CHAPTER II. 

MINANGKABAU. 

The People. 

According to Minangkabau tradition the kingdom was founded 

by Alexander the Great. Actually the kingdom of Malayu, which 

later extended to the present site of Minangkabau, was established by 

Hindu colonists by the seventh century A. D. The name Minangkabau 

first seems to have appeared in a list dated 1365 A. D., giving the 

names of lands and districts in Sumatra which owed tribute to the 

Javanese kingdom of Madjapahit. 

The folk etymology of the name “Minangkabau” dates from the 

time during which the kingdom was struggling to retain its in- 

dependence. The legend relates that at one time the Javanese came 

with a great army to conquer the land. The chiefs of both sides 

decided to settle the issue by a fight between two karabau. The 

Malays thought of a trick, and allowing a calf to hunger for ten 

days, bound a sharp iron point to its nose and set it free to run 

full tilt against the belly of the Javanese buffalo. The starving calf 

in thus attempting to obtain milk killed its adversary. In commem- 

oration of this event the Malay conquerors named their land and 

people “Minang Kabau” after the conquering buffalo. The story is 

still fully accredited among the people, and the karabau is the symbol 

of national unity. 

In a more prosaic manner. Van der Tuuk derives the name from 

“pinang kabhu”, an archaic expression which means “original home”. 

This derivation seems the more likely, since Minangkabau was in 

fact the cradle land of the Malays. While about one and a half 

million Malays have remained in Minangkabau proper, an equal 

number migrated in Hindu times to Malacca and other coastal places 

of the archipelago. These Malays, often called the deutero-Malays, 

have adopted a patrilineal form of family. Their language is slightly 

different, at the present time, from that spoken in the home land, 

Minangkabau. 

In the fourteenth and fifteenth century the ancient kingdom of 

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Minangkabau covered the whole of central Sumatra. This kingdom 

was divided into three parts: the three “luhaks”, the three “rantaus”, 

and the eight “babs”. To the luhaks, or districts, belonged Tanuh, 

Datar, Agam, and the Lima-puluh (15 towns). To-day these districts 

form the environments of Fort van der Capellen, Fort de Kock, and 

Pajakumbuh. These three luhaks formed the kernel of Minangkabau. 

The three rantaus, states, stood in loose relation to the central 

province, although they recognized the supremacy of the maharadja 

of Minangkabau. These were: Rantau Kampar, Kuantan (Indragiri), 

and Batang Hari. Once every three years the ruler visited these 

provinces. The eight babs, the entrances and exits to the kingdom, 

were the large seaports: Padang, Priaman, Indrapura, Djambi, 

Indragiri, Siak, Painan, and Benkulen. The connection of the babs 

to the luhaks, or central provinces, was very loose, and at an early 

date they became entirely disconnected from the central kingdom. 

In the beginning of the seventeenth century, when the Dutch 

came to Sumatra, Minangkabau was already on its way toward com- 

plete disintegration. The kingdom at this time was composed of a 

collection of petty rajahs who ruled over Lilliputian village states, or 

negari. The overlord ruler at Palembang, the Jang di Pertuan, was 

a mere figurehead. In 1680 when King Alip died without leaving 

any direct heirs, the kingdom was divided into three parts. In the 

nineteenth century the rule of the ancient kingdom came entirely to 

an end, the Padri rebellion giving it its final death blow. 

It is impossible to give an exact date for the introduction of 

Mohammedan law and customs into Minangkabau. According to 

Willinck, Mohammedan Achehnese pirates roved the coast and upon 

occasion penetrated into the interior as early as the last half of the 

fourteenth century. While the middle of the sixteenth century is the 

date usually assigned for the introduction of Islam, yet Willinck 

claims that a great part of the Highland still was unconverted in the 

later part of the eighteenth century. In the beginning of the nineteenth 

century Mohammedan priests (the Padri) became discontented with 

the pagan state of the country and resorted to force, killing and 

enslaving all who resisted the introduction of the strict Mohammedan 

law. Nevertheless the people persisted in maintaining their matri- 

lineal adat and merely made formal and outward concessions to 

Moslem promptings. In matters of religion, however pagan they 

remain at heart, they make pretence of Mohammedan public ceremony 

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Breeding of animals is less well developed than agriculture, yet 

of some importance. Buffalo, horned cattle, horses and goats are 

raised. The people use the buffalo (karabau) both as draught animal 

and for their milk and meat. 

The chief industries are spinning, weaving, lace making, the 

weaving of mats and baskets, the preparation of silk, washing for 

gold, cloth dyeing, and pottery. These are especially women’s work. 

Rope making, paper manufacture, carpentry, boat building, wood 

cutting, decorating and painting wood, mineral mining, smithing, lead 

pouring, and candle moulding are especially the work of men. Sugar 

manufacture, chalk making, and the preparation of gambir and 

tabacco and oil mining are engaged in by both sexes. 

A half century ago the spinning wheel and the hand loom were 

to be found in every house. Nowadays, however, the natives buy the 

cheap American and European cotton goods. Silk industry is of recent 

importation from Europe. A variety of paper formerly was made from 

pounded leaves. 

The wet and dry rice fields are worked together by men and 

women. When cattle are scarce or not to be had, the woman has 

to work the fields by hand. The man has to lay fences around the 

field, do the house building and keep it in repair, plant his tobacco, 

make his fishing utensils and boats, do most of the fishing and all 

of the hunting, gather wood and brush products in the jungle, and 

sew the clothing. The woman plants the sugar cane, works on the 

house garden, and catches crabs and fish in the swamps. She does 

all of the house work, takes care of the children, cooks, grinds rice, 

weaves, spins, and prepares palm leaves for the roofing. 

The chief who is paid by the government no longer works in the 

field, and still less do the native chiefs where the local adat is in 

force. Those also who have a smattering of Mohammedan letters deem 

themselves too important to work in the swampy rice fields. Preceded 

by their mothers and their sisters, who carry the heavy loads on their 

heads, they wander marketward in ornamented clothing, carrying 

nothing else than bird cages with their favorite doves carefully 

protected from the heat of the sun by coverings of colored cotton cloths. 

In spite of the nominal “matriarchate” Van Hasselt claims that 

the women really are the servants of the men. They not only prepare 

the meals for the men in their family, but they also serve them first, 

they themselves eating later with the children. 

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Society. 

Oovernment. — The government of Minangkabau is essentially 

tribal rather than territorial, and the actual rulers of the land are 

the sib (suku) heads, the datuq nan berampe. These heads, as will 

be explained presently, receive their orders from lower family councils 

and therefore are representatives rather than governors. 

Nominally, in Hindu times, the independent village states, or 

negari, formed one nation with one language and one ruler, the Jang 

di Pertuan. Actually, this radjaship was utterly foreign to native 

concept and never integrated into the Minangkabau adat. While in 

Minangkabau exogamy and matrilineal succession are the rule, the 

radjas always married within their own family and the eldest son 

succeeded his father to the throne. 

The only authority the radja had was that of intermediary in the 

petty wars fought between the negari. When such a war had lasted 

a long time without a decisive victory, the radja sent a messenger with 

a yellow umbrella to the struggling negaris. This emblem was planted 

on the battlefield for the purpose of establishing peace. If both parties 

continued the struggle, however, the radja did nothing further in the 

matter. He had no army to enforce his power, nor did he try to 

arbitrate. 

The Hindu line of radjas appeared satisfied with the honor paid 

them, and the taxes. They were kings without soldiers: the poorest 

pretense of monarchs the world has known. With their disappearance, 

the actual government of the negari went on quite as before. 

While, then, the negari is the autonomous state, actually this 

concept also is apt to be misleading. For in each negari there has to 

be representatives of the four sibs (suku), and the heads of these 

furnish the highest council. The sibs, in fact, could function equally 

well without the negari, which is but the Hindu idea of territorial 

government superimposed upon the native genealogical rule. In fact, 

mere residence within a negari does not furnish a stranger with rights 

of citizenship; for this he has to be adopted into a sib. 

It is the suku, or rather that portion of a suku which resides in 

a certain negari, and not the negari, which furnishes the highest unit 

of government. Unfortunately, the history and significance of the 

suku is by no means clear. In Malay the word means “leg” or “fourth 

part”. Evidently, however, the word is original to Minangkabau, since 

here the suku corresponds to the sib (marga) of the Bataks. The fact

105 

if a village is inhabited by four of these “large families”, it would be 

said to have four sukus or quarters. 

The actual smallest indepentent unit of government in Minang- 

kabau is the sa-buah-parui, which consists of all those who have 

descended from a common female ancestor. The sa-buah-parui, then, 

comprises the children, their mothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, grand- 

mothers, grandaunts and granduncles, usually up to the fifth gener- 

ation. “All those who have the same dwelling district and the same 

tomb, the same dwelling place and rice fields.” The sa-buah-parui 

lives in a section of a village and has over it a chief or panghulu 

( 1 on chart) . The chief is chosen from the male relatives of the oldest 

woman of the lineage, as the name implies-hulu meaning “to begin” 

or “the first”. 

The lineage again is divided into branches, or families, called 

djurai. Each djurai lives in a separate house and is ruled over by 

the oldest brother of the oldest woman of the house, providing the 

man be fit for the office. Thus 1 and a are mamaqs of their respective 

houses B and C. It must be noted that the term mamaq means 

mother’s brother here as among the Karo Bataks and is Tamil in 

origin. The head of the house may be simply a mamaq, or, if he also 

is head of the sa-buah-parui, he may have the title of panghulu. 

The government of Minangkabau rests primarily on two councils, 

first that of the village panghulus, who meet in the village balai, and 

secondly on the four heads of the negari sukus, the datuq nan berampe, 

who meet in the negari balai. While the actual enforcement of law 

rests with the mamaqs and the panghulus, the executive power is in 

the hands of the suku chiefs. 

The panghulu has a double function. As a mamaq he is a simple 

house father, acting upon the advice of his house companions. As a 

panghulu he is representative of his family in the state. As such he 

is only responsible to the other panghulus and the suku heads. The 

panghulu has to take care that his underlings keep the adat and the 

Mohammedan law (sjarat), or be punished. He is the trait-d' union 

between his sa-buwah-parui and the suku, and between his family and 

the negari. He also is the repository of family traditions. He sees to 

it that the members of his family perform their appointed tasks: the 

making of roads, building of balais or mosques, &c. He is also 

responsible for the fidelity with which the mamaqs under him perform 

their tasks toward their various djurai. 

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The panghulu has the duty of bringing the demands of his family 

to the attention of the suku chiefs and to the other panghulu when they 

are sitting in council. If he fails to act as just representative, his 

family may complain over his head, and he may be displaced or even 

cast out of his family. 

The panghulu always must be informed of everything that happens 

within his family among the anak-buah (members of sa-buwah-parui) . 

No child can be born, no death occur, no marriage contracted, but the 

panghulu must be informed of it. No contract can be closed by his 

anak-buah, no money given out, or land given in lease, no important 

act of trade, but that he must receive word. He keeps account of the 

harto pusako (the communal property) and the harto pantjarian (the 

individual property) in his family. Not alone does he know the 

affairs of his own family, but he also knows the internal history and 

the anecdotes of the other sa-buwah-parui in the negari. When he 

becomes aged and feels that the end of his life is close at hand, he 

hands over these traditions to his younger successors. 

The panghulus possess no executive power but are mere represent- 

atives of their families. Executive power rests alone in the hands of 

the suku chiefs. But these act more as advisors than as law makers. 

They also receive their orders from below and are unable to do 

anything of their own initiative. 

Several important points must be noted in this system of govern- 

ment, which is the most truly democratic form which could be devised. 

1, The real sovereignty of the state rests with the individual sa- 

mandehs or families. A mamaq never forms decisions on his own 

account: important questions first are discussed in each household 

under the direction of the Indua, the oldest woman of the house, and 

then debated among the masculine members of the family and the 

mamaqs who carry out their orders. 2. All decisions must be merely 

interpretations of the dual constitution, the native adat and the Mo- 

hammedan law. 3. All decisions must be arrived at by unanimous 

vote. In Minangkabau there can be no tyranny of a majority over a 

minority. Dissenting members of a council, however, can be cast 

out of the family or even out of the community. 4. Minangkabau rule 

is a true gerontocracy, for the oldest male member of each djurai is 

eligible for the position of mamaq, the mamaq of the oldest djurai of 

the sa-buwah-parui should become panghulu, and the oldest branch of 

the suku in the negari should place its panghulu in the negari council.

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generations have claim to it. The mamaq is administrator over the 

harto pusako which belongs to his djurai, and the panghulu is admin- 

istrator over the harto pusako which belongs to his djurai and the 

harto manah which belongs to the entire sa-buwah-parui. 

The property system of Minangkabau acts as a preventative to 

the squandering of wealth. Yet there are cases where the harto 

pantjarian is not sufficient, and the harto pusako has to be loaned 

or rented out. It is only sold, however, as a last resort and with the 

consent of the entire family. According to the adat the harto pusako 

can be sold for debts which have been contracted in the following manners : 

1. The cost of burial of a family member. 

2. The cost of marrying out a virgin. 

3. In order to prevent the family house falling into decay. 

4. In former days to pay weregild (bangun) when the slayer 

himself had not sufficient property. 

5. At the present time a few families are willing to pay the 

expense of a trip to Mecca for their members out of the harto pusako. 

The harto pusako is divided only when a sa-buwah-parui goes 

into division. If, however, a daugther section migrates into another 

negari, it loses its share of the harto pusako. 

Land. — Real estate in Minangkabau is always privately owned 

by a negari in the first place, and then if cultivated given either to a 

sa-buwah-parui as harto pusako, or to the individual reclaimer as 

harto pantjarian. 

Land is divided into two categories: tanah mati (dead land) or 

jungle land, and tanah hidui (living land) or cultivated land. The 

tanah mati belongs to the negari, but without being worked it cannot 

become the private property of families. It belongs to the inhabitants 

of the negari as a whole, who have the right to gather jungle products 

and to hunt and fish on it. The tanah hidui consists of wet and dry 

rice fields, as well as all pepper, sirih, gambir, coconut, and other 

fields. Cultivated land belongs to the original reclaimer and is in- 

herited as harto pusako by the children of his sisters. 

Cultivated land actually is owned by the negari and the individual 

families merely enjoy the usufruct. Repeated divisions of the culti- 

vated soil are made by the negari chiefs and no family is allowed to 

retain more than it needs. In this way an equitable allotment of 

landed wealth is attained, and there is no danger of estates becoming 

either too large or too small for economic exploitation. 

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The women of Minangkabau are the chief cultivators of the soil, 

and through the native system of communistic ownership they control 

its equitable division by means of their representatives, the maraaqs. 

Unquestionably it is this factor in the Minangkabau matrilineate which 

has insured its success and its permanency. 

Criminal law, — In Minangkabau there is a code of criminal law 

(adat siksa) but no civil law. The lack of a civil code must be attri- 

buted to the paternal power exerted by the mamaq. When a family 

member wishes to enter or leave his negari, or when he wishes to 

enter into a contract concerning his harto pantjarian, he must consult 

his mamaq. In cases of dispute concerning the fulfilment of con- 

tracts, the mamaq decides on the merits of the case, or the matter may 

be brought before a higher court, even to the negari chiefs. A family 

member who disobeys the orders of his mamaq can have his share of 

the harto pusako withheld. If he wishes to obtain this back, he must 

conciliate his chief and give a feast. 

The native criminal code has not progressed beyond the law of 

blood revenge and weregild. In spite of Hindu and Mohammedan 

influence, the Minangkabau recognize no crimes against the state or a 

deity. This backward aspect of Minangkabau law is due to the fact that 

in the matrilineal regime the family is the state. Among the Bataks 

with their better developed state government treason formerly was the 

gravest of crimes against the state. 

Since in Minangkabau all crimes offend merely the avenger and 

his family, money compensation can atone for all misdeeds. The fine, 

however, paid by the guilty party goes not only to the wronged party 

but also to the negari chief, who receives the compensation partly 

due to the fact that he is head of the wronged party, and partly due 

to the fact that he is an expert in pronouncing judgment. The negari 

chief does not seek out the criminal, however, but waits until an 

accusation is brought before him. 

In the case of murder no distinction is made between intentional 

and unintentional homicide. A distinction is made, however, between 

the worth of a panghulu and an ordinary man, an adult and a 

child, a man and a woman, in terms of weregild. 

In spite of the matrilineate a husband has the customary Indo- 

nesian right of killing a guilty pair if they are caught flagrante 

delicto, and a thief may also be killed if caught in the act. 

Judgments are made in court on the basis of material evidence 

113

Joking and avoidance customs as well as the laws of incest are 

not so rigorously enforced in Minangkabau as among the Bataks. 

They are nevertheless of the same nature. A father may not caress 

his daughter, nor may brother and sister be demonstrative with one 

another. The law of the family covers the entire suku, and all suku 

acquaintances of opposite sexes must be very reserved. On the other 

hand, men and women of different suku may be very forward in 

their behavior, especially if they are not married. There is one 

striking point of difference between the Minangkabau and the Bataks: 

In Minangkabau boys and girls before they become engaged can 

mingle freely, but once engaged they must rigorously avoid speaking 

or meeting each other; among the Bataks an engagement is merely 

one form of trial marriage. 

Parents-in-law and children-in-law, regardless of sex, are for- 

bidden to be familiar, cordial, or jest with one another. They are 

not allowed to sit on the same mat or bench or eat from the same 

board or banana leaf lest their fingers touch. In the same way 

siblings-in-law of opposite sex never joke, and avoid one another. 

Theoretically the sa-buwah-parui of the husband and that of the 

wife are brought into no relationship with one another by a marriage 

between members. Actually, however, marriage has preserved its 

aspect of group exchange here as among the Bataks. Thus, after the 

death of one’s wife, it is deemed highly desirable to marry one of 

her sisters “so that the bond between the two families should not be 

broken”. It also is considered desirable that a man marry the widow 

of his deceased brother for the same reason. 

Cross-cousin marriage is not prescribed by the adat, and the 

kinship nomenclature does not reflect this form of union, yet it is 

nevertheless the custom for a family to pick out the son of the mother’s 

brother (anak mamaq) or of the father’s sister (kamanakan bapa) 

as the most suitable husband for the daughter. In this way the 

family believes itself assured of having a son-in-law of the same 

social standing as themselves. 

Marriage restrictions. — Marriage has been shown to be exog- 

amous, and a woman must marry a man not only from a different 

sa-buwah-parui but also from a different suku. Incest is called sum- 

bang and is punished by disowning. 

In regard to other restrictions on marriage the Mohammedan 

law at the present time is followed more closely than the native adat. 

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Thus, while a woman might marry a half-brother from a different 

father according to native adat, this is seldom done. While in some 

districts a man is prohibited taking more than one wife, in others 

certain of the wealthy marry four, according to Mohammedan law, 

spending a month with each. 

According to Mohammedan custom a man is not allowed to 

marry two sisters at the same time, a parent-in-law cannot marry a 

child-in-law, nor a brother-in-law a sister-in-law while the spouse 

is still living. 

Previously native adat forbade a virgin contracting a marriage 

with a man outside of her negari and to-day this seldom is done. 

A woman who already has been married (orang rando) is allowed 

to marry a stranger. 

Marriage. — As among the Bataks and other primitive peoples, 

bachelors and spinsters are almost unknown in Minangkabau. A 

spinster is said to receive the derisive nickname, apa guna, “what is 

the use?” There is no reason for a Minangkabau woman to remain 

unwed, for her family finds a husband for her while she is still a 

young girl; later when she becomes widowed or divorced she seeks 

her own mate. In a later marriage a woman must receive the consent 

of her mamaq in order that she may be assured that her spouse will 

be welcomed in the family house, but the man need consult no one. 

Only the first marriage is deemed of social importance in Minang- 

kabau. This is contracted without consulting either the boy or the 

girl by the two djurai concerned in the matter. Boys are usually 

married off at about the age of 15, the time of their circumcision, 

and girls at the time of their first menstruation. In spite of the social 

importance attached to this early marriage, it seldom has any lasting 

effect, and a woman not infrequently has changed mates five or six 

times before she arrives at the age of twenty. If the Batak woman 

may be said to enjoy her freedom before marriage, then her Minang- 

kabau sister has her opportunity in post-nuptial days. 

After all the older brothers and sisters of a girl have been 

married off, the family decides on a suitable husband for this daughter 

and employs go-betweens to sound the feelings of the boy’s family. 

If the consent of the latter family is obtained, the family of the girl 

sends small pledges (tandos) and receives tandos in exchange. The 

heads of the sukus are informed of the engagement and it is made 

public. If the affair be broken off later, either before or after marriage. 

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Three days after the birth of the child the mother gets up to 

perform light housework. If she is very weak, however, she is allowed 

to remain in bed fifteen days. During this time she is not allowed 

to eat red peppers, root vegetables, sweets, or condiments with her 

rice. She lives on dried fish, salted dried rice and dried meat. The 

foods tabooed are supposed to heat the blood; sweets cause pain. 

No restrictions are placed on the father. 

Treatment of children. — The children are not brought up by 

any particular member of the djurai but by the female relatives as 

a group, all of whom have the right of correction and all of whom 

join in deciding on the child’s career and marriage. The oldest 

woman of the djurai has the most to say in these matters, together 

with her male representative, the mamaq. The father displays not 

the least concern regarding his own children, although he gives them 

small presents from time to time. In the better families unmarried 

girls are carefully guarded. 

From the European point of view, the Minangkabau child 

receives a very faulty education. He is left almost entirely to him- 

self, and at an early age has to devote his energies to the economic 

pursuits of the household. While still a boy he learns to read and 

write a little in the Arabic characters. In lieu of actual scientific or 

literary training, he is taught to acquire manual dexterity and a 

practical knowledge of animal and plant life. The native industries 

presently occupy his entire attention, such as the decoration of weapons 

and household utensils, the carving of buildings and the fashioning 

of the precious metals. A girl while still young begins to weave and 

make baskets. 

Puberty ceremonies. — Boys are circumcised and girls incised. 

Boys have a lock of their hair preserved to be ceremonially cut off 

at puberty, while girls have their teeth filed before marriage and 

their ears bored while they are very young. 

Both boys and girls are bathed in the river a few days after birth 

and are named at this time by the Mohammedan priest (malim). 

Girls arrive at puberty at about the age of twelve or thirteen. 

No ceremony takes place at this time, but from now on they are care- 

fully watched and no longer allowed to play with the boys. During 

periods of menstruation (bulan, moon) the women avoid the use of 

oil in their hair, keep away from men, and bathe twice a day in 

the river. 

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Boys become of age at fifteen, at which time they are entitled 

to manage their business affairs and hold office. 

Names. — Children receive their names at the time they are first 

bathed in the river, at the latest five days after their birth. While 

the names are actually bestowed by the malim, the parents offer a 

number of names as choice. This first name is called a “little name” 

(nama ketek). Later when the boys and girls marry they receive 

their inherited titles, or little titles (galar ketek), and these satisfy 

their vanity. Upon the assumption of titles the childhood names are 

lost. The only real titles are those of the panghulus (gala panghulu) . 

Names and titles are of Hindu origin, and their meanings are not 

understood by the present-day people. 

With the assumption of the family title goes the right of part 

ownership in the family property, such as rice fields. It is therefore 

just as great an offence to steal a family title as it is to steal the 

family property. Slaves had no rights to family titles but kept their 

childhood names. 

The Minangkabau like the Bataks are loath to reveal their names, 

and it is an insult to ask for the names of elder members of a family. 

Teknonomy, as before mentioned, is practiced, and a man names him- 

self after his nephews or children, a woman after her children or 

grandchildren. 

Death and burial. — The dead always are disposed of by burial, 

and this on the same day as that on which the death occurs. If a 

man becomes sick at the home of his wife, word is sent to his relatives. 

If he dies, the body is handed over to his own family. The widow 

and her relatives have nothing to do with the burial. 

The people have no outward sign of mourning. According to 

Mohammedan law, the widow must wait four months and ten days, 

and then if she is not pregnant, she can remarry. The Minangkabau 

widow, however, waits one hundred days, as the ghost of the dead 

man is supposed to wander around in the form of a bird in his 

own dwelling and in hers, for that period of time. Then a big feast 

for the dead is given and the ghost leaves for soul land, kampong 

achirat. The widow at this time pays her last visit to the family 

of the deceased, and they visit the grave together. While no offerings 

are put upon the grave, household implements, such as mats and 

baskets, and food, are given as presents to blood relatives. Direct 

offerings to the dead would be contrary to Mohammedan law. 

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Soul belief. — Corresponding to our idea of the soul, Maass 

states that the Malays of the Archipelago and Malacca have two 

different concepts and three expressions. 1. The Njawa (Minang- 

kabau njao) is the soul in the sense of life, life bearer, life principle. 

This is the real soul which leaves the body at the time of death. 

This word and concept is the same as that of India proper, and has 

been introduced into Sumatra and Java. 2. The Djiura (Minang- 

kabau djio) from the Sanskrit djiva, life principle. 3. The Sumangat 

(Minangkabau sumange, Batak sumangot, Mentawei simagere) from 

the Sanskrit sangat “strong” “very” with an “m” infix. This is the 

soul in the sense of consciousness, life force, or health. It is this 

soul which leaves in dreams and sickness, but which usually returns 

again to the body. 

Toom has made a special study of the Minangkabau soul 

concept. He writes; 

“While the njao is regarded as the source of life, the life or the 

breath; the sumange is called the life force, the life fire, or con- 

sciousness. The sumange is that which causes the impression of fear, 

respect and wonder. It furnishes power, splendor and vivacity. It 

makes itself apparent in the expression of the face, in the posture 

and movements of the body. Every healthy man may be called an 

orang basumange by the Minangkabau, but this usually is said of 

some one who looks especially strong and healthy, who appears 

vivacious and alive. If a man looks sickly, or has little or no expression 

in his face, it is said that his spirit (sumange) is weak, or temporarily 

has left him. 

“The sumange, as well as the njao, is immaterial. Between the 

two there exists an inner relationship; but so far as their material 

container is concerned, the concept concerning them differs. When 

the njao is gone, the body perishes, but it only is weakened by the 

absence of the sumange. Only when this permanently leaves the body 

does all life cease. 

“The Minangkabau himself believes that the sumange is a being, 

which has consciousness, which possesses a will, which has power 

to think and feel, and which is entirely independent of the body. 

“The sumange leaves the body either in suffering or in great 

joy. This going away and returning of the sumange occurs both 

voluntarily and involuntarily. The voluntary leaving occurs in dreams, 

when the sumange lingers in places or by objects which have created 

122 

a deep impression. In some cases the dreamer speaks about the things 

which the sumange encounters on his travels. From this kind of 

journey the sumange returns of the free will. It is improper, however, 

to blacken or dirty the face of a sleeper, as this causes an aversion 

in the sumange. 

“The forced leaving of the sumange occurs in fright, anxiety, 

or sickness. Fright may be occasioned by the sudden meeting of 

one sumange with another, which it did not expect, and which induces 

it to leave its body. After this the sumange returns of its own free 

will, after the unexpected stranger is gone. The anxious state of the 

sumange also may be caused through worry, when the sumange 

approaches a misfortune. We observe this in a criminal who is being 

led to capital punishment, and whose palid face and quivering body 

show that his sumange is gone. Sickness is caused when the evil 

spirits torture the abstracted sumange. The suffering of the sumange 

are felt by the entire body. The sumange, in this case, returns either 

voluntarily or is forced back by the doctor (dukun).” 

Animals and plants, like human beings, have souls (djio). The 

natives claim that when an animal dies or is killed its soul flies 

away. But when a plant dies, there is no question of its soul 

surviving after death. The plant dies, they say. An exception to this 

rule, however, must be made in the case of rice. Among the Minang- 

kabau, as among all the rice raising people of the Archipelago, the 

soul of the rice plant receives special treatment. 

Rice Mother. — The Indonesian rice growing people not only 

distinguish the nature of the rice soul from that of other animal and 

plant souls, but often give the rice soul the same name as the human 

soul. The Toradja of Celebes call the rice soul by the same name as 

the human soul, tawuna. Among the Bataks the rice soul is called 

tondi, and among the Javanese, Malay, Makassers and Buginese, it is 

called sumange, sumangat, or semangat. 

It can thus be seen that the rice plant is a thinking and feeling 

being. Although the rice soul is in every rice plant and in every rice 

kernel, yet this is especially true for the special plant which is ritually 

taken out of the rice field. The rice soul is thought to be concentrated 

in this plant, which is called mother, grandmother, grandfather or 

uncle. The other rice plants of the field are called children or nephews. 

The Indonesians believe that the single rice kernels or plants are 

persons who possess a power which can readily be lost at the time 

125 

earth. According to others, the metamorphosis takes place but once, 

and after the animal is dead the soul goes to soul land. 

Doctors. — The Minangkabau doctor is called dukun or urang 

kapiturunan (turun, to descend, to come down). The dukun is either 

male or female. The women doctors, however, specialize in childbirth, 

the incision of girls, and massage. The male dukun’s also have their 

specialists. Certain ones handle only internal sicknesses, others 

concern themselves with teeth filing, while still others circumcise or 

massage. 

Insufficient knowledge has been obtained concerning the training 

of the dukun’s. In general the position goes from father to son, or 

mother to daughter. The parent teaches the child orally, there being 

no written documents or formulae to hand down. The youth learns 

to gather herbs and witnesses the cures performed upon the sick. 

At the age of seventeen or eighteen the young dukun starts practicing 

for himself. 

The dukun is greatly respected by the natives, not alone because 

of his medical knowledge, but also because of his command of magical 

formulae (mostly Mohammedan), by means of which he combats the 

evil spirits. He likewise is summoned to fight witchcraft, and in his 

capacity of medium, to enter into communication with spirits. 

In spite of his title of kapiturunan, the dukun is a seer rather 

than a true shaman. Spirit possession is simulated beneath a blanket, 

but the dukun is not capable of giving a performance in the open, 

as is his Batak colleague. It is not known whether or not a neophyte 

dukun enters a vision quest in order to obtain a guardian spirit. 

Toom, however, states that a Minangkabau native goes into 

seclusion for the purpose of coming into contact with the spirits, 

from whom he wishes to learn one or more of the magical arts, as, 

for example, to make himself invisible. Usually he does this on the 

top of a high mountain, or in the thickest part of the woods. Here 

he remains until his wish is fulfilled, usually not longer than seven 

days. Presumably the prospective dukun undergoes this variety of 

vision quest. Maass mentions the fact that the dukun is able to see 

the ghosts of the dead at night. This visionary power is similar 

to that exercised in Mentawei by the seer. 

The dukun cures by bringing back the soul, when it has been 

abstracted by the spirits. When anyone is sick the dukun is sum- 

moned, and certain herbs, flowers and rice are prepared by a woman 

126 

who is not in her periods. The dukun brings these offerings to a 

lonely high place and burns them in a dish. By this means he 

summons his friendly spirits (djihins). He then inquires their 

purpose and urges them to aid in recovering the lost sumange and 

to bring it back to the dwelling of the patient. The dukun now lies 

down and is covered with a blanket. About fifteen minutes later his 

limbs begin to tremble, an indication that his soul has left his body 

and is on the way to the spirit village. Once there he tells the spirits 

(this is not heard by the human audience) the reason for his coming, 

whereupon the oldest of the women djihin, Mande Rubiah, with some 

of her male and female followers, go to seek the sumange. Sometimes, 

as in the case of serious illness, the evil spirits demand a sacrifice 

for the return of the soul, as an armlet or kris. This is given to 

the dukun. 

If Mande Rubiah does not succeed in recovering the soul, the 

patient is certain to die. If the djihins succeed in returning with 

the sumange, the fact is made apparent by the trembling of the limbs 

of the dukun, who remains unconscious, since his own sumange is 

still in the village of the djihins. The sound of voices which are 

heard from under the blanket are said to be the voices of the djihins 

who have entered the body of the dukun. The djihins command that 

benzine be burnt, so that the soul of the sick person can see well 

enough to mount the ladder in the ghost house and partake of a 

feast. The soul then is escorted by the djihins back into its proper body. 

After all this has happened one usually questions Mande Rubiah 

concerning further treatment for the sick person. The advice sometimes 

is given that the patient should bathe for twelve hours, facing one 

or another of the neighboring mountains. In addition a sacrificial 

altar (ataran) should be constructed with gifts of cooked eggs, rice, 

sirih and tobacco. 

The dukun has still another method of curing. The patient, 

surrounded by his relatives, is placed in front of a curtain. The 

people are enjoined to maintain a deep silence, and the dukun steps 

behind the curtain to confer with the spirits. One hears then the 

voices of the spirits and the voice of the dukun in conference. Finally 

the dukun comes back to the patient, tells him what has happened, 

and what is required for a cure, spits on him, and recites a magical 

formula. In this manner of treatment there is no suggestion of spirit 

possession. 

336

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337 

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Lekkerkerker, C. Land en Volk van Sumatra. Leiden, 1916. 

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