An Analysis on TunjukLangit (FINIALS): The Decorative Elements of the Kelantan
Traditional Houses
Mohd Sabrizaa Abd Rashid*1,Siti Rohamini Yusoff2,Mohd Nurfaisal Baharuddin3,Kartina Alauddin4 1,2,3,4Knowledge & Understanding of Tropical Architecture & Interior (KUTAI)Research Group,
Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying,
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Perak Branch,Seri Iskandar Campus,Seri Iskandar, 32610 Perak, Malaysia
*mohds637@uitm.edu.my1
Article History: Received: 10 November 2020; Revised: 12 January 2021; Accepted: 27January 2021;
Published online: 05April 2021
Abstract: Decorative elements are an important component in Malay traditional architecture. Apart from its unique construction technology and building form, decorative elements become the major factor contributes towards signifying the characteristics and identity of Malay traditional architecture. In Malaysia, every state has its own traditional house. The identification was based on roof design, spatial organisation and decorative elements. General study carried out by previous researcher indicates that there are at least 16 (sixteen) decorative elements in the traditional Malay architecture and it varies from every state. These decorative elements are none structure element of the house located at the roof, wall, doors and windows as “additional members” for aesthetic, functional and symbolic reasons. This paper discusses the analysis on one of themajordecorative elements that characterised the East Coast traditional houses which are the TunjukLangit or finials. Thirty-nine (39) selected houses from Kelantan were observed and investigated. Thirty-three (33) were found to have TunjukLangit as decorative element. Through visual data and verbal data collected, typological and chronological analysis were carried out. The study found that despite its similarity in design and form there are few types of TunjukLangit were identified. Those findings havebroadened up the discussion and debates on the theory of the traditional Malay architecture and can be used as guidelines by architects and designers.
Keywords: Finials, TunjukLangit, Traditional Malay Architecture, Wood carving
1. Introduction Definitions:
1.Encyclopædia Britannica (2019) defined Finial, in architecture as the decorative upper termination of a pinnacle, gable end, buttress, canopy, or spire. In the Romanesque and Gothic styles, it usually consists of a vertical, pointed central element surrounded by four out curving leaves or scrolls. When the form it decorates has crockets (small, independent, sharply projecting ornaments, usually occurring in rows), the finial may be formed of four or more crockets surrounding the central upright. Finials in the form of candelabrum shafts occur frequently in early Renaissance work. The term now applies loosely to any small pinnacle, knob, or other decorative feature terminating a vertical motif.
2.TheEncyclopaedia of Malaysia : Architecture (2003) defined finial as ornament that tops a spire, pinnacle, or each corner of a tower or roof.
Finials defined as crowning structures on gables and they predominate on gable-ends for architectural, aesthetic and superstitious reasons. Architecturally it has been used in Central Europe, Africa and Asia in the form of decorated wooden column or shaft. Decorated wrought iron placed on the topmost points of roofs or domes also can be found in some buildings especially churches and mosques whilst artistically woven straws heaves, horns and human or animal skulls were also used as finials in African and Asian houses. (Oliver, 1997)
2. Literature Review
Waterson (2012) reviewed the variations of finial from the Southeast Asian houses. The existence of finials at the roof is for aesthetic, symbolic and ritualreasons.Cross horn type and gable finials were the most foundparticularly in Thailand and Indonesia traditional houses. Ornamental gable finial in the form of Naga onBuginese houses in South Sulawesi, houses in Helma Hera, Mollucas, Borneo and horns of buffalo and buffalo heads at many traditional houses in Sumatera, North Thailand are some examples. Naga(the mythical water-snake of the underworld of the South-East Asian cosmologies) and buffalo are believed to serve protective function for the inhabitants. Wealthier houses had more elaborated decorative finial or finely carved ornament indicates that to serve as the sign of rank or social status. Similar practices were reported in Japanese sacred Shinto shrines of Ise and Izumo and other Austronesian houses.
Figure 1.Variations of Cross horn finials reported in Waterson
In Malay vernacular architecture, finial is TunjukLangit.Literallylangit means the sky and in Malay idioms, langitrefered to anything that is located above. Finial is known as tunjuklangit or “pointing to the sky”. In building construction terminology, the king post in a traditional Malay house is also called as tunjuklangit. For this particular discussion finial or tunjuklangit for the Malay traditional house is therefore the ornament or object that is located on top of a roof, pyramidal roof or dome or/and at the end of roof pediment or gable and not the king post as discussed earlier. It is a piece of decorative element in an upright position at the tip of the gable end; commonly used in houses and palaces in Peninsula Malaysia. In general, this type can be further categorised into few basic types;
i. batang (rod), ii. bulat (rounded) iii. silang (cross) iv. bunga (floral). v. others
JenisBatang (rod)
This type oftunjuklangit are formed using a piece of timber in an upright position at the tip of the gable end;commonly used in houses and palaces in Peninsular Malaysia especially to the architecture of Malay houses in the state of PerakcalledRumahLimasBumbung Perak. Some researchers further dividedinto two basic types;
i.full version (pointed upwards) – tunjuklangit ii.half version (pointed downwards) – tunjukbumi
Typology of TunjukLangit JenisBulat (rounded)
Tunjuklangitjenisbulat or rounded type is commonly used on BumbungLimas or perabunglima (hip) or pyramidal type of roofing called tumpang that is positioned in the middle and top of the roof. Most are made of carved timber solids but of late there has been practices found to have used the concrete mix similar to the one used for the Malay gravestones. Commonly called buahbuton in Kelantan and buahgutung in Terengganu.
JenisSilang (cross)
This type of finial often used on bumbungpanjang or saddleback roof type of the Malay house. It is commonly seen as an extension of the papanlayang (fascia board) in a diagonal manner at the gable end of the roof tip which is normally ornamented. It is found commonly in Riau in Sulawesi and also the on the KaroBatak house in Northern Sumatera. In Java it is known as atapjulangngapak. In Malaysia its use can be seen at the old mosque of TuaLanggar in Kota Bahru, Kelantan (1886), at the BalaiBesar building in AlorSetar (1904) and also
at the National Museum in the capital Kuala Lumpur. This type of tunjuklangit has also found in few villages in Sabah and Sarawak. In Negeri Sembilan it is also called silanggunting whilst in Sumatera it’s called ataplembayung or selembayungduakemuncak as similarly found in Riau, Indonesia.
JenisBunga (floral)
Similar with the rounded tunjuklangit, the floral type is more commonly found on the bumbungperabunglima (hip roof), pyramidal type of roofing called bumbungtumpangormulti-tiered type of hip roof. Some of the examples seen are made either of ceramic, engraved corals or copper. This type can be seen in old mosque around Melaka, Negeri Sembilan in Malaysia and also on the island of Java. Other names for the type are mahkotaatap; in Indonesia it is also called mustika or mustoko or mustoka. Historical findings indicate this type of tunjuklangit has its root from the mainland China; hence, some examples has been found to use the local flower bungateratai which also adorns the top of the pagodas. This statement is further supported by Abdullah Bin Mohamed (1978) in his discussion on the domes of the mosques in Melaka where he reiterated that the dome is originally thought of as a flower bud (bungateratai) that is later adapted and shaped into various permutations.
Figure 2. Types of finial (from left to right): rod, rounded, cross, floral 3. Research Methodology
This study aims to investigate the existence of TunjukLangit in Kelantan Traditional houses. As mentioned earlier, thirty-three (33) Kelantan traditional building including were selected and observed. The selection was done based on their best level of authenticity, architectural type, current physical condition, accessibility and geographical factor. All the houses than were coded according to type of building, districtand street. GPS coordinates or post-office address were recorded to every house Many houses were found have done major renovation by the owner and has lost its ingenuityin terms of traditional architectural style. Few houses also found to be abandoned and left over by the owner and make it difficult to access for the study. Many houses were found heavily damaged and ruined. These are some of the factors that contribute to the limitation of the scope of the study. Documentations of visual data were collected using EOS DSLR Canon 6D camera whilst semi-structured interview were done to collect verbal data from the owner of the house or the occupancies. Both data were used to investigate and identify the typology of TunjukLangit. Results were discussed based on the visual tabulation and inventory analysis produced from the study.
4. Data Analysis
Data were collected and analysed from thirty-three (33) selected traditional houses from all over the state of Kelantan. Most of the houses are located near Kota Baru and nearby Sungai Kelantan. Every house was given building code in order to identify its location. Site observation is crucial for keeping track records and to avoid error in future documentation by future researcher.
Table 1.Selected Kelantan Traditional Houses
N o Building Code Bldg no/type of building/state/distric t/ village/street GPS Address Owner occupation Year built
TumpatKelantan n 2 B2/P/K/KB
6°05'55.0"N 102°14'24.1" E
Jln Tuan Guru Nik Aziz, Kg. BunutPayong,
Kota Bharu, Kelantan
A Religious
Teacher
unknow n
3 B3/P/K/KB - JalanMerbau Kota Bharu,
kelantan unknown unknow n 4 B4/H/K/KB/JAB 6°08'14.4"N 102°14'14.3" E
JalanAtasBanggol, Bandar Kota Bharu, 15000 Kota Bharu, Kelantan unknown unknow n 5 B5/H/ H/K/KB/JPOL 6°08'00.4"N 102°14'07.9" E
39, JalanPos Office Lama, Bandar Kota Bharu, 15000 Kota Bharu, Kelantan
DatoDobah unknow
n
6 B6/H/K/P/KgP - Blkg JKR, Pasir Mas Kelantan unknown unknow
n
7 B7/H/K/T/KgL2 - Kg Laut 2, Tumpat , Kelantan Administrator
8 B8/H/K/T/KgSgP - Kg.SungaiPinang,Tumpat,Kelant an unknown 9 B9/H/K/KB/ /KgPNY 6°08'09.4"N 102°14'13.2" E
Kampung Pak NikYa, 15000 Kota Bharu, Kelantan
TudungKelingkan g (Businessman)
unknow n
10 B10/H/K/T/C3 - Cabang 3 Tumpat, Kelantan
Unknown(the house replaced with concrete building) unknow n 11 B11/H/K/KB/JAM/K gS 6°08'00.3"N 102°14'35.3" E Kg Sultan, JalanAtasMerbau,
Kota Bharu unknown
unknow n 12 B11/H/K/KB/JAM/K gS 6°08'00.3"N 102°14'35.3" E Kg Sultan, JalanAtasMerbau,
Kota Bharu unknown
unknow n 13 B13/H/K/T/KgL1 6°09'13.8"N 102°13'50.2" E
Kg Laut 1, Palekbang, Tumpat Kelantan Wan Aishah / A Trader unknow n 14 B14/H/K/T/KgL1 6°09'13.8"N 102°13'50.2" E
Kg Laut 1, Palekbang, Tumpat Kelantan Wan Aishah / A Trader unknow n 15 B15/H/K/T/KgL1 6°09'13.8"N 102°13'50.2" E
Kg Laut 1, Palekbang, Tumpat Kelantan
Wan Aishah / A Trader
unknow n
16 B16/H/K/T/Bdr - PekanTumpat,Kelantan unknown unknow
n
17 B17/H/K/T/KgHM - Kg.Hj. Merah, Palekbang,
Tumpat , Kelantan A Village Leader
unknow n 18 B18/H/K/KB/JSK 6°08'38.9"N 102°14'26.4" E
Kampung Sungai Pii, 15300 Kota Bharu, Kelantan
NikRahimah, Trader from Terengganu unknow n 19 B19/H/K/KB/KgP 6°06'53.6"N 102°14'07.9" E KampungPutih, 15050 Kota Bharu, Kelantan Religious Teacher; replace with a new concrete building (2020) unknow n
20 B20/H/K/T/P - Palekbang, Tumpat unknown unknow
n
21 B21/H/K/T/P - Palekbang, Tumpat unknown unknow
n
22 B22/H/K/T/Kg.P - Palekbang, Tumpat unknown unknow
n
23 B23/H/K/T/P - Palekbang,Tumpat A Batik
Businessman
unknow n
24 B24/H/K/T/P - Tumpat, Kelantan Unknown unknow n
25 B25/H/K/T/P - Palekbang, Tumpat Unknown unknow
n
26 B26/H/K/T/P - Palekbang,Tumpat unknown unknow
n
27 B27/H/K/T/P/KgHjM - Palekbang, Tumpat businessman and
religious teacher
unknow n
28 B28/H/K/T/P - Palekbang,Tumpat A Tenant unknow
n
29 B29/H/K/Bch - Bachok,Kelantan A businessman unknow
n
30 B30/H/K/T/KgKK - Kg,KokKeli,Tumpat Unknown unknow
n
31 B31/H/K/T/KgKK - Kg.KokKeli, Tumpat Unknown unknow
n
32 B32/H/K/KB/JlnPWB - Kota Bharu, Kelantan UnKnown unknow
n
33 B33/H/K/KB/KgS - Kg Sultan, SgKeladi, Kota
Bharu,Kelantan Administrator
circa193 0
Figure 3.Location of selected Kelantan Traditional Houses
Typology analysis were done to identify types and categorisation of TunjukLangit.
Table 2. Typology Analysis of TunjukLangit
NO. BUILD ING NO Building Code Bldg no/type of building/state/dist rict/ village/street Type of roof Type 1 rod/spear Type 2 round Type 3 cross Type 4 floral Size / measurement (mm) I O X x y TL TB 1 B1 B1/P/K/KB/T Limas X 600 125 2 B2 B2/P/K/KB Limas X 600 125 3 B3 B3/P/K/KB Limas X 750 125 4 B4 B4/H/K/KB/JPOL Limas X 300 150
5 B5 B5/H/K/KB/JAB Limas X 300 150 6 B6 B6/H/K/KB/JPOL Limas X 750 125 7 B7 B7/H/K/KB/KgP Limas X 750 125 8 B8 B8/H/K/KB/JAM/ KgS Limas X 750 125 9 B9 B9/H/K/KB/LDNJ/ KgKP Limas X 600 125 10 B10 B10/H/K/KB/LPN Y Limas X 600 125 11 B11 B11/H/K/KB/JSZ Limas X 600 125 12 B12 B12/H/K/KB/KgA P Limas X 500 125 13 B13 B13/H/K/KB/JPO L Limas X 500 125 14 B14 B14/H/K/KB/KgA P Limas X 700 125 15 B15 B15/H/K/KB/JTS/ KgAP Limas X 750 125 16 B16 B16/H/K/KB/LTZ Limas X 600 125 17 B17 B17/H/K/KB/LMG /JSZ Limas X 900 125 18 B18 B18/H/K/KB/JSK Limas X 900 125 19 B19 B19/H/K/KB/JPC B Limas X 900 125 20 B20 B20/H/K/T/KgL1 Limas X 300 125 21 B21 B21/H/K/T/KgL3 Limas X 300 125 22 B22 B22/H/K/T/JPCB/ KgP Limas X 300 125 23 B23 B23/H/K/KB/KgS Limas X 400 125 24 B24 B24/H/K/PM/JPC Limas X 300 155 25 B25 B25/H/K/T/ KgSP Limas X 500 125 26 B26 B26/H/K/T/KgCB Limas X 300 125 27 B27 B27/H/K/PM/JJKR Limas X 300 125 28 B28 B28/H/K/PM Limas X 300 125 29 B29 B29/HK/T/KgL Limas X 250 125 30 B30 B30/H/K/T/KgP Limas X 750 125 31 B31 B31/H/K/T/KgP Limas X 750 125 32 B32 B32/H/K/T/KgP Limas X 700 125 33 B33 B33/H/K/T/KgP Limas X 650 125 B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 B13 B14 B15 B16 B17 B18 B19 B20 B21 B22 B23 B24 B25 B26 B27 B28 B29 B30 B31 B32 B33
Figure 4. Visual Data Analysis of TunjukLangit 5. Findings and Discussion
This study aims to investigate the existence of decorative elements at Kelantan traditional houses. As mentioned earlier decorative elements is vital in signifying the architectural characteristics of traditional house. Based on inventory analysis and typological analysis through the site observation carried out it can be concluded that:
1. TunjukLangit is one of the major elements that demarcated the Kelantan traditional architecture. 84.6% (33/39) of the selected traditional houses that are still intact were found to embrace TunjukLangit as one of their decorative elements of the house.
2. There are at least two (2) types of TunjukLangit found in Kelantan traditional houses. The rod or spear (type 1) and the round (type 2). TunjukLangit Type 1 (rod or spear) is more dominant than type 2.
3. TunjukLangit type 1 only can be found at the traditional houses which are BumbungLimas or limas roof type and rarely found at the BumbungPanjang roof type which are built earlier.
4. There is no TunjukLangit type 3 (cross) and type 4 (floral) found in this study. It indicates that TunjukLangit type 3 and 4 are rarely used in Kelantan traditional house or it can be noted that TunjukLangit type 3 and 4 are not an architectural characteristic of Kelantan traditional architecture.
5. Both TunjukLangit and TunjukBumi were found in Kelantan traditional houses. 6. TunjukBumi is more prominent in the Tumpat district.
7. Majority of the owner that are identified in this study belongs to the upper class society (i.enoble family, head of village, business person, trader, administrator, community leader)
8. The size of TunjukLangit type 1 range between 900mm – 500mm (height)
The findings discussed above established few important architectural statements. Every states in Malaysia have its own traditional architectural characteristics through it roof style, architectural form, spatial organisation and decorative elements. This study would further enhance the theory and understanding of traditional architecture in Malaysia particularly in Kelantan.
6. Acknowledgement
I would like to acknowledge and extend heartfelt gratitude to The Ministry of Higher Education and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) for funding this study under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS). Research code FRGS/1/2017/SS/11/UITM/02/6. My sincere thanks to all KUTAI members for their support and provided valuable comments of this article.
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