. To please their ancestors’ souls, the burial complex (liang) is arranged so that the souls feel as though they are staying in their own home during their lifetime. An assumption that there is a similar function of the liang site to the settlement site (tongkonan) during the lifetime can be seen by the types, placement, and forms of burial container erong coffins, which reflect social stratification. The conclusion of this study is that the settlement pattern of the Torajan community is greatly influenced by its belief system, cosmology, and social system factors, but the physical environmental factor also contributes, which can be seen in small differences caused by the differences in the microenvironment of each area.