One of the important words related to the concept of space is karang. To comprehend its position in this cultural narrative is to discern, first, the category of relation between the word karang which denotes limestone, and its references as well as its interpretants. Karang is a word referring to kind of stone. Karang itself, borrowing Peirce’s terms, is both replica (token) and legisign (type). In other words, karang is in actual existence as the word but at the same time it is part of Sundanese vocabulary or type (signsign) which ‘shall be significant’ according to the convention (legisign). Similar to the word for stone (batu), karang refers to the concept of ‘solid’ or ‘hard’.
This can be tested against villagers’ experience. People in the regency of Tasikmalaya know that the Karang area is a centre of old teaching recognised as a centre of spiritual power such as black magic (teluh) as well as white magic.[9] They also have ilmu karang or knowledge of invulnerability. There is a saying familiar to people in this area referring to karang as a notion and a place embodying magic power.
Bedas weduk urang Karang, taina teu teurak ku parang.
Strong and invulnerable are the folk of Karang, even their faeces can not be penetrated by swords.
Furthermore, in the Dutch archives, Karang was known as a remote place where rebels were hidden and given assistance by the ”Haji Carrang” (Shaykh Abdul Muhyi). Thus, the word karang is actually an informational sign or proposition referring to its object by symbol (convention). Karang symbolically refers to the concept of invulnerability that ultimately is interpreted as part of identity.
Most manuscripts relating to Shaykh Abdul Muhyi similarly make reference to karang as a place. Some of them also describe what they call “the knowledge of karang” or ilmu karang. My informants and several manuscripts also refer to karang as a place of the ancestors known in Sundanese as kabuyutan.[10] Recently local philologists have found a number of Old Sundanese manuscripts preserved from the pre-Islamic period. These included the Amanat ti Galunggung, Shanghyang Siksa Kanda ing Karesyan and Waruga Guru. They were found in Garut and Tasikmalaya, places recognised as kabuyutan, or ancestral homes of Sundanese culture (Kossim 1974; Atja 1981: 1-9; Atja 1968). Urang Karang or ”people from Karang” in the Tasikmalaya district are seen then as belonging to a society with a distinct character. Mysticism and sorcery or teluh are often attributed to them. They are part of the ‘old world’ of Sunda.
Oral traditions from this place mention that before Shaykh Abdul Muhyi came to ‘Carrang’ (Pamijahan is part of the district of Karang), it was occupied by urang Hindu. What they mean by ‘Hindu’ is not Hindu in particular but Hindu designating pre-Islamic culture in general. According to local lore, once a Batara Karang (Lord of Karang) controlled all of the area now called Karang Nunggal. Batara Karang was a master of black magic. Shaykh Abdul Muhyi was sent to this place in order to defeat Batara Karang and convert him to Islam. Another story recounts how Batara Karang intercepted Shaykh Abdul Muhyi in his mystical journey, intending to kill him. However, Batara Karang was unable to draw his sword. It was stuck fast in its scabbard and its hilt become longer and longer. Batara Karang then summoned all of his powers to point his sword at the Shaykh’s face. According to the locals, Batara Karang failed to kill Muhyi because the volume and dimensions of his sword kept increasing so that he could not even hold it. Batara Karang then agreed to convert to Islam and come under the Shaykh’s tutelage.
The term karang is then permeated with sacred and historical concepts. The concept of kabuyutan as a place of the ancestors is, in fact, attached to the Karang area today. The custodian of Pamijahan believes that Pamijahan in particular, and the Karang area in general, have been important sources of religious clerics or ajengan. According to the custodian, all famous religious preachers in the eastern part of West Java have linkages with ancestors.
Thus, karang, as word, is also a ‘conventional sign’, and in Pamijahan this word has become an actualisation, or the ‘parole’ of the ancestors in Saussuerean terms. In other words, the signs of history, narratives, and discourse appear to be cultural narratives regulated by conventionalised signs.