Table of Contents
The traditional political systems of the Malay and Bugis worlds, northern Sumatra and Java, produced a high frequency of female rulers by world standards (Reid 1988:169-172). Nonetheless the élite titles in these systems still tended to be inherited patrilineally even though very different descent principles, usually bilateral but even matrilineal, operated within society as a whole (e.g. Gullick 1958; Palmier 1969; de Josselin de Jong 1980:10; Millar 1989:25). Fox observes that élite patrilinealism within a bilateral system is only one variant, albeit the most common, of a widespread tendency for Austronesian élites to claim a separate origin from commoners and follow a distinct and socially exclusive descent system. These devices allow the élite to maintain precedence over restricted resources, and characterize societies which have undergone consolidation after an earlier phase of lateral expansion (Fox 1995). Moreover, as this paper will show in the case of the Makassar state of Gowa, the élite were further advantaged by a selective adoption of the kinship system prevalent in society as a whole. So even though the highest Makassar posts were held almost exclusively by patrilineal descendants, bilateral kinship principles (notably the real or symbolic transfer of authority through related women) underpinned the central position of the highest status individuals within society, and guaranteed the resilience of the system as a political entity.
As recorded ethnographically the Makassar and the Bugis, South Sulawesi’s two main ethnic groups, share a very similar social organization. Both are organized into overlapping sets of bilateral kindreds rather than sharply demarcated descent groups. Individuals can choose their particular affiliation, resulting in the crystallization of discrete networks of (usually) related individuals. Postmarital residence can be either virilocal or (more usually) uxorilocal, the spouses retain membership within their natal group, and the children enjoy homologous relationships with the families of both parents. While the flexibility allows the ready incorporation of newcomers, the communities maintain their stability through physical and occupational propinquity and some measure of endogamy. An individual’s behaviour is also strongly constrained by his or her status which is largely ascriptive, especially for women who, in the rôle of (principal) wife, mark the status attained by the more socially mobile men (Chabot 1950; Millar 1989; Acciaioli 1989).
The ascription of status is best described with reference to traditional, pre-twentieth century Bugis-Makassar society, since some of the social divisions have been formally abolished even if the effects still persist in more conservative areas (Röttger-Rössler 1989:28 ff.). Society was traditionally stratified into aristocrats, commoners and slaves. The aristocracy and its various ranks consisted of those who could trace their origins to the supposed founders of the Bugis-Makassar kingdoms, the white-blooded Tomanurung. In theory aristocrats were ranked by the degree to which their white blood, as traced through both parents, remained undiluted by the red blood of commoners; access to titles depended on nobility of birth, and only pure descendants reserved the right to rule a kingdom (Friedericy 1933; Mukhlis 1975; Acciaioli 1989). Despite the essentially bilateral manner of ascribing status, a patrilateral bias clearly existed, at least among the Makassar (Röttger-Rössler 1989:42-43; Mukhlis 1975:37-38).
Now, bilateral descent principles can readily generate a nobility through marriages between royalty and commoners, but clearly the origins of the white-blooded royalty must stand outside the bilateral network — hence Tomanurung, the descended one(s). In some cases this external derivation indeed occurred, as for example recorded with the Konjo Makassar living at Kasepekang in the Gowa highlands. In the late nineteenth century a lowland Gowa aristocrat called Daeng Bunding married into the Kasepekang nobility and was installed as Karaeng. The Kasepekang Karaeng and other prominent nobles now trace a real or fictional genealogical closeness to Daeng Bunding through his three official wives (Röttger-Rössler 1989:38-40). The observation by Rössler (1987:66), that the Kasepekang Karaeng descent group traces itself to a heavenly princess comparable to the Tomanurung who supposedly began the Gowa royal line, presumably hinges on this Daeng Bunding.
Moreover, the existence of pure white-blooded royals presupposes either a quantity of original Tomanurung amounting to a breeding population or massive inbreeding within the royalty. But neither was true of the Makassar rulers who instead clearly referred to their patriline as the critical pedigree defining purity of descent. The relevant ethnographic analogy comes from the Kasepekang Konjo whose élite regulate their membership through bilateral descent groups (pattola) consisting of the descendants of the ancestral holder of a hereditary title. Theoretically eligible candidates for the title, in practice men, are individuals either belonging to the pattola or married to a woman within the pattola. However, at any point in time, the core of the pattola lodges with the title holder and his sons (Rössler 1987:64-66). The prerogative of the noblest Kasepekang Konjo, to apply the strictest criteria for admission into the pure nobility (Röttger-Rössler 1989:43), combined with the patrilateral bias in the ascription of status, would appear to legitimize the usual patrilineal succession of noble titles.
Nonetheless the principle of bilateral descent is an equally intrinsic part of the Kasepekang system. It provides the flexibility which has allowed occasional lateral movements of titles in response to political machinations and individual aptitudes. We have already mentioned the case of Daeng Bunding who, as a prominent outsider, cemented his central position by marrying widely into the Kasepekang nobility (Röttger-Rössler 1989). The bilateral ideology also encourages potential title holders to strengthen their eligibility by marrying women close to the core, generating the endogamy towards the core which maintains the distinctiveness of the lineage. Marriages between equals belonging to different pattola are also sanctioned, reinforcing the social distance between nobles and commoners, and the attachments of the lesser pattola to the central pattola associated with the highest title of Karaeng. Last but not least the bilateral ideology retards the fissioning of descent groups so that the nobility in general, and each pattola according to its prestige, hold a central position within the social network (Rössler 1987:66-67).
Gullick (1958) documented a similar organization on a larger scale for the Malay peninsula states, leading him to coin the description “status lineages” in contradistinction to the classical patrilineal “segmentary lineages” of the Nuer. As Fox (1971) demonstrates for the Rotinese, a patrilineal society combining deep genealogical knowledge among the nobility and “genealogical amnesia” among the commoners can also generate status lineages which place individuals within an overarching social hierarchy. Fox (1995) generalizes further by noting that Austronesian societies ruled by a high élite typically present “apical demotion systems”. These systems continually reassess the comparative status of lines and their members depending on which line, and ultimately which member, holds the most prestigious title. This individual represents the apical point against which other lines (and their members) automatically lose status unless they can curtail their genealogical distance (Fox 1995). In the Kasepekang system, patrilineal descent acts as the usual criterion for succession to the apex, while bilateral descent both holds the other lines to the apex and allows movement towards (or even usurpation of) the apical point.
The present paper summarizes my analysis (Bulbeck 1992) of the Makassar texts, covering the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which describe the rise and fall of the Gowa empire. The analysis shows that Gowa’s sociopolitical organization was elaborated on the basic principles described for the Kasepekang Konjo. The elaborations concern Gowa’s annexation of previously autonomous territories, the development of an overarching hierarchy incorporating sets of titles of distinct origins, and the creation of a high royalty both distinct from but binding the lesser social echelons. All in all, expanding political power was associated with the ability to attract well-born brides, absorb previously independent titles and assure patrilineal succession of the lineage’s own titles, while decreasing political power was associated with the reverse. Furthermore the system showed a remarkable ability to legitimize political change.