Sultan Ibrahimsyah and SisingamangarajaMany Toba Batak traditions linked a principal of sacred descent with the coastal kingdoms they remembered – Aceh and Barus. The latter was long recognised as a crucial port for Toba Batak, and therefore some ritual tribute was to be expected.
Joustra was struck by the surprisingly uniform set of traditions about the Barus link with Bakkara and the Singamangaraja line, [M. Joustra, Batak-Spiegel (Leiden: van Doesburgh, 1910), pp. 25-26; Rita Kipp, Dissociated Identities (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1993), pp. 215-17; Simon Rae, Breath Becomes the Wind: Old and New in Karo Religion (Dunedin: University of Otago Press, 1994), pp. 63-4] let’s present it here in the form of the Barus Hilir chronicle edited by Jane Drakard.
This describes the journey of the founder of the Muslim dynasty of Barus Hilir, Sultan Ibrahim, through the Batak territories prior to establishing his kingdom on the coast. First in Silindung, and then at the Singamangaraja’s sacred place of Bakkara, and finally in the Pasaribu territory, the local chiefs pleaded with him to stay and become their king.
At Bakkara he urged the Bataks to become Muslim, because then they would be one people (bangsa) with him and he could stay as king. He therefore ordered to build a mosque for his place to live a life and moved on, but not before fathering a child by a local woman, who became the first Singamangaraja. Singamangaraja resided in the mosque which happened to be the first mosque built in Bakkara in the beginning of 16th century.
In each place agreements were sworn to by both sides, establishing the long-term relationship between upland Batak producers on one hand and coastal Malay traders on the other. These included establishing the ‘four penghulu’ or Raja Berempat or Raja Na Opat of Silindung as a supra-village institution linked to the Barus trade.[Jane Drakard, A Malay Frontier: Unity and Duality in a Sumatran Kingdom (Ithaca: Cornell University]
Since Barus and other ports on the west coast were themselves frequently under Aceh suzerainty, it is not surprising that Aceh also figured in Batak memory. Its ritual preeminence over the Singamangaraja line was acknowledged in various ways in the better known nineteenth century, including the Singamangaraja’s seal and flag, both of which appear modelled on those of the Aceh Sultan (see fig. 1). This link, mythologised in the mysterious Batak progenitor-figure Raja Uti who disappeared to Aceh, may go back to the sixteenth or seventeenth century links.
For Parlindungan, however, and the Batak manuscripts of the ‘Arsip Bakkara’ he claims as a source, there was another powerful connection with Aceh in the late 18th century. He claims that these documents reveal a treaty of friendship between the otherwise unknown
Singamangaraja IX and Sultan Alauddin Muhammad Syah, known to have ruled Aceh uneasily from 1781 to 1795.
The treaty purportedly agreed that Singkil was Acehnese, the Uti Kanan (Simpang Kanan?) area Batak, and Barus a neutral zone. But the Acehnese cannon which sealed the deal caused such havoc among some elephants at Bakkara that Singamangaraja IX was killed by one of them. [39 Parlindungan, Tuanku Rao, pp. 486-7]
As so often with Parlindungan’s fanciful stories, there seems to be something of substance in this. In the 1780s, the Singkil area was developed for pepper-cultivation, and the limits of Acehnese control became an urgent concern. Acehnese raided the British outstation of Tapanuli (Sibolga) in 1786, and the British responded by attacking some Acehnese forts.
This was indeed a time, in other words, when Acehnese would have sought to lock Batak suppliers and traders into their networks rather than the British ones.
Let us throw in a further fanciful vignette, if only to further undermine what remains of the idea of Batak “isolation” during the long 18th century. In 1858 a Frenchman or Eurasian called De Molac told a Pondicherry newspaper that in the last quarter of the 18th century “his family settled in the most savage part of Sumatra, established magnificent agricultural establishments there, acquired great influence among the natives and succeeded in reforming their customs”.
The head of the family “had recently been elected chief of the confederation of Bataks, a Malay people whose lands border Dutch possessions and the kingdom of Aceh.” While no doubt largely invented, this story is sufficiently consistent with the supernatural inferences drawn about 19th century visitors to the Batak highlands, including Burton and Ward, Van der Tuuk and Modigliani, that we should not be surprised if such a pattern began earlier.
::Sejarah::
• Maritim Kuno
• Stempel Sisingamangaraja XII
• Si Penjajah Belanda
• Sejarah Mossak
• Ilmi Thifan dan Tuanku Rao
• Krachtologi dan Tuanku Rao
• Kalender Batak
• Palawan
::Studi::
• Studi Kultur Berpikir Batak
• Bugis dan Peradaban Batak
• Wisata
• Perang Batak
• Diaspora Batak Kuno
• Filsafat Ekonomi Batak
• Studi Politik Batak
• Sejarah Politik Batak Abad 17-19 M
• Batak Dan Tanah Tuhan
• Studi Peta Maritim Batak
• Parmalim, Tasawuf dan Penjajahan
• Akal-akalan Pemekaran (Tapanuli??)
• Pengusaha Hitam dan Pemekaran
::Tokoh::
• S.Q. Marpaung
• Simatupang
• Ahmad Hosen Hutagalung
• Kamaluddin Lubis
• Syamsuddin Pasaribu
• Zulpan Efensi Pasaribu
• Jefry Simanjuntak
• Rosnaely Lumbantobing
• Hotbonar Sinaga
• Fachruddin Sarumpaet
• Syamsul Arifin Nababan
• Khalifah Effendy Sitorus
• Burhanuddin Napitupulu
• Zulkarnaen Lubis
• Prof. Dr. S.F. Marbun
• Dr. Ibrahim Sitompul
• Patuan Nagari
• SAE Nababan
• Sisingamangaraja XII
• Yusuf Lubis
• Amir Pasaribu
• Biografi 100 Tokoh Batak
• Usman Efendy Capah
• Lembaga Kebudayaan Pakpak
• Billy Marbun
• Sardan Marbun
• Binsar Marbun
• Abdul Wahab Situmeang
• BN Marbun
• Halak Batak Naik Haji
• Arif Marbun
• Rico Marbun
• J.A. MArbun
• Hamdan Simbolon (HIMMSI)
• Syamsu Rizal Panggabean
• Syawal Gultom Mpd
• Prof. Dr. Abdul Muin Sibuea
• Abdul Hamid Marpaung
• Armijn Pane
• Lafran Pane
• Prof. Dr. Agus Salim Sitompul
• Haji Dur Berutu
• Zulkarnanen Damanik
• Zagartua Ritonga
• Ja Endar Muda
• Abdul Wahab Sinambela: Ketua IPAMSU 2005
• IPAMSU
• H AN Sihite: Ulama Humbahas
• Mahadi Sinambela: Sinambela Pertama Jadi Menteri
• Bomer Pasaribu: Menteri Dari Pasaribu
• Baharuddin Aritonang
• H. Ali Jabbar Napitupulu
• Fanin Nurlita Br Nainggolan
• Abdul Hakim Siagian
• Arifin Nainggolan
• Badiuzzaman Surbakti
• Efendy Naibaho
• Rahmad P Hasibuan
• Mutawalli Ginting
• Akmal Samosir
• Timbas Tarigan
• Tosim Gurning
• Syahlul Umur Situmeang
• Chairullah Tambunan
• Parluhutan Siregar
• Dahrun Hutagaol
• Amir Hamzah Samosir
• Chairul Tanjung
• Irsan Tanjung
• Akbar Tanjung
• Feisal Tanjung
• Hariman Siregar
• Syamsir Siregar
• Arifin Siregar: Si Gubernur BI
• Bismar Siregar
• Annisa Pohan
• Drs. M. Sehat Simbolon: Kyai Humbahas
• Anwar Nasution
• Aulia Pohan
• Malim Sultoni Simbolon: Tokoh Sufi Humbahas
• K.H. Zainul Arifin Pohan: Sang Wakil Perdana Menteri
• Burhanuddin Harahap: Sang Perdana Menteri Batak, Pengasas Anti Korupsi
• Zulkifli Lubis: Tokoh Anti Korupsi dan Pendiri Intelijen
• Syeikh Ibrahim Sitompul
• Abdul Wahab Harahap
• Syeikh Ali Akbar Marbun: Tokoh Humbahas
::Legenda::
• Legenda Dairi
• Homang
• Sitti Djaoerah
• Kitab Si Raja Batak
• Rasul Batak
• Ompu Sabongan Mangolat
• Guru Mangarissan
• Mpu Bada
• Gondang Sabangunan
• Si Sorik
• Dravida
::Serba-Serbi::
• Silua
• Batak Kuliner
• Mossak
• Naga Padoha
• Podang
• Atlas Cheng Ho
• Forum Batak
• Diktat Kedokteran Batak
• Atlas Kuno Ala Batak
• Topeng
• Rifle
• Teknologi Kertas
• Teori Evolusi Ala Batak
• Patung
• Geografi Batak Kuno
• Ulos
• Farmasi
• Megalitikum
• Cerutu
• Serdang
• Langkat
• Kubu
• Lingga
• Asahan
• DNT
• Arkeologi penyabungan
• Riwayat Raja-raja Mandailing
• Adam Malik
• Matondang
• Biografi Tokoh
• Identitas Mandailing
• Gallery Foto Lama
• Dinasti Pane
• Koin Tarumon
• Kesultanan Tarumon
• Teka-teki Sembiring
