A Rainforest Religion Rooted in the Soul of Borneo

A landmark contribution to Indigenous religious studies and Dayak cultural scholarship. Required reading for anyone interested in the intersection of spirituality, ecology, and epistemic justice.

If you're planning a journey into the lush rainforests of Borneo, be prepared: the true encounter lies not just in its tropical monsoon or majestic rivers, but in meeting its first nation, the Dayak people. Particularly those who hold fast to their ancestral faith: Kaharingan. To understand the island, you must understand its soul. And to understand the soul, you must read this book.

AGAMA ASLI SUKU DAYAK: YA, KAHARINGAN — Sebuah Pendalaman Historis-Filosofis dan Epistemologis is a remarkable monograph by two authoritative voices: Prof. Tiwi Etika, a Dayak philosopher and scholar of indigenous ethics, and Masri Sareb Putra, M.A. an ethnologist, prolific writer, and insider to the Dayak world. This is not a detached academic observation, it is a lived knowledge. The book emerges from both profound intellectual grounding and existential intimacy with the subject.

The richness of this work lies in its fusion of theory and testimony. The authors do not merely describe Kaharingan—they have walked it, prayed it, suffered and celebrated within it. That experience translates into a text that is as rigorous as it is rooted. It opens with a historical-philosophical framing of Kaharingan not as animistic residue, but as a full-fledged religion autochthonous to Borneo what classical scholar Cornelis Bakker (1971) insisted was an authentic, place-born religiosity.

The authors push this claim further, engaging global religious philosophy, Cicero’s De Natura Deorum, Rudolf Otto’s mysterium tremendum et fascinans, and bringing them into resonance with Dayak concepts like helu (sacred power), hiden (the inner divine), and tempon telun (thresholds of mystery). Here, Kaharingan is not a local curiosity. It is a sophisticated cosmology.

They show how the sacred text Kitab Panaturan is not merely ritual prescription but a cosmological narrative of ethics, ecology, and identity. They also chart the negotiation of Kaharingan's modern identity—especially in the context of its recognition in Indonesia as a religion affiliated with Hindu Dharma. Instead of losing its soul in the process, the authors argue, Kaharingan adapted without betraying its roots.

What makes this book exceptional is not just its scholarship, but its authenticity. You feel the pulse of the forest, the breath of the ancestors, the ache of marginalization and the fierce joy of cultural revival. This is what happens when a philosopher of the land and a chronicler of its people come together to write with heart and clarity.

This is not only a book about Dayak religion. It is a contribution to global religious studies, indigenous epistemology, and postcolonial spirituality. It belongs on the shelves of scholars and in the hands of anyone seeking to understand how faith can grow from the soil and still reach the sky..*)