Surat Ulu, The Rejang Extensions

Surat Ulu

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Type of Writing System: Abugida

Origin: Bengkulu - South Sumatra Province, Indonesia
Language used: Rejangese, Malay
Direction of writing: Left to Right
Unicode Range: Half-Encoded as Rejang (U+A930 - U+A95F); Extensions not yet encoded/Proposed
Another terms: Aksara Kaganga, Aksara Rejang, Aksara Besemah

Surat Ulu literally means "Letters/Alphabets (Surat) of Headwaters Area (Ulu)". In a wider definition, Surat Ulu refers to a group of writing systems used in headwaters area of central and south Sumatra, Indonesia. Kerinci script (Surat Incoung), Rejang script, and Lampung script are belong to Surat Ulu group[1]. 

On the other hand, the term "Surat Ulu" used by native people who lived in headwaters area of Bengkulu and South Sumatra Province to specifically call their writing system. This script is also called Aksara KaGaNga according the first three letters of the alphabet (Ka-Ga-Nga), Aksara Rejang (Rejang script), Aksara Besemah, Aksara Rencong, and so on.

This article is describing Surat Ulu as a native writing system of Bengkulu and South Sumatran people. This script is widely known as Rejang script, but you will find that "Rejang script" is actually a variety of Surat Ulu and the only form of Surat Ulu that had been encoded in Unicode.

In the past, the people of the headwaters area of Bengkulu and South Sumatra has a high literacy level. People from every society level could write any composition according to their knowledge. Farmers can just write fables while traditional healers write about medical herbs[2]. This script was still used until the dissemination of Islam for Islamic studies and used adjoining with Jawi (Arabic) script. This script formerly written in bamboo (bamboo manuscript is called gelumpai) and bark (daluang), but then it written in papers. 

The old Ulu manuscripts now are preserved as a part of sacred heirloom by the people. It can not be shown haphazardly and can be seen only on a special event through traditional ceremony. Usually the manuscripts are preserved by individuals as a family heirloom or by society as a village heirloom[2]. 

The Ulu manuscripts usually don't contain information of the writer, so a family that preserved it might not know who the writer are. It is usually kept in the attic of house or in a small barn called langgar in the center of a village with other heirlooms (such as traditional weapons, etc)[2]. Some of them now are preserved in museums mostly in Bengkulu and South Sumatra Province.

Figure: Ulu manuscripts using bark as media (http://arapuzo.blogspot.co.id) and bamboo (gelumpai) (http://akmaltasks.blogspot.co.id/2015/04/ilmu-budaya-dasar-2.html) 

Varieties that appears in Surat Ulu might caused by the wide area of spread and many sub-ethnic groups with different dialects that use it. As there are some differences in letter shape, there also a different principle of writings. Surat Ulu can be divided into four major groups, those are Rejang, Lembak, Serawai, dan Pasemah according to region and sub-ethnic group that use it.

A. Main Characters

Surat Ulu is Abugida like other Pallava-descended scripts that has /a/ as its inherent vowel. But local communities usually spell it in their dialects, so it's becoming kê-gê-ngê (e "schwa") in Pasemah/Besemah, and ko-go-ngo in Serawai. This spelling is influencing the usage of some diacritic signs. 

The main character of Surat Ulu is consisted of Buak Tuai (basic letters) and Aksara Ngimbang (letters with prenasalisation). This table shows the characteristic forms of letters that usually appears in Rejang, Lembak, Pasemah, and Serawai[2]. Variations represented in abbreviations of R, L, S, P, and A for "All" (the form used in all variation). 

B. Diacritic Signs

The diacritics signs are also showing some variations. There is no diacritic signs for /ê/ and /o/ vocalization in Pasemah and Serawai because they don't need it as the script is already spelled ke-ge-nge and ko-go-ngo following their dialect. Then, they use the diacritic sign jinah for changing the vowel to /a/ while in other variation it is used for the vocalization of /ê/.  

Table by Sarwono & Rahayu (2014)

An example of a road sign in Pasemah: the diacritic sign jinah used for /a/ vocalization (Pict. Sc.: easy.blogdetik.com)

C. Surat Ulu in Unicode

Rejang script is the only variation of Surat Ulu that had been encoded. The rest of it is not encoded or proposed yet.

Picture taken from id.wikipedia.org. (error note: "nnga" should be "ngga")

Unfortunately there are some inaccurate letter forms that is not accordance to the traditional form. (Compare this table to the upper one).

D. The Kaganga Script of Bengkulu

This is a table of standard Surat Ulu/Kaganga script used in Bengkulu Province[3], (Compare, which variation of Surat Ulu it is). 

1. Buak Tuai and Aksara Ngimbang

 (font by Aldila Dwiki Himawan from aksaradinusantara.com)

2. Diacritic signs and its positions

Figure: (Left) diacritic signs of Kaganga Bengkulu script and its position using letter /ka/ for its sample [3]. (Right) the positions of diacritic signs of Surat Ulu [2].

3. Numbers and Punctuations

Notes:

The Numerals of Kaganga Bengkulu script is based on Bejagung numeral system.

Traditionally Surat Ulu just have several punctuation, more punctuations added in order to support modern writings. 

E. Bejagung Numeral System

This is the Bejagung numbers that described by Jaspan (1967) and Sani (1988) in Miller (2011).

According to Jaspan (1967) in Miller (2011), Bejagung numeral system is not so commonly used for counting purposes. It is mostly appears as page number in Ulu manuscripts.

References (PDF can be downloaded from the Internet (some references is written in Bahasa Indonesia))

[1] Lihat Uli Kozok, Surat Batak: Sejarah Perkembangan Tulisan Batak (Jakarta: Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia, 2009)
[2] Sarwit Sarwono, Ngudining Rahayu, Pusat Penulisan dan Para Penulis Manuskrip-Manuskrip Ulu di Bengkulu (Bengkulu: UNIB Press, 2014)

[3] Santoso, SH MSi, Aksara Kaganga Produk Budaya Adiluhung leluhur. 2007
[4] Christopher Miller, Indonesian and Philippine scripts and extensions not yet encoded or proposed for encoding in Unicode (Report: Unicode Consortium, 2011)