D'Aché

“ When Siegmund had Helena near, he lost the ache, the yearning towards something, which he always felt otherwise. She seemed to connect him with the beauty of things, as if she were the nerve through which he received intelligence of the sun, and wind, and sea, and of the moon and the darkness. Beauty she never felt herself came to him through her. It is that makes love. ”

“ Late Lat., accaptare.
Achate, sb. purchase, provisions purchased, NED, C; achat, HD; acate, NED; acates, pl., HD.—OF. achat, AF. acate. See above.
Achatour, sb. a purchaser of provisions, purveyor, C, NED, HD; acatour, NED.—AF. achatour, acatour; Late Lat. accaptatorem.
Ache, sb. pain, Prompt.; eche, MD; hache, HD.—AS. æce (ece) . See Aken.
Ache, sb. wild celery, parsley, NED, Voc.—OF. ache; Lat. apium; Gr. ἄπιον.
Achesoun, sb. occasion, motive, HD, MD, NED.—OF. achoison, ocoison; Lat. occasionem. Cf. Anchesoun, Enchesoun, Chesoun.
Achtande, ord. eighth, S2, NED.—Icel. áttandi; cp. ”

“ Jeumalōy, whose tomb is still to be seen not far from the principal mosque of Acheh, is universally revered as a saint by the Achehnese. Pòteu Uëʾ, for whose sake his younger brother drove out the sayyid, and that too with the help of subjects turned from their allegiance, is the founder of the present Achehnese dynasty. No wonder then that the scions of the royal house of Acheh will brook no mention of the Hikayat Pòchut Muhamat and regard it as a forbidden thing for anyone of their family to order or listen to its recitation. ”

“ Tuan Meurasab.The 9th, 10th and 11th days of this month are consecrated to a saint whose tomb is to be found at Nagore on the Coromandel coast. He has also many worshippers in Acheh, seemingly through the influence of those inhabitants of Southern India who introduced here the creed of Islam.
What I have observed elsewhere [34] with regard to feasts of saints at Mekka, is equally true of these "saints days" in Acheh—nay throughout the whole Moslem world. "The people have no clear idea as to what the "day" of a saint really is. ”

“ The students.In Acheh as well as in Java there are to be found among the students young men of devout families; sons of the wealthy and distinguished whose parents consider it befitting that some of their children should practise sacred learning; lads who study from an innate love of and impulse towards learning, to contradict which would be esteemed a sin on the part of their parents; some few who are later on to be pěngulus, naibs, teungkus of meunasahs or kalis, though fewer in Acheh even than in Java, since devolution of office by inheritance forms the rule in the former country ”

“ 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. ”

“ Some gather their knowledge in their native country, others undergo a wider course of study in the Straits Settlements or at Mekka.
Learning in Acheh in ancient and in modern times.Whether learning advanced or declined in Acheh during the historical period of which we have some knowledge cannot be definitely ascertained. The fact that such an extraordinary number of Malay writings on the teaching of Islam appeared in Acheh during the 16th and 17th centuries was merely the result of the political condition of the country, as that period embraces the zenith of the prosperity of the port-kings. ”

“ He returns home with very little more knowledge of the world than he possessed when he went on his travels; all he learns is an ever-increasing contempt for the adat of his country (which conflicts with Islam in many respects) so that later on, as a dweller in the gampōng, he looks down on his fellow-countrymen with a somewhat Pharasaical arrogance.
It is needless to observe that the morals of the inhabitants of the rangkangs in Acheh are still less above suspicion than those of the pěsantrèn-students in Java. ”

“ In the language of the Arab mysticism, he who strives after communion with God is a sālik or walker on the way (ṭarīqah) leading to the highest. Although these words are also used by most of the orthodox mystics, popular expression in Acheh has specially applied the term sālik-learning (èleumèë saléʾ) to such mystic systems as are held in abhorrence by the orthodox teachers of the law.
About 30 or 40 years ago one Teungku Teureubuë [19] acquired a great celebrity in the Pidië district as a teacher of such èleumèë saléʾ. Men and women crowded in hundreds to listen to his teaching. ”

“ Even in Mohammedan times there are numerous indications of contact with the inhabitants of India; it is indeed more than probable that Acheh, like other countries of the Indian Archipelago, was mohammedanized from Hindostan. Not only Mohammedan Klings and people from Madras and Malabar, but also heathen Klings, Chetties [24] and other Hindus, have carried on trade in Acheh down to the present time, and there has been from first to last no serious opposition to the permanent establishment in the country of such kafirs, harmless as they were from a political point of view. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In Acheh as in other Mohammedan countries, so soon as a degree of religious supervision is permitted to any individual, a wide field is opened to his ambition, since in theory everything can be brought within the scope of religion and religious law. ”

“ The rapaʾi performance in Acheh.Such is the case in Acheh as well as in other Mohammedan countries. The great mass of the people classifies the performance as an example of the eleumèë keubay [112] or science of invulnerability. They are not aware that the name rapāʾī is a corruption of that of the saint of yore, and only connect the word with the tambourines used by the players, although the name of the master of mysticism, as well as that of his holy contemporary Abdulqādir Jīlānī and of various others [113] is actually invoked in the ratéb. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Growing up amid such surroundings, many young men feel themselves led as it were by destiny to the study of the sacred law.
Chèh Saman [47] , who of late years was conspicuous in Great Acheh as a leader in the holy war until his death, was the son of a simple leubè from Tirò [48] . The foremost member of an old family of pandits in that place was within the memory of man the Teungku di Tirò par excellence, also sometimes known as Teungku Chiʾ di Tirò. Such was till his death in 1886, Teungku Muhamat Amin, and his relative, the energetic Chèh Saman, was his right-hand man. ”

“ 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 ”

“ Many chiefs of Achehnese coast-dependencies formally gave in their submission in order to protect their commerce from injury, but the number who withheld their allegiance was greater; and many chiefs in the interior did not consider themselves bound by the promises of the raja of the coast. Furthermore the state of war—as may be learnt from our first chapter—added to the many chiefs who already disputed authority in Acheh a countless number of others: adventurers, religious leaders, military chiefs of every type. ”

“ Our poet is clearly influenced by this idea, for he makes the king of Acheh, from the time of his departure from Meureudu, take the advice of Ja Pakèh on all matters of importance.
Thus for instance in regard to the question as to who is to lead the forces in the field; this honour is at first offered to the Panglima of Pidië mentioned above, but as the latter prefers to hold a subordinate post, the king requests him to name a suitable man to be chief panglima, and he nominates Malém Dagang, [30] a young man of approved courage, who is also rich and influential. ”

“ The adat requires that the teungku meunasah be invited to this feast. He can either recite the prayer himself or empower another to do so.
The Javanese custom of clearing the graves of ancestors and rehabilitating their exterior during the month of Shaʿbān is unknown in Acheh, where the resting places of the dead are neglected to such a degree that it is difficult to find them in the third generation. In Acheh too, the feasts of all souls are always held at home, while in Java people assemble for this purpose at the burial-places. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The Rapaʾi representations just mentioned may form the subject of such a kaʾōy or vow. It is also a common custom for the father or. mother to vow at the sickbed of a child which has not yet been "brought down," that in the event of its recovery they will not merely bring it to the nearest holy tomb to inaugurate its first contact with the earth, but will take it on a pilgrimage to the resting-place of one of the great saints of Acheh, such as the renowned Teungku di Kuala Abdōraʾōh, the saint of Singkel, or the holy Sayyid Teungku Anjōng buried in Gampōng Java. ”

“ Acheh is certainly to an exceptional degree a land of polyarchy and misrule; in vain do we seek for discipline, whilst we meet with a quarrelsome and capricious spirit at every step. Taking this into account, and disregarding those few individuals of unusual strength of will and capacity to lead whom one meets with as exceptions in every rank, we can safely assert that the authority of the keuchiʾ rests on a firmer basis than that of any other chief.
Most keuchiʾs exercise control over a single gampōng only ”

“ 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 Acheh it is the universal custom to apply in these matters, so far as appears desirable, the teukeulit, as the Achehnese pronounce taqlīd. In regard to this it is a somewhat singular fact that not only do the kalis of Acheh recognize this adat (though they ought properly speaking to keep entirely clear of adat and follow the Shafiʾite law only in the exercise of their office) but it is even obligatory to invoke their help in order to conclude a marriage contract which is unlawful under the Shafiʾite, though permitted by the Ḥanafite law. ”

“ All authority in Acheh is in the highest degree personal. Rank is acquired by inheritance, but whether its possessor exercises the influence that attaches to it depends on his individual characteristics. Thus although the rank of panglima sagi became heritable in the family of him who at the conclusion of the alliance was recognized by his fellows as chief, this could not prevent the inheritors of the office from being outvied by others at a later period. Still the feeling of respect for tradition in Acheh is great enough to leave the name and certain outward forms intact. ”