Parallels between the upright stones of Western Sumatra and those in Malacca and Negri Sembilan
John N. Miksic published this comparative study in 1985, drawing on fieldwork conducted in 1983 in both the Batu Sangkar and Payakumbuh areas of West Sumatra and the Alor Gajah and Kuala Pilah districts of peninsular Malaysia. His central thesis is that the decorated monoliths at Keramat Sungai Udang and the paired stone alignments of Negeri Sembilan and Malacca are not grave markers but rather ceremonial objects associated with the reinforcement of social status, and that they share a common cultural origin with analogous remains in the Minangkabau highlands of West Sumatra.
Summary
Miksic opens by invoking a 1973 colloquy at which three prominent archaeologists cautioned against treating all Southeast Asian megalithic remains as a single cultural phenomenon, arguing instead that only limited areas show sufficient structural and stylistic unity to suggest a shared tradition. He applies this methodological standard to the Malaysian stones, arguing that the hypothesis of a West Sumatran connection must satisfy specific criteria: shared function, approximate contemporaneity, and evidence of population continuity or communication between the regions.
The core of the article is a detailed comparison between the three decorated monoliths at Keramat Sungai Udang (the Kemudi, Sudu, and Pedang) and a group of three upright stones at Kuburaja near Batu Sangkar, West Sumatra. Both sites feature triads of decorated standing stones surrounded by scattered horizontal rocks, both have been set in concrete with possible alteration of original placement, and both are near Muslim graveyards. Miksic argues that the proximity of Islamic burials does not indicate pre-Islamic use as a cemetery, since in Indonesia it is common for old ruins to be repurposed as Muslim burial grounds. He then draws on Minangkabau social structure—where the number three is fundamental, as in the three valleys of the heartland and the three legendary rajas (Rajo Alam, Rajo Adaik, Rajo Ibadaik)—to propose that the triads served as ceremonial backrests for high-ranking individuals during their lifetimes, rather than as grave markers. He supports this by citing the Lampung pepadon tradition, in which carved wooden seats (traced back to stone prototypes) were insignia of rank, and by noting that stone seats with backrests were erected in Nias during historic times as part of “feasts of merit.”
The article then turns to the paired stone alignments of Negeri Sembilan and Malacca, finding fewer direct parallels in West Sumatra but noting a striking similarity in the kris-hilt shape of many of the stones, which also occurs in carved monoliths near Balubus in West Sumatra. Miksic speculates that these could have served as tethering posts for sacrificial animals, analogous to the yupa inscriptions of eastern Kalimantan, though he acknowledges this remains unproven. On the question of cultural affiliation, he notes that Negeri Sembilan is populated mainly by descendants of Minangkabau immigrants, that de Casparis dated the beginning of this migration to the mid-fifteenth century, and that the script of the Ahmat Majanu inscription shows affinities with West Sumatran and Acehnese scripts. The only site in the peninsula with such remains is the one most obviously connected to West Sumatran immigration, which Miksic finds a striking coincidence.
Key Findings
- The three decorated monoliths at Keramat Sungai Udang (Kemudi, Sudang, Pedang) and the three upright stones at Kuburaja near Batu Sangkar both consist of triads with similar longitudinal profiles (two long parallel sides, two short irregular sides) surrounded by scattered horizontal stones (pp. 73–74).
- The Ahmat Majanu pierced stone at Sungai Udang bears Kawi and Jawi inscriptions dating to approximately 1467–68, though the stone itself may predate the inscription (p. 77).
- In Lampung, the pangkat sesaka (second grade of status) denoted the right to sit on a backrest, and the pangkat pepadon (third grade) the right to use a carved wooden seat; two pepadon in the National Museum, Jakarta, described as three centuries old, bear nagas, masks, rosettes, and floral motifs (p. 74).
- De Casparis dated the beginning of Minangkabau immigration into Negeri Sembilan to approximately the middle of the fifteenth century A.D., and noted that the Sungai Udang script shows a closer resemblance to a late fourteenth-century inscription from Minye Tujuh, Aceh, than to Adityawarman’s West Sumatran script (pp. 77–78).
- The kris-hilt shape characteristic of many Malacca and Negeri Sembilan alignment stones also occurs in carved monoliths near Balubus, approximately 20 kilometers from Payakumbuh, West Sumatra, where stones with tendril-like motifs in high relief cluster on the fringes of contemporary villages (p. 79).
- At Dusun Tuo (Batu Batikam), about 2 miles from Kuburaja, two pierced stones are associated with a small terraced stone altar and a medan nan bapane in which stone backrests form three sides of a square with the altar in the center (p. 77).
Conclusion
Miksic concludes that the correspondences between Kuburaja and Sungai Udang are sufficient to suggest a common tradition, possibly even a single ethnic group, rather than chance resemblance. For the paired alignments, the similarity in stone shape points to a common origin, but their use in peninsular Malaysia appears to have developed in a different direction after the initial immigration from Sumatra. He explicitly leaves the debate open, acknowledging that other interpretations remain plausible.
Context
- The study draws on fieldwork in the Batu Sangkar and Payakumbuh areas of West Sumatra (conducted at the invitation of Museum Adityawarman, Padang) and in the Alor Gajah and Kuala Pilah districts (conducted at the invitation of Tan Sri Dato’ Mubin Sheppard), supplemented by examination of collections at Muzium Negara, Kuala Lumpur.
- The article contributes to the historiography of Southeast Asian megalithic studies by applying the methodological caution articulated by Glover, Bronson, and Bayard (1979) to a specific regional comparison, and by shifting the interpretive framework from funerary to status-related ceremonial use.