Ulu scripts

The name Ulu ('upstream') refers to the Barisan Mountains where the rivers in South Sumatra and Bengkulu originate.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

The Ulu script is also known as Rencong script (Dutch: Rèntjong-schrift), a term thought to be derived from the Old Malay word mèncong, which means oblique or italics.^[13][14] It could also be derived from the word runcing ('sharp'), as this script family was originally written with a sharp knife tip.^[15] Regardless of its origin, Western scholars frequently use this term to refer to this family of scripts.^[16][17]

Mervyn A. Jaspan (1926–1975), an anthropologist at the University of Hull, called it Kaganga script after the first three consonant letters, ka ga nga. He was probably not aware that most Brahmi script lineages begin their alphabetic order with these.^{[18][16][8][19]} This is equivalent to the word "alphabet," which is derived from the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet (Α-Β, alpha-beta), and the word "abjad," which is derived from the names of the first four letters of the Arabic alphabet (ا-ب-ج-د, alif-ba-jim-dal).

Several tribes have their own names in addition to the three mentioned above. For example, this script family is known as the surat ʁincung among the Pasemah ethnic group.^[20]

Rencong script was often written on tree bark, bamboo, horns and palmyra-palm leaves.^[21]

The term "Rencong" is often confused with "Rejang", which refers to a specific Rencong alphabet that was used to write various dialects of the Rejang language and for writing Malay in the region.

This map below shows the distribution of various Rencong alphabets in South Sumatra:

• Rejang alphabet
• Lampung alphabet
• Komering script

1. ^ Sarwono & Rahayu 2014, pp. 2.
2. ^ The term Surat Ulu which refers to the Rencong or Ka-Ga-Nga script is found, among others, in the Mal. 6873, Mal 6874, Mal. 6884, Mal. 6877, and L.Or. 12.247 (Leiden University Library) manuscripts. name="FOOTNOTESarwonoRahayu20142-1"/>
3. ^ Sarwono, Sarwit; Rahayu, Ngudining; Purwadi, Agus Joko (2017-12-07). "REKONTEKSTUALISASI PRAKTIK SOSIAL MEREJUNG DALAM NASKAH ULU PADA KELOMPOK ETNIK SERAWAI DI BENGKULU". LITERA. 16 (2). doi:10.21831/ltr.v16i2.15607. ISSN 2460-8319.
4. ^ Sarwono, Sarwit; Rahayu, Ngudining; Purwadi, Agus Joko; Noermanzah (2020-04-28). "Kayiak Beterang Ritual: The First Social Life Learning of the Serawai Girls". doi.org. Retrieved 2026-10-28.
5. ^ Sarwono, Sarwit (2020-01-06). "Penelusuran Naskah-naskah Ulu-Islam Pusaka Keluarga/Desa di Provinsi Bengkulu Tracing the Ulu-Islamic manuscripts of Family/Village Heirlooms in Bengkulu Province". MOZAIK HUMANIORA. 19 (2): 229. doi:10.20473/mozaik.v19i2.13231. ISSN 2442-935X.
6. ^ Sarwono & Rahayu 2014, pp. 5.
7. ^ Izzuddin, M. Haidar (2026-02-12). "Surat Ulu dan Perkembangannya: Tradisi Tulis dari Wilayah Uluan Sumatera Bagian Selatan". Tinta Emas (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2026-03-13.
8. ^ a b "Aksara Kaganga Bengkulu – Kantor Bahasa Provinsi Bengkulu" (in Indonesian). 26 January 2017. Archived from the original on 2023-02-02. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
9. ^ Sarwono & Rahayu 2014, pp. 4.
10. ^ Pudjiastuti 1996, pp. 46.
11. ^ "Surat ulu is a local name and a common term for its supporting community to refer to scripts known as rencong or Ka-Ga-Nga by Western scholars. According to Jalil (from the village of Muara Timput) and Meruki (from the village of Ujung Padang), and Pidin (from the village of Napal Jungur), several informants called the Pallava-derived local scripts as Surat Ulu. Westenenk's notes (1922:95), published in TBG edition 61, name=":wes-11">Westenenk, L. C. (1919). Aanteekeningen omtrent het hoornopschrift van Loeboek Blimbing in de marga Sindang Bliti, onder-afdeeling Redjang, afdeeling Lebong, residentie Benkoelen. Weltevreden: Albrecht & Co. pp. 448–459.> demonstrate that the Surat Ulu term is a local term used by the community that supports the Ulu writing tradition." name="FOOTNOTESarwonoRahayu20144–5-12">Sarwono & Rahayu 2014, pp. 4–5.>
12. ^ "Old people in southern Sumatra frequently refer to the Lampung script as the Ulu script..." name="FOOTNOTEPudjiastuti199646-10"/>
13. ^ "Carian Umum". prpm.dbp.gov.my. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
14. ^ "Hasil Pencarian - KBBI Daring". kbbi.kemdikbud.go.id. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
15. ^ Pitri, Nandia (2019). "Batik Incung dan Islam di Kerinci". Jurnal Islamika: Jurnal Ilmu-Ilmu Keislaman. 19 (2): 27–39. doi:10.32939/islamika.v19i02.450. S2CID 226806123.
16. ^ a b Sarwono & Rahayu 2014, pp. 1.
17. ^ Regarding the naming relationship between the Rencong script and Surat Ulu, L. C. Westenenk writes as follows: Toen ik dit eerste opstel schreef, wist ik n.l. niet, of de bij Europeanen gebruikelijke term "rèntjong-schrift" inderdaad ergens door Maleisch wordt gebezigd. Het is mij nu gebleken, dat dit in het landschap Rawas (Palembang) het geval is. Elders noemt men het gewonlijk: soerat oeloe = bovenlandsch schrift. name=":wes-11"/> — Westenenk (1919) Translation: When I wrote the first essay, I had no idea whether the term "rencong script" used by Europeans was also used by Malay. It has now become clear to me that this is the case in the Rawas (Palembang) landscape. Surat Ulu (upriver scripts) is another name for it.
18. ^ M. A. Jaspan (1964). Folk literature of South Sumatra: Redjang Ka-Ga-Nga Texts. Internet Archive.
19. ^ According to Mohammad Noeh, these scripts are "referred to as the Ka Ga Nga writing, which is an ancient script system originating from India." name="FOOTNOTEPudjiastuti19962-21">Pudjiastuti 1996, pp. 2.>
20. ^ Mahdi, Sutiono (2014). Aksara base besemah : pelajaghan mbace nga nulis urup ulu (surat ghincung). Dewi Saputri. Bandung. ISBN 978-602-9238-64-8. OCLC 906670726.
21. ^ Miller, Christopher. (2011). Indonesian and Philippine Scripts and extensions not yet encoded or proposed for encoding in Unicode as of version 6.0: A report for the Script Encoding Initiative.

Bibliographies#edit

• Sarwono, Sarwit; Rahayu, Ngudining (2014). Pusat Penulisan dan Para Penulis Manuskrip Ulu di Bengkulu (PDF) (in Indonesian). Universitas Bengkulu: UNIB Press. ISBN 978-979-9431-85-1.
• Pudjiastuti, Titik (1996). Aksara dan Naskah Kuno Lampung Dalam Pandangan Masyarakat Lampung Kini (PDF) (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Proyek Pengkajian dan Pembinaan Nilai-nilai Budaya Pusat Direktorat Sejarah dan Nilai Tradisional Direktorat Jenderal Kebudayaan Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan.