The youngest of three brothers of King Poteu Ue’ (Alaedin Juhan Shah) and central hero of the 18th-century epic Hikayat Pochut Muhamat. Outraged by the existence of two kings in one country, he gathered allies in Pidie including the reluctant Pangulee Beunaroe and conducted a brilliant campaign against the pretender Poteu Jeumaloy, including the siege of Gampong Jawa. He showed magnanimity in sparing Jeumaloy’s life and rewarded his allies generously, receiving half the port dues and a royal marriage for his service.
Expanded account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Pocut Muhamat
Pocut Muhamat (Achehnese Pochut Muhamat) is the eponymous hero of the Hikayat Pochut Muhamat, one of the two ancient epic poems of Acheh — the other being the Hikajat Malém Dagang. He is mentioned by Snouck Hurgronje in Vol. I of The Achehnese as a prince who took up arms on behalf of his brother Alaedin Juhan Shah (1756–1760) against the latter’s Arab rival Jamalul Alam.
The Hikayat Pochut Muhamat is described by Snouck Hurgronje as “a celebrated Achehnese heroic poem” which “depicts with no small skill the conflict waged by that prince in behalf of his brother Alaedin Juhan Shah (1756–1760) against the latter’s Arab rival Jamalul-alam.” Although the poem contains “sundry embroideries which characterize” such works, “it is to be noted that it was composed shortly after the war which it describes, and gives upon the whole an accurate description of the events and condition of things at that period.” The poem is thus not only a literary monument but a historical source of considerable value, recording a critical phase in the dissolution of the Achehnese Sultanate.
The historical setting of the poem is the dynastic confusion that followed the collapse of the latest royal house. Jamalul Alam, an Arab sayyid by origin, had established himself as a claimant to the throne; against him, the princes of the ruling family — Alaedin Juhan Shah and his brother Pocut Muhamat — defended their hereditary right. The conflict belongs to that long series of succession disputes which, from the end of the seventeenth century onwards, reduced the sultanate to a cipher and transferred effective power to the uleebalangs of the three sagis.
The poem’s significance for the institutional historian lies in its depiction of the imeums — the officials placed by the sultans over the mukims — as already, by the middle of the eighteenth century, “military leaders among whom the prince seeks his supporters, and as chiefs who of their own initiative take the part of the hero or oppose him.” From this epic, Snouck Hurgronje infers that “even at that time some of the imeums troubled themselves little about the uleebalang, to whom they were nominally subordinate, whilst others appear in the retinue of their chiefs as minor uleebalangs.” The Hikayat Pochut Muhamat thus furnishes the clearest native evidence for the early degeneration of an office instituted by the sultans into an hereditary chieftainship of the indigenous type.
The poem also preserves, in frequent mentions of the ureueng wakeueh raja (“wakeueh-men on the side of the king”), a class of free-lances allotted a district to live in, within which they enjoyed complete independence while remaining responsible to the king alone. Pocut Muhamat’s reliance on such followers, as portrayed in the hikayat, illustrates one of the few remaining bonds by which the sultans, even in their decline, could draw personal service from the inhabitants of the country.
See Also
- Acheh
- Alaedin Juhan Shah
- Gampong Jawa
- Hikayat Malem Dagang
- Hikayat Pochut Muhamat
- Jamalul Alam
- Pangulee Beunaroe
- Poteu Jeumaloy
- Sarakata (royal edicts of Acheh)
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. II, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.
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.
The youngest of three brothers of King Poteu Ue’ (Alaedin Juhan Shah) and central hero of the 18th-century epic Hikayat Pochut Muhamat. Outraged by the existence of two kings in one country, he gathered allies in Pidie including the reluctant Pangulee Beunaroe and conducted a brilliant campaign against the pretender Poteu Jeumaloy, including the siege of Gampong Jawa. He showed magnanimity in sparing Jeumaloy’s life and rewarded his allies generously, receiving half the port dues and a royal marriage for his service.
Expanded account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Pocut Muhamat
Pocut Muhamat (Achehnese Pochut Muhamat) is the eponymous hero of the Hikayat Pochut Muhamat, one of the two ancient epic poems of Acheh — the other being the Hikajat Malém Dagang. He is mentioned by Snouck Hurgronje in Vol. I of The Achehnese as a prince who took up arms on behalf of his brother Alaedin Juhan Shah (1756–1760) against the latter’s Arab rival Jamalul Alam.
The Hikayat Pochut Muhamat is described by Snouck Hurgronje as “a celebrated Achehnese heroic poem” which “depicts with no small skill the conflict waged by that prince in behalf of his brother Alaedin Juhan Shah (1756–1760) against the latter’s Arab rival Jamalul-alam.” Although the poem contains “sundry embroideries which characterize” such works, “it is to be noted that it was composed shortly after the war which it describes, and gives upon the whole an accurate description of the events and condition of things at that period.” The poem is thus not only a literary monument but a historical source of considerable value, recording a critical phase in the dissolution of the Achehnese Sultanate.
The historical setting of the poem is the dynastic confusion that followed the collapse of the latest royal house. Jamalul Alam, an Arab sayyid by origin, had established himself as a claimant to the throne; against him, the princes of the ruling family — Alaedin Juhan Shah and his brother Pocut Muhamat — defended their hereditary right. The conflict belongs to that long series of succession disputes which, from the end of the seventeenth century onwards, reduced the sultanate to a cipher and transferred effective power to the uleebalangs of the three sagis.
The poem’s significance for the institutional historian lies in its depiction of the imeums — the officials placed by the sultans over the mukims — as already, by the middle of the eighteenth century, “military leaders among whom the prince seeks his supporters, and as chiefs who of their own initiative take the part of the hero or oppose him.” From this epic, Snouck Hurgronje infers that “even at that time some of the imeums troubled themselves little about the uleebalang, to whom they were nominally subordinate, whilst others appear in the retinue of their chiefs as minor uleebalangs.” The Hikayat Pochut Muhamat thus furnishes the clearest native evidence for the early degeneration of an office instituted by the sultans into an hereditary chieftainship of the indigenous type.
The poem also preserves, in frequent mentions of the ureueng wakeueh raja (“wakeueh-men on the side of the king”), a class of free-lances allotted a district to live in, within which they enjoyed complete independence while remaining responsible to the king alone. Pocut Muhamat’s reliance on such followers, as portrayed in the hikayat, illustrates one of the few remaining bonds by which the sultans, even in their decline, could draw personal service from the inhabitants of the country.
See Also
- Acheh
- Alaedin Juhan Shah
- Gampong Jawa
- Hikayat Malem Dagang
- Hikayat Pochut Muhamat
- Jamalul Alam
- Pangulee Beunaroe
- Poteu Jeumaloy
- Sarakata (royal edicts of Acheh)
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. II, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.
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.