Marga (Batak)
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Batak clans, also known as marga (in Batak languages), are a system of patrilineal kinship among the Batak — the indigenous group of central-northern regions of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The Batak people consists of several ethnic groups, each with its own clans, which identifies ancestry and social relationships.
The term is derived either from the Sanskrit varga, meaning company, party, or group, or, more likely, from the Sanskrit marga, meaning 'road, way or path', referring to a people of 'one origin'.
Batak marga are patrilineal. Marriage in the same marga is strictly forbidden by tribal law (adat) even between people only distantly related, but it is allowed and often even arranged between cousins of the maternal line (boru). After marriage, Batak women do not change their family (marga) name but add "boru" to their birth name. Since Batak marga are patrilineal, the children will inherit the marga from their father.
In Batak Toba mythology, marga is traced to the common ancestor "Si Raja Batak" (The King of Batak). In Karo mythology, the five marga (Merga Silima) are defined in terms of matrimonial bonds, with no importance placed on a common ancestor myth. Simalungun people have four basic marga, each seen as equal, and likewise with no common ancestor myth.
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