Stop 5 - Henta Board

This is a Henta Board. More than a hundred years old, it was made in the Nicobar Islands which are halfway between India and Malaysia. If you look closely, it shows scenes of island life but also shows the connections these islands had with other parts of the Indian Ocean world. One scene shows a range of boats. From left to right, you've got a European sailing boat, a Malaysian or Indonesian Prau, perhaps a small local boat with its triangular sail. There's even a Chinese junk. These are all images of boats which would have visited these islands with travellers to trade and stop, perhaps looking for water. It shows scenes of everyday life on the islands. There are houses on stilts. Local animals including two pigs. And a line of men and women, dancing. But look again. That bottom row of sea creatures – there's a strange human figure at the right hand side. Look at the top of the board. There's a similar strange human figure standing in the middle. But next to him are two other humans, actually upside down. That's because this board wasn't simply made to be a depiction of just everyday life, it's actually made to try and ward off illnesses or bad fortune. The undersea world, and the people who came across the sea in boats, were actually seen as powerful forces for good or bad. So an object like this is trying to sort of muster those powerful forces to actually ward off misfortune.

“Henta”