This article is a revised version of a paper originally delivered to a panel on Malay Local History at the Fifth National Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA), Adelaide University, 13–19 May 1984. The issues discussed here are explored more fully in my unpublished M.A. thesis, “A Malay Frontier. The Adaptation of Malay Political Culture in Barus”, Department of History, Monash University, 1984. For their comments and advice I am grateful to D.P. Chandler, K.C. Howell, J.D. Legge, H. Masashi, V. Matheson, AC. Milner, A. Reid and O.W. Wolters.

¹ On Malay political culture see, Gullick, J.M., Indigenous Political Systems of Western Malaya (London, 1958)Google Scholar; Milner, A.C., Kerajaan. Malay Political Culture on the Eve of Colonial Rule (Tucson, 1982)Google Scholar; Matheson, V., “Concepts of Malay Ethos in Indigenous Malay Writings,” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies (JSEAS) X, 2 (1979): 351–71CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Andaya, B.W., “The Nature of the State in Eighteenth Century Perak”, in Pre-Colonial State Systems in Southeast Asia, eds. Reid, A. and Castles, L. (Kuala Lumpur, 1975), pp. 22–36Google Scholar, and Perak: The Abode of Grace (Kuala Lumpur, 1979)Google Scholar; also Andaya, L., The Kingdom of Johor, 1641–1728 (Kuala Lumpur, 1975)Google Scholar.

² Examples of this in the Sumatran context are documented in Bartlett, H. H., “A Batak and Malay Chant on Rice Cultivation, with introductory notes on Bilingualism and Acculturation in Indonesia”, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 96 (1952): 629–42Google Scholar; and Milner, op. cit., pp. 88–89.

³ In the early sixteenth century Tomé Pires recorded that the Kingdom of Barus stretched between Singkel, and Tiku, , Cortesāo, A. (trans.), The Suma Oriental of Tomé Pires (London, 1944), vol. I, p. 161Google Scholar. A seventeenth-century VOC informant mentions that the authority of the rulers of Barus stretched down the coast as far as Batahan. Melman to Pits (1669) VOC 1272, f. 1065. And in 1760 van de Wall noted that the rulers of Barus had formerly appointed the penghulu of Natal. Memorie van F. van de Wall, Arsip Nasional, Jakarta, SWK 8, p. 7.

⁴ Some aspects of the cultural identity of the region are discussed by Kartomi, M. in “Sikembang Kapri: A Synthesis of the Malay and Portuguese Ceremonial Music on the west coast of north Sumatra”, in Proceedings of the International Musicological Congress, ed. Behague, G. (Strasburg, 1982), in pressGoogle Scholar.

⁵ See, for instance, E.B. Kielstra's summary of van Basel's eighteenth century comments in Kielstra, E.B., “Onze Kennis van Sumatra's Westkust, omstreeks de helfd der Achttiende Eeuw”, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsche-lndie (BKI) XXXVI (1887): 508–509Google Scholar (van Basel's survey, his “Radicaale Beschrijving” is held in the Arsip Nasional, Jakarta); also Duetz, G.J.J., “Baros”, Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde (TBG) 22 (1884): 156–57Google Scholar.

⁶ Kielstra, loc. cit., also Pleyte, C.M., “Herinneringen uit Oost-Indie”, TAG 17 (1900): 38–39Google Scholar; for a discussion of Batak and Malay styles of dress see Milner, op. cit., p. 89.

⁷ Marsden, W., The History of Sumatra (first published, London, 1811; reprinted, Kuala Lumpur, 1975), p. 367Google Scholar.

⁸ van Rosenberg, H., “Beschrijving van het Distrikt Singkel”, TBG III (1855): 410–11Google Scholar.

⁹ Joustra, M., Van Medan naar Padang en Terug (Leiden, 1915), p. 85Google Scholar.

¹⁰ See Milner, op. cit., passim.

¹¹ Kielstra, loc. cit., pp. 510–11.

¹² Silvius to Pits (1677), VOC 1322 f. 1328 r.

¹³ Backer to Pits (1669), VOC 1272 f. 1066 v.

¹⁴ Naguib al-Attas, Syed, “New Light on the Life of Hamza Fansuri”, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (JMBRAS) 40, 1 (1967): 42–51Google Scholar, and Brakel, L. F., “The Birth Place of Hamza Fansuri”, JMBRAS 42, 2 (1969): 206–12Google Scholar. Also, Brakel, L. F., “Hamza Pansuri. Notes on: Yoga practices, Lahir dan Zahir, The Taxallos, Punning, a difficult passage in the Kitāb al-Mutahī, Hamza's likely place of birth, and Hamza's imagery”, JMBRAS LII, 1 (1979): 73–99Google Scholar.

¹⁵ Cortesāo, op. cit., vol. II, p. 161.

¹⁶ See van Vuuren, L., “De Handel van Baroes AIs Oudste Haven op Sumatra's Westkust Verklaard en voor de Toekomst Beschouwd”, Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch-Indie (TAG) 25, 6 (1908): 1389–1402Google Scholar; Wolters, O.W., Early Indonesian Commerce (Ithaca, 1967), Ch. 12Google Scholar; and Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta, “A Tamil Merchant Guild in Sumatra”, TBG 72 (1932): 314–27Google Scholar.

¹⁷ Camphor in Malay is known as Kapur Barus. See also van Vuuren, ibid., pp. 1398–1401.

¹⁸ Kreemer, J., “De Winning van Kamferhout, Kamferolie en Kamfer in het Singkelsche”, TAG 33 (1916): 886–87Google Scholar; van Vuuren, loc. cit., p. 1397; and de Ligny, J., “Legendarische herkomst der Kamfer Baroes”, TBG 63 (1923): 549–55Google Scholar. Honey collection ceremonies of northeastern Sumatra are another example of such ritual collection procedures. See Goldsworthy, David, “Honey Collecting Ceremonies of the East Coast of North Sumatra”, in Studies in Indonesian Music, ed. Kartomi, M. J. (Clayton, 1978), pp. 1–45Google Scholar. A camphor tabu language is also used by camphor gatherers in the Malay Peninsula. See Skeat, W. W. and Blagden, C. A., Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula (London, 1906), vol. II, Ch. IIGoogle Scholar.

¹⁹ VOC records from the seventeenth century confirm that it was the Batak hill population who collected resins, but these records provide little detailed information. See, for instance, Melman to Pits (1670), VOC 1272 f. 1082 r. Specific information on camphor and benzoin collection, and the whereabouts of growing areas comes mostly from nineteenth and early twentieth century accounts such as those cited in note 18 above.

²⁰ See van Vuuren, loc. cit., pp. 1397–99. On planting benzoin see especially p. 1399. For problems relating to the cultivation of camphor see Kreemer, loc. cit., pp. 880–81.

²¹ Van Vuuren, loc. cit., p. 1395 and Kreemer, loc. cit., p. 880.

²² Van Vuuren, ibid.

²³ Ibid.

²⁴ Melman to Pits (1670), VOC 1272 f. 1077 r.

²⁵ Van Vuuren, loc. cit., p. 1396. On the presence of upland markets, or onan, in Rambe and Tukka, see Ypes, W. H. K., Bijdrage tot de Kennis van de Stamverwantschap, de inheemsche rechtgemeenschappen en het grondenrecht der Toba- en Dairibataks (Leiden, 1932), p. 503Google Scholar.

²⁶ I have described this relationship in greater detail in Drakard, J. E., “Upland-Downland Relationships in Barus: A Northwest Sumatran Case Study”, in The Malay Islamic World of Sumatra. Studies in Polities and Culture, ed. Maxwell, J. (Clayton, 1983), pp. 80–81Google Scholar. According to one VOC servant the reason why the coastal port of Barus was safe from attack by the Bataks of the interior was the dependence of the Bataks on Barus as an outlet for their goods and as a source of foreign materials. Melman to Pits (1669), VOC 1272 f. 1083 r.

²⁷ Melman to Pits (1669), VOC 1272 f. 1087 r.

²⁸ VOC 1294 f. 418 v. –421 r.; and Macleod, N., “De Oost-Indische Compagnie op Sumatra in de 17e eeuw”, Indische Gids no. 1 (1905): 127Google Scholar.

²⁹ See, for instance, Melman to Pits (1673), VOC 1294 f. 418 v.

³⁰ Backer to Pits (1671), VOC 1290 f. 599 v. and 600 r. In 1699 one Company servant noted that the rulers of Barus acted as “brokers” for the Bataks; eight years later one of his successors described the Rajas as “mediators” with the hill people. See Melman to Pits (1669), VOC 1272 f. 1088 v. and Silvius to Pits (1677), VOC 1322 f. 1328 v.

³¹ Silvius to Pits (1677), VOC 1322 f. 1328 v.

³² Heeres, J. E., “Corpus Diplomaticum Neerlando-Indicum”, vol. II, BKI 87 (1931): 384–89Google Scholar.

³³ Melman to Pits (1669), VOC 1272, f. 1082 v. –1083 r.

³⁴ Ibid.

³⁵ See, for instance, Ijsbrand Induis to Padang (1710), VOC 1777 f. 39; and Memorie van Resident Pouw, Barus (1719), VOC 1926, f. 88.

³⁶ Heeres, J. E. (ed.), Corpus Diplomaticum, vol. II (1650–75), BKI 87 (1931): 383–89Google Scholar.

³⁷ Melman to Pits (1669), VOC 1272, f. 1082 v. –1083r. and notes 45 to 49 below.

³⁸ Kroeskamp, H., De Westkust en Minangkabau 1665–1668 (Leiden, 1919), p. 137Google Scholar. On the influence, of Aceh and the role of Acehnese panglima in the west coast ports during the seventeenth century see Wells, J. Kathirithamby, “Acehnese Control over West Sumatra up to the Treaty of Painan, 1663”, Journal of Southeast Asian History (JSEAH) X, 3 (1969): 460 and passimGoogle Scholar.

³⁹ See Silvius to Pits (1677), VOC 1322 f. 1328 r., and Backer to Pits (1669), VOC 1272 f. 1066 v.

⁴⁰ Silvius to Pits, ibid.

⁴¹ I discuss this point in more detail in Drakard, J. E., “A Malay Frontier: The Adaptation of Malay Political Culture in Barus”, unpublished M.A. thesis, Monash University, 1984, pp. 48–50Google Scholar.

⁴² In the early years of Company presence in Barus VOC officials described the Raja di Hilir as “our patron”. Backer to Pits (1669), VOC 1272 f. 1065. The Raja di Hulu, on the other hand, is said to have publicly denounced the Raja di Hilir because he mixed with the Dutch. Ibid.

⁴³ Macleod, loc. cit., vol. 2 (1905), p. 136. On VOC aims and objectives in Barus and other parts of northwest Sumatra in the seventeenth century see, H. Kroeskamp, op. cit., Ch. VII.

⁴⁴ In 1671, for instance, the Raja di Hulu was said to have established a post inland at the intersection of three roads. VOC officials and the Raja di Hilir accused him of obstructing the traffic in resins. Backer to Pits (1671), VOC 1290 f. 600 r.

⁴⁵ See, for example, VOC 1290 f. 1060 r. and VOC 1396 f. 1075 v.

⁴⁶ Ijsbrand Induis to Padang (1710), VOC 1777, f. 39.

⁴⁷ Ibid., and Memorie van Resident Pouw, Barus (1719), VOC 1926, f. 88.

⁴⁸ Macleod, loc. cit. (1905), p. 486.

⁴⁹ Whilst VOC officials wished to eliminate dual government in Barus, they recognized the role of each ruling family in maintaining good relations with the Bataks. This was demonstrated in 1694 when a formerly deposed Raja di Hulu was invited back to Barus by the Company and installed as “mediator” with the Dairi Bataks in order to ensure resin supplies from those people. “Corpus Diplomaticum”, loc. cit., vol. 93 (1935), pp. 142–44.

⁵⁰ After the death of a Hilir Raja Barus in 1714, a Hulu candidate was appointed and, in order to appease the Hilir family's supporters, a nephew of the old Raja was made Bendahara. Coolhaas, W. Ph., Generale Missiven van Gouverneurs-Generaal en Raden aan Heren XVII Der Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, Deel VII: 1713–1725 ('s -Gravenhage, 1979), p. 101Google Scholar. On rotating Rajaship in Barus see van, Basel, “Begin en Voortgang van Onzen Handel en Bezittingen op Sumatra's Westkust”, TNI (1847), pp. 53–61, 78, 89 and 90Google Scholar. Also Kielstra, loc. cit., p. 514; and Marsden, op. cit., p. 367.

⁵¹ In van der Kemp, P. H., “Eene Bijdrage tot E. B. Kielstra's Opstellen over Sumatra's Westkust”, BKI vol. 44 (1894): 551–52Google Scholar. For other early nineteenth century descriptions of Barus see Francis, , “Korte Beschrijving van het Nederlandse Grondgebeid ter Westkust van Sumatra in 1837”, TNI 2 (1839): 35Google Scholar. And Ritter, W. L., “Korte Aanteekeningen over het Rijk van Atjin”, TNI 2, 1 (1839): 20–22Google Scholar.

⁵² Milner, op. cit., p. 95.

⁵³ Ibid., pp. 94 and 109.

⁵⁴ Brown, C. C. (trans.), Sejarah Melayu (Kuala Lumpur, 1970), p. 185Google Scholar, cited in Milner, op. cit., p. 56.

⁵⁵ Milner, op. cit., p. 113.

⁵⁶ Ibid., passim.

⁵⁷ Andaya, Barbara Watson, “The Nature of the State in Eighteenth Century Perak”, in Pre-Colonial State Systems in Southeast Asia, eds. Reid, A and Castles, L. (Kuala Lumpur, 1975), p. 24Google Scholar.

⁵⁸ Chulan, Raja, Misa Melayu (Kuala Lumpur, 1966), p. 22Google Scholar.

⁵⁹ B.W. Andaya, loc. cit., p. 25.

⁶⁰ Virginia Matheson, “Concepts of State in the Tuhfat al-Nafis”, in Reid and Castles, op. cit., pp. 18–19. I'am grateful to Dr Matheson for discussing with me on several occasions the question of Malay attitudes to dual sovereignty as they are expressed in Malay literature.

⁶¹ Matheson, V. and Andaya, B.W. (eds.), The Precious Gift — Tuhfat al-Nafis (Kuala Lumpur, 1982), pp. 203–204 [f. 279: 11]Google Scholar.

⁶² “Kapal satu, nakhoda dua”. See Brown, C. C., Malay Sayings (London, 1951), p. 208Google Scholar. In 1903 the Sultan of Perak criticized federation of the Malay states into one polity in these terms, “A Malay proverb says that there cannot be two masters in one vessel; neither can there be four rulers over one country”, Emmerson, R., Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, 1964), p. 143Google Scholar. I owe this reference to A.C. Milner. On boat symbolism in the political language of the Malay world see Manguin, Pierre-Yves, “Shipshape Societies: Boat Symbolism and Early Political Systems in the Malay world”, a paper presented to the symposium on Southeast Asia, 9th to 14th centuries,Canberra,May 1984Google Scholar.

⁶³ Drewes, G. W. J. (ed. and trans.), Hikajat Potjut Muhamat (The Hague, 1979), p. 49Google Scholar.

⁶⁴ Low, James (trans.), Marong Mahawangsa: The Kedah Annals (Bangkok, 1908), pp. 186–87Google Scholar.

⁶⁵ For a discussion of diarchy in eastern Indonesia see Cunningham, Clark E., “Order and Change in an Antoni Diarchy”, Southwest Journal of Anthropology 21 (1965): 359–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar. A partnership also existed between the ruling dynasties of Goa and Tallo' in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. See Reid, Anthony, “A Great Seventeenth Century Indonesian Family: Matoaya and Pattingalloang of Makassar”, Masyarakat Indonesia VIII, no. 1 (1981): 1–28Google Scholar; and Reid, Anthony, “The Rise of Makassar”, Review of Indonesian and Malayan Affairs (RIMA) 17 (1983): 135–36Google Scholar. Java, too, experienced periods of dual government. Andaya comments that when, in the eleventh century, Airlangga divided Java in two, the “existence of two kings was unusual and against adat”, B. W. Andaya (1975), loc. cit., p. 25. As M. C. Ricklefs has shown, in eighteenth-century Java the courts of Surakarta and Yogyakarta faced unprecedented theoretical problems in legitimizing the existence of two kings and the permanent division of the realm. See Ricklefs, M.C., Jogjakarta under Sultan Mangkubumi, 1749–1792 (London, 1974)Google Scholar. In having two rulers, Barus may not have been particularly unusual even in Sumatra. The kingdom of Minangkabau is known to have had three rulers and dual Hulu-Hilir lineages were formed as a result of interaction between Sumatran migrants and the original inhabitants of Negeri Sembilan. What Barus does offer is an opportunity to examine a theoretical defence of this duality in local works of literature which in other respects conform to the Kerajaan genre of Malay court literature.

⁶⁶ Neither manuscript possesses a clear title and these are therefore somewhat arbitrary names for the texts. For an explanation of Asal Turunan Raja Barus see footnote 69 below. Sejarah Tuanku Batu Badan is part of the title given to this text in a modern romanization which was made by its owners in 1972. Three romanized copies of this text are also held in the Korn Collection (item 436) under the title Tambo asal-oesoel ketoeranan radja Taroesan datang kenegeri Barus. The more complete Jawi text which is still in Barus was used for this study.

⁶⁷ Sejarah Tuanku Batu Badan, p. 60.

⁶⁸ Asal Turunan Raja Barus, p. 16.

⁶⁹ Bat. Gen. 162. The manuscript held in the museum under this catalogue number is a longer work than the text referred to here. It appears to be a collection of texts which van Ronkel divides in his catalogue into nine parts. No title page is present in the collection which comprises two Jawi sections, several in romanized Malay, a straightforward transliteration of an earlier Jawi part and one short section translated into Dutch. The whole collection is contained within one lined exercise book and it is unfortunate that no information is available as to how it came into being. The two Jawi sections appear to contain core stories which are transcribed, repeated or restated in part in the other sections. Of these two Jawi sections one shorter piece contains a section of the Hilir story found in the Sejarah Tuanku Batu Badan. The longer section recounts the Hulu story. This section of Bat. Gen. 162 has been chosen for comparison with the Sejarah Tuanku Batu Badan not only because it is in original script, but also because the two texts are almost equal in length, contain comparable subject matter, and pp. 1–58 of the Asal collection appears to be more complete, with a distinct opening and close, than any other part of the collection. It is this fifty-eight page Jawi account which is referred to here, for convenience, by the name Asal Turunan Raja Barus, a title which van Ronkel gave to the whole collection in his catalogue. A fuller description of Bat. Gen. 162 and a justification of my separate consideration of Jawi pages 1–58 can be found in Drakard, op. cit., Ch. III.

⁷⁰ Ypes, op. cit., p. 508.

⁷¹ See, for instance, Maxwell, W. E., “Notes on two Perak Manuscripts”, JMBRAS II (1878): 184Google Scholar.

⁷² According to Newbold, “Each state generally had its Sila Sila or Keturunan containing the genealogy of the ruler”, Newbold, T. J., British Settlements in the Straits of Malacca (London, 1839), p. 333Google Scholar, cited in Milner, op. cit.

⁷³ Asal Turunan Raja Barus, p. 49.

⁷⁴ See Ypes, op. cit., pp. 508, 549.

⁷⁵ Asal Turunan Raja Barus, p. 46.

⁷⁶ Sejarah Tuanku Batu Badan, p. 7. See also C. C. Brown, op. cit., pp. 40–41, 80–82. For mention of a swordfish incident in the Hikayat Hang Tuah and in other works see Cense, A. A., De Kroniek van Bandjarmassin (Santpoort, 1928), pp. 174–75Google Scholar; also Voorhoeve, P., Codices Batacici (Leiden, 1977), p. 192Google Scholar.

⁷⁷ In the text the Bataks refer to Ibrahim as Baginda, a Malay term used to describe royalty, and by another similar expression maha-mulia (most illustrious). When the Sultan meets the Batak chiefs of Sihndung they prostrate themselves before him and bow at his feet (menyembah kebawah dulinya), a phrase which describes the position of a Malay subject in relation to his Raja.

⁷⁸ See note 48 above. Also Ijsbrand Induis to Padang (1710), VOC 1777, f. 29.

⁷⁹ Sejarah Tuanku Batu Badan, p. 22.

⁸⁰ Asal Turunan Raja Barus, p. 44.

⁸¹ Ibid., p. 42 and Sejarah Tuanku Batu Badan, p. 30.

⁸² Asal Turunan Raja Barus, p. 41.

⁸³ Ibid., p. 38.

⁸⁴ Sejarah Tuanku Batu Badan, p. 30.

⁸⁵ Ibid., p. 31.

⁸⁶ Ibid., p. 31 and also p. 33.

⁸⁷ Ibid., p. 33.

⁸⁸ Ibid.

⁸⁹ Ibid., p. 34.

⁹⁰ Asal Turunan Raja Barus, p. 22.

⁹¹ Ibid., p. 21.

⁹² Sejarah Tuanku Batu Badan, p. 60.

⁹³ See Drakard, op. cit., Chs. IV and V.