Piagam Serampas

bibliography

text notes

list of words

Bibliography

title:		Piagam Serampas
edition:		Annabel Teh Gallop, “Piagam Serampas: Malay Documents from Highland Jambi ”, in Dominik Bonatz et al. (eds.), From Distant Tales: Archaeology and Ethnohistory in the Highlands of Sumatra, Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009: pp.272-322.
manuscripts:		listed below.
dates:		1850s - 1906, as below.
provenance:		Serampas, in the highlands upstream from Jambi, adjacent to Kerinci, Sumatra.
words:		1451 words.
references:		to the items, as listed below (KA - KF, AA), and to lines or paragraphs of the original;   :s indicates a seal.

 

This text was kindly provided by Annabel Gallop

 

Underlying manuscripts

Renah Kemumu

  PiagS KA

MS A — c.1650s.  Edict (surat titah) issued by Duli Pangiran Ratu (r.1639-1670) in Merangin addressed to various dipati.

  PiagS KB.a

MS B [a] — 1675.  Edict (piagam) issued by Duli Pangiran Dipati, dated 1086 (1675/1676); outlines laws and ends with an exhortation to obey these laws

  PiagS KB.b

MS B [b] — Edict (surat titah) issued by Duli Pangiran Dipati, confirming the authority of Dipati Pulang Jiwa and Dipati Penarang Bumi over the people of Teramang in Serapas.

  PiagS KC

MS C — c.1680s.  Edict (piagam) issued by Duli Sultan Ingalaga (i.e. Sultan Abdul Muhyi of Jambi, r.1679-1687) to Dipati Paling Jiwa; grant of authority

  PiagS KD

MS D — 1709.  Edict issued by Duli Pangiran Suta Wijaya to the menteri-menteri of Syiring, dated 23 Syawal 1120 (5 January 1709); outlines laws and specifys fines for certain crimes, with an exhortation to obey these laws.

  PiagS KE

MS E — c.1720s-1730s?

— Edict (titah) issued by Sultan Astra Ingalaga (r.1719-1725, 1727-1743) and Pangiran Dipati Mangku Ningrat of Jambi; grant of authority

  PiagS KF.a

MS F [a] — 1759.   Sealed grant of authority (piagam serta cap) granted by Sultan Anum Seri Ingalaga to six Dipati, dated 15 Safar 1173 (Monday 8 October 1759); specifying land boundaries and setting out laws.

  PiagS KF.b

MS F [b] — Addendum to the above, setting out the royal prerogative to certain goods.

  PiagS KF.c

MS F [c] — 1906.  Agreement between Dipati Ranah Ulu of Serampas and Dipati Gantu Lulu and Dipati Agung on land boundaries, 28 February 1906, ratified by the Assistant Resident of Sanggaran Agung.

Renah Alai

  PiagS AA

MS A — 1800.  Letter of authority (cap surat piagam) issued by Duli Sultan Ratu Seri Ingalaga and his adinda Pangiran Ratu Cakra Negara to Dupati Anggu Baya and Dipati Suta Menggala, dated 20 Syaaban 1214 (17 January 1800). 1800

 

Editorial notes and bibliography

Gallop remarks:

    [This collection comprises] seven royal Malay charters, known as piagam, issued by the sultan and nobles of Jambi to chiefs in the Serampas region over a period of two centuries. Photocopies of the documents -- which are held as pusaka or collective ancestral heirlooms -- were obtained by David Neidel in 2003 and 2005 during fieldwork for his doctoral study of settlement histories in Serampas (Neidel 2006), which is situated just south of Kerinci in the highlands of Jambi.

    The piagam Serampas comprise six manuscript documents from the village of Renah Kemumu and one from Renah Alai, both in Serampas. All these villages are currently located in kecamatan (sub-district) of Jangkat, in the kabupaten (district) of Merangin in the province of Jambi.

    The poor condition of the copies seen by Neidel, which were subsequently re-photocopied or photographed and scanned for the purposes of this study, has greatly hampered the reading of the documents.

    To the extent that the documents can be deciphered, the contents of these royal edicts fall into three categories. These are the boundaries of the land assigned to the recipient(s) of the edict; matters of governance and an enumeration of the laws to be upheld, and the penalties for contravening these rules; and a list of royal prerogatives, with an accompanying list of penalties for non-compliance.

References:

•  P. Voorhoeve, “Kerintji documents”, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 126.4 (1970): 369-99.

•  John D. Neidel, “The Garden of Forking Paths: history, its erasure and remembrance in Sumatra's Kerinci Seblat National Park.” [Ph.D. thesis]. Yale University, 2006.

 

Preparation

Added:  September 2008.

A pre-publication digital text was provided by Annabel Gallop  In case there are minor discrepancies between the MCP text and the published text, the published text is to be preferred.