When I came to the village of Pamijahan for the purpose of fieldwork in June 1997, I met the chief custodian in his house. I asked the general question: how many sacred sites are there in this village? This was the first structured question to which I expected that the custodian would respond at length. But instead of providing an extended answer, he went outside and picked up a book (Khaerussalam 1996) from a vendor on the verandah. He said:

To the custodian, the book and its map of the spatial organisation of the village would tell readers all they needed to know. What you see in the map is what you find in ‘reality’. The map also shows the ‘path’ the pilgrims should take.

The map refers to its referents by similarities and pointing. Thus, a peta, a map, functions both as an iconic and indexical sign. If we follow arguments given by the custodian, the map is like a photograph or picture drawn in a realistic mode. From another perspective, the map can be seen as a ‘sedimented tradition’. (Tilley 1994) The map is not really an iconic picture that has a contiguous relation with its reference. It is a sign that refers to its reference through a mediation of convention or tradition. This sign may be called a ‘symbolic sign’ in which people have to learn about it in order to understand it.

The custodian’s narratives establish the relationship between the map and its reference. From the point of view of the custodian, outsiders have to know the sajarah, or history, and the main source for broadcasting this history is the custodian himself.

A wall-map size variant of this map is appended at the rear of this volume.

As a representation, the map cannot be detached from collective views. It reflects a landscape of human rather than physical geography. According to Tilley (1994: 31), “To understand a landscape truly it must be felt, but to convey some of this feeling to others it has to be talked about, recounted or written and depicted.”

The custodians supply villagers with a narrative, telling and showing the significance of interrelated places. This can be seen as a collective and ordered representation or symbol. The map is a legisign, that is, through iconic and an indexical modes it creates various interpretants.^[2]

So the map of Pamijahan may differ from a geographical map produced by a government or research institution called a ‘rational map’. Unlike a ‘rational’ map, the landscape in the Pamijahan map is not arranged following directional correlates as in an iconic map. Rather it presents them as a medium, contextualised, with temporal stages and contestations, that is as a symbolic map. Distance and hierarchy of place from a particular perspective are retained symbolically. Most notably, the centre is the saint’s shrine and other places are peripheral. The custodian’s map, like other nonverbal signs such as paintings, photographs etc. appeals to us in various ways. Unlike language which can be read linearly from the left to right or vice versa, the map offers spatial direction where we can start to ‘read’ from the left, right, top, bottom, or using a diagonal perspective. All elements of images in the map come to our perception simultaneously. In other words, we need a strategy to ‘read’ the map properly, and the ‘method’ for doing this is in fact verbalised and narrated by the custodian. Semiotically, if we use a reading strategy, then, we will find that the centre of the map is occupied by a shrine and the sacred village. If we read the map as a linear text then we will find ‘a path’ functioning as an index which is called a petunjuk by the custodian, that is, an indexical sign allowing the pilgrims to explore all the sacred sites shown in the map. Such and indexical sign is derived from tradition. A linear construction imposed on the map is a crucial point in our understanding of village culture. (This is further explored in Chapters 8 and 9.)

In fact, from the point of view of the custodian, the map is a pointing device that refers in particular to the paths in Pamijahan and surrounding areas Although the map’s label reads Petunjuk Jalan Anda untuk Berziarah di Pamijahan dan Sekitarnya” (“A Pointer to the Path You Should Follow When Undertaking Pilgrimage in Pamijahan and Adjacent Places”), we do not understand the significance of the interconnectedness of the places in the map until we hear the narration given by the custodian. And for the custodian, to give guidance by making the map and providing a commentary on it is obligatory and is an expression of his piety.^[3]

The custodian (kuncen) told me that the appropriate way to be aware of the meaning of the sacred backdrop in the village was by first disclosing the importance of the trail and places displayed on the map. As he told be this he often put his finger on to the map, explaining the route and the places found on it.

The map points to several sacred places, where, according to the custodian, visitors perform their pilgrimage in Desa Pamijahan. These are: the tomb of Shaykh Abdul Muhyi or Makom Kangjeng Shaykh; the grave of Bengkok or Makom Bengkok; the grave of Panyalahan or Makom Panyalahan; the grave of Yudanagara or Makom Yudanagara; and the grave of Pandawa or Makom Pandawa. Other sacred sites are the Sacred Mosque or Masjid Karamat; the sacred cave or Guha Karamat (also Guha Safarwadi); and finally the sacred village or Kakaramatan Pamijahan.

What is important for our discussion is the fact that two important narratives connect these places. The first five are sacred tombs that are genealogically linked to Shaykh Abdul Muhyi. The others are artefacts that are historically associated with the Wali's journey. These associations are evident only if the custodian wishes to narrate the two relevant stories. The map itself doesn’t uncover such interconnections. Only narratives can connect them.

Relating the narratives of genealogy to spaces, I will discuss three important phenomena in the sites. First, I will sketch the imagined space and hereditary lines, or kokocoran, as reflected in the guild of custodians in the village assembly, or the pakuncenan. Second, I will describe the relation between genealogy and particular places such as tombs, the sacred village and other villages in the valley. Third, I will discuss the relation between the itinerary of the Wali’s mystical journey, the path, and the places in the valley.