The term Parmalim or malim describes the followers of the ''
Malim religion'' (''Ugamo Malim'' or Batak nation religion), the modern form of the traditional
Batak
Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Tob ...
religion. People who are not familiar with the Batak language may erroneously assume Parmalim is the name of the religion rather than its practitioners.
At the end of the 19th and in the beginning of the 20th century the Parmalim movement, which originated in
Toba Toba may refer to:
Languages
* Toba Sur language, spoken in South America
* Batak Toba, spoken in Indonesia
People
* Toba people, indigenous peoples of the Gran Chaco in South America
* Toba Batak people, a sub-ethnic group of Batak people from N ...
lands spread to other areas of the Batak lands. Especially in the lower
Karo
Karo may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Karo people (East Africa), a group of tribes in East Africa
* Karo people (Ethiopia), an ethnic group from Ethiopia
* Karo people (Indonesia), the indigenous people of the Karo Plateau in North Sumatra
Languag ...
lands, the 'dusun' the Malim religion, became very influential as an expression of anti-colonial sentiments at the turn of the 20th century. Today the majority of Parmalim are
Toba Batak. The largest of the several existing Parmalim groups has its centre in Huta Tinggi in the vicinity of
Laguboti on the south shore of
Lake Toba.
The Malim religion has some similarities with Islam, including a prohibition on the consumption of pork and of blood, and the practice of wearing turbans. Modern Malim deny that these practices were derived from Islam.
One of the first leaders of the Parmalim movement was Raja Mulia Naipospos. Modern Parmalim trace their heritage to
Sisingamangaraja XII, a Batak leader in the fight against the Dutch, whose spirit is still alive in his successors. According to Raja Marnakkok Naipospos, a modern Parmalim leader, the faith has often be slandered as devil worship 'Campaigns branding Parmalim as devil worshippers still exist today', he said, 'Batak not familiar with Malim regard it as a heresy. But in fact, Malim recognizes the existence of the one and only Almighty God'.
(Mula Jadi Na Bolon in
Batak mythology
Batak mythology is the original belief that was once adopted by the Batak people of North Sumatra, Indonesia, namely before the arrival of Protestant, Catholic, or Islamic religions. There are various '' tarombo'' (ancestor myth) versions written ...
).
See also
*
Pemena
References
Religion in Indonesia
Batak
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