A Javanese from Demak who secluded himself for years in a cave near the mosque at Ulee Lheue, reportedly promised the hand of a celestial nymph if he survived three years unseen by any human — a prospect blighted by constant visits from devotees. His tomb behind the mosque is now visited by many pilgrims.
Expanded account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Teungku Lam Guha
Teungku Lam Guha was a Javanese hermit whose tomb at Ulee Lheue is, in the time of Snouck Hurgronje, an object of veneration. He is remembered chiefly for having practised tapa — absolute hermitical seclusion — for successive years in the cave at the source of the Krueng (river) Daroy, a place which had from ancient times been chosen for such devotions. His name, “Lam Guha” — literally “in the cave” — preserves the memory of his hermitical life.
The cave of the Daroy was later chosen by Habib Samalanga as the place of his own tapa, in which the sayyid would remain isolated (kaleuiit) for from seven to forty successive days. The choice of the same cave placed Habib Samalanga in a tradition of hermitical sanctity already established in Achehnese memory by Teungku Lam Guha, who is mentioned by Snouck Hurgronje in a footnote to his account of Habib Samalanga’s seclusions: “A Javanese whose tomb is now an object of veneration at Ulee Lheue is known by the name of Teungku Lam Guha, having done tapa for successive years in this cave of the Daroy.”
The veneration of Teungku Lam Guha’s tomb at Ulee Lheue — a fishing village on the coast north-west of Banda Acheh — is one of the survivals of the Javanese influence on Achehnese religious life which Snouck Hurgronje repeatedly notes. The origin of Achehnese mysticism and of several of its devotional forms is traced, in part, to Javanese teachers and settlers; and the figure of Teungku Lam Guha, the Javanese hermit whose years of seclusion sanctified the cave of the Daroy, is a typical example of the foreign-born saint who, by his personal asceticism, conferred sanctity on an Achehnese place and left his name to a local cult.
His cult also throws light on the Achehnese practice of tapa, which Snouck Hurgronje describes as admired and respected but very seldom practised by the Malays of the peninsula. The hermits of Acheh — of whom Teungku Lam Guha is one of the few whose names have been preserved — represent a strain of ascetic devotion which, though foreign to the ordinary Achehnese temper, was held in universal honour.
See Also
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.
A Javanese from Demak who secluded himself for years in a cave near the mosque at Ulee Lheue, reportedly promised the hand of a celestial nymph if he survived three years unseen by any human — a prospect blighted by constant visits from devotees. His tomb behind the mosque is now visited by many pilgrims.
Expanded account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Teungku Lam Guha
Teungku Lam Guha was a Javanese hermit whose tomb at Ulee Lheue is, in the time of Snouck Hurgronje, an object of veneration. He is remembered chiefly for having practised tapa — absolute hermitical seclusion — for successive years in the cave at the source of the Krueng (river) Daroy, a place which had from ancient times been chosen for such devotions. His name, “Lam Guha” — literally “in the cave” — preserves the memory of his hermitical life.
The cave of the Daroy was later chosen by Habib Samalanga as the place of his own tapa, in which the sayyid would remain isolated (kaleuiit) for from seven to forty successive days. The choice of the same cave placed Habib Samalanga in a tradition of hermitical sanctity already established in Achehnese memory by Teungku Lam Guha, who is mentioned by Snouck Hurgronje in a footnote to his account of Habib Samalanga’s seclusions: “A Javanese whose tomb is now an object of veneration at Ulee Lheue is known by the name of Teungku Lam Guha, having done tapa for successive years in this cave of the Daroy.”
The veneration of Teungku Lam Guha’s tomb at Ulee Lheue — a fishing village on the coast north-west of Banda Acheh — is one of the survivals of the Javanese influence on Achehnese religious life which Snouck Hurgronje repeatedly notes. The origin of Achehnese mysticism and of several of its devotional forms is traced, in part, to Javanese teachers and settlers; and the figure of Teungku Lam Guha, the Javanese hermit whose years of seclusion sanctified the cave of the Daroy, is a typical example of the foreign-born saint who, by his personal asceticism, conferred sanctity on an Achehnese place and left his name to a local cult.
His cult also throws light on the Achehnese practice of tapa, which Snouck Hurgronje describes as admired and respected but very seldom practised by the Malays of the peninsula. The hermits of Acheh — of whom Teungku Lam Guha is one of the few whose names have been preserved — represent a strain of ascetic devotion which, though foreign to the ordinary Achehnese temper, was held in universal honour.
See Also
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.