THE AESTHETICS OF PADUNG-PADUNG AS A MATERALIZATION OF WOMEN’S IMAGEIN KARO CULTURE

• Main Author: Ariani
• Format: Dissertations
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/83508
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Padung-padung is a type of jewelry shaped like double spiral earrings made of massive silver, deviating in size and weight from conventional earrings. This jewelry is thought to have been worn by Karo women as both jewelry and a status symbol between the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. Among other Karo tribal jewelry, padung-padung is a unique piece of jewelry that distinguishes itself through its distinctive shape and size. Padung-padung, like other local cultural artifacts in Indonesia, is unique and beautiful, but it also carries a profound philosophical meaning enriching the Karo tribe's customs and traditions. As a status symbol, padung-padung materializes messages and values into the physical reality by manifesting the use of artifacts such as jewelry. This artifact represents aspects closely related to the image of Karo women in Karo society culture, encompassing social patterns, the patriarchal system, and Karo society's identity. This condition aligns with Karo tribe's historical cultural construction, especially in the way that padung-padung as jewelry serves as a marker of communal identity for the woman in the upper-class social strata. However, this requires further validation, so its existence must be thoroughly investigated from physical and non-physical aspects of beauty. This qualitative research uses ethnographic and visual ethnohistory methods, through aesthetic and cultural approaches, which are presented in a descriptive analysis. Data on Karo culture, Karo women, and padung-padung, obtained through literature searches, visual documents, interviews, and field observations are analyzed by applying the theory of aesthetic morphology. Colonial archival photographs became one of the important data to study and scrutinize Karo culture in visual form. The results of the analysis on the aspects of Karo culture, Karo women, and padung-padung show paradoxical findings. The most basic thing that represents this condition can be seen in the physical form of padung-padung. In terms of its physical form, padung-padung has the shape of a spiral with a stalk at the top, which leads to the basic structuralism principle of binary opposition. The double spiral symbolizes women, the stalk symbolizes men. The concept of binary opposition, if further developed, is related to the understanding of complexio oppositorum, which is the union of opposites. This understanding then underlies the thought of paradoxical aesthetic logic, which refers to the aesthetic wisdom of the local culture of the Karo people. Other findings that show paradoxical conditions in the relationship between Karo culture, Karo women, and padungpadung are: microcosm-macrocosm, transcendent-human, male-female, acculturation-enculturation, glorify-stigmatize, self-image-social image, and superiority-inferiority. The results of this study validate that the embodiment of padung-padung is a form of materialization of the image of Karo women who are respected and come from noble families. This research also shows that the conflicting elements in the physical and non-physical form of padung-padung have a relationship with the prevailing aesthetic concepts in Karo culture. Along with the times, the function and meaning of padung-padung underwent several changes in the span of time when this jewelry was still worn, began to be abandoned and no longer worn, until its existence in the present day. It is hoped that this study will complete historical records relating to padungpadung and the social structure of Karo society, allowing the younger Karo generation to understand the messages conveyed through the physical form of padung-padung. With this information, it is hoped that this finding will enhance public familiarity and appreciation for padung-padung in the past and will become inspiring creative endeavors for the sustainability of local wisdom in the creation of fine arts and designs that are in line with current trends.