The Minangkabau legend told the story of the origin of the name "

Minangkabau Minangkabau may refer to: * Minangkabau culture, culture of the Minangkabau people * Minangkabau Culture Documentation and Information Center * Minangkabau Express, an airport rail link service serving Minangkabau International Airport (''see belo ...

". It is thought to be a conjunction of two words, ''minang'' ("victorious") and ''kabau'' ("buffalo"). The legend told the story of a territorial dispute between the local West Sumatran people and a neighbouring invading prince. The invading prince and his troops were somehow traditionally associated with Javanese

Singhasari Singhasari ( jv, ꦏꦫꦠꦺꦴꦤ꧀ꦱꦶꦔ꧀ꦲꦱꦫꦶ, translit=Karaton Singhasari or , id, Kerajaan Singasari) was a Javanese Hindu kingdom located in east Java between 1222 and 1292. The kingdom succeeded the Kingdom of Kediri as ...

kingdom, during their attempt to subdue Sumatra during the

Pamalayu The Pamalayu campaign was a diplomatic and military expeditionary force sent by the Javanese King Kertanegara of Singhasari to conquer the Sumatran Melayu Kingdom. It was decreed in 1275, though perhaps not undertaken until later. Little is kno ...

expedition (1275). To avoid a battle, the local leader proposed a fight to the death between two water buffalo to settle the dispute. The prince agreed and set forward his largest, meanest, most aggressive buffalo. The locals set forth a hungry baby buffalo with its small horns ground to be as sharp as knives. Seeing the adult buffalo across the field, the baby ran forward, hoping for milk. The big buffalo saw no threat in the baby buffalo and paid no attention to it, looking around for a worthy opponent. But when the baby thrust his head under the big bull's belly, looking for an udder, the sharpened horns punctured and killed the bull, and the local people won the contest and the dispute, and thus named their tribe "Minangkabau" after the victorious buffalo to mark this important event. The moral of the story set an example of the use of

wisdom Wisdom, sapience, or sagacity is the ability to contemplate and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight. Wisdom is associated with attributes such as unbiased judgment, compassion, experiential self-knowledg ...

and

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " ...

to avoid war and violence. It also celebrated the intelligence and victory of Minangkabau people.

Buffalo symbolism

''Kerbau'' or

water buffalo The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, So ...

is an important domesticated animal in Minangkabau culture. It can be employed to work the paddy fields in

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

agriculture as well as provides milk and meat. The importance of buffalo as cultural symbol is also can be found in other

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 Gui ...

n traditions, such as

Toraja The Torajans are an ethnic group indigenous people, indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, regency of ...

n culture. Buffalo, especially its horns are important cultural symbol in Minangkabau culture. The roofline of traditional houses in West Sumatra, called Rumah Gadang (

, "big house"), curves upward from the middle and end in points, in imitation of the water buffalo's upward-curving horns. The fabrics of Minangkabau women's headdresses are also folded and formed to imitate the buffalo's horn.

Historical record

The first mention of the name Minangkabau as Minanga Tamwan, is in the late 7th century Kedukan Bukit inscription, describing Sri Jayanasa's sacred journey from Minanga Tamwan accompanied with 20,000 soldiers heading to Matajap and conquering several areas in the southern of Sumatra.R. Ng. Poerbatjaraka, Riwajat Indonesia. Djilid I, 1952, Jakarta: Yayasan Pembangunan

References

{{Minangkabau Minangkabau Minangkabau folklore