MSS Batak 4

Pustaha. Carelessly written with ink of inferior quality. Made for a foreigner, as appears from the colophon on side a: Ahu surat ni Tapian na Uli hata-hata ni habatahon datu na jolo ma i amang na mangguru (this is writing from Tapanuli, words of Batak lore from masters of olden times, o young student!), on the cover an English note, ‘lessons and invocations respecting a regular conduct so as to obtain the good will of the community’. Containing: a 2-21: Poda ni mintora ni raksama ni om¬punta sibadak sibaganding ni ompunta naga si ampupungut na pinodahon ni ompunta Ompu ni Adiya na jolo di pahompuna Gara na Bolon. Although this is called mintora (incantation) it is cast in the form of a tonggo-tonggo (prayer), beginning with the usual formula, Asa turun ma hamu debata di atas, etc (come down you gods of the upper world, rise you gods of the underworld, stay you gods of the middle world, etc). The meaning of the word raksama is unknown (van der Tuuk's draft ‘Short account’, Leiden Or 3395, has rasama). The prayer is addressed to two mythical dragons, Sibadak Sibaganding and Naga Si Ampupungut (a seven-headed dragon according to van der Tuuk, 186i), asking them for a gift of gold. The author first introduces a roaming peddler, with whom he converses in a traditional flowery style, availing himself of some pieces of his knowledge of Batak lore: the invocation of Si Singamangaraja, praise of the wholesome qualities of betel, etc. Then the person conversing with the peddler turns out to he a medicine-man from Sianjur Mulana, the legendary first settlement of the Batak people. Together they go in search of some kind of earth for the two mythical dragons. They first go to Barus, thence to the Batu Nanggar Jati (the rock which leads the way to the upper world), thence to the other side of the ocean, where lives the smith who makes gongs. At last they find the earth in the centre of the ocean and offer it to the dragons, again asking them for gold. If this invocation is a real piece of Batak lore (and not just a jumble of half-remembered formulae written down to comply with the request of a foreigner), it might be a gold-digger's charm. The names of the teachers of this invocation (Ompu Ni Adiya) and of his grandson (Gara Na Bolon) both sound fictitious. There is a romanization of this text by van der Tuuk in Leiden Or 3401, pp. 64-7. b 1-22: Iya turi-turiyan ni O[m]punta si Aji Sangmaima mula ni hujur jambar Baho na di borngin dohot Aman Datu Dalu, a defective version of a well-known legend (see Voorhoeve, 1927, no. 110b). Copy by van der Tuuk in Leiden Or 3401, pp. 59-62.

In 1848 van der Tuuk examined MSS Batak 1-6 and wrote ‘A short account of the Batta manuscripts belonging to the Library of the East India Company', the autograph of which is in IOL; a preliminary draft (with the titles in Batak) is in Leiden Or 3395, pp. 135-40. The translations in the ‘Short account' are, of course, imperfect, given the state of knowledge of Batak at that time.