Singa Maharadja (also written Singa Maharaja) was the “youthful priest-king” of the independent Bataklands at Lake Toba in northern Sumatra, who, seeing his influence threatened and “perhaps incited by fanatical chiefs and acting under Acehnese influence, resolved, supported by 40 Acehnese champions, to make an incursion into Silindoeng and to carry off the missionaries and the Christian population as slaves.” His incursion precipitated the Batak War of February-May 1878, in which the Dutch column under Captain Scheltens advanced from Siboga to protect the missionaries and Christians and to drive Singa Maharadja from Silindoeng.
The Incursion
In Silindoeng — by which is meant the landscapes bounded on the west and south by the residency of Tapanoeli and on the north and east by the independent Bataklands — the chiefs had already in 1840 sworn allegiance to the Dutch government. But later the Dutch had wholly lost their influence there. The advance of the missionaries of the Rhenish Missionary Society into these regions appears to have been the cause of the complications in which the Dutch became involved in 1878. “The head of the independent Bataklands at Lake Toba, the youthful priest-king Singa Maharadja, seeing his influence threatened, and perhaps incited by fanatical chiefs and acting under Acehnese influence, resolved, supported by 40 Acehnese champions, to make an incursion into Silindoeng and to carry off the missionaries and the Christian population as slaves.”
The Batak War
The rumours in circulation gave occasion that on 1 February 1 February 1878 a column under Captain Scheltens advanced from Siboga with orders to protect the missionaries and Christians and to drive Singa Maharadja from Silindoeng or to take him prisoner. With happy success, notwithstanding many difficulties, the march was accomplished; the Bataks, who had even sent the Dutch a declaration of war, were driven back, and Silindoeng was subjected. On 22 April 22 April [1878] the column received reinforcements and the order to advance upon Bakhara, to destroy this and the kampongs lying between, to take Singa Maharadja prisoner if possible. On 1 May 1 May [1878] Bakhara was reached, stormed, and burned. On 7 May 7 May [1878] the march was continued to Goergoer:
“At 1 o’clock in the afternoon the tired column climbed the 1000 to 1400-foot-high opposite valley-wall, along which resistance was to be expected. Under the enemy’s fire the tired vanguard under Willemse crawled up the steep slope, and gradually got some wounded, and the detachment following it a dead, without one being in a position to answer the enemy’s fire. Also Lieutenant Maurenbrecher and a native sub-officer, who with some soldiers preceded the others and had climbed highest, fell wounded.”
The fight, in which Singa Maharadja had for some moments commanded, cost the Dutch 2 dead and 10 wounded. The other strongholds of the enemy — Lintang ni Hoeta, Baligé, Tamboenan — were also taken, and the column returned to Bahal Batoe on 14 May 14 May [1878], “since through all kampongs, over the region between Silindoeng and the south side of Lake Toba, the demands of the government would now be satisfied, willingly or unwillingly — that is, recognition of its sovereignty, payment of the fines, and the abolition of slavery and of cannibalism.”
See Also
- Batak War (1878)
- Toba
- Silindoeng
- Bakhara
- Goergoer
- Lintang ni Hoeta
- Baligé
- Tamboenan
- Siboga
- Bahal Batoe
- Tapanoeli
- Rijnse Zendingsgenootschap
- Aceh War
Source
De geschiedenis van Nederland in onzen tijd, by J. A. de Bruyne, Directeur der Hoogere Burgerschool te Zierikzee. Deel IV. 1872-1883. Nieuwe uitgave. Schiedam: J. F. Dupont, 1912, Hoofdstuk I, pp. 66-68.
Singa Maharadja (also written Singa Maharaja) was the “youthful priest-king” of the independent Bataklands at Lake Toba in northern Sumatra, who, seeing his influence threatened and “perhaps incited by fanatical chiefs and acting under Acehnese influence, resolved, supported by 40 Acehnese champions, to make an incursion into Silindoeng and to carry off the missionaries and the Christian population as slaves.” His incursion precipitated the Batak War of February-May 1878, in which the Dutch column under Captain Scheltens advanced from Siboga to protect the missionaries and Christians and to drive Singa Maharadja from Silindoeng.
The Incursion
In Silindoeng — by which is meant the landscapes bounded on the west and south by the residency of Tapanoeli and on the north and east by the independent Bataklands — the chiefs had already in 1840 sworn allegiance to the Dutch government. But later the Dutch had wholly lost their influence there. The advance of the missionaries of the Rhenish Missionary Society into these regions appears to have been the cause of the complications in which the Dutch became involved in 1878. “The head of the independent Bataklands at Lake Toba, the youthful priest-king Singa Maharadja, seeing his influence threatened, and perhaps incited by fanatical chiefs and acting under Acehnese influence, resolved, supported by 40 Acehnese champions, to make an incursion into Silindoeng and to carry off the missionaries and the Christian population as slaves.”
The Batak War
The rumours in circulation gave occasion that on 1 February 1 February 1878 a column under Captain Scheltens advanced from Siboga with orders to protect the missionaries and Christians and to drive Singa Maharadja from Silindoeng or to take him prisoner. With happy success, notwithstanding many difficulties, the march was accomplished; the Bataks, who had even sent the Dutch a declaration of war, were driven back, and Silindoeng was subjected. On 22 April 22 April [1878] the column received reinforcements and the order to advance upon Bakhara, to destroy this and the kampongs lying between, to take Singa Maharadja prisoner if possible. On 1 May 1 May [1878] Bakhara was reached, stormed, and burned. On 7 May 7 May [1878] the march was continued to Goergoer:
“At 1 o’clock in the afternoon the tired column climbed the 1000 to 1400-foot-high opposite valley-wall, along which resistance was to be expected. Under the enemy’s fire the tired vanguard under Willemse crawled up the steep slope, and gradually got some wounded, and the detachment following it a dead, without one being in a position to answer the enemy’s fire. Also Lieutenant Maurenbrecher and a native sub-officer, who with some soldiers preceded the others and had climbed highest, fell wounded.”
The fight, in which Singa Maharadja had for some moments commanded, cost the Dutch 2 dead and 10 wounded. The other strongholds of the enemy — Lintang ni Hoeta, Baligé, Tamboenan — were also taken, and the column returned to Bahal Batoe on 14 May 14 May [1878], “since through all kampongs, over the region between Silindoeng and the south side of Lake Toba, the demands of the government would now be satisfied, willingly or unwillingly — that is, recognition of its sovereignty, payment of the fines, and the abolition of slavery and of cannibalism.”
See Also
- Batak War (1878)
- Toba
- Silindoeng
- Bakhara
- Goergoer
- Lintang ni Hoeta
- Baligé
- Tamboenan
- Siboga
- Bahal Batoe
- Tapanoeli
- Rijnse Zendingsgenootschap
- Aceh War
Source
De geschiedenis van Nederland in onzen tijd, by J. A. de Bruyne, Directeur der Hoogere Burgerschool te Zierikzee. Deel IV. 1872-1883. Nieuwe uitgave. Schiedam: J. F. Dupont, 1912, Hoofdstuk I, pp. 66-68.