The
History of Jambi
The
Early history
_____________________________
The
river port of Jambi, the capital of the province of that name, is situated
in the central region of Sumatra on the river Batanghari which flows
east into the Berhala Straits. Jambi is positioned on the busy sea route
between China and India , and the region played a major part in early
maritime trade. The Tang Annals record that as early as the seventh
century A.D. and again in the ninth century Jambi sent ambassadors to
the court of Chinese emperor ( Wang Gungwu 1958;74). These earliest
records of Jambi show it to have been the original capital of Melayu
( Malaya Kingdom ) The ancient Hindu - Buddhist Kingdom of Sriwijaya
also had its capital in Jambi at about this time.
Muaro Jambi Temple, the most believed capital of
the ancient Malay Kingdom
Muaro
jambi, a large temple complex several kilometers downstream from the
present capital may well have been the center of Buddhist learning referred
to by the Chinese monk I-Tsing, who traveled from to India in 671. He
studied in Sriwijaya for four years, then returned in 689 with four
collaborators, to write two books in the Buddhist pilgrims and Buddhism
of his time. It is during they stay that he noted that Malayu " is now
the country of Sriwijaya".
A 1915 founded Holy Quran reading-school located
on the site of old Jambi village.
Scholars
have differed in their interpretations of this remark ; certainly the
relationship between Melayu and Sriwijaya was a very close one, although
there were some clearly period of Malay independence when Sriwijaya
was based in nearby Palembang. By the eleventh century the capital had
certainly moved to Jambi ( Wolters 1970:2 ). As well as functioning
as an entreport, Jambi also produced its own exports including a variety
of tree resins for use as incense, as well as cloves, tortoise-shell,
gardenia flowers and cardamom. From Arab traders it imported cotton,
fabrics and sword blades ; from China silk gauzes and thread, the latter
possibly used in the manufacturer of silk brocades decorated in gold
supplementary weft, the "songket" for which the Malay world later became
famous
(
Hirt & Rockhill 1964 ; 60-2 )
The
Myth and Legend
_____________________________
Oral traditions establish
the roots of Jambi's relationship with Java and the founding of the
kingdom and Islam within it. According to the legend, in the fifteenth
century a Turkish prince, shipwrecked on the coast, met and married
Putri Selaras Pinang Masak (lit.Princess Ripe Betel-nut ), the ruler
of the coastal kingdom of Tanjung Jabung, around the lower riches of
the Batanghari River. The couple had four children, of whom one, Orang
Kayo Hitam, became the central hero figure in Jambi Legend.
The
Javanese kingdom of Mataram was at that time demanding tribute from
Tanjung Jabung and when orang kayo hitam was a young man he determined
to put a stop to this. He traveled in disguise to the mataram capital,
where a master smith was forging a kris with which to kill him. Orang
Kayo Hitam killed the smith and seized the kris, which he later took
back to Jambi. There it becomes known as Kris Siginjei, the symbol of
royal power in Jambi. The stories goes that the Javanese ruler, fearing
the wrath of Orange Kayo Hiram, called for a truce and sealed the agreement
by arranging a marriage between his daughter Ratumas Pemalang and Orang
Kayo Hitam
Statue at the
Muaro Jambi temple
Another
legend tells the incorporation of the upriver region into the kingdom
and the establishment of the Jambi capital at Tanah Pilih, or chosen
land , its present site. Orang Kayo Hitam is said to have journeyed
upriver into the interior where he came across a log with a lock of
black hair entwined around it, the hair, he thought of a beautiful girl.
He
sees off in search for her and eventually came to a village where he
found her guardians. As was the norm on occasions when men with magic
powers met, he was challenged to single combat. Both he and his adversary
leapt, thrust and struck at each other using all the skill of pencak
silat, and the fight went on for several days. Eventually, however,
orang kayu hitam proved the stronger.
As his prize, he asked the girl's guardian if he could marry her, but
they were extremely reluctant for this strange black man to marry Mayang
Mangurai, as she was called. They set him a test, traditionally considered
to be impossible to fulfill. The test was in four parts. First he must
hand over a mortarful of gold, second, the hollow of a blowpipe, third
the sleeve of a shit, and fourth, a measure of louse heads. He had a
year and a day to perform these tasks. Orange Kayo Hiram set off to
Java where he easily obtained the gold. Neither did the other requirements
present him with any difficulties.
The Orang Kayo Hitam grave sited on the bank of Batanghari
River
On
his return, the wedding gifts were handed over and the guardians had
to concede. After the wedding, the young couple set off down the river
in a small covered boat, following a pair of white geese. Mayang Menguarai's
father had told them that when the geese left the water and settled
on the bank for two days and two nights, there they should build a city.
The place was this occurred was then known as the Tanah Pilih. When
Orang Kayo Hitam struck the ground for the first time with his knife,
he hit a gong buried in the earth. When he hit the second time he hit
a cannon. Many believed these to be the parents of the girl, transformed
in their graves. Others believed that they had fled into the forests
rather than embrace Islam. There they became the ancestor of Kubu People
( Suku Anak Dalam ), the forest dwellers that have retained their animist
beliefs and hunter-gatherer existence.
Life Cycle
Ceremonies >>>
Quoted
from
"Scattered
Flowers - Textiles from Jambi ,Sumatra " by Fiona Kerlogue from
Centre for South East Asian Studies
Other
suggested references
Patola
Influences in Southeast Asia in Journal of Indian textile History
No 4 by Buhler,A 1959
Een
Batik Van Jambi in Nederlandsch -Indie
Oud en Nieuww by Goslings,B,M - 1927
Het
Batikken in Het Gebied der Hoofdplaats - Indie Oud en Nieuww
by Goslings , B,M.-1929
Roodgekleurde
Djambi-Batiks in Nederlandsch- Indie Oud en Nieuww by Goslings ,B,M.
- 1930
The
Nanhai Trade : a study of the early history of Chinese in the South
China Sea, in Journal of the Malay Branch of the Royal Asiatic
Society - by Wang Gungwu - 1958
The
Fall of Sriwijaya in Malay History by Wolters,O.W - 1970
Textile
of Indonesia by Maxwell,J.R and R.J - 1976
Resources
constarints and relations of appropriation among tropical forest foragers
; the case of Sumatran Kubu, Research in Economic Antrhopology
by O.Sandbukt ,1988
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