Tracing the Story of “Mystic Synthesis” in Sundanese Local Incantations

This paper aims to discuss the acculturation of Islamic spectrum and local customs with special reference to the “cultural change” mechanism that reflected in Sundanese local incantations. In the tradition of Sundanese oral-literature, particularly those are widely used by “pananyaan” (local shaman), there are several magical spells that creatively assimilate with the Islamic symbols. It will provide a preliminary exploration on how they adopted as supplement and even transformed into local incantations. This kind of assimilation has shown the reception of Sundanese people which also established by local determinations. In one sense, it also reflected – in Ricklefs term – the “mystic synthesis” which regarded as the “major gate” for Islamization of the archipelago. In this case, the local genius is one of the key terms through which the indigenous articulation of Islamic spectrum can be explained.

Introduction from the Editorial Boards :: i Acknowledgments :: iii Table of

INTRODUCTION
The Sundanese Islam -and Indonesian Islam in general -is a story of an array of creative hybrid, in which Islamic spectrum and local genius interact each other. One of the earliest Islamic legacies in the archipelago is mystical insight as well as magical powers. The transition from mystical Hindu-Buddhism to mystical Islam was presumably eased by conceptual continuities (Ricklefs, 2007: 3). Mystical Islamic teachers, perhaps claiming supernatural powers, seem a more plausible agent of conversion in Javanese court circles, which had long been familiar with the mystical speculations of Hinduism and Buddhism (Ricklefs, 2001: 6). Islam would first gain adherents from the pasisir (northern littoral). However, started from the reign of Sultan Agung (1613-1646 AD.) of Mataram-Islam, the first major reconciliation took place and the intensification of Islam in Java land began to arise. This is what Ricklefs refers as "the mystic synthesis" (Ricklefs, 2007: 3).
pages [75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90] spiritual forces (Ricklefs, 2007: 6). From the opposite view, the articulation efforts of Islamic account is also represented within the indigenous local customs. For that reason, the Islamization of archipelago was widely regarded as a fine grain and the peaceful one. In Sundanese context, the living culture of "pananyaan" (local shaman) has shown the presence of an acculturation of Islam and local culture, which in turn also recorded the story of Sundanese culture with its primordial nature from past periods until now.
Sundanese people -especially in Priangan region -consider pananyaan (literary means "who is asked or the place/someone to ask) as someone who has ability to reveal the world of unseen and give advices on all problems brought to him. The ultimate meaning of pananyaan today encompasses the significance of shaman, traditional healer, spiritual practitioner, astrologer, and -in turn -Islamic priest (ahli hikmah). The reconciliatory moments between Islamic expressions and Sundanese account were reflected in their incantations or magical spells (mantra), especially that of pananyaan, which is believed to have the significant influences. It is proven by plenty of spell's compositions which creatively combine the Quranic verses and Sundanese language. In this case, Qur'anic verses and Islamic expressions were adopted as a supplement and even transformed into local incantations. This indigenous articulation of that Islamic holy text has represented such a picture of local aesthetic reception in the occult term. Indeed, the living phenomenon of pananyaan and their magical spells have also reflected a continuation of what had been going on before pre-Islamic Sundanese culture.
This paper aims to provide a preliminary exploration of some aspects of the acculturation between Islamic spectrum and Sundanese local customs. It focuses on the traces of "cultural change" that reflected in Sundanese local incantations; in which the Qur'anic text and Islamic expressions were adopted as supplement and even totally transformed into an incantation. It would like to describe the living-culture of pananyaan, through their incantation, as the medium through which Sundanese people adapt to changes and solve the problems of existence.

Research Question and Previous Studies
Up to present day, the existence of pananyaan in Sundanese culture remains the important one.
Some of rural Sundanese indigenously regard the extrasensory experiences as the sacred and otherworldly forces that have vital roles for their life. In this case, the existence of that old local shaman is the continuation of what had been going on before pre-Islamic times. The local "hybrid incantations" is one of the representative features of the acculturation of both, Islamic spectrum and local genius. Therefore, the question that becomes the main focus here is "how Islamic spectrum and local genius interact each other, as represented in various Sundanese local incantations?".
Many researchers have conducted studies on the local incantations in the archipelago. Heru Saputra in his book which previously originated from his Magisterial Thesis in Gajah Mada State University, Memuja Mantera: Sabuk Mangir dan Jaran Goyang Masyarakat Suku Using Banyuwangi (Saputra, 2007), has provided a deep anthropological explanation about two famous (Banyuwangi) incantations, Sabuk Mangir and Jaran Goyang. Both are well-known as spells for gaining people's affection (pengasihan) which are used not only by a shaman or sorcerer, but also casted by ordinary Using people, those who don't possessed certain magical expertise. He concluded that using the incantations, in spite of their role as the living oral-literature, has indigenously become the feature of daily life practices.
Sundanese incantation in particular, has also become the interesting field to be explored. There are several representative studies in this field. Asep Yusuf Hudayat in his study entitled Tinjauan Fungsional Mantera Sunda (Hudayat, 2010), has provided the anthropological examination on the realm of the user or the caster of the incantations. It principally discusses the functional relation between the incantations and its casters, with the case study of ritual practices held by the rural  (Suryani, 2001), also tends to explain the function of incantations in Sundanese society. The existence of incantation (mantera) can be seen both in positive and negative sense in the mind of Sundanese society. Accordingly, she maintains two classification of Sundanese incantations based on the purpose of the user into "white" and "black" incantation. The study entitled Mantera Guna-Guna Dalam Kehidupan Masyarakat Sunda, wrote by the same author has provide the elaboration on the Sundanese "black incantation" (Suryani, 2003).
Yusep's study entitled Pelestarian Tradisi "Jampe" Pada Masyarakat Kampung Naga Tasikmalaya (Yusep, 2014), has preceded the study of incantations in Tasikmalaya context, with special reference to "Kampung Naga", one of the traditional villages that still maintains the original local customs and mostly refuses modern stuffs. It focuses on the preservation of jampe or local spell for traditioal healing. Functionally, it concluded three kinds of jampe: sasalad (spell for physical/ medical illness), kabadi (spell for magical illness) and pamake (spell for various activities).
The study of Sundanese incantations seems to be dominated by pure linguistic and anthropological concerns in Sundanese local context. Therefore, the intersection between Islamic elements and Sundanese local genius remains neglected and needs more exploration in a lot of terms.

Scope and Method of Research
The scope of this research is limited to the incantations in Sundanese-Priangan culture. The classification of Sundanese culture can be hypothetically divided into four major clusters: (1) The research also limited to the incantations which are collected in Kawalu village in Kota Tasikmalaya, a city in southeastern part of West Java, Indonesia. It was previously a part of Tasikmalaya regency (kabupaten Tasikmalaya). The history of Tasikmalaya goes back to Galunggung as one of the spiritual centre of Sundanese Kingdom before Pajajaran era with Queen Batari Hyang (12 th century) as the sacred figure. After the intensification of Islam in Sunda region, the center was moved to Pamijahan with Syekh Abdul Muhyi (17 th century) as the sacred saint. Afterwards, the Islamic centre spread out over the pesantren (Yahya, 2013: 8).
In spite of accepting modernity, the people of Tasikmalaya still don't fully discard the occult belief. The belief on the Supernatural beings remains the nucleus of their believe system across generation. They believe in such invisible matters and ask the pananyaan to solve the various problems such as healing the ilness, seeking a job, rediscovering the lost items, gaining rank and power in the bussiness, familiy welfare, etc. Accordingly, there are various occult knowledge which are usually possesed by a pananyaan including; paririmbon (horoscope), implengan (prophecy), kinasihan (spells to win affection), singlar (spells to expel the evil creatures), jampe (spells for healing), pages 75-90 jangjawokan (spells for various activities), amalan (special Islamic prayers), and many others.
Kawalu village, particularly, is regarded as one of the most "occult" places in Tasikmalaya. In this case, Tasikmalaya people also recognise several places as being "the most occult", comparing to other places, such as Kawalu, Pancatengah, villages located nearby mount Galunggung (Singaparna, Cigalontang, Cihanjuang, etc.), and villages in southernmost part of Tasikmalaya (urang kidul), such as Pamijahan, Karangnunggal, Cikalong, etc. The majority of occult knowledge was believed originated from mount Galunggung and Sancang forest (leuweung Sancang) in Garut district as two major magical sources, and from numerous pesantren (traditional Islamic boarding school) in Tasikmalaya as the Islamic origins. It is also important to highlight that almost all villages in Tasikmalaya have their own local shaman or

pananyaan.
This research uses an ethnographic method. According to James Spradley, ethnography is the work of describing culture. The central aim of ethnography is to understand another way of life from the native point of view (Spradley, 1980: 3). Participant-observation and depth-interview are methods used to collect the incantations or magical spells and all the material related to the purpose of this research.
To analyze the data (incantations, magical spells), the researcher uses several theories. First and foremost, John Haviland's theory of "cultural change" would be applied to construct the stages of acculturation as reflected in selected pattern of incantations. According to Haviland, there are three mechanisms of change; innovation, diffusion, and cultural loss (Haviland, 2008: 347-352). To trace the native's ability to grasp another culture (Islamic account; Qur'anic verses), the reception theory would also be applied. On the other hand, Hans Robert Jauss, insists that the audience of literature doesn't merely play a passive or formal role. Indeed, the historical life of a literary work is unthinkable without the active participation of its addresses. Literature is "dialogic", it exists only in the form of a dialogue between text and reader (Habib, 2005: 721). In the context of cultural transformation, aesthetic reception also has a major role. According to Milton L. Grahm, the aesthetic has a preconditioning effect on latter judgement. The appreciation of aesthetic is a creative act, similar to the act of creation itself (Grahm, 1969).
Levi Strauss' notion about structural analysis on myth would also relevant to explain the inner relation between the incantations and Sundanese culture as a whole. Strauss states that mechanism of human mind is the major accentuation in explaining the myth. In this case, he emphasizes the "unconscious nature of collective phenomena". In this case, he juxtaposes language in the one hand and myth in the other hand (Ahimsa-Putra, 2013: 75). He also maintains that structural linguistics shift from the study of conscious linguistic phenomena to the study of their unconscious infrastructure (Strauss, 1963: 33).

Islam and Cultural (Mystical) Challenge in West Java
In the early 15 th century, Syekh Hasanuddin, also well-known as Syekh Quro from Campa (Vietnam) was reported to be the first Islamic propagator who has established a pesantren-like institution in Karawang, northern littoral of West Java. It has paved the way for Islam to penetrate the core of the Hindu Pajajaran Kingdom. At the same period, Syekh Datuk Kahfi also established the similar institution in Pasambangan, Amparan-Jati, which has provided a way for the establishment of an Islamic kingdom (kraton). In return, pesantren gained full recognition, legitimation and political support from the kraton (Muhaimin, 1995: 205-206). Hence, this attempt was also continued by Sunan Gunung Jati who established a pesantren in Dukuh Sembung. In the late 15 th century, Cirebon has become the center of disseminating Islam in West Java, under the leadership of Sunan Gunung Jati as the religious and political leader.
The intensification of Islam in Sunda region begun after the fall of Sunda Kingdom in 1579.
The Sultanates of Cirebon, Banten, and Mataram played the key roles in this process of Islamization. Between 17 th and 18 th century, the influence of Javanese culture also flows into Sundanese region along with the massive Islamization. Therefore, Sundanese literary forms, like dangding or guguritan and wawacan, is highly influenced by Javanese culture (Rohmana, 2012: 9). The first stage came from Demak and the second was from Mataram-Islam (Yahya, 2013: 10). From Northern littoral, the Islamic propagators continued to penetrate the "back country" of West Java. In this case, Syekh Abdul Muhyi in Pamijahan, South Tasikmalaya, is one of the most important supporter who penetrated the Southern part of Priangan in late 17 th and early 18 th century AD. (Christomy, 2008).
Particularly, the history of Tasikmalaya goes back to mount Galunggung as one of the spiritual centre of Sundanese Kingdom before Pajajaran era with Queen Batari Hyang (12 th century) as the sacred figure. After the intensification of Islam in Sunda region, the center was moved to Pamijahan with 'Abdul Muhyi (1640-1715 M.) as the sacred saint. Afterwards, the Islamic centre spread out over the pesantrens. (Yahya, 2013: 8).
In this stage, the case seems to be different from Syattariyah sufi order (tarekat) legacy that can be found in Abdul Muhyi's connection. The Syattariyah connection is one of the early major sufi orders (tarikat) in the archipelago. Although there is no reliable information about its origin, the Syattariyyah adherents have claimed 'Abdullah al-Syattar as the founder of tarikat. In the archipelago, most of the genealogical order are originated from 'Abdurrauf al-Sinkili (d. 17..), one of 'Abdul Muhyi's teacher. He was regarded as one of the major Syattariyah propagator in the archipelago. In the case of Tasikmalaya, 'Abdul Muhyi's Syattariyah order also connected to al-Sinkili as his teacher (Arifin, 2015).
In another case, the Southernmost part of West Java, particularly Tasikmalaya, is widely regarded by most -until recent times -as the "occult zone". Tasikmalaya people recognize this part as the culture of pakidulan, in which the mystical life and believe are naturally high. They also demographically regard the Southernmost part as the place where local shaman (dukun, tukang teluh) concentrated. Accordingly, similar to Ricklef's argument on the "mystic synthesis" in the Islamization of Java, the negotiation, reconciliation, and acceptance of an array of local spiritual forces and the indigenous articulation effort of Islamic account in the Islamization of Tasikmalaya can also be traced.
In this case, with Cirebon and Banten, -which was established with the support from Demak -and lately Mataram, as three major agents of Islamization, the identity of Sundanese-Priangan mystical culture, especially Tasikmalaya, has already dealt with Javanese Islamic account, which is the product of such "mystic synthesis". Thus, it can probably be explained that the intensification of Islam in West Java was "politically" and "culturally" continuation of the of Sultan Agung's legacy of the "mystic synthesis" in penetrating Islam from the North littoral of Central Java (Demak) which represented the "putihan zone" to the "back country" of Java-land which is regarded as the "abangan zone". The following section deals primary with the traces of that synthesis through local incantations.

Sundanese Puisi-Mantra: The Poetry of Power
Native Sundanese in Kawalu, -before the advent of the "paradigm shift" -consider some words in Sundanese language to be powerful and have the significant influences. Thit shift means a lately paradigm in which the occult beliefs, especially regarding the use of local "incantation", were henceforth generally left behind. It is not my intention here to discuss how this shift occured; which determined by complex reasons. Although it is too difficult to demarcate them, based on my field informations, in the case of Kawalu, for example, the years 50's until 70's as the last period of the occult belief, due to the advent of so-called "modern stuff", such as electricity and modern medicine in that village. Nowdays, with pages 75-90 kampung adat and certain people (elderly people, pananyaan (shaman), paraji (local midwife), etc.) as the exception, local incantation is not used anymore in daily life.
The identification of a speaker is also important. The words, uttered by those who possess a higher social and spiritual position (like elder people, dukun, pandita, lately pananyaan and ahli hikmah, etc.) are believed to be more powerful. The identification reflected what Michael Johnstone refers as "low magic" and "high magic". The former, is also called "natural magic". It was widely practiced in the Middle Age, and still in some parts of the world. It combines the arts of withcraft, spellcraft, hexcraft, which utilizes herbs, amulets, and other simple objects along with incantations to bring about the desired results. The latter is performed to bring about union with the divine. The power of nature, conceived as being either angelic or satanic, is controlled by spirits, using words and the names of sacred gods (Johnstone, 2006: 27).
These special words had originally become a "living oral-literature" (sastra lisan) of Sundanese people and generally expressed in poetical form. Confirming Pattrick Dunn, every culture in the world has poetry, even cultures of those who do not have writings, and they regard their poetry as sacred and magical thing. Poetry is designed to produce a magical effect called -in English -the "incantation" (Dunn, 2008: 47).
In case of Kawalu, various local incantations are well-remembered by some elder people, and certain incantations are still used today. In the time of youth, Nini Itoh (64) was regularly casted the following spell (jangjawokan) before taking a bath while patting the water repeatedly: jaya aing jaya cai, jaya cai jaya aing (my glorious is water's glorious, water's glorious is my glorious) She got the spells from her grandfather, Aki Sarjuki (born in the late 19 th century and died around 60's). She believed that the spell was casted to reach the longevity and welfare of life like the water, one of major elements in life, that will exist throughout the time. She also has a collection of incantations that is still in use until today, namely the jajampean or spells for healing. One of the popular examples is a spell for a passive baby who is late to learn to walk. While massaging the baby's knee, she casts this spell repeatedly: turuluk lutung tuur monyet (be fast like lutung, 1 with the knee of monkey) Aki Saripudin (77), also an elder in Kawalu, states that using incantation was common in his youth among rural people in the sidelines of their activity, and he did it long time ago. Along with the stronger influence of Islam and the advent of "modern" tools such as the electricity, these incantations were slowly replaced by pure Islamic expressions and some prayers, such as bismillah, syahadat, shalawat, ayat kursy, and others. Now days, he uses these Islamic prayers while doing various activities. He states that the absence of pure Islamic prayers in the past is due to the ignorance of most people at that time. Unlike recent days, someone having Arabic and Islamic knowledge was very limited at that time.
In addition to the pure Islamic prayers, the socalled domestic Islamic prayers can also be found. To expel the Satan and other evil creatures, Aki Amir   Due to its nature as the living hereditary and the difficulty -if not impossible -to confirm the first composer, the authorship of puisi-mantra, it is rather regarded as collective living literature across generations. The spells are not spoken in vain, but specifically used in magical behavior to bring about the desired results with supernatural forces. They are casted with the aim of mastering and using the magical powers for certain purpose. In addition to above-mentioned types of puisimantra, there are also spells that used to harm or destroy other people, such as the spells of tukang teluh/witches (Rusyana, 2009: 109). Along with the dawn of academic purpose of Sundanese literature, the so-called "written puisi-mantra" has been collected by several researchers in specialized books and then become the subject for the lesson of Sundanese modern literature. However, my intention here is to provide the "living puisimantra" which is still used by certain people, particularly by the pananyaan.
In anthropological view, however, language is not simply a matter of combining sounds according to certain rules to come up with meaningful utterances. It is important to remember that languages are spoken by people who are members of distinct societies (Haviland, 2008: 100). The most important symbolic aspect of culture is language-using words to represent objects and ideas. Through language, Sundanese people, for example, are able to transmit culture from one generation to next generation for its "continuity" and "change".
It is important to note that all above-mentioned puisi-mantera -and the following incantations in this paper -are used the "new Sundanese" language that are largely influenced by Javanese Mataram. They imposed its influence in Priangan area since 17 th century AD. Before that one, the so-called "old Sundanese" (Sunda Buhun/ Kuna), in both of language and script had existed as a distinct language in West Java (Moriyama, 1996: 153).
The following incantation is the Sundanese pre-Islamic magical spell which used "old Sundanese language" (Sunda Kuna). it is usually casted in the ritual of cleansing the soil/area (Gunawan, 2010: 159):

Ong paksa ma Guru pun
Ong, the owner of will is Guru, forgive Pasaduan kami di na li(ng)ga Si Jaja, we beg permission to Lingga si Jaja li(ng)ga si Jantri Lingga si Jantri

Bawa tamah Batara Kala put away the darkness of Batara Kala
Tinggalkeun sarining lemah to leave the essence of soil Apan gawe sang pandita by the labor of Pandita Accordingly, it can probably be described that the vast majority of Sundanese incantation, not to mention all of them, after the intensification of Islam through three major political agents (Cirebon, Banten, Mataram), uses the "new Sundanese" language which is widely applied in the post-17 th century AD.

From "Hybrid" Incantation to Pure Arabic-Amalan
According to Federspiel, Islamic mystical practice is an important expression of religion among Southeast Asian Muslims during early stage. Traditional shamans were in place when Islam arrrived and the new religion did not essentially change their roles. Regarding "power" as residing in religious objects and language, the traditional shamans converged with Islam in a fragmentary way, even as they had been merged with Buddhism and Hinduism in their time. Accordingly, some shamans attempted to incorporate Islamic knowledge, symbols, and prayers as part of their practice. However, it was a specialized extraction without regard to the core meaning of the religion itself and concentrated on the use of religious terms and expressions in an attempt to draw power from their use (Federspiel, 2007: 68-70).
Accordingly, when describing the earliest attitude of Javanese to the initiation of the newly established Islam, Ricklefs offers three kind of appreciations; (a) for some Javanese, a new faith may have been a means of gaining another source of supranatural power, (b) for some, it was the key for salvation., (c) for others, it was anathema (Ricklefs, 2006: 2). In the first case, the tradition of casting incantations is the main tradition. Malinowski argues that the most important element in magic is the spell. It is part of the magic which is occult, handed over in magical filiation, known only to the practitioner (Malinowski, 1948: 4).
However, Islam unwittingly gave these pre-Islamic local practitioners some new material. Arabic expressions, particularly the key Islamic ones, such as "the confession" (syahadah), "the remembrance" (dzikr), the "opener" (bismillah) to the Qur an, and the "magnificent" (takbir), have replaced some incantations; sometimes replacing but more often supplementing the Sanskrit expressions (Federspiel, 2007: 65). In many ways, this stage of "combining" Islamic expression with the local incantation has representatively recorded the development of assimilation of both elements.
Regarding the mystic as a culture, there is a "change" in the construction, from one period to another one. In this section, the preliminary sketch on the stages of depelovement would be explored through the linguistic-anthropological analysis in various pattern of the "hybrid" Sundanese incantations. Several "hybrid" incantations were gathered during my fieldwork from several pananyaan and elder people in Kawalu village, Tasikmalaya. In regard to the language composition, the way of mixing the spells can be divided into several "creative" ways: 1. Pure Arabic incantation (amalan/wirid) 2. Pure Sundanese language with Islamic content (theme) 3. Mixture of Sundanese language and Arabic Islamic expression 4. Mixture of Sundanese language and special Qur'anic verses

Sundanized Qur'anic verses
First and foremost, such basic assumption can be employed with fully consideration to the "lingustic composition" as the ultimate measure. That the transformation of the incantations (from pure Sundanese, Sundano-Arabic, to pure Arabic) is juxtaposed with the "cultural change" of Sundanese mystical tradition. This led us to assume that; the more Qur'anic verses transformed, the more syncretic stage took place, and local custom hence regarded as superior to the so-called Islamic mysticism, and neither is the exact opposite, nor the "pure" Arabic incantation (amalan) has shown the superiority of so-called Islamic mysticism. In Haviland's chronological sense of "culture change", mechanism, innovation and diffusion stages are reflected in that "hybrid" incantations, and the cultural loss is marked up by the domination of "pure" Arabic incantation.
Although it has such linguistic plausibility, this way of chronological thinking, however, has a blind spot for several reasons. The first and foremost, due to the absence of the "dating" of incantation's composing for the first time, constructing the chronological stages based on mere "linguistic composition" without regarding to the historical symbol in the content, is unfairly leading to the state of disarray. Besides, as it will be mentioned later, replacing incantations with Arabic expression or Qur'anic verses, is not always equivalent to replacing the full account of local mystic tradition itself.
The following section deals with the examining several pattern of incantations and historical contents. Using Haviland's idea of three mechanism of "cultural change", selected Tracing The "Cultural Changes" in Sundanese Local Incantations Asep Nahrul Musadad incantations will be divided under three kinds of mechanisms; an innovation stage, a difusion stage, and a cultural loss stage. It is important to note that this categorization is built on "the ways" or "mechanism" in which mystic synthesis takes part either as representation of the linguistic composition or the historical information.

The Innovation Stage
According to William Haviland, the ultimate source of all cultural change is innovation; any new idea, method, or device that gains widespread acceptence in a society. Primary innovation is the creation, invention, or discovery of completely new idea, method or device. Secondary invention is a deliberate application or modification of an existing idea, method or device (Haviland, 2008: 348).
This way of innovation is seemingly reflected in several mixture incantations, in which Islamic expression and Qur'anic verses are adopted as supplement without regard to the core meaning of the religious account. The following is a "Sundanese-Qur'anic malevolent incantation" used by several Sundanese local shaman and pananyaan, to harm other people: In addition to the so-called "white magic" that widely practiced by pananyaan, it is true that there are Sundanese people practicing the socalled black art by weaving malicious spells which then widely known as the "black magic". There are also spells used to harm other people, such as the spells of tukang teluh or sihir (witches, withcraft). In this case, it can probably be described that local shaman, which had long been familiar with the mystical speculations of Hinduism and Buddhism, perhaps adopting Islamic expression, pieces of Qur'anic verses and several Islamic teaching to gain such new supranatural power in their "black" incantation.

Harm or Something Else
In above magical spell, the special pieces of Qur'anic verses are used as supplement for the "black" incantation. Moreover, the Islamic portion seems to dominate all the spells composition; It contains Islamic expression (bismillah and lailahaillalloh) and teaching of the several angel names. Three separated words; munir, basir, nadir, is seemingly reflected Q.S. al-Ahzab: 45-46. The next section was clearly referred to QS. al-Baqarah: 243. The chosen pieces, however, is the "cruel" phrase; in fear of death, God said to them: Die! This has obviously indicated the consciousness of the suitability of the meaning, although with the absence of historical sense of the verses and religious motives.
In this sense, the local shaman's reception of the verses can be explained. They choose these Islamic expression and Qur'anic verses in the light of local occult tradition without regarding to the "white" and "black" purposes. In the context of the intersection between pananyaan's magical spells and Islamic account, there is such unique interpretation concerning "the malevolent spells" and "the black magic". According to Ki Ade Atis, a pananyaan in Kawalu village, the nature of all of magical knowledge has actually a neutral status. Due to the absence of clear standard between "white" and "black" spells, the measurement is eventually back to the intention (pamaksadan) of the spell caster.
In this case, the emergence of the "black" Quranic incantations can be explained. There are pages 75-90 some Islamic expressions and Quranic verses that used as supplements for the "malevolent" spell to harm people. To the contrary, there are also several witchcraft practices which actually have a good purpose. Accordingly, this kind of "paradox" incantation has reflected the early stages which Federspiel refers as "the incorporating" Islamic knowledge, symbols, and prayers as part of local shaman's practice in specialized extraction without regarding to the core meaning of the religion itself (Federspiel, 2007: 68-70).

The Difusion Stage
The spread of certain ideas, customs, or practices, from one culture to another is known as difusion (Haviland, 2008: 350). The spreading of certain incantations in several different regions has also become a part of cultural difusion in the web of mystic-synthesis in West Java. In the case of Kawalu village, there are several incantations coming from outside region. The following is a Cirebonese-origin incantation which is also used by several pananyaan in Tasikmalaya region;

Nu ngadeg di Gunung Jati who dwelled in Gunung Jati
Anggala cahyaning hurip as the light of the prosperity La ilaha illalloh ...

There is no God but Allah
The composition of the spell consists of the compound expressions of Sundanese, Javanese language and Arabic expression. It is started by one of the the most common expressions in the Islamic tradition, namely the opener of the Qur'an (basmalah) and closed by the statement of tauhid (oneness of God). Apart from this Islamic confession, the spell has also asserted another symbol concerning the "totemic figure" which in turn indicated the difusion of the incantation in Tasikmalaya. This is what Malinowski refers as the "mythological allusion"; the reference to ancestor and culture heroes from whom the magic has been recieved (Malinowski, 1948: 155). The phrase "nu ngadeg di Gunung Jati" (who dwelled in Gunung Jati) seems to make a reference to Sunan Gunung Jati, one of the Nine Saints in Java land (Wali Songo) who spread Islam in West Java. Thus, it can probably be described that this incantation was composed by Sunan Gunung Jati's followers , and hence it gained widespread usage during the intensification of Islam in West Java.
Another shared incantation in all over Java land is the aji-kulhu which also reflects such intersection between Q.S. al-Ikhlas and local occult tradition. The word kulhu is from the first verse of Q.S. al-Ikhlas and simply become the name of the surah (Mustapa, 1998: 186). Sundanese people -and Javanese in general -have a very simple way to give a name of something. Most of them are based on the similar sound according to the hearing, such as ketuk, because it is herad as tuk. Likewise, goong, according to the sound of these instruments, bedug, kendang angklung, lesung, etc. all based on their sound. Accordingly, the first word of Q.S. al-Ikhlas simply became the name of the surah.
There are at least 7 kinds of aji kulhu; kulhu geni, kulhu komara geni, kulhu nangtung, kulhu absor, kulhu derga-agung, kulhu buntet and kulhu sung-sang. Most of aji kulhu use Javanese or Cirebonese language, except kulhu geni (Qur'anic pieces) and kulhu nangtung & kulhu absor (Sundanese). The most famous one among them is kulhu geni that is believed to have an influence fo rexpelling Satan and other evil creatures. The spell goes as follows: The spell maker choses some piece of Quranic verses to be arranged as a magical spell. The spell consists of Quranic pieces and some Islamic expressions. It is started with basmalah, the spell is continued with two Qur'anic pieces. Firstly, kulhuwallohu ahad, the first chapter of QS. al-Ikhlas which is the major Qur'anic verse to the establishment of Islamic monotheism (tauhid). Secondly, kun payakun (the last pieces of several suras; al- Baqarah: 117,Ali 'Imran: 47,59,especially QS. Yasin: 82 and the others) that is famously recognized as the "creative" word of God when He wants to create something. In a sense, there is no direct meaning-relation between the spell and the "expelling" the evil. This incantations, however, has gained popularity among spiritual practitioners all over Java land and hence it becomes the most representative sample for the stages of difusion of incantations.

The "Cultural Loss"?
Most often people look at a cultural change as the accumulation of innovation. Frequently, however, the acceptance of a new innovation results in cultural loss -the abandonment of the existing practice or trait (Haviland, 2008: 352). In Sundanese mysticism context, the emergence of the lately established Islamic term ahli hikmah has played a major role in shaping and determining the direction of Islamic mysticism.
Ahli hikmah -as understood by Tasikmalaya people -has been identical to those who expert in Islamic occultism, which is different from that of ajengan or Sundanese Islamic propagator in many ways. The ancient usage of the Arabic "hikmah" which refers to "wisdom", lent itself to the evolution of its meaning; science, philosophy, and the others (Goichon, 1986: 3,377). However, people of Kawalu simply conceive this word in the occult term as "Islamic supernatural knowledge". This sense of meaning most likely has its legacy from some Arabic "occult" books which are studied in pesantren. it should be mentioned, particularly, al-Buny's Manba' Ushul al-Hikmah (al-Buny, 1999) 2 from 13 th century ADone of the major hikmah books for advanced student in many pesantren in Tasikmalaya, in addition to Syams al-Ma'arif, Khazinat al-Asrar, al-Aufaq, Taj al-Muluk, etc. -as one of the determinations responsible for shaping such meaning for hikmah.
According to Mustapa's late 19 th century reports concerning on Sundanese local customs, the double roles of religious propagator and supranatural practitioner that possesed by an ajengan have gained more popularity in Sundanese-Priangan society (Mustapa, 1998: 215). In this stage, the so-called Arabic occultism began to flow into Sundanese speaking area and grasped by Sundanese Muslim. Some of those Arabic occult sciences are domesticated. Mustapa mentions the "aji saepi" (saepi angin, saepi banyu, saepi geni) as one of the high-level domestificated Islamic supernatural sciences at that time. However, most of them are transmitted and practiced in their Arabic formulas. Some people call them amalan or aurod. The most popular example is "hijib" (hijib nawawi, hijib sadili, hijib akbar, etc.), and "hirz" (hirzul yamani, etc.) which are considered as wellknown Islamic supernatural powers possessed by ajengan or ahli hikmah and they are from Muslim saints (para wali). For quite lower degrees, there are also a lot of amalan for various purposes, such as ayat tujuh (seven verses of the Qur'an) and ayat lima belas (fifteen verses of the Qur'an).
This in turn leads one to except that the stage 2. The title itself is reflecting the framework of occultism; The Source of Hikmah; major four treatises on 'ilm al-hikmah concerning the science of the secret of letters (al-'ulum alharfiyyah), telesmology (al-wifqiyyah), special prayers (alda'awat), and the others pages 75-90 of "cultural loss" in Haviland terms as mentioned earlier, has come to the scene. Although it is plausible with fully regarding to the "lingustic" matter; the Arabic usage has replaced local language, however, the receptionary practices is not represent the complete "loss" of culture in practical dimension. Thus, replacing the "word", for instance, does not always mean to replace the grand narration on which someone based their activities, as represented in previous section. Neverthless, Hodgson's notion on the term "Islamicate" is highly relevant in this elucidation. It refers not directly to the religion, Islam, itself, but to the social and cultural complex that is historically associated with Islam and Muslims, both among Muslims themselves and even among non-Muslims (Hodgson, 1974: 1,59).
In the case of Kawalu, for instance, A Anwar (43), a pananyaan who represents the most "puritanical" character among ahli hikmah or pananyaan, has generally abandoned all previous shamanic practices, such invoking ancestral spirit and using local incantation. The practices have generally become Islamic. He leads a majelis dzikir held at home and uses the special Islamic prayers for the purpose of his practices in overcoming various problems brought to him. Nevertheless, he still defends the local identity, beside water (cai) as the main device, some kind of local herbs are still used for healing some diseases and the "exorcism" practices.

Contesting Language, Power, and Culture
Malinowski mentions that the foundation of magical belief and practice is not taken from the air, but is due to a number of experience actually lived through, in which man recieves the "revelation" of his power to attain the desired end (Malinowski, 1948: 62). Accordingly, the magical power, either high magic, as possesed by a pananyaan/shaman or low magic which contained in various local Sundanese incantation (puisi-mantera) casted by rural farmer for instance, is actually determined by experiences and series of practical activities, in which they engaged.
The spell caster believes in natural relation between word and world. The wedding of both has ultimately brought something into being. Linguists such as J.L. Austin, classified the "verbal act" like those above-magical spells as performative utterances which is a part of doing something (Hale and Wright, 1998: 64). It is a phrase that doing something and making some changes of the world at the moment of its being said. It is not a report of an event, but the event itself (Patrick Dunn, 2008: 48-49). The search for how magical spells work is still enigmatic. Malinowski states that all obsessive desires in magical purposes are based on the universal psycho-physiological mechanism (Malinowski, 1948: 62). According to Leidgh Mudge, the influence of subconscious forces stimulated by suggestion is the main force for all occultists and those who believe in them (Mudge,1920: 291-292). According to Levi Strauss, there are at least, three complementary conditions in the efficacy of shamanic practices: (1) the belief of shaman in their practices and techniques to have a significant influence, (2) the belief of a patients to the magical power of a shaman, and (3) the collective beliefs and hopes of a community as a gravity field (Strauss, 2006: 97,73).
Performative utterances are therefore said to have "illocutionary force", simply means that the power of the words is not in its interpretation or its being brought by another person, but in the words themselves (Patrick Dunn, 2008: 49). For that reason, many pananyaan in Sundanese speaking area, are not posssesed a proper knowledge of Arabic phonology (makharijul huruf). According to proper Arabic pattern, most of pananyaan's Arabic speeches might be totally wrong. But the case seems to be different, due to the arbitrary aspect of word. In the context of the meeting of diverse cultures, it is a collection of sounds upon which all people agree referring to certain object or idea. In magical spells, pananyaan make a link between words and idea. This obviously affirms that the relation between words and power is always shaped by such local determinations.
In this sense, the reception role finds its momentum. Based on Ki Ade's explanation, called Tracing The "Cultural Changes" in Sundanese Local Incantations Asep Nahrul Musadad "the subconscious forces stimulated by suggestion" -in Mudge's term -is equivalently comparable to the faith (kayakinan) or the attitude of expectancy. It is true that the spell's composition is ultimately very important in making the efficacy, but above all, he states that all of magical spells, whether it is Arabic (amalan), Sundanese, Javanese, or even Sanskrit incantation, mainly depend on the faith (kayakinan) and the qualified power possessed by the casters. He states that sometimes, the result of amalan or Arabic spells is not better than the efficacy of local incantations due to the unqualified caster.
The so-called "Sundanese-Qur'anic malevolent spell, " for instance, is representatively a "hybrid" incantation composed by local practitioner in syincretic way. Thus, it is fairly clear that such incantations are ultimately shaped by local determination engaged in both spell of composer and caster. The usage of Qur'anic verses for "black" purposes is a part of the shamanic reception regarding that verses, without paying attention to the religious motives.
In the light of Strauss notion of myth and language, all of the incantations represent the inner linguistic-structure that are equivalent to the grand narration of Sundanese culture in its intersection with the Islamic spectrums. This kind of inner structure can be found through the structural analysis of the composition, as follows (case of Sundano-Arabic malevolent spell): Since the language is juxtaposed with the culture as a matter of human mind, the structural composition of that incantation indicates the same pattern as the indigenous Sundanese incantation. Each has a suggestion, power allusion, and purpose. In this case, the difference of the linguistic surface does not always mean the difference in the inner structure. In the level of unconscious linguistic, all local Sundanese spell and hybrid incantations (Sundano-Arabic), are actually the same. They have the same structural pattern and functionally used for the same purposes.
The structure below is the composition of old Sundanese incantations: It can be concluded that pure Sundanese incantations (old Sundanese and new Sundanese) and the hybrid one (Sundano-Arabic) have the same structural pattern. The case seems to be different from the pure Arabic amalan. There is at least, a shift in linguistic pattern into more complex forms. The following Arabic phrases are the representatives of several basic form of Arabic 'amalan:

Fifteen Verses of The Qur'an
Ayat Lima Belas (fifteen verses of the Qur'an) is one of the most famous 'amalan that consist of special fifteen verses of the Qur'an. Each verse has several merits and functions. The fifteen verses are the pieces of the following surah: