A Naning terumba
A. Hyde, a Malayan Civil Service officer, published this transcription and English translation of a Naning terumba—a traditional genealogical document of the Rembau-Naning royal lineage—in 1928. The text traces the origin of the Rembau sultanate back to Alexander the Great and promulgates the customary sayings (bilangan) that established hereditary territorial rights across the Rembau-Naning district.
Summary
The article presents the full Malay text of a Naning terumba followed by Hyde’s English translation. A terumba is a genealogical and customary document used in the Minangkabau-Rembau tradition to legitimize hereditary claims to territory and rank. This particular text narrates the descent of the Rembau royal line from Sultan Zalkarnaini (Alexander of Macedonia), who, after finding a beautiful woman in a chest at sea, fathered three sons through her without sexual intercourse. The three sons—Maharaja Alif, Maharaja Depeng, and Maharaja ‘Diraja—were each assigned a domain: Rome, China, and Sumatra respectively. Maharaja ‘Diraja, accompanied by his mother, established his capital in the Padang Panjang area and subsequently promulgated a series of customary sayings that fixed the hereditary boundaries and relationships between Rembau, Naning, Semujong, Johol, Seri Menanti, and Jelebu.
The document’s legal and political significance lies in its closing declaration that these customary sayings are immutable from the time of their promulgation to the present, and that any person who alters them shall be “devoured by magic steel.” This formula served as a binding adat (customary law) instrument, effectively constituting a charter of territorial entitlement for the Rembau-Naning polity. The text also records the appointment of two Penghulus—Dato’ Temenggong Si-Gudi and Dato’ Merpateh Pisang Sa-Batang—establishing the administrative hierarchy beneath the Sultan.
Hyde’s translation, while generally faithful, occasionally struggles with obscure or archaic Malay terms, rendering some passages with uncertainty (marked by question marks). The original text preserves a distinctive orthography reflecting the dialect and period of composition.
Key Findings
- The terumba identifies Sultan Zalkarnaini (Alexander the Great of Macedonia) as the progenitor of the Rembau royal line, with his three sons receiving domains in Rome, China, and Sumatra (p. 50).
- The Princess conceived “without having had intercourse with the Sultan” (tanpa jima’), a detail Hyde translates literally, giving the text a quasi-miraculous character (p. 50).
- The customary sayings establish specific hereditary relationships: “We draw our masters from Menangkabau and our Rajas from Johore… It is to Naning that we look for our mothers, and on Jelebu we depend” (p. 53).
- The text names two Penghulus appointed by Maharaja ‘Diraja: Dato’ Temenggong Si-Gudi and Dato’ Merpateh Pisang Sa-Batang (p. 51).
- The closing formula declares the customs of Rembau and Naning immutable, threatening that “he who violates them shall be devoured by magic steel” (dibawa makan besi kawi) (p. 51).
- The palace of Maharaja ‘Diraja is described with symbolic imagery: “its pillars were stems of nettles, it had drums of pulut-pulut and fences of the seleguri plant” (p. 52).
Conclusion
Hyde’s publication preserves a foundational adat document of the Rembau-Naning polity, one that functioned as both a genealogical charter and a territorial constitution. The terumba’s binding formula—linking the immutability of customary law to supernatural punishment—demonstrates how pre-modern Malay polities encoded political authority in sacralized narrative form, a mechanism that continued to carry legal weight well into the colonial period.
Context
- Hyde was an officer of the Malayan Civil Service (M.C.S.), and his publication reflects the colonial administrative interest in documenting and understanding Malay customary law (adat) as a basis for governance.
- The text represents one of the earliest published transcriptions of a Rembau-Naning terumba, making it a significant primary source for the study of Minangkabau-Rembau genealogical traditions and customary law.