ofthe SAME TREE

merchants serving the Tamil guild. Through daily intercourse between the
Tamils and the local inhabitants in this thriving settlement, ideas would have
been exchanged. 88 Another direct consequence of the Chola invasion was the
emergence of Kota Cina. Edwards McKinnon, the foremost expert on this
historical site, has stated unequivocally: “I now see Kota Cina as a predominantly
Tamil trading settlement established by a community of merchants
such as the Ainnurruvar [also known as the Ayyavole] who left an inscription
at Lobu Tua.” 89
In response to the rise of Kota Cina, there was a movement of some of
the Tamil population from Barus toward the east coast. Edwards McKinnon
found that the Sembiring marga of the Karo established itself on strategic
points along the routes leading from the west to the east coasts, and that two
of the villages, Deli Tua and Hamparan Perak, were located within easy reach
of Kota Cina. 90 The Sembiring marga is believed to have had direct ties with
Tamil traders. The name “Sembiring,” meaning “the black one,” is often cited
as a major clue. Certain names of the sub-marga—Colia, Berahmana, Pandia,
Meliala, Depari, Muham, Pelawi, and Tekan—are clearly of south Indian
derivation. 91 A particular way of disposing of the dead, believed to have been
borrowed from the Tamils, has been cited as further support for a southern
Indian origin of the Sembiring marga. This practice, which involves secondary
cremation and setting the ashes adrift [the pekualuh ceremony], is found
only in the Dairi lands in the west and among the Karo. 92 There may also have
been some Tamil influence on Karo ideas of village structure. Urung, the term
for a village federation in Karo, is believed to be a form of organization found
in medieval Tamil society. 93 Another source of Indian ideas, particularly in the
realm of magic and religion, was the Indianized Malayu communities. This
influence is especially evident in the Padang Lawas complex.
Some scholars contend that the presence of Tantrism in the Padang
Lawas complex was due to Indian influence coming from the Malayu polity
in the Minangkabau highlands via east Java. To support this view, they cite
the famous fourteenth-century Adityawarman statue in the form of the god
Bhairawa, one of the important deities in Kalacakra or Left-Handed Tantric
Buddhism (see chapter 2). Inspiration for the statue can be traced directly to
the Singasari court of east Java, where Adityawarman spent some years of his
life and left an inscription in 1343. The model was a similar statue dated 1292
of the Bhairawa seated on a dais surrounded by skulls, with a crown, earrings,
and a necklace of skulls. Tantric influence appears to have been maintained by
Adityayarman’s son Anangavarman, who identified himself as Heruka, a demon
figure. 94 At Kampung Lubuk Layang in Rao, in the Pasaman district, a headless
weather-worn statue broken in two was found exhibiting Hindu elements,
possibly Tantric, and similar to the guardian statues in Padang Lawas. 95
160 Chapter 5