Ibn Battuta — full name Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta (Morocco, 1304–1369) — was the Arab traveller whose Rihla (Voyage) records his visit, in 1345/1346, to the sultanate of Pasej on the north coast of Sumatra, where he was received by Sultan Malik at-Tahir for fifteen days. His is the principal Arabic-language account of the pre-Atjehnese north Sumatran sultanate, and the principal external witness to the Pasej–Moel Djawa complex that De Roo de la Faille reads as the older Hindu-Buddhist geography of the Aru-Atjeh sphere.
Visit to Pasej (1345-1346)
Sailing from Bengal to the “isle of Djaouah” (i.e. Sumatra), Ibn Battuta arrived at the port of Sarha, which Rouffaer thought “probably Telok Semawe”, but which De Roo de la Faille decodes as Sa-ri-ra (i.e. awak), the city of the Dj-awak-a. Four miles inland lay the capital, Sjemoe-t or Samatra — “a city with wooden wall and wooden towers”, probably, De Roo de la Faille suggests, Pasej on the north coast. There Ibn Battuta was hospitably received by Sultan Malik at-Tahir, an zealous warrior of the holy war against the infidels of the interior, whose slaving raids brought him profitable spoil. Ibn Battuta stayed fifteen days, then sailed by junk to Moel Djawa.
Voyage to Moel Djawa
Ibn Battuta’s next destination, Moel Djawa, had its capital at Qakola — a name conventionally read as Rouffaer’s Bataksch Angkola, but which De Roo de la Faille decodes as Arabic Qaclola / Sanskrit Kakkola, the camphor-name by which the Hindu-Javanese chronicles denoted the ancestral land of Taroema. The “city”, Ibn Battuta wrote, was surrounded by heavy walls of natural stone — not baked brick, bata, i.e. not Beta[-ksch] but of the Djawa-ge. There were many elephants, used as draught and transport animals; the products of the land included cloves and nutmeg, both on the local market — evidence, De Roo de la Faille notes, of regular trade with the Moluccas.
Decoding: Thaouglich and the return voyage
On his voyage toward China, Ibn Battuta came to or through a place he calls Thaouglich — which De Roo de la Faille reads as tawa-li-si, a contraction of Ketawa-ng gi-li we-si, a bedekte taal form for Kataha, the island of Sulawesi. On his return he came into the sea of Tjempa, where the dangerous bird Roh dwelt — which De Roo de la Faille decodes as pek-si roh, i.e. the si-kep (bird-catchers) of A-ro, the sea-rovers of the bay of Aroe in the arnawa of Tjempa-ka(-mbodja).
Significance
For AcehWiki, Ibn Battuta’s importance is twofold. He is the only Arabic-language witness to the Pasej sultanate of the pre-Atjehnese age, and so the principal external source for the Pasej court in its golden age; and his Rihla is, in De Roo de la Faille’s reading, pervaded by the bedekte taal of the Djawakas, by which the older Hindu-Buddhist geography of the Aru-Atjeh sphere was concealed from the foreign listener. His account fixes the Moel Djawa-Qakola complex as the Taroema of the chronicle tradition, and so the principal east-coast landmark of pre-Atjehnese Sumatra in Arabic record.
See Also
- Sultan Malik at-Tahir of Pasej
- Pasej-Samodra
- Moel Djawa
- Qakola
- Taroema
- Djawaka
- Bedekte taal
- G. P. Rouffaer
- P. de Roo de la Faille
- Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java
Source
Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java, by P. de Roo de la Faille (Den Haag: Maart 1954), chapter “Over Sjahroe’n Noewi”, pp. 29-31.
Ibn Battuta — full name Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta (Morocco, 1304–1369) — was the Arab traveller whose Rihla (Voyage) records his visit, in 1345/1346, to the sultanate of Pasej on the north coast of Sumatra, where he was received by Sultan Malik at-Tahir for fifteen days. His is the principal Arabic-language account of the pre-Atjehnese north Sumatran sultanate, and the principal external witness to the Pasej–Moel Djawa complex that De Roo de la Faille reads as the older Hindu-Buddhist geography of the Aru-Atjeh sphere.
Visit to Pasej (1345-1346)
Sailing from Bengal to the “isle of Djaouah” (i.e. Sumatra), Ibn Battuta arrived at the port of Sarha, which Rouffaer thought “probably Telok Semawe”, but which De Roo de la Faille decodes as Sa-ri-ra (i.e. awak), the city of the Dj-awak-a. Four miles inland lay the capital, Sjemoe-t or Samatra — “a city with wooden wall and wooden towers”, probably, De Roo de la Faille suggests, Pasej on the north coast. There Ibn Battuta was hospitably received by Sultan Malik at-Tahir, an zealous warrior of the holy war against the infidels of the interior, whose slaving raids brought him profitable spoil. Ibn Battuta stayed fifteen days, then sailed by junk to Moel Djawa.
Voyage to Moel Djawa
Ibn Battuta’s next destination, Moel Djawa, had its capital at Qakola — a name conventionally read as Rouffaer’s Bataksch Angkola, but which De Roo de la Faille decodes as Arabic Qaclola / Sanskrit Kakkola, the camphor-name by which the Hindu-Javanese chronicles denoted the ancestral land of Taroema. The “city”, Ibn Battuta wrote, was surrounded by heavy walls of natural stone — not baked brick, bata, i.e. not Beta[-ksch] but of the Djawa-ge. There were many elephants, used as draught and transport animals; the products of the land included cloves and nutmeg, both on the local market — evidence, De Roo de la Faille notes, of regular trade with the Moluccas.
Decoding: Thaouglich and the return voyage
On his voyage toward China, Ibn Battuta came to or through a place he calls Thaouglich — which De Roo de la Faille reads as tawa-li-si, a contraction of Ketawa-ng gi-li we-si, a bedekte taal form for Kataha, the island of Sulawesi. On his return he came into the sea of Tjempa, where the dangerous bird Roh dwelt — which De Roo de la Faille decodes as pek-si roh, i.e. the si-kep (bird-catchers) of A-ro, the sea-rovers of the bay of Aroe in the arnawa of Tjempa-ka(-mbodja).
Significance
For AcehWiki, Ibn Battuta’s importance is twofold. He is the only Arabic-language witness to the Pasej sultanate of the pre-Atjehnese age, and so the principal external source for the Pasej court in its golden age; and his Rihla is, in De Roo de la Faille’s reading, pervaded by the bedekte taal of the Djawakas, by which the older Hindu-Buddhist geography of the Aru-Atjeh sphere was concealed from the foreign listener. His account fixes the Moel Djawa-Qakola complex as the Taroema of the chronicle tradition, and so the principal east-coast landmark of pre-Atjehnese Sumatra in Arabic record.
See Also
- Sultan Malik at-Tahir of Pasej
- Pasej-Samodra
- Moel Djawa
- Qakola
- Taroema
- Djawaka
- Bedekte taal
- G. P. Rouffaer
- P. de Roo de la Faille
- Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java
Source
Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java, by P. de Roo de la Faille (Den Haag: Maart 1954), chapter “Over Sjahroe’n Noewi”, pp. 29-31.