Les stèles funéraires musulmanes dites batu Aceh de l'État de Johor (Malaisie)

Abstract

Daniel Perret Muslim graves with batu Aceh tombstones from Johor (Malaysia) 211 Muslim graves with batu Aceh tombstones which can be safely dated between the mid-15th c. and the beginning of the 18th с have been described during surveys conducted between 1996 and 1999 in the State of Johor (Malaysia) by the École française d'Extrême-Orient in co-operation with the Yayasan Warisan Johor. These graves are located on 36 sites in three areas: Johor river basin, Simpang Kiri river and Muar river basin. Detailed descriptions have enabled us to define 16 types of batu Aceh. Except a very few of them, the epitaphs bear no name and no date. Thus hypotheses regarding the precise dating and the identification of the graves can be based only on written sources, oral traditions and comparative analyses. Such hypotheses are suggested here for graves located in large graveyards in the vicinity of Kota Tinggi which make up more than half of all the graves with batu Aceh tombstones in Johor. The results show that questions such as chronology and diffusion of types as well as choice of type in connection with the status of the deceased could be precisely answered only with the help of more detailed descriptions of batu Aceh outside Johor that would enable a more comprehensive comparative analysis.