Saëda is the legendary progenitor of the Kédjoerön Boekét lineage of the Gayo highlands, said to have arisen at Seroelë in the Döröt district from a piece of clay that fell from heaven, and to have been elevated to the Kédjoerön Boekét dignity by the Sultan of Atjeh, who bestowed on him five bawar — the ornament-insignia of Gayo chieftaincy. De Buitenbezittingen’s account of the Gayo Boekét genealogies, following C. Snouck Hurgronje’s Het Gajoland (referenced as “Sn. H. pag. 170–191”), treats the legend of Saëda as the founding charter of the Boekét polity, the narrative that explains why a particular descent group held the kédjoeröns-title and why its rival branch did not.
The legend
The legend of the Lah branch — which De Buitenbezittingen follows as “de minst onbetrouwbare” (the least unreliable) of the competing Boekét traditions — has Saëda originate at Seroelë in the Döröt district, where he was “ontstaan uit een uit den hemel neergevallen stuk klei.” He secured the favour of the Sultan of Atjeh, who raised him to the dignity of Rédjë Boekét and gave him five bawar — the badges of his new office. He then married two Acehnese women. The first bore him two sons who never rose to prominence; they became the lesser heads of the Boekét clan. The second wife brought him two stepsons, Ménèt and Mpos Kèlaq, and bore him two further sons, Mérah Lama and Panglima Dagang. From Panglima Dagang descended the Boekét Lah lineage; from the stepsons Ménèt and Mpos Kèlaq descended, respectively, the Boekét Ewéh and Goenóng lineages, the latter of which — by virtue of this stepson descent — claimed equality with the Boekéts.
The loss and recovery of the bawar
Saëda established himself in the Meerstreek — the Laut Tawar basin — where, with the title Mérhoem Meukoeta Alam, he became prince over all the land until the invasion of the Bataq doeloe poeloh toedjéh — the seventy-two Bataks. In the war that followed, the Boekét family was forced to flee; Saëda returned to Seroelë and disappears from the legend. Mérah Lama went with his two stepbrothers to Kébajakan, where, in possession of the bawar, he was installed as Kédjoerön Boekét. Panglima Dagang settled in Meureudoe.
The subsequent dispute over the bawar — particularly the keris kepala soeasa, the gold-headed kris — turned on the unilateral seizure of the principal insignium by Ménèt, who thereupon claimed the Kédjoerön title, since, by Gayo adat, “wie de bawar heeft, ook kédjoerön is.” The matter was eventually resolved when Panglima Dagang, having purchased back the kris from the Atjehsche aanvoerder to whom Ménèt had been forced to surrender it as ransom, reunited all the bawar in his own hand and was acknowledged as Kédjoerön Boekét. The descendants of Ménèt — the Boekét Ewéh — nevertheless continued to use the title and to contest the precedence of the Boekét Lah line down to the Dutch period.
Significance
The legend of Saëda encodes several features of Gayo political life that De Buitenbezittingen emphasises: the derivation of Gayo chieftaincy from the Sultan of Atjeh’s delegation of authority; the constitutional centrality of the bawar, the physical regalia without which no chieftaincy was complete; and the enduring tension, within the Boekét clan, between the Lah and Ewéh branches, which the Dutch eventually resolved by supporting the Lah line as the lawful Kédjoerön.
See Also
- Gajoland
- Kédjoerön Boekét
- Bawar (Gayo regalia)
- Sultans of Atjeh
- Prang toedjéh tahoen
- Bataq Doeloe Poeloh Toedjéh
- Panglima Dagang
- Ménèt
- Laoet Tawar
- Meureudoe
Source
De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 2: Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 96–98. Citing C. Snouck Hurgronje, Het Gajoland, pp. 170–191 (referenced as “Sn. H.”).
Saëda is the legendary progenitor of the Kédjoerön Boekét lineage of the Gayo highlands, said to have arisen at Seroelë in the Döröt district from a piece of clay that fell from heaven, and to have been elevated to the Kédjoerön Boekét dignity by the Sultan of Atjeh, who bestowed on him five bawar — the ornament-insignia of Gayo chieftaincy. De Buitenbezittingen’s account of the Gayo Boekét genealogies, following C. Snouck Hurgronje’s Het Gajoland (referenced as “Sn. H. pag. 170–191”), treats the legend of Saëda as the founding charter of the Boekét polity, the narrative that explains why a particular descent group held the kédjoeröns-title and why its rival branch did not.
The legend
The legend of the Lah branch — which De Buitenbezittingen follows as “de minst onbetrouwbare” (the least unreliable) of the competing Boekét traditions — has Saëda originate at Seroelë in the Döröt district, where he was “ontstaan uit een uit den hemel neergevallen stuk klei.” He secured the favour of the Sultan of Atjeh, who raised him to the dignity of Rédjë Boekét and gave him five bawar — the badges of his new office. He then married two Acehnese women. The first bore him two sons who never rose to prominence; they became the lesser heads of the Boekét clan. The second wife brought him two stepsons, Ménèt and Mpos Kèlaq, and bore him two further sons, Mérah Lama and Panglima Dagang. From Panglima Dagang descended the Boekét Lah lineage; from the stepsons Ménèt and Mpos Kèlaq descended, respectively, the Boekét Ewéh and Goenóng lineages, the latter of which — by virtue of this stepson descent — claimed equality with the Boekéts.
The loss and recovery of the bawar
Saëda established himself in the Meerstreek — the Laut Tawar basin — where, with the title Mérhoem Meukoeta Alam, he became prince over all the land until the invasion of the Bataq doeloe poeloh toedjéh — the seventy-two Bataks. In the war that followed, the Boekét family was forced to flee; Saëda returned to Seroelë and disappears from the legend. Mérah Lama went with his two stepbrothers to Kébajakan, where, in possession of the bawar, he was installed as Kédjoerön Boekét. Panglima Dagang settled in Meureudoe.
The subsequent dispute over the bawar — particularly the keris kepala soeasa, the gold-headed kris — turned on the unilateral seizure of the principal insignium by Ménèt, who thereupon claimed the Kédjoerön title, since, by Gayo adat, “wie de bawar heeft, ook kédjoerön is.” The matter was eventually resolved when Panglima Dagang, having purchased back the kris from the Atjehsche aanvoerder to whom Ménèt had been forced to surrender it as ransom, reunited all the bawar in his own hand and was acknowledged as Kédjoerön Boekét. The descendants of Ménèt — the Boekét Ewéh — nevertheless continued to use the title and to contest the precedence of the Boekét Lah line down to the Dutch period.
Significance
The legend of Saëda encodes several features of Gayo political life that De Buitenbezittingen emphasises: the derivation of Gayo chieftaincy from the Sultan of Atjeh’s delegation of authority; the constitutional centrality of the bawar, the physical regalia without which no chieftaincy was complete; and the enduring tension, within the Boekét clan, between the Lah and Ewéh branches, which the Dutch eventually resolved by supporting the Lah line as the lawful Kédjoerön.
See Also
- Gajoland
- Kédjoerön Boekét
- Bawar (Gayo regalia)
- Sultans of Atjeh
- Prang toedjéh tahoen
- Bataq Doeloe Poeloh Toedjéh
- Panglima Dagang
- Ménèt
- Laoet Tawar
- Meureudoe
Source
De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 2: Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 96–98. Citing C. Snouck Hurgronje, Het Gajoland, pp. 170–191 (referenced as “Sn. H.”).