Pula batee (literally “planting of the stones”) is the Achehnese ceremony of setting up permanent tombstones on a grave, replacing the temporary ricinus-plants placed there immediately after burial. The rite forms an important stage in the sequence of Achehnese funeral observances described by C. Snouck Hurgronje in The Achehnese, and is invested both with religious solemnity and with far-reaching consequences in native adat, particularly in matters of inheritance and the guardianship of orphans.
Timing and Seasonal Restrictions
The pula batee may take place on the same day as the tahlil ceremony, but is often postponed for a considerable time — whether for want of the funds required for the accompanying feast, or because the season forbids it. The “close season” (musém pichë blang), during which the padi is standing in the fields, prohibits the erection of tombstones altogether. Even while the padi is being sown in the nurseries, no tombstones may be set up, although the land is then technically “open.” This prohibition is no mere adat-rule that may be transgressed at will; should anyone venture to defy it, the [[keuchi’]|keuchi’]] of the gampong would at once interpose his veto, since the transgression is believed to endanger all the padi in the neighbourhood. The planting of tombstones thus ideally falls in the “open season” (musém luah blang), when the fields are bare, and commonly on or after the 44th day following death — a number of ritual importance throughout Achehnese life.
Adat Consequences
The pula batee is more than a religious ceremony: it is a precondition for the assertion of certain rights. The male relations (walé) of a deceased man cannot press their claims to interfere with the upbringing of his children against the widow until they have seen to the erection of the pula batee. Likewise, if a widower concludes a new marriage or demands back the jeulaië (the bride-wealth paid to his parents-in-law) before he or his wife’s father has attended to the planting of the tombstones, he is branded as a man without honour. The pula batee is, in short, the formal act that closes the immediate obligations of mourning.
The Stones and Their Shapes
The tombstones are imported from neighbouring islands such as Pulo We and sold for one or two dollars a set. The stones brought from these islands are oval or globular in shape, and pairs are made of those which match best. In former times the wealthier folk used chiselled tombstones, employing a porous and easily workable kind of stone from Pulo Batee (“Stone Island”) opposite Ulee Lheue (Olehleh). The people of Meura’sa were famed for their skill in cutting these stones, so that the batée Meura’sa were in great demand throughout all Acheh. Tombstones were given a different shape according as they were intended for men or women (nisàn agam and nisàn inòng): those for men, for instance, were prisms with four, six, or eight angles.
The Ceremony
The pula batee is attended to by the walé of the deceased, or — if the deceased is a married woman — by her husband. The setting up of the stones is accompanied by a religious feast (kanduri). Some give this at home, others on a larger scale at the place of burial. Yellow glutinous rice is indispensable, and ideally a goat is slaughtered. The teungku acts as “planter.” Before he sets the stones, he first performs the peusijië or “cooling” rite, besprinkling them with flour and water using a besom formed from the three kinds of “cooling” plants. The ceremony is introduced with a bismillah (“in the name of Allah”). The teungku then sets up the tombstones and consecrates the feast with a prayer — if, Hurgronje wryly notes, the viands furnished for the occasion appear to him worth the trouble.
See Also
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.