The Komering tribe is a tribe from Indonesia
The Komering tribe is a tribe from Indonesia who mostly live in the southeastern part of the island of Sumatra. The name Komering itself comes from the Komering river because their life is very dependent on that river.
The Komering tribe is divided into two major groups:
the Ilir Komering who live around Kayu Agung and the Ulu Komering who live around the town of Baturaja.
Most of the houses of the Komering people are located along the Komering river and are situated on high poles to prevent flooding when the river overflows. Their house can only consist of one bedroom and one large family room. The floors and walls are made of leveled wood or bamboo. The roof of the house is a tile made of clay or thatch roof is made of a kind of palm leaf.
Origin of the Komering Tribe
Komering is one of the major rivers which now empties into the Musi River, named after a spice trader (betel nut) from India. During the Srivijaya era, the area was busy trading areca nut with India. To collect areca nut in the area, a buyer from India appointed a merchant who acted as a trade representative, namely Komring Sing. Komering Sing’s tomb still exists near the confluence of the Selabung and Waisaka rivers in the upstream city of Muara Dua. From the place of the tomb, the river that flows down to the estuary was named, with the name “Komering River” which eventually made the people who live beside the river called the “Komering Tribe”.
The use of the word Komering ( Suku Komering )to refer to the river and the people who inhabit the area is not yet known for sure when it began to be used. From the era of the Srivijaya Kingdom in the 7th century AD to the time of the Palembang Sultanate in the 17th century, the river and the surrounding area were not called komering, this area was called “Minanga”. In the Komering language (ancient proto Malay) Minanga means the mouth of a river.
At the time of the arrival of It-Shing a Buddhist priest from China to the Srivijaya kingdom in 671 AD, the Komering River still empties into the sea with Minanga as the city center located at the mouth of the river. Meanwhile, during the palembang sultanate (17th century) the Komering river had emptied into the Musi river as it is today.
Changes in the river estuary occurred due to the sedimentation process in the east coast of Sumatra and changes in the flow of the river. The name Minanga as a place name existed before Van Rokel read the Kedukan Bukit inscription in 1924. Therefore, the name Minanga in Komering Ulu was not an example of the greatness of the name in the Kedukan Bukit inscription. This can be seen in a charter of agreement in 1629 using Arabic-Malay script by the Palembang sultanate, which at that time ruled Sedaing Kenayan, regarding the boundaries of the Minanga clan. The charter is still stored as a document of the Semendawai Clan III Tribe of East OKU Regency.
The word “Komering” began to be popularized by the Dutch as “khemering” from the word Kembiring which also means a magical creature such as an imitation tiger. Until now, no literature has been found linking the mention of Khemering by the Dutch to the Tomb of Komering Singh. Although the name Komering is already attached, some people think that the tribe that inhabits along the Komering river is more accurately called the Semendawai tribe.
Before 600 AD there was a tribe in the interior of South Sumatra known as the Sakala Bhra (ancient) tribe which means God incarnate. This tribe inhabits mountainous areas and northern valleys around Mount Seminung, the border area of South Sumatra and Lampung. This tribe is divided into two groups of people, the first who inhabit the area around Mount Seminung and descend into the northern valley to Lampung. Then some of them descended to the lower area by following the river in the upstream area of South Sumatra which was then known as the Samanda Di Way tribe, which means people who follow the river, and ended up in Minanga (ancient). This tribe later became the origin of the Daya, Komering, Ranau, tribes. (Van Royen -1927)
The Samanda group in the way or with the current dialect being Semendawai, hereinafter referred to as Komering, is a community group that inhabits from the upstream (Muaradua) to the estuary (Minanga). At first it was a small group of people who migrated from the mountains down following the river, then they scattered looking for strategic places to settle and establish themselves in Puhyangan. Among them Puhyangan Ratu Sabibul, the founder of the Gunung Batu area (Mountain Man). Puhyang Kai Patih Kandi, the founder of the Maluway/Manduway area, means directions to the river. Puhyang Minak Ratu Damang Bing founder of the Minanga (Estuary) area.
Then the second group who came down the mountain were: Puhyang Umpu Sipandang, the founder of the Gunung Terang area, which means mountain people occupy a bright place (Grassland). Puhyang Minak Adi Pati, founder of the Pemuka Peliung area. Puhyang’s penchant for carrying a peliung, a type of axe, has earned the name Pemuka Peliung.
Around the 13th century there was the Abung War, a war between the Semendawai clan and the Abung Lampung clan, after the abung war ended there was a new kepuhyangan, namely: Puhyang Ratu Penghulu, the founder of the Banton area. Puhyang Umpu Ratu, founder of the Pulau Negara area. Puhyang Jati Keramat, founder of the Bunga Mayang area. Puhyang Sibala Kuang / Puhyang Daya, the founder of the Mahanggin area consisted of Sandang, Rawan, Rujung, Kiti, Lengkayap.
In addition, the Abung War also became the forerunner to the formation of the Kayu Agung tribe who inhabited new areas downstream of the river. In this period it is also estimated that the Komering river flow or channel has changed so that the mouth of the river is no longer in Minanga but continues towards Mount Batu, Kayu Agung and empties into the Musi River. In the past the kepuhayangan who inhabited around the Komering river each stood alone, led by an elder called Puhyang. But in the end Kepuhyangan was not used anymore. Currently, most of the Semendawai or Komering tribes are included in the East OKU Regency.
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