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Founding
Founding of Pagaruyung Kingdom
old kingdom in Sumatra, Indonesia
- 1347
- Batusangkar
- Southeast Asia
Founding
old kingdom in Sumatra, Indonesia
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Pagaruyung (Minangkabau: Karajaan Pagaruyuang, other name: Pagaruyung Darul Qarar), also known as Pagarruyung, Pagar Ruyung and Malayapura or Malayupura, was a kingdom that once stood in the island of Sumatra and the seat of the Minangkabau kings of Western Sumatra. Modern Pagaruyung is a village in Tanjung Emas subdistrict, Tanah Datar regency, located near the town of Batusangkar, Indonesia.
Prior to its establishment, the kingdom was part of Malayapura, a kingdom that the Amoghapasa inscription mentions was ruled by Adityawarman, who established himself as the ruler of Bhumi Malayu (Suvarnabhumi). Also included in Malayapura were the kingdom of Dharmasraya and several other kingdoms or conquests of Adityawarman. The region gradually became Muslim throughout the 16th century and after. In the early 17th century, the kingdom was forced to recognise the sovereignty of the Sultanate of Aceh but rebelled in 1665, also Dutch influence and presence grew in the 17th century. In the early 19th century, turmoil erupted during the Padri War due to factional disputes and the state steadily declined.
The name Pagaruyung derives from a Minangkabauan name for the Nibung or Ruyung tree, but it can also be referred to the inscription of the mohor stamp of Sultan Tangkal Alam Bagagar of Pagaruyung, which is in Jawi script in the inner circle which reads (Jawi: سلطان توڠݢل عالم باݢݢر ابن سلطان خليفة الله يڠ ممڤوڽاءي تختا کراجأن دالم نݢري ڤݢرويڠ دار القرار جوهن برداولة ظل الله في العالم; Latin: Sulthān Tunggul Alam Bagagar ibnu Sulthān Khalīfatullāh yang mempunyai tahta kerajaan dalam negeri Pagaruyung Dārul Qarār Johan Berdaulat Zhillullāh fīl 'Ālam). Unfortunately, the mohor stamp does not indicate the year of his reign. The kingdom collapsed during the Padri War, after the signing of an agreement between the Indigenous People (Kaum adat) and the Dutch that put the Kingdom of Pagaruyung under Dutch control.
The emergence of Pagaruyung as a part of Malayapura cannot be known with certainty, from the Tambo received by the Minangkabau people there is no dating of any events told, even if considering Adityawarman as the founder of this kingdom, the Tambo itself also does not clearly mention it. However, some of the inscriptions left behind by Adityawarman show that he was indeed the king of the country, specifically Tuan Surawasa, as interpreted from the Batusangkar inscription. Thus, is believed that Adityawarman founded the kingdom and presided over the central Sumatra region between 1347 and 1375, most likely to control the local gold trade. The few artefacts recovered from Adityawarman's reign include a number of stones containing inscriptions, and statues. Some of these items were found at Bukit Gombak, a hill near modern Pagarruyung, and it is believed a royal palace was located there.
From the manuscript carved by Adityawarman on the back of the Amoghapasa Statue, it is mentioned that in 1347 Adityawarman proclaimed himself king in Malayapura, Adityawarman was the son of Adwayawarman as carved on the Kuburajo Inscription, and the son of Dara Jingga, the daughter of the Dharmasraya Kingdom as mentioned in Pararaton. He had previously fought with Mahapatih Gajah Mada to conquer Bali and Palembang, during his reign it is likely that Adityawarman moved the centre of his government to the interior of Minangkabau.
The Malay-accented Suruaso inscription mentions Adityawarman completing the construction of a ditch to irrigate the 'forever rice-rich garden of Nandana Sri Surawasa', which was previously built by his uncle Akarendrawarman, the previous king, so it is certain that in accordance with Minangkabau customs, inheritance from mamak (uncle) to kamanakan (nephew) had already occurred at that time, although it is likely that Minangkabau customs were only applied by the Pagaruyung Kingdom after adapting to the community environment, especially in the Luhak Nan Tigo region at the beginning of its reign. On the other side of the irrigation canal, there is also an inscription in Nagari or Tamil script, which could indicate the presence of a significant number of people from southern India in the area.
Adityawarman was initially sent to subdue important areas in Sumatra, and reigned as a vassal king (uparaja) of Majapahit. However, none of the inscriptions left by this king mentioned anything related to Bhumi Jawa and then from Berita Tiongkok it was known that Adityawarman had sent envoys to China 6 times during the period 1371 to 1377.
After Adityawarman's death, Majapahit possibly sent another expedition to conquer the kingdom in 1409. Minangkabau legends record a fierce battle with the Majapahit army in the Padang Sibusuk area. It is said that the area was so named because of the many corpses that lay there. According to the legend, the Javanese army was defeated.
Before the kingdom was established, the people in the Minangkabau region already had a political system such as a confederation, which was a deliberative body of various Nagari and Luhak. In terms of historical continuity, the Pagaruyung kingdom was a kind of administrative system change for the local people (ethnic Minang).
Hindu-Buddhist influence in central Sumatra had emerged around the 13th century, beginning with the dispatch of the Pamalayu Expedition by Kertanagara, and later during the reign of Adityawarman and his son Ananggawarman. The rule of Adityawarman is thought to have been strong enough to dominate the central Sumatra region and its surroundings. This can be proven by the title Maharajadiraja carried by Adityawarman as carved on the back of the Amoghapasa Statue, which was found in the upper reaches of the Batang Hari river (now included in the Dharmasraya Regency area).
The Batusangkar inscription mentions that Ananggawarman as yuvaraja performed a Tantric Buddhist ritual called hevajra, a ceremony to transfer power from Adityawarman to his crown prince, which can be related to the Chinese chronicle of 1377 about the emissary of San-fo-ts'i to the Emperor of China asking for recognition as the ruler of the San-fo-ts'i region.
Several areas in the interior of central Sumatra are still found to be influenced by Buddhism, including the Padangroco temple area, Padanglawas temple area and Muara Takus temple area. It is likely that these areas included the conquest area of Adityawarman. While recorded devout adherents of this teaching in addition to Adityawarman in the earlier period were Kubilai Khan of Mongol and king Kertanegara of Singhasari.
The development of Islam after the end of the 14th century influenced the patriarchal system to some extent, and brought a relatively new phenomenon to the society in the interior of Minangkabau. But during this time, there was a major gap in the historical picture in the Minangkabau highlands between the last date of Adityawarman's inscription in 1375 and Tomé Pires Suma Oriental. By the 16th century, the time of the next report after the reign of Adityawarman, royal power had been split into three recognised reigning kings. They were the King of the World (Raja Alam), the King of Adat (Raja Adat), and the King of Religion (Raja Ibadat). Collectively they were called the Kings of the Three Seats (Rajo Tigo Selo). The Suma Oriental, written between 1513 and 1515, recorded that of the three Minangkabau kings, only one had become a Muslim 15 years earlier.
Islamic influence in Pagaruyung developed around the 16th century, through travellers and religious teachers who stopped over or came from Aceh and Malacca. One of the students of the famous Acehnese scholar Syaikh Abdurrauf Singkil (Tengku Syiah Kuala), Syaikh Burhanuddin Ulakan, is considered to be the first scholar to spread Islam in Pagaruyung. In the 17th century, the Kingdom of Pagaruyung was finally transformed into an Islamic sultanate. The first Islamic king is mentioned in the Minangkabau traditional tambo as Sultan Alif.
With the advent of Islam, customary rules that contradicted the teachings of Islam began to be eliminated and the essentials of custom were replaced with Islamic rules. The famous Minangkabau traditional saying: "Adaik basandi syarak, syarak basandi Kitabullah", which means that Minangkabau custom is based on Islam, while Islam is based on the Qur'an. However, in some cases, some customary systems and methods were still maintained and this is what led to the outbreak of the civil war known as the Padri War, which was initially between the Padri (ulama) and the Adat, before the Dutch became involved in this war.
Islam also influenced the government system of the Pagaruyung Kingdom with the addition of governmental elements such as Tuan Kadi and several other terms related to Islam. The naming of the village of Sumpur Kudus, which contains the word kudus derived from the word Quddūs (holy) as the seat of Rajo Ibadat, and Limo Kaum, which contains the word qaum, are clearly influenced by Arabic or Islam. In addition, the terms Imam, Katik (Khatib), Bila (Bilal), Malin (Mu'alim) also appear in the Adat (customary law), which are replacements for the Hindu and Buddhist terms used previously, such as the term Pandito (priest).
"..., there is a striking consistency in the style of writing, not only of books in prose and verse, but also of epistolary correspondence, and my own experience has proved to me that no greater difficulty attends the translation of letters from the princes of the Molucca islands, than from those of Kedah or Trangganu in the peninsula, or of Menangkabau in Sumatra."
In the early 17th century, the kingdom was forced to recognise the sovereignty of the Sultanate of Aceh, and acknowledge the Aceh governors appointed for the west coast of Sumatra. But around 1665, the Minang people on the west coast rose up and rebelled against the Aceh governors. During this time, the first arrival of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) in 1663, which then established a trading office in the city of Padang, had set interest among local rulers. A letter from the Minangkabau ruler calling himself the Raja of Pagaruyung made a request to the VOC, and the VOC took the opportunity at that time to stop Aceh's monopoly on gold and pepper. Subsequently, the VOC, through its regent in Padang, Jacob Pits, whose jurisdiction extended from Kotawan in the south to Barus in the north of Padang, sent a letter on 9 October 1668 to Sultan Ahmadsyah, Iskandar Zur-Karnain, the gold-rich ruler of Minangkabau, informing him that the VOC had taken control of the west coast so that the gold trade could be re-established on the coast. According to Dutch records, Sultan Ahmadsyah died in 1674 and was succeeded by his son, Sultan Indermasyah.
When the VOC succeeded in expelling the Sultanate of Aceh from the coast of West Sumatra in 1666, Aceh's influence on Pagaruyung weakened. The relationship between the overseas and coastal regions and the centre of Pagaruyung Kingdom became close again. At that time Pagaruyung was one of the centres of trade on the island of Sumatra, due to the production of gold there. This attracted the attention of the Dutch and the British to establish relations with Pagaruyung. It is recorded that in 1684, the first European to enter the region, a Portuguese explorer named Thomas Dias, paid a visit to Pagaruyung on the orders of the Dutch governor-general in Malacca. He travelled from the east coast to reach the region in 1684 and reported, probably from hearsay, that there was a palace at Pagaruyung and that visitors had to go through three gates to enter it. The primary local occupations at the time were gold panning and agriculture, he reported.
Around 1750, the Pagaruyung kingdom began to dislike the VOC presence in Padang and tried to persuade the British in the Bencoolen (now modern-day Bengkulu) to join forces to expel the Dutch, although the British did not respond. However, during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War in 1781, the British managed to temporarily control Padang without a fight and netted the British 500,000 florins in goods and money. At that time a delegation from Pagaruyung came to congratulate the British on their success in expelling the Dutch from Padang. In 1784, The fortress at Padang was destroyed before the town was returned to VOC control. According to Marsden, Minangkabau had long been considered the richest in gold, and at that time the power of the Minangkabau king was said to have been divided between the king of Suruaso and the king of Sungai Tarab with equal power. Earlier in 1732, the VOC regent in Padang had recorded that a queen named Yang Dipertuan Puti Jamilan had sent spears and swords made of gold, as a sign of establishing herself as the ruler of the bumi emas (golden earth). Even after the Dutch and British reached the interior of Minangkabau, they never found significant gold reserves in the area.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Pagaruyung kingdom”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.