Achene

“ Thence they draw a considerable portion of their knowledge of the world and of life, and almost all that they know of what has happened in the past, or what goes on outside their own country. Whoever wishes to understand the spirit of the Achehnese must not fail to bear in mind the nature of this, their mental pabulum; and should anyone desire to try to lead the civilization of Acheh along a new channel, it would be undoubtedly worth his while to make his innovations palatable to them by presenting them in 'hikayat' form. ”

“ The prevailing fashion in such matters is however very liable to change. During my stay in Acheh a new method of wearing the headcloth was in vogue amongst the younger men. It was carried forward in the form of a cornucopia, a fashion said to have been set by the young pretender to the sultanate.
The reunchōng or rinchōng, a dagger with one sharp edge, and the bungkōih ranub or folded kerchief are alike indispensable to the Achehnese when he walks abroad. In the latter are placed all requisites for betel-leaf chewing, in ornamental and often costly little boxes or cases. ”

“ Such an unusual personality, revered by many and dreaded by the rest, is required in order that even the most moderate demands of religion may be satisfied. The true Achehnese, if he does not entirely neglect the calls of his creed, takes part with more zeal in the religious or quasi-religious gatherings in the meunasah than in the assemblages at the mosque, where he feels himself but half at home.
Kanduris (religious feasts) he gives and attends with pleasure; at ratébs or recitations, whether real or only imitative like the ratéb sadati and pulèt, he can excite himself to the highest pitch ”

“ Imagination runs riot throughout the whole, but the method of expression is thoroughly Achehnese; the thoughts which the poet puts in the mouths of his characters and the scenes which he has lavishly embroidered on the framework of his story, are all derived from the everyday life of the Achehnese people.
Contents of the epic.The poem begins with the first tokens of enmity on the part of Si Ujut, a son of the raja of Malacca, against his benefactor Éseukanda Muda, the powerful ruler of Acheh. ”

“ In the beginning the trust of the Achehnese in God's help seemed now and then to be justified. Where they met with reverses the representatives of religion were ever ready with their explanation. "He that will carry on a holy war with assurance of victory must begin," said they, "by turning from all his iniquities.' Small wonder that Allah did not always cause the arms of Acheh to be victorious since he had so much maʿsiët (trangression) to visit on the people. ”

“ In the Achehnese hikayat the princess's country is called Tanjōng Puri and she is not borne away to the forest by supernatural force as in the Malay tale, but carried off by Radén Meuntròë's own father who makes war on her sire for refusing to pay him tribute.
The Achehnese composer has also given to the whole a slightly Mohammadan tinge. The diwas, it is true, play a weighty part and work all manner of marvels, but not till Allah has expressly charged them so to do; and people in distress invoke the aid, not of the all-administering diwas, but of the almighty Creator. ”

“ Two heroic poems (Malém Dagang and Pòchut Muhamat) dealing with historical facts and legends of the past of Acheh, have been known in written form as far back as the memory of the people extends. Another, which in form and character quite corresponds with the two mentioned above, and which celebrates the heroic deeds of the Achehnese in their war with the Dutch, was composed gradually by a man who could neither read nor write, and was first reduced to writing in its entirety at my own instance. ”

“ The Achehnese are, comparatively speaking, among the least well-mannered of the inhabitants of the Archipelago, yet in their behaviour towards their chiefs they pay regard to sundry formalities. If a man be sitting on the roadside as the ulèëbalang and his retinue pass by and omits to ask meuʾah or forgiveness for his presence, he may feel sure at the least of a beating from the rakans by way of correction. Both the chiefs and all the members of their retinue are as a rule very free with such sharp admonitions towards persons of low degree. ”

“ The hikayat of Malém Diwa for instance, is composed of the same materials as a well-known Malay tale which is also current among the Bataks. This does not prevent the Achehnese from representing their hero as being born, growing up and performing most of his exploits in Acheh, or from imagining that he still exists, wandering about in the highlands of the North and East Coasts. They are convinced that anyone who has practised the science of invulnerability with success may enjoy the privilege of a meeting with this invincible immortal [79] . ”

“ The Achannas, in the uncanny stories in which they are heroes and villains, are all possessed by the power of the second sight, but second sight is not the most remarkable of their supernatural powers. ”

“ That these tailed or tail-less strangers contributed their quota to the composition of the Achehnese race is as little doubted as that the multitude of Klings (Kléug, ureuëng dagang [28] ) in Great Acheh and on the East Coast have brought more half-caste progeny into the world than now commands recognition as such. There have been within the memory of man a large number of Klings in the highlands of Great Acheh (XXII Mukims) living entirely as Achehnese and engaged in agriculture. There were even gampōngs, such as Lam Aliëng, the entire population of which consisted of such hybrid Klings. ”

“ It is no empty saying which the Achehnese quote to one another in their councils—keuchiʾ eumbah, teungku ma="the keuchiʾ is (our) father and the teungku (our) mother".
All peace-loving inhabitants of a gampōng are convinced of the necessity for having one person to speak or negotiate in the name of all; the more so because as we shall presently see, sundry family matters such as marriage, divorce, the bringing up of orphans or changes of residence are treated in Acheh as matters affecting the whole gampōng. ”

“ Let us now fix our attention on the fact that the non-Mohammedan institutions of the Achehnese, which we are now about to describe, and which taken together form a well-rounded whole, exhibit themselves to the scientific observer after comparison with those of other kindred peoples, as really indigenous and wholly suitable to the state of civilization in which the Achehnese have moved as long as we have known them. ”

“ Not by any means all of the sayyids of Acheh are theologians or pandits. Most of them devote themselves to trade or in later generations to agriculture, but they enjoy none the less the customary reverence based on religious feeling, even where their life is far from testifying to a devotional spirit on their part. Such is often the case not only with sayyids who have found their way over from Arabia in the guise of random adventurers, but also with those born in Acheh, who quickly make their own of Achehnese manners and vices. ”

“ As however the qualifications for the office of qādhī are not very narrowly scrutinized in Acheh, it follows as a matter of course that much latitude is allowed to the woman's subsidiary wali appointed by taḥkim. While however, the theory of religious law leaves the choice of this hakam entirely free, the Achehnese adat limits it strictly to the teungku. Amateur marriage-makers such as are commonly found at Batavia would be heavily fined by the ulèëbalang in Acheh. ”

“ At my departure I have spat upon the steps of the house (symbolic leave-taking of the Penates) ; no man can see the world twice".
The situation which we should describe by the comparison "two cocks in one fowl-yard" [1] , at once suggests to the Achehnese a number of verses descriptive of untenable situations such as "a country with two kings", "a mosque with two lights" (i.e. two doctors of the law, each of whom wishes to be the ruling authority) "a gampōng with two teachers". Such examples might easily be multiplied ten-fold. ”

“ He firmly believes that all that he reveres as the sacred institutions of his country (albeit not mentioned in a single one of the edicts) is adat [11] Meukuta Alam or at any rate adat pòten meureuhōm, "adat of defunct royalties", and he is convinced that information respecting them is of a certainty contained in some one or other of the sarakatas.
The Achehnese chiefs have a secondary aim when they refer with a certain emphasis to these edicts as the laws of Acheh. All that is contained therein respecting court ceremonial, festivals, religion etc., they regard with complete indifference ”

“ The king recognized his mistake, declared Meureudu a feudal freehold (wakeuëh) and induced Ja Pakèh, not without difficulty, to accompany him in his voyage to Malacca.
According to the popular conception of the Achehnese, a learned teungku is supposed to be especially distinguished by his knowledge of sundry èleumèës or crafts which enable him to ensure the safety of his friends and to bring destruction on his foes. Thus the issue of a war may often depend on such a one. ”

“ It is for this reason that the intercourse of masters with their female slaves is very limited in comparison with other Mohammedan countries, and where it does take place, recourse is had to various methods to avert or nullify its natural consequences. All the same there is a certain proportion of children born of such concubinage.
There are, however, other channels through which Niasese blood has found its way into the veins of the Achehnese. For instance it not uncommonly occurs that a man who makes a long stay in a particular place, marries the slave of one of his friends or patrons. ”

“ The better educated of the Achehnese, who are not scholars in the strict sense, read Malay hikayats which are either entirely new or not formerly known in Acheh. Such as suit their taste are disseminated as haba [78] until some poet or rhymster thinks it worth while to make of them an Achehnese hikayat. And so lacking in refinement of taste have the modern Achehnese become, as for the most part to find more pleasure in these flavourless impossibilities than in their own historical epics. ”

“ The Sultans of Acheh were in part Malayan, in part Arab, and in part—as with the line of princes who have now occupied the throne for more than a century and a half—of Bugis origin. The great literati or holy men were almost without exception foreigners, and the same is true of many of the rich traders and high officials. The Klings and Arabs settled in Acheh, nay even some of the slaves have after several generations become an integral part of the Achehnese people. ”

“ About 1891 there descended again upon the East Indian Archipelago a perfect shower of copies of a new edition. It was printed and reprinted in Malay at Singapore, Palembang etc., and led orthodox pandits both in Hindustan and at Batavia to publish polemical treatises in which the wasiat was branded as a lying vision.
As may well be supposed, all these publications find their way in some form or other to Acheh; but I know of only two Achehnese versions in hikayat form. One is old ”

“ Even at the present day there are to be found in Acheh persons whose good taste is sufficient to make them prefer a recitation of Pòchut Muhamat to one of any of the numerous Malay stories that have been translated into Achehnese verse, tales of fabulous princes who performed all kinds of impossibilities to gain possession of the chosen one of their soul. ”

“ Finally the ḍikr (Ach. liké) is described at great length as the best mean for advancing oneself in this knowledge of self which is at the same time knowledge of God, and so to weld together the doctrine of unity with existence proper that the little Ego may be merged in the great. The peculiar method of this recital of the confession of faith which is recommended to his readers by the poet, is, as he himself expressly says, borrowed from the Malay work Umdat al-muḥtājīn written by the great Achehnese saint Addurraʾuf (Abdōraʾōh) , alias Teungku di Kuala [211] . ”

“ It is not surprising that the faithful frequenters of the mosque suffer from apam-indigestion during this month, or that in spite of the large share that falls into the hands of the youthful hordes that lurk in the vicinity, many apam-cakes have in the end to be thrown away.
The story goes that once on a time a certain Achehnese, possessed by curiosity as to what befalls man in the tomb, and especially as to the investigations of the angels of the grave, Munkar and Nakir, and the punishments they are supposed to inflict, feigned death and was buried alive. ”

“ Like all estimates of individual worth, that which we can form respecting Tuanku Asém is relative only. The Achehnese, accustomed as he is to hear no sensible language from the lips of tuankus and to see them devote their attention to fighting cocks and rams, women, weapons and so forth, is inclined to give a wide significance to any intelligent utterance of a member of the royal family, and to exaggerate the mental insight of the speaker. ”

“ A Javanese dongeng makes this night-bird (chabaʾ) , which according to popular belief flies and cries in its sleep, hold a contest in keeping awake with the sikatan (wagtail) . The latter abandons the duel as his opponent keeps on making a noise. In the above-quoted Sangireesche teksten of Dr. N. Adriani we find a similar contest between an ape and a heron (IVa) and two samples of such contests between an ape and a sheitan (IVb and VI) .
In the Achehnese just as in the Javanese kanchil-tales, the mouse-deer appears as the assessor (waki [156] ) of the prophet-king Sulòyman or Solomon. ”