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BATTAS (Dutch Battaks)

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 530 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BATTAS (Dutch Battaks) , the inhabitants of- the formerly See also:independent See also:Batta See also:country, in the central See also:highlands of See also:Sumatra, now for the most See also:part subjugated to the Dutch See also:government. The still independent See also:area extends from 98°-99 35' E., and 2°-3° 25' S. See also:North-See also:east of Toba See also:Lake dwell the See also:Timor Battas, and See also:west of it the Pakpak, but on its north (in the mountains which border on the east See also:coast residency) the Karo Battas See also:form a See also:special See also:group, which, by its dialects and ethnological See also:character, appears to be allied to the Gajus and See also:Alias occupying the interior of See also:Achin. The origin of the Battas is doubtful. It is not known whether they were settled in Sumatra before the See also:Hindu See also:period. Their See also:language contains words of See also:Sanskrit origin and others referable to Javanese, See also:Malay and Tagal See also:influence. Their domain has been doubtless much curtailed, and their absorption into the Achin and Malay See also:population seems to have been See also:long going on. The Battas are undoubtedly of Malayan stock, and by most authorities are affiliated to that See also:Indonesian pre-Malayan See also:race which peopled the See also:Indian See also:Archipelago, expelling the aboriginal See also:negritos, and in turn themselves submitting to the civilized See also:Malays. In many points the Battas are physically quite different from the Malay type. The See also:average height of the men is 5 ft. 4 in.; of the See also:women 4 ft. 8 in.

In See also:

general build they are rather thickset, with broad shoulders and fairly See also:muscular limbs. The See also:colour of the skin ranges from dark See also:brown to a yellowish tint; the darkness apparently quite independent of See also:climatic influences or distinction of race. The See also:skull is rather See also:oval than See also:round. In marked contrast to the Malay type are the large, See also:black, long-shaped eyes, beneath heavy, black or dark brown eyebrows. The cheek-bones are somewhat prominent, but less so than among the Malays. The Battas. are dirty in their See also:dress and dwellings and eat any See also:kind of See also:food, though they live chiefly on See also:rice. They are remarkable as a See also:people who in many ways are cultured and possess a written language of their own, and yet are cannibals. The more civilized of them around Lake Toba are See also:good agriculturists and stock-breeders, and understand See also:iron-smelting. They weave and dye See also:cotton, make jewellery and krisses which are often of exquisite workmanship, See also:bake pottery, and build picturesque chalet-like houses of two storeys. They.have.an organized government, hereditary chiefs, popular assemblies, and a written See also:civil and penal See also:code. There is even an antiquated postal See also:system, the See also:letter-boxes being the hollow See also:tree trunks at See also:cross-roads. Yet in spite of this See also:comparative culture the Battas have long been notorious for the most revolting forms of See also:cannibalism.

(See See also:

Memoirs of the See also:Life, of See also:Sir T. S. See also:Raffles, 183o.) The Battas are the only lettered people of the Indian Archipelago who are not Mahommedans. Their See also:religion is mainly confined to a belief in evil See also:spirits; but they recognize three gods, a Creator, a Preserver and a Destroyer, a trinity suggestive of Hindu influence. Up to the publication of Dr H. N. See also:van der Tuuk's See also:essay, Over schrift en uitspraak der Tobasche See also:taal (1855), our knowledge of the Batta language was confined to lists of words more or less See also:complete, chiefly to be found in W. See also:Marsden's See also:Miscellaneous See also:Works, in F. W. Junghuhn's Battalander, and in the Tijdschrifb van het Bataviaasch Genootschap, vol. iii. (1855). By his exhaustive works (Bataksch Leesboek, in 4 vols., 1861-1862; Batakschnederduitsch Woordenboek, 1861; Tobasche Spraakkunst, 1864–1867) van der Tuuk made the Batta language the most accessible of the various See also:tongues spoken in Sumatra. According to him, it is nearest akin to the old Javanese and Tagal, but A.

See also:

Schreiber (See also:Die Battas in ihrem Verhaltnis zu den Malaien von Sumatra, 1874) endeavoured to prove its closer See also:affinity with the Malay proper. Like most See also:languages spoken by less civilized tribes, Batta is poor in general terms, but abounds in terms for special See also:objects. The number of dialects is three, viz. the Toba, the Mandailing and the Dairi dialects; the first and second have again two subdivisions each. The Battas further possess six See also:peculiar or recondite modes of speech, such as the hata andung, or language of the wakes, and the hata pods or the soothsayer'slanguage. A See also:fair acquaintance with See also:reading and See also:writing is very general among them. Their See also:alphabet is said, with the Rejang and Lampong alphabets, to be of Indian origin. The language is written on bark or See also:bamboo staves from bottom to See also:top, the lines being arranged from See also:left to right. The literature consists chiefly in books on See also:witchcraft, in stories, See also:riddles, incantations, &c., and is mostly in See also:prose, occasionally varied by See also:verse.' See also " Reisen nach dem Toba See," See also:Petermann Mitleil. (1883) ; Modigliani, Fra i Bgtacchi indipendenti (See also:Rome, 1892); See also:Neumann, " Het See also:Pane- en Bilastroomgebied," Tydschr. Aardr. Gen., 1885-1887 ; Van Dijk in the same periodical (1890-1895); Wing See also:Easton in the Jaarboek voor het Mynwezen, 1894; Niemann in the See also:Encyclopaedia van Nederlandsch-Indie, under the heading Bataas, with very detailed bibliography; See also:Baron J. v. See also:Brenner, Besuch bei den Kannibalen Sumatras (See also:Wurzburg, 1893); H.

Breitenstein, 21 Jahre in Indien,, See also:

Java, Sumatra (See also:Leipzig, 1899-1900) ; G. P. Rouffaer, Die Batik-Kunst in niederlandisch-Indien and ihre Geschichte (See also:Haarlem, 1899).

End of Article: BATTAS (Dutch Battaks)

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