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Mircea Eliade - The Dayak of South Borneo
Identifier
011392
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
The Dayak or Dyak or Dayuh /ˈdaɪ.ək/ are the native people of Borneo. It is a loose term for over 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic subgroups, located principally in the interior of Borneo, each with its own dialect, customs, laws, territory and culture, although common distinguishing traits are readily identifiable. Dayak languages are categorised as part of the Austronesian languages in Asia. Estimates for the Dayak population range from 18 to 20 million.
A description of the experience
Mircea Eliade – Shamanism Archaic techniques of ecstasy
The Ngadju Dyak of South Borneo have a peculiar conception of the universe although they know of an upper and a lower world, they do not regard our world as a third one but as the sum of the two others, for it at once reflects and represents them. All this, however, forms part of the archaic idea that the things of the earth are only a replica of the exemplary models that exist in the sky or the beyond