Page 30 - E-BOOK SEJARAH DAN BUDAYA INDONESIA

ETYMOLOGY

The Batak tribe is one of hundreds of tribes found in Indonesia, the Batak tribe is found in
the North Sumatra region. According to a legend believed by some Batak people that the Batak
tribe originated from Pusuk Buhit, Sianjur Mula Mula area west of Pangururan on the outskirts of
Lake Toba.

The Batak historian version says that the Batak king and his entourage came from Thailand
who crossed to Sumatra via Peninsular Malaysia and finally arrived at Sianjur Mula and settled
there.

Meanwhile, from the inscription found in Portibi which dates back to 1208 and was read
by Prof. Nilakantisari, a professor of archeology from Madras, India, it was explained that in 1024
the Cola kingdom from India attacked Srivijaya and controlled the Barus area. Tamil because it
was found about 1500 Tamil people who lived in Barus at that time. Tamil is the name of one of
the tribes found in India.

The Batak king is estimated to have lived in the year 1200 (early 13th century)

King Sisingamangaraja XII is estimated to be descended from the 19th generation of the Batak
King who died in 1907 and his son, Raja Buntal, is the 20th generation.

From the findings above, it can be concluded that it is most likely that the ancestor of the
Batak king was an official or warrior of the Sriwijaya kingdom who was domiciled in Barus
because in the 12th century the Srivijaya kingdom in Palembang ruled the entire archipelago. As
a result of this attack on the Cole kingdom, it is estimated that the ancestors of the Batak king and
his entourage were pushed to the Portibi area south of Lake Toba and from here the possibility that
the so-called Batak king began to assume the reins of war leaders or perhaps the Batak king
expanded his war area to cover the area around Lake Toba , Simalungun, Tanah Karo, Dairi to
parts of Aceh and moved their center of power to the Portibi area to the south of Lake Toba.

Batak people's philosophy of life

Each tribe must have a philosophy or view of life to control the behavior of each
community in order to create a good social system. Similar to the Batak ethnicity, they are known
to have several cultural values, including:

1. Hagabeon

Hagabeon means the hope of having good offspring and a long life. If they live long, then
one can marry off their children and grandchildren, so that they can witness firsthand their children
and grandchildren grow and live well. For the Batak tribe, obtaining offspring is a success in
marriage. Boys are considered very special. In ancient Batak customs there is even a rule to have
33 children with 17 sons and 16 daughters. But along with the times, this rule is no longer used.

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