Structure, Religious Values, and Society’s Perception on Mantras in Surau Gading Village, Rambah Samo District, Rokan Hulu Municipality, Riau Province

Abstrak

Mantras are believed as the oldest form of oral literature possessed by the Malay ethnic. A mantra is believed to contain supernatural powers. Mantra can be classified into types of poetry because the structure contains elements of poetry and the presence of poetry's characteristics. The objective of this study is to describe (1) structure of mantras, (2) the religious values of mantras, and (3) the society's perceptions on mantras in Surau Gading village, Rambah Samo Subdistrict, Rokan Hulu Municipality, Riau Province. There are several theories applied in this study. Poetry has two elements, namely the outer structure and inner structure (Enzir and Rohman, 2015: 242). Islamic religious values consist of three values, namely the value of sharia, aqeedah, and akhlaq (Fajri, 2012; 80). Perception is a process that involves inputting messages or information into the human brain (Slameto, 2010: 102)

This study uses a qualitative approach and a descriptive method. Data collection is performed through interviews and filling-out questionnaires, which is then recorded and transcribed into the written form. Data analysis techniques used in this study are as follows: describing the data into written form, translating the data into Bahasa Indonesia, classifying the data related to the studied mantra, analyzing the mantra structures, analyzing the religious values on the mantra, analyzing the society's perceptions on the mantra, and concluding the interpretation’s results then compiling the reports.

Based on this study, several findings are described as follows. First, the mantra structure consists of word choice (diction), namely denotative diction and connotative diction, while the more dominant diction is the connotative diction, and the mantra has rhymes in each stanza, including rhyme of assonance, alliteration, initial rhyme and final rhyme. Second, religious values in the mantra consist of sharia, aqeedah and akhlaq values. Third, society’s perception of mantras reveal that mantras are still found in the society and are still used in everyday life in Surau Gading village, Rambah Samo district, Rokan Hulu Municipality, Riau Province.

Keywords: structure, religious values, society's perception