Marapu

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The Marapu religion (also known as Marafu in Sumba) is a form of ancestral religion that is practiced mainly in the island of Sumba in Indonesia.^[1] Marapu is also practiced in many more remote areas of Sumba and Flores. Both the Christians and Muslims on these islands tend to combine their faiths with Marapu.^[2] Since Marapu, like Kaharingan of the Dayaks, is not an official religion of Indonesia, and all Indonesian citizens are required to identify as a member of one of the religions sanctioned by law, members have chosen either Christianity or Islam to self identify. This religion initially developed among the Mbojo people (ancient Bima) who inhabited the eastern region of Sumbawa Island. It then expanded and spread further east. The rapid growth of the Marapu belief system on Sumba Island is vividly narrated in the Hikayat Putri Kalepe within Bo' Sangaji Kai (an ancient manuscript of the Bima Kingdom). According to the story, a noble family from Kalepe (a southern region of Bima) fled to Sumba Island after being ostracized for opposing the will of a ruler in Dana Mbojo (ancient Bima). The marriage of La Bibano, a noblewoman from Kalepe, to a prominent ruler’s son on Sumba Island significantly contributed to the dissemination of this belief. However, in Mbojo/Bima itself, this belief began to fade with the arrival of Hindu-Buddhist influences (Shiva-Buddha) in the 8th–9th centuries CE, and even more so during the 17th century when the Kingdom of Bima transitioned into an Islamic Sultanate. By then, only communities living in mountainous areas continued practicing it. This was documented by Zollinger in 1850 and Elbert in 1910, who noted that the belief was still practiced in the mountainous regions of Bima.^[3]