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Sureq Galigo orLa Galigo is acreation myth of theLuwu fromSouth Sulawesi in modern-dayIndonesia, written down in manuscript form between the 18th and 20th century in theIndonesian languageLuwu, based on an earlier oral tradition.
It was adapted intoI La Galigo, a music theater work byRobert Wilson.[1]
The poem is composed inpentameters and relates the story of humanity's origins but serves also as practical everydayalmanac.[1] It evolved mostly throughoral tradition and is still sung on important occasions. The earliest preserved written versions date back to the 18th century, earlier ones have been lost due to insects, climate or destruction.[1] Consequently, there is no complete or definite version ofGaligo but the preserved parts amount to 6,000 pages or 300,000 lines of text, making it one of the largest works ofliterature.[2] The original Bugis language, in which also the production is sung, is now only understood by fewer than 100 people[2] but so far only parts of it have been translated into Indonesian and no completeEnglish language version exists either.[1]
The majority of extant La Galigo manuscripts can be found in Indonesia and the Netherlands.Leiden University Libraries keeps one of the most valuable manuscripts.[3] The Leiden manuscript consists of twelve volumes and relates the first part of the long Buginese epic. This largest coherent La Galigo fragment in the world was written in Makassar at the request of the theologian and scholar Benjamin Frederik Matthes (1818–1908).[4] In 1847 Matthes entered the service of the Netherlands Bible Society to study Bugis and Makassarese with the purpose of translating the Bible into those languages.
The text was written by Colliq Pujié (Arung Pancana Toa), Queen Mother of Tanete, a small kingdom inSouth Sulawesi. The manuscript is now part of the collection Indonesian manuscripts of theNetherlands Bible Society, given on permanent loan to theLeiden University Libraries since the years 1905–1915.[5]
Together with another La Galigo manuscript, held inMakassar, the Leiden manuscript was included in 2012 in UNESCO'sMemory of the World (MOW) Register as the second document from Indonesia afterNegarakertagama in 2008 to earn the acknowledgement.[6] In 2017, the Leiden manuscript has been made digitally available.[7]
Other efforts have been made to present the culture to a wider audience. Just last weekend, a theatre production called Galigo: The Chaos Within - based on the Bugis creation epic I La Galigo, one of the longest pieces of literature in the world - was staged at the Drama Centre at the National Library Board (NLB) building, by Indonesian students and alumni of the National University of Singapore.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) 575 pages.
