Chut Din was the daughter of Teuku Nanta Seutia, chief of the VI Mukims of the XXV sagi of Acheh, and the wife of the celebrated West-Coast chief Teuku Uma (Umar). Her marriage links two of the most prominent Achehnese chiefly families of the late nineteenth century and forms the immediate family background to the deposition of the Nantas from the government of the VI Mukims — a deposition that followed directly upon what Achehnese tradition calls the “defection” of Teuku Uma.
The Nantas of the VI Mukims
The family into which Chut Din was born had risen, in the person of her father Teuku Nanta Seutia, from a merely titular rank to a territorial uleebalangship. Nanta Seutia was originally an “uleebalang of our supreme lord”, with which hereditary rank he was invested for exceptional services to one of the princes. Such a rank carried with it no more than dignity and claim to respect, but it made its holders “unwished-for guests in the uleebalangship where they established themselves”. Nanta Seutia succeeded in detaching the VI Mukims from the control of Teuku Ne’, chief of the great mukim of Meura’sa, and the protests of the latter, reiterated down to the present day, were of no avail against this secession. Thus Chut Din was born into a family that had parlayed a honorary title into an effective territorial lordship.
The marriage to Teuku Uma
Chut Din’s marriage to Teuku Uma brought together the rising power of the West Coast — a man who “obtained supremacy over the whole of the West Coast by tact, good luck and knowledge of men” — with the established authority of the Nantas in the VI Mukims. Such marriage alliances among the great chiefly families were a normal instrument of Achehnese politics, comparable to the marriage alliances between branches of the royal house at Keumala.
The “defection” of Teuku Uma and the deposition of the Nantas
The political consequences of the marriage fell out in 1896. In that year, as Snouck Hurgronje records in a footnote, “the Nanta family having taken a prominent part in the treachery of Teuku Uma against the Dutch, the Ne’ family was restored to power”. The Nantas were “declared deposed from the government of the VI Mukims, and the native authority in that place is exercised by the young Teuku Raja Itam, son of the late Teuku Ne’ of Meura’sa”. Thus Chut Din’s marriage — by tying her family to Teuku Uma’s fortunes — proved the means by which the Nantas lost, in consequence of Teuku Uma’s defection and treachery, the very territory that her father had spent his career winning.
See Also
- Teuku Nanta Seutia
- Teuku Uma
- Teuku Ne’ Peureuba Wangsa
- Teuku Ne’ Raja Muda Seutia
- Defection of Teuku Uma
- Treachery of Teuku Uma against the Dutch
- Acheh
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.
Chut Din was the daughter of Teuku Nanta Seutia, chief of the VI Mukims of the XXV sagi of Acheh, and the wife of the celebrated West-Coast chief Teuku Uma (Umar). Her marriage links two of the most prominent Achehnese chiefly families of the late nineteenth century and forms the immediate family background to the deposition of the Nantas from the government of the VI Mukims — a deposition that followed directly upon what Achehnese tradition calls the “defection” of Teuku Uma.
The Nantas of the VI Mukims
The family into which Chut Din was born had risen, in the person of her father Teuku Nanta Seutia, from a merely titular rank to a territorial uleebalangship. Nanta Seutia was originally an “uleebalang of our supreme lord”, with which hereditary rank he was invested for exceptional services to one of the princes. Such a rank carried with it no more than dignity and claim to respect, but it made its holders “unwished-for guests in the uleebalangship where they established themselves”. Nanta Seutia succeeded in detaching the VI Mukims from the control of Teuku Ne’, chief of the great mukim of Meura’sa, and the protests of the latter, reiterated down to the present day, were of no avail against this secession. Thus Chut Din was born into a family that had parlayed a honorary title into an effective territorial lordship.
The marriage to Teuku Uma
Chut Din’s marriage to Teuku Uma brought together the rising power of the West Coast — a man who “obtained supremacy over the whole of the West Coast by tact, good luck and knowledge of men” — with the established authority of the Nantas in the VI Mukims. Such marriage alliances among the great chiefly families were a normal instrument of Achehnese politics, comparable to the marriage alliances between branches of the royal house at Keumala.
The “defection” of Teuku Uma and the deposition of the Nantas
The political consequences of the marriage fell out in 1896. In that year, as Snouck Hurgronje records in a footnote, “the Nanta family having taken a prominent part in the treachery of Teuku Uma against the Dutch, the Ne’ family was restored to power”. The Nantas were “declared deposed from the government of the VI Mukims, and the native authority in that place is exercised by the young Teuku Raja Itam, son of the late Teuku Ne’ of Meura’sa”. Thus Chut Din’s marriage — by tying her family to Teuku Uma’s fortunes — proved the means by which the Nantas lost, in consequence of Teuku Uma’s defection and treachery, the very territory that her father had spent his career winning.
See Also
- Teuku Nanta Seutia
- Teuku Uma
- Teuku Ne’ Peureuba Wangsa
- Teuku Ne’ Raja Muda Seutia
- Defection of Teuku Uma
- Treachery of Teuku Uma against the Dutch
- Acheh
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.