Tribus: The "Palang" Phenomenon and Its Historic and Socio-cultural Background in Southeast Asia.

2004, The "Palang" Phenomenon and Its Historic and Socio-cultural Background in Southeast Asia. Tribus, Jahrbuch 53, pp. 185--202, Linden-Museum Stuttgart (Germany).

In many museums, private collections, and antique shops we can find traditional Indonesian ceremonial cloth with a "palang motif" and in the voluminous literature on Indonesian textiles there are often pictures of fabrics with this motif.

Palang means 'cross' or 'cross bar.' The motif depicts a human penis furnished with a bar and/or protuberances on both sides of the glans or just behind it. The existence of penis inserts has been reported from South and Southeast Asia for 500 years. Several Hindu temples in Java and Bali contain statues which show a phallus equipped with two or four sizable balls fixed to the glans or just behind it. Most date from the tantric period, 14th and 15th centuries, although some are older. Statues of Bhima show these balls or bulky protuberances on the phallus. These symbols signify power, physical prowess, virility and sexual attraction, properties associated with supernatural power appropriate to rulers or leaders. The wives of such men wore a miniature phallus with balls made of precious metal as a pendant to show others what an estimable husband they had. The National Museum in Jakarta has a golden necklace of the 8th or 9th century with a phallus-shaped pendant with several small balls and a ring attached to it and there is also a bronze pendant in the form of a phallus with three voluminous balls.

Penis inserts were still in use until recently among the non-Islamic populations of "Outer island" Indonesia, particularly in Borneo, Sulawesi, Sumba, Nusa Tenggara and North Sumatra. Today, however, younger men are no longer fond of these devices. Using a palang during intercourse had two functions. One was to enhance the woman's pleasure during coitus; to satisfy the sexual desires of their wives (or girlfriends), men were willing to undergo penis perforation. The other was to avoid pregnancy. Using a wide-dimensioned pin as an "intercourse palang," the perforated urethra was blocked and sperm could not ejaculate. This was consequently an appropriate technology for family planning. I was often told by Punan and Basap people in Kalimantan that "we cannot afford to feed more than two children." When not being used for intercourse, a thin and often longish bar was inserted in the penis to avoid occlusion of the perforation. This type of palang I call a "placeholder" or "sleeper." (author, abridged)