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KAMPUNG PANDE, Indonesia, Oct. 16 KYODO
Taking a stroll along
the shore of this sleepy village in Indonesia's northernmost province of Aceh
at low tide is like walking on a bleak burial ground as scores of old gray
tombstones are strewn about.
Submerged for centuries under the sea, they
only came to light after the devastation wracked by the 2004 Indian Ocean
quake and tsunami on the coast of Aceh, on the island of Sumatra, killing
more than 170,000 people.
Some as old as the 10th century, the
tombstones, with a mix of Hindu and Islamic influences, hold a secret to
Aceh's distant past and reveal new archeological evidence about the spread of
Islam to Southeast Asia.
Husaini Ibrahim, an Acehnese archaeologist who
has been studying these tombstones closely, estimates over 1,000 of them lie
under the sea on the coastline of Kampung Pande, a village near the
provincial capital Banda Aceh, and are often exposed at low tide.
More than 200 such ancient tombstones can also
be found on dry land in the area, neglected all these years.
The 49-year-old history lecturer at Syiah Kuala
University in Banda Aceh says the village was once part of the ancient Hindu
kingdom of Lamuri and the type of tombstones found in the area suggests that
Islam had already spread to Southeast Asia as early as the 10th century, or
about 300 years earlier than thought, with Lamuri being the first Hindu
kingdom in the region to embrace Islam.
Although some historians have cited the 9th or
10th century as the period Islam first reached Southeast Asia, there has been
no strong archaeological evidence that it already had a foothold then.
The current norm is to regard the Islamic
kingdom of Samudra Pasai, which emerged from the 13th century in eastern
Aceh, as the symbol of the beginning of Islam in Southeast Asia. The
tombstones of the rulers in that area are clearly dated with Arabic
calligraphy and influences.
The tombstones found in Kampung Pande, on the
other hand, range from the 10th century to the 15th century. Ibrahim has
identified more than 80 such tombstones on dry land near the coast.
The scholar is, of course, particularly
interested in the older tombstones, so old that dates were not inscribed on
them. He has found 15 such tombstones which he believes are 10th century,
with a shape and design that still retain some prehistoric and Hindu
influences that reflect the transition period from Hinduism to Islam.
However, they come in pairs, which points to a
burial practice still carried on by Muslims in parts of Southeast Asia today
of using two tombstones, one to mark the head and the other for the foot of
the dead person buried below.
Standing as a flat piece of stone pillar about
50-60 centimeters tall with a slightly rounded top -- a simplicity of design
which Ibrahim says reflects the influence of prehistory -- these tombstones
also carry some ancient Hindu style carvings of flowers and leaves.
But some were erected in the same burial ground
with other tombstones from later periods, such as the 13th century, which
have dates, Arabic calligraphy and similar horn-shaped designs as those royal
tombstones of Samudra Pasai in eastern Aceh.
One of the small plots was fenced with two
signboards erected by authorities, one of which carried the words ''Kampung
Pande Burial Complex for the Kings'' and the other warning that the site is
protected by law as an ancient and historical relic and nothing should be
removed or altered. The gate was locked when we visited and the guard was not
around to open it.
''These findings could change the old belief
that Islam's first foothold in Southeast Asia was in Samudra Pasai in the
13th century,'' Ibrahim said. ''Islam could have spread here as early as the
10th century in Aceh in what is now Kampung Pande.''
To him as an archaeologist, the fact that these
tombstones were made from local sandstone and not from imported material is
an important detail. The ability to make this type of tombstone locally with
both Hindu and Islamic features indicates that an Islamic culture had already
taken root by then.
''Lamuri was a Hindu area, the first to embrace
Islam. Kampung Pande was probably the town center and part of Lamuri,'' he
said.
The name ''Kampung Pande'' itself means
''village of smart people'' in the local language and Ibrahim believes in
olden days this could be a reference to the area possibly being well-known
for craftsmen who worked with stones and iron.
Today it is just a quiet fishing village whose
inhabitants are trying to get on with their lives after the 2004 quake and
tsunami. Kampung Pande was among the worst-hit places.
The villagers in Kampung Pande appear oblivious
to the historical significance of these ancient tombstones at their
doorsteps. At one of the ancient royal plots, the day's washings hung over a
fence were flapping in the wind. Parts of the coast have been turned into
fish breeding farms while land near a royal burial ground has been earmarked
for duck farming.
When Islam came, the first Islamic government
had its administrative center in Kampung Pande, according to Ibrahim. By the
10th century, the area had already embraced Islam, with the religion already
very well established there by the 11th century.
Aceh was mentioned in ancient times by Marco
Polo, Muslim traveler Ibn Battutah and Chinese historical writings. The Liang
annals of China mentioned 5th century Aceh as the Buddhist state of Poli
before the arrival of Hinduism in the 7th and 8th centuries.
Marco Polo had mentioned in his writings that
Peureulak on Aceh's eastern coast was already Islamic when he traveled to the
area in 1292, centuries before other parts of Southeast Asia had embraced
Islam. Ibn Battutah had also visited Aceh in 1345 and 1346.
Aceh reached its golden age during the reign of
Sultan Iskandar Muda in the 17th century when the kingdom greatly expanded
its territory, and it became the base for the spread of Islam to other parts
of Southeast Asia.
Until today, it remains the most conservative
Muslim province in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, and taking
advantage of its special autonomy, it has implemented partial sharia law, the
only province in Indonesia to do so.
Abdul Rahman Tang Abdullah, an assistant
history professor at the International Islamic University Malaysia, says the
findings at Kampung Pande confirm the speculation that Islam had reached this
area in the early 9th century.
''But what we want to know is how early it was.
The 9th century is reasonable...If you find a group of tombstones belonging
to the Muslims on the coastlines, 20 or hundreds, you can use that as
evidence,'' he said. ''That could change our understanding of history in that
early period.''
Noting that the area was in the middle of a key
trading route for encompassing the Middle East, India and China, he said
proselytization of Islam among the locals probably took place when Arab
traders stopped there for three to four months a year while waiting for the
monsoon winds to change to continue their journey to China.
==Kyodo News, 16/10/09
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