Page 71 - BAB I-V ADATMINANG

the king Maharajo Dipang continued his journey to China and

became king there, and Maharajo Alif returned home. to his
home country, the Ruhun Continent. The word Ruhun is

interpreted by most experts as Eastern Roman under the rule of

the Ottoman Turks. The sound of Ruhun has similarities with
Rum which means Roman.

According to Azyumardi Azra:
Ruhun continent which means Byzantine is Rome

under Turkish rule. In Minangkabau, for example,
according to tambo (local pseudo-historical history),

the Minangkabau universe was created from "Nur

Muhammad" along with two other realms, each Ruhun
Continent (literally, the Roman Continent, namely the

Ottoman Turks) who held the hegemony of Western
power; and the continent of China, the holder of the

42
hegemony of power in the East.
The three related regions at that time were

Minangkabau, Eastern Rome (aka the Ottomans and China in

Asia) which was ruled by three kings, namely Maharajo Alif in
Rumawi, Maharajo Dipang in China and Maharajo Dirajo in

Minangkabau. and it is said that the Minangkabau world was

42 Azyumardi Azra, the Middle East Ulama Network and the
Archipelago of the XVII and XVIII centuries, (Bandung: Mizan, 1994), p. 45