Teungku Lam Paya (the kali) was the head kali (religious judge) of the XXV Mukims sagi of Great Acheh in the later years of the Achehnese sultanate, and is named by C. Snouck Hurgronje as a “tolerably learned head kali” — high praise by the exacting standards applied in his survey of the Achehnese kalis. He died some years before the publication of The Achehnese (1906), and was succeeded in his title by a son of inferior reputation.
The kalis of the three sagis of Great Acheh are described by Snouck Hurgronje with some severity. The principle of inheritance, “could not of course be applied to the kali-ship in the same degree as in the case of offices controlled by adat; still it was sometimes pushed to a great extremity”. The kali-ship of the sagi of the XXV Mukims is one of the few in which the late sultanate could boast a chief of any real learning. Teungku Lam Paya “enjoyed, at least in the later years of the sultanate, a certain precedence on official occasions, and was sometimes bidden to the Dalam” (the Sultan’s Court at Banda Acheh), “probably because he lived nearest at hand”. This proximity to the capital gave him an unofficial precedence over his brother kalis, and made him the natural religious adviser of the sultan on the rare occasions when such advice was sought.
His son and successor, who took the same title, “is said not to be particularly learned in the law, but very ready of speech”. The contrast between father and son illustrates the rapid degeneration of the kali-ship once the principle of inheritance was applied without regard to learning: the kali-ship passed from father to son more easily than did the art of the law.
Teungku Lam Paya the kali is to be carefully distinguished from his still greater contemporary Teungku Lam Paya the ulama (or alem), a pandit of much wider reputation. The two are distinguished in Achehnese usage by the addition of the word ulama or alem to the name of the latter. As Snouck Hurgronje cautions in a footnote: “Not to be confused with his contemporary, the still greater pandit Teungku Lam Pāya, who was distinguished from the kali of that name by the addition of the word ulama or alem”. The kali is a hereditary office-bearer; the ulama is a personal reputation earned by learning.
See Also
- Teungku Lam Paya (ulama)
- XXV Mukims
- Dalam (Sultan’s Court)
- Teungku Tanoh Abee
- Teungku Lam Guha
- Three Sagis (XXVI, XXV, XXII Mukims)
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.
Teungku Lam Paya (the kali) was the head kali (religious judge) of the XXV Mukims sagi of Great Acheh in the later years of the Achehnese sultanate, and is named by C. Snouck Hurgronje as a “tolerably learned head kali” — high praise by the exacting standards applied in his survey of the Achehnese kalis. He died some years before the publication of The Achehnese (1906), and was succeeded in his title by a son of inferior reputation.
The kalis of the three sagis of Great Acheh are described by Snouck Hurgronje with some severity. The principle of inheritance, “could not of course be applied to the kali-ship in the same degree as in the case of offices controlled by adat; still it was sometimes pushed to a great extremity”. The kali-ship of the sagi of the XXV Mukims is one of the few in which the late sultanate could boast a chief of any real learning. Teungku Lam Paya “enjoyed, at least in the later years of the sultanate, a certain precedence on official occasions, and was sometimes bidden to the Dalam” (the Sultan’s Court at Banda Acheh), “probably because he lived nearest at hand”. This proximity to the capital gave him an unofficial precedence over his brother kalis, and made him the natural religious adviser of the sultan on the rare occasions when such advice was sought.
His son and successor, who took the same title, “is said not to be particularly learned in the law, but very ready of speech”. The contrast between father and son illustrates the rapid degeneration of the kali-ship once the principle of inheritance was applied without regard to learning: the kali-ship passed from father to son more easily than did the art of the law.
Teungku Lam Paya the kali is to be carefully distinguished from his still greater contemporary Teungku Lam Paya the ulama (or alem), a pandit of much wider reputation. The two are distinguished in Achehnese usage by the addition of the word ulama or alem to the name of the latter. As Snouck Hurgronje cautions in a footnote: “Not to be confused with his contemporary, the still greater pandit Teungku Lam Pāya, who was distinguished from the kali of that name by the addition of the word ulama or alem”. The kali is a hereditary office-bearer; the ulama is a personal reputation earned by learning.
See Also
- Teungku Lam Paya (ulama)
- XXV Mukims
- Dalam (Sultan’s Court)
- Teungku Tanoh Abee
- Teungku Lam Guha
- Three Sagis (XXVI, XXV, XXII Mukims)
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.