As a symbol of power, fecundity and wealth the water buffalo is omnipresent in Toraja culture. Not only is the kerbau the guardian of the dead, the animal is considered the vehicle of the dead to the hereafter. On the present old item the stylized head with an upward extension, to some this represents the Tree-of-Life, we see a male figure with spread arms and legs in between the near circle of the horns connoting both death and fecundity in this very image. By rendering the figure in contours, the spirit nature seems to be accentuated.

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