indahnesia.com - West Sumatra - Minang highlands - Reconnaissance of the Motherland

Just behind Padang, along the western coast of Sumatra, is a beautiful highland with mountain ranges and valleys. Fertile rice-fields, impressive volcanoes and spectacular crater lakes take turns. The luak nan tigo or the 'three valleys', roughly form a triangle with in the center the holy Gunung Merapi (2891 meter), the highest and most active volcano in the environment; this should be the place where the first Minangkabau ancestors lived.

South and east of the volcano is the Tanahdatar Valley (Flat soil) around the town of Batusangka. This was the center of the Minangkabau principality from the 14th to the 19th century. Old graves, inscriptions, remains of palaces and other remains are scattered over the area. Tanahdatar was famous about it's gold- and iron-mines.

The Agam Valley, north and west of Gunung Merapi, with Bukittinggi as it's center, has developed quickly over the last two centuries, due to contacts with the Europeans in Pariaman and Padang.

Picture: Minangkabau rice-fields

Limapuluh Kota, the third and also the most fertile valley is towards the east around the big city of Payakumbuh. It is considered that this valley was inhabited the most early of all valleys. This area also knows dozens of megalithical remains. The big rivers Kampas and Indragiri connect the area with the eastern coast.

Mighty mountain ranges with high rising volcanoes and two hug crater lakes, Maninjau and Singkarak, decorate the valleys. Just as in the Toba area these volcanoes contribute to the fertility of the soil; the Minang highlands have been low populated for almost all the known history.

However culture and language do not differ much from each other, every valley has it's own specific history and environment. That's why we give a route description with Bukittinggi as starting point below; first the western way, then the southern and the eastern. These areas can be visited in a series of day trips; longer trips are also possible, along picturesque roads around two crater lakes and over impressive mountain roads which separate volcanoes. Staying a night in small villages is possible, but maybe facilities are primitive, but the Minangkabau friendliness should make up everything.
The road to Riau

Three kilometer north of the village of Kotobaru, where the beautiful Minangkabau songket is made. From here, a long detour towards the north (three to four hours), over the border with Riau, takes you to the remains of Muara Takus. Here is, on an open space in the forest, the biggest classical masonry building of Sumatra, a stupa surrounded by ruins and several other masonry structures.

This masonry stupa, Candi Mahligai, has the unusual shape of a tower, instead of the common bell shape, which is much more common in the Buddhist architecture. It was restored in the 1980's and the earlier building was pushed away behind a new construction, to protect it in the future. The open space along the western side however, still shows a part of the older structure.

In the neighborhood, there still are some other foundations. To the west is Candi Bungsu, a raised location with two stupas and Candi Tua in the north, originally the biggest structure of all in the environment, with two stairs leading to one stupa. The temples are surrounded by stone walls. An earth dam with a total length of two kilometer can still be distinguished from it's environment.

This mysterious location is in a remote area, but must have been of some importance, because the size of the ruins tells that there once lived a big population as well. Reports of a principality in this area are not known, but short inscriptions which have been found in the ruins, are witnesses of dates from the 11th and 12th centuries. A legend describes this location as a burial site of a Hinduism ruler which transformed into an elephant, and it is said that wild elephants come to this spot when it's a full moon to pay their honor to the deceased ruler by performing a dance.