When I first encountered Pamijahan and began to grapple with its many issues, I was most struck by the way the villagers manage the thousands of visitors who come to the sacred sites each day. Talking about organizational issues in Pamijahan is to talk about certain aspects of the past and about genealogy. From the chief custodian’s explanation of the guild of custodians (pakuncenan) it becomes clear how genealogy is used metaphorically for spatial arrangements.

The custodians have published a small book called 'Sejarah Perjuangan Shaykh Haji Abdul Muhyi Waliyullah Pamijahan, or ‘The History of the Struggle of Shaykh Abdul Muhyi of Pamijahan’. (Khaerussalam 1992) The book is regarded as an official written history in contemporary Pamijahan. It consists of four chapters representing historical sequences, starting from the birth of the Shaykh, his mission, his activities in West Java, and the subsequent management of the sacred sites. The most pivotal points regarding the spatial signs, which connect genealogy to the concept of space in the village, are found in Chapters III and IV. In Chapter III the custodian reports that, ''The council of the village initially agreed to distribute the right of management of the sites and the territory around the village to three groups (pongpok), derived from Abdul Muhyi’s three children from his first wife named Ayu Bakta”. (Khaerussalam 1992:39) Later a fourth group was added.

The 'source river', kokocoran, as seen from the diagram above, constitutes an imagined place and ritual space. Later, as will be discussed below, these four sources, kokocoran, were attached metaphorically to the four sides of the tomb of the Wali.

Genealogies are found in the abstraction of space, or pongpok. Pongpok literally means 'a side'. It is easy for the villagers to imagine their social relations based on a system of inherited relations. This pattern of relations has been concretized in the form of the four sides, or pongpok of the rectangular tomb. Pongpok not only refers to the walls or sides of the rectangular shrine or tomb but also is a metaphor for social structure and cultural space where various rituals can be conducted. What is unique to Pamijahan is that lines of descent, or pongpok, as a sub group are metaphorically associated with the rectangular shape of the tomb.

Shaykh Abdul Muhyi had four wives. The sacred territory is dominated by a family descended from the first wife who gave birth to four children. But, Muhyi’s fourth child, Paqih Ibrahim, moved outside the village and a son from the second wife assumed his right to the sacred space. From there, four sub-groups were derived in which precedence in controlling the pongpok of the shrine was accorded to the group from the first wife. From the information given by the custodians, the divisions of space were created later after pilgrims from outside the village began to visit the graveyard. The following is the narrative delivered by A.A. Khaerusalam with regard to the founding of the four pongpok.

The decision of the village council had a significant impact on the social life of the village. It not only determined relations among members of each family, but also symbolically distributed the wali’s blessing among the pongpok. It also created a body or ‘guild’ of custodians (pakuncenan) which consists of four of Muhyi’s descendants.

The kapongpokan, the symbolic spatial organisation based on the four pongpok is not a formal right to lands based on government policy. Rather it is a symbolic claim on lands which shows a traditional territory based the loyalty, karumaosan, of the people who live in this area. The traditional territory under kapongpokan can be divided into four imaginaary sections.

In the past, all these areas were called ‘charity lands’ perdikan or tanah pasidkah. (Quinn 2002) These ‘charity lands’ used to be free from land tax, but today the government has imposed a tax on this area. The term tanah pasidkah is now no longer used but rather kapamijahanan. In the local language, kapamijahan is a further nominalisation of Pamijahan, and in the villagers’ view is no less important than tanah pasidkah.

This is reflected in the loyalty of the people who live in the four areas to the east, north, west, and south of the shrine. They have the responsibility to maintain the shrine by donating their money, skills and labour. People in these areas have a leader called ‘the pongpok leader’ who will lead them in performing rituals. Outsiders cannot control the pongpok system. No-one is able to modify this system because, according to the ancestors’ testimony, “Green leaves will not grow at the top of the tree, nor will roots grow at the bottom”. (Ajengan Endang 1997)

The division of the space in Pamijahan shows a hierarchy in sign systems. According to the notion of pongpok, the shrine is located in the central village surrounded by sub-villages associated with the pongpok. The first pongpok occupies the South side, the second, third, and fourth pongpok occupy the East, North, and the West sides respectively.

Each pongpok has a leader (ketua pongpok). The notion of pongpok functions particularly in rituals, especially pilgrimages, Islamic celebrations and annual rituals associated with the shrine. In these rituals, each pongpok plays a very important role. For the ritual renovation of Muhyi's shrine, for example, every pongpok brings their own materials to the shrine to maintain the part of the shrine associated with their pongpok.

Furthermore, in pilgrimage rituals, the concept of pongpok influences social interaction. Custodianship, or pakuncenan, is a real translation of genealogy into ritual space in the village, since the custodians of the shrine come from the pongpok system. The position of chief custodian is life-long and an elected post. The custodian in charge of staff and the day-to-day running of the pilgrimages, is rotated weekly among the four pongpok.