![Srivijaya Empire](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Srivijaya_Empire.svg)
Lamuri or Lambri
was a kingdom in northern
Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
from the
Srivijaya
Srivijaya ( id, Sriwijaya) was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia), which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th t ...
period until the early 16th century. The area was inhabited by
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
population around the seventh century. There is also evidence of
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
. The region is also thought to be one of the earliest places of arrival of Islam in the Indonesian archipelago, and in its later period its rulers were Muslims.
Lambri is generally considered to be located in the
Aceh
Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...
province near
Banda Aceh
Banda Aceh ( Acehnese: ''Banda Acèh'', Jawoë: كوتا بند اچيه) is the capital and largest city in the province of Aceh, Indonesia. It is located on the island of Sumatra and has an elevation of . The city covers an area of and had ...
. Its location has been suggested to be in today's Lambaro to the west of Bandar Aceh where submerged ruins of buildings and tombstones have been found,
although some now associate Lambri with Lam Reh to the east of Aceh where there are ancient tombstones. Accounts of Lambri have been given in various sources from the 9th century onwards, and it is thought to have become absorbed into the
Aceh Sultanate
The Sultanate of Aceh, officially the Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam ( ace, Keurajeuën Acèh Darussalam; Jawoë: كاورجاون اچيه دارالسلام), was a sultanate centered in the modern-day Indonesian province of Aceh. It was a major ...
by the early 16th century.
Names
The Kingdom of Lamuri or Lambri was known to the Arabs from the 9th century onward, and named as ''Rām(n)ī'' (رامني), ''Lawrī'', ''Lāmurī'' and other variants.
The only mention of the kingdom in Indian sources appears in the
Tanjore inscription of 1030 which named it as ''Ilâmurideśam'' in Tamil.
In Chinese records, it was first referred to as ''Lanli'' (藍里) in ''
Lingwai Daida
''Lingwai Daida'' (), variously translated as ''Representative Answers from the Region beyond the Mountains'', ''Notes Answering urious Questionsfrom the land beyond the Pass'' or other similar titles, is a 12th-century geographical treatise wri ...
'' by Zhou Qufei in 1178, later ''Lanwuli'' (藍無里) in ''
Zhu Fan Zhi
''Zhu Fan Zhi'' (), variously translated as '' A Description of Barbarian Nations'', ''Records of Foreign People'', or other similar titles, is a 13th-century Song Dynasty work by Zhao Rukuo. The work is a collection of descriptions of countrie ...
'', ''Nanwuli'' (喃哩) in ''
Daoyi Zhilüe
''Daoyi Zhilüe'' () or ''Daoyi Zhi'' () which may be translated as ''A Brief Account of Island Barbarians'' or other similar titles, is a book written c. 1339 (completed c. 1349) by Yuan Dynasty Chinese traveller Wang Dayuan recounting his trave ...
'', and other similar variations.
In European sources it appears as ''Lambri'' (for example in ''
The Travels of Marco Polo
''Book of the Marvels of the World'' ( Italian: , lit. 'The Million', deriving from Polo's nickname "Emilione"), in English commonly called ''The Travels of Marco Polo'', is a 13th-century travelogue written down by Rustichello da Pisa from st ...
''), ''Lamuri'', or their variants (''Lamori'', ''Lambry'', etc.).
In the Javanese work of 1365 ''
Nagarakretagama
The ''Nagarakretagama'' or ''Nagarakṛtāgama'', also known as ''Desawarnana'' or ''Deśavarṇana'', is an Old Javanese eulogy to Hayam Wuruk, a Javanese king of the Majapahit Empire. It was written on lontar as a ''kakawin'' by Mpu Prapan ...
'', it is named ''Lamuri'', and in the ''
Malay Annals
The ''Malay Annals'' (Malay: ''Sejarah Melayu'', Jawi: سجاره ملايو), originally titled ''Sulalatus Salatin'' (''Genealogy of Kings''), is a literary work that gives a romanticised history of the origin, evolution and demise of the gr ...
'', ''Lambri''.
In
Acehnese, the word ''lam'' means "in", "inside" or "deep", and it is also used as a prefix for many settlements around the Aceh area.
Historical accounts
![Avalokiteshvara head Aceh Srivijaya 3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Avalokiteshvara_head_Aceh_Srivijaya_3.JPG)
The first mention of Lamuri may be in the 9th century by the Arab geographer
Ibn Khurdadhbih
Abu'l-Qasim Ubaydallah ibn Abdallah ibn Khordadbeh ( ar, ابوالقاسم عبیدالله ابن خرداذبه; 820/825–913), commonly known as Ibn Khordadbeh (also spelled Ibn Khurradadhbih; ), was a high-ranking Persian bureaucrat and ...
who wrote: "Beyond
Serandib is the isle of Ram(n)i, where the rhinoceros can be seen. ... This island produces bamboo and
brazilwood
''Paubrasilia echinata'' is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. It is a Brazilian timber tree commonly known as Pernambuco wood or brazilwood ( pt, pau-de-pernambuco, ; ...
, the roots of which are antidote for deadly poisons. ... This country produces tall
camphor trees." According to ''Akhbar al-Sin wa'l Hind'' (An Account of China and India), Ramni "produces numerous elephants as well as brazilwood and bamboos. The island is washed by two seas ...
Harkand
Harikela () was an ancient empire located in the eastern region of the Indian subcontinent. Originally, it was a neighboring independent and independent township of ancient East Bengal, which had a continuous existence of about 500 years. The st ...
and that of
Salahit."
In the 10th century
Al-Masudi
Al-Mas'udi ( ar, أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن عَلِيّ ٱبْن ٱلْحُسَيْن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱلْمَسْعُودِيّ, '; –956) was an Arab historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus ...
wrote that Ramin (i.e. Lamuri) was "well populated and governed by kings. They are full of gold mines, and nearby is the land of
Fansur, whence is derived the fansuri
camphor
Camphor () is a waxy, colorless solid with a strong aroma. It is classified as a terpenoid and a cyclic ketone. It is found in the wood of the camphor laurel ('' Cinnamomum camphora''), a large evergreen tree found in East Asia; and in the k ...
, which is only found there in large quantities in the years that have many storms and earthquakes".
Chinese historical records indicate that ancient Lamuri was used as a staging post for traders waiting out the winter
monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...
for
favourable winds to take them westwards to Sri Lanka, India and the Arab world.
Zhao Rugua Zhao Rukuo (; 1170–1231), also read as Zhao Rugua, or misread as Zhao Rushi, was a Chinese historian and politician during the Song dynasty. He wrote a two-volume book titled ''Zhu Fan Zhi''. The book deals with the world known to the Chinese in t ...
in ''
Zhu Fan Zhi
''Zhu Fan Zhi'' (), variously translated as '' A Description of Barbarian Nations'', ''Records of Foreign People'', or other similar titles, is a 13th-century Song Dynasty work by Zhao Rukuo. The work is a collection of descriptions of countrie ...
'' said that the products of ''Lan-wu-li'' (Lamuri) were
sappanwood
''Biancaea sappan'' is a species of flowering tree in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is native to tropical Asia. Common names in English include sappanwood and Indian redwood. Sappanwood is related to brazilwood (''Paubrasilia echinata''), and ...
, elephant tusks, and white
rattan
Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed-canopy old-growth tropical forests of ...
, and that its people were "warlike and often use poison arrows". In the 14th century,
Wang Dayuan Wang Dayuan (, fl. 1311–1350), courtesy name Huanzhang (), was a Chinese traveller of the Yuan dynasty from Quanzhou in the 14th century. He is known for his two major ship voyages.
Wang Dayuan was born around 1311 at Hongzhou (present-day Nan ...
noted in ''
Daoyi Zhilüe
''Daoyi Zhilüe'' () or ''Daoyi Zhi'' () which may be translated as ''A Brief Account of Island Barbarians'' or other similar titles, is a book written c. 1339 (completed c. 1349) by Yuan Dynasty Chinese traveller Wang Dayuan recounting his trave ...
'' there were "mountain-like waves" crashing against it, and that the natives lived on the hills and were given to piracy.
He also noted that it produced the best-quality
lakawood
Lakawood, or laka wood ( ms, kayu laka), is a reddish aromatic heartwood used as incense in China, India and South East Asia. It also had a number of other uses in the past, for example as a dye and for medicinal purposes. The name lakawood can re ...
, and later records showed that its king presented the product to the Chinese emperor as tribute during the
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
.
Lambri was also mentioned by early century European travellers
Marco Polo
Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...
and
Odoric of Pordenone
Odoric of Pordenone, OFM (1286–1331), also known as Odorico Mattiussi/Mattiuzzi, Odoricus of Friuli or Orderic of Pordenone, was an Italian late-medieval Franciscan friar and missionary explorer. He traveled through India, the Greater Sunda Is ...
.
Polo wrote that there were men with tails in this kingdom of Lambri. The tails were a palm in length with the thickness of a dog's tail and hairless.
In 1783,
Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Comte de Mirabeau
Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Count of Mirabeau (; 9 March 17492 April 1791) was a leader of the early stages of the French Revolution. A noble, he had been involved in numerous scandals before the start of the Revolution in 1789 that had left his re ...
briefly mentions Lambri men with tails citing an earlier work from 1566, and that men with tails brought back by missionaries had elongated
coccyx
The coccyx ( : coccyges or coccyxes), commonly referred to as the tailbone, is the final segment of the vertebral column in all apes, and analogous structures in certain other mammals such as horses. In tailless primates (e.g. humans and othe ...
. According to
Odoric of Pordenone
Odoric of Pordenone, OFM (1286–1331), also known as Odorico Mattiussi/Mattiuzzi, Odoricus of Friuli or Orderic of Pordenone, was an Italian late-medieval Franciscan friar and missionary explorer. He traveled through India, the Greater Sunda Is ...
, whose early 14th century account of Lamori was borrowed by
Sir John Mandeville's in his ''Book of Marvels and Travels'', Lamori was a very hot country, so both men and women went about naked. He mentioned that all women were shared in common, and no one was any person's husband or wife. Similarly the whole of the land was held in common, although they had their own individual houses. They were also said to be cannibals, who purchased children from merchants to slaughter them.
![Kuta Lubôk](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Kuta_Lub%C3%B4k.jpg)
Marco Polo noted that the people were "idolators" when he passed through in the late 13th century.
However, it has been argued that the inscriptions on tombstone of Sultan Sulaiman bin Abdullah al-Basr at Lam Reh may be the first documented royal conversion to Islam in the region. The inscriptions have been dated to 1211 although a later date has also been proposed. Some thought that Islam may have arrived in the area as early as the 8th century. By the early 15th century when
Zheng He
Zheng He (; 1371–1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred ...
's
voyages
Voyage(s) or The Voyage may refer to:
Literature
*''Voyage : A Novel of 1896'', Sterling Hayden
* ''Voyage'' (novel), a 1996 science fiction novel by Stephen Baxter
*''The Voyage'', Murray Bail
* "The Voyage" (short story), a 1921 story by ...
passed through Lamuri, the ruler of Lamuri was said to profess the Islamic faith, and that its estimated population of over 1,000 families were all Muslims, according to ''
Yingya Shenglan
The ''Yingya Shenglan'' (), written by Ma Huan in 1451, is a book about the countries visited by him over the course of the Ming treasure voyages led by Zheng He
Zheng He (; 1371–1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diploma ...
'' written by
Ma Huan
Ma Huan (, Xiao'erjing: ) (c. 1380–1460), courtesy name Zongdao (), pen name Mountain-woodcutter (會稽山樵), was a Chinese voyager and translator who accompanied Admiral Zheng He on three of his seven expeditions to the Western Oceans. Ma ...
who was in Zheng He's fleet.
Lamuri is thought to be one of the cities controlled by the
Srivijaya
Srivijaya ( id, Sriwijaya) was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia), which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th t ...
empire. In 1025, the port was attacked in the
raids on Srivijaya led by
Rajendra Chola
Rajendra Chola I (; Middle Tamil: Rājēntira Cōḻaṉ; Classical Sanskrit: Rājēndradēva Cōla; Old Malay: ''Raja Suran''; c. 971 CE – 1044 CE), often referred to as Rajendra the Great, and also known as Gangaikonda Chola (Middle Tamil ...
, and Lamuri appeared to have come under the influence of the Tamils. By the 13th century, it was again under Srivijayan control as ''Zhu Fan Zhi'' noted that it paid tribute to
Sanfoqi Sanfotsi (), also written as Sanfoqi, was a trading polity in Southeast Asia mentioned in Chinese sources dated from the Song dynasty circa 12th century. In 1918, George Cœdès concluded that Chinese forms of ''San-fo-ts'i'' (Sanfoqi), ''Fo-ts'i'' ...
(usually thought to be Srivijaya). Marco Polo wrote that it pledged its allegiance to
Kublai Khan
Kublai ; Mongolian script: ; (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder of the Yuan dynasty of China and the fifth khagan-emperor of th ...
in 1292 (the Mongols had demanded the submission of various states that year, before their failed
invasion of Java).
In the 14th century, Odoric of Pordenone mentioned that Lamori and
Samudera were constantly at war with each other. The 14th century work ''
Nagarakretagama
The ''Nagarakretagama'' or ''Nagarakṛtāgama'', also known as ''Desawarnana'' or ''Deśavarṇana'', is an Old Javanese eulogy to Hayam Wuruk, a Javanese king of the Majapahit Empire. It was written on lontar as a ''kakawin'' by Mpu Prapan ...
'' listed Lamuri as one of the vassal states of the
Majapahit
Majapahit ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was ba ...
. Portuguese writers such as
João de Barros
João de Barros () (1496 – 20 October 1570), called the ''Portuguese Livy'', is one of the first great Portuguese historians, most famous for his ''Décadas da Ásia'' ("Decades of Asia"), a history of the Portuguese in India, Asia, and southea ...
also mentioned Lambri in the 16th century; de Barros placed Lambrij (Lamuri) between Daya and Achin (
Aceh
Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...
), but according to ''Suma Oriental'' written by
Tomé Pires
Tomé Pires (1465?–1524 or 1540)Madureira, 150–151. was a Portuguese apothecary from Lisbon who spent 1512 to 1515 in Malacca immediately after the Portuguese conquest, at a time when Europeans were only first arriving in Southeast As ...
in 1512–1515, Lambry had by then come under the control of Achin whose king was the only ruler in the area.
List of Rulers
![Head Tombstone of Malik Jawaduddin of Lamuri](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Head_Tombstone_of_Malik_Jawaduddin_of_Lamuri.jpg)
From 84
grave
A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grave ...
s at 17 sites, there are 28 tombstones that have inscription. From these there are 10
king
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
s who ruled Lamuri, 8 persons with title ''
malik
Malik, Mallik, Melik, Malka, Malek, Maleek, Malick, Mallick, or Melekh ( phn, 𐤌𐤋𐤊; ar, ملك; he, מֶלֶךְ) is the Semitic term translating to "king", recorded in East Semitic and Arabic, and as mlk in Northwest Semitic duri ...
'' and 2 with title ''
sultan
Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...
''.
* Malik Syamsuddin (d. 822 H/1419 CE)
* Malik 'Alawuddin (d. 822 H/1419 CE)
* Malik Muzhhiruddin
* Sultan Muhammad ibn 'Alawuddin (d. 834 H/1431 CE)
* Malik Nizar ibn Zaid (d. 837 H/1434 CE)
* Malik Zaid (ibn Nizar?) (d. 844 H/1441 CE)
* Malik Jawaduddin (d. 842 H/1439 CE)
* Malik Zainal 'Abidin (d. 845 H/1442 CE)
* Malik Muhammad Syah (d. 848 H/1444 CE)
* Sultan Muhammad Syah (d. 908 H/1503 CE)
See also
*
Aceh Sultanate
The Sultanate of Aceh, officially the Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam ( ace, Keurajeuën Acèh Darussalam; Jawoë: كاورجاون اچيه دارالسلام), was a sultanate centered in the modern-day Indonesian province of Aceh. It was a major ...
*
Samudera Pasai Sultanate
The Samudera Pasai Sultanate (), also known as Samudera or Pasai or Samudera Darussalam or Pacem, was a Muslim harbour kingdom on the north coast of Sumatra from the 13th to the 16th centuries CE. The kingdom was believed to have been founded ...
References
{{reflist, 30em
External links
Nouvelles données sur les royaumes de Lamuri et BaratLamuri telah Islam sebelum PasaiNisan Plakpling, tipe nisan peralihan dari pra-Islam ke IslamKesultanan Lamuri
History of Sumatra
Archaeological sites in Indonesia