Alue Rasa (rendered in the OCR of The Achehnese as Alura’sa) was one of the principal gampongs of the capital of Acheh, listed by Snouck Hurgronje among the fine and prosperous villages that, before the Dutch war, formed the nucleus of settlement round the Dalam or royal residence of the Sultan. The centre of these gampongs, with its mosque and market-place, was called Banda Acheh, “the capital or trading mart of Acheh”, and gave the tone to the whole country in matters of custom and dress.
The full list of the principal gampongs of the capital given by Snouck Hurgronje runs: Gampong Jawa, Pande, Peunayong, Lam Bhu, Lueng Bata, Lam Seupeung, Ateueung, Batoh and Alura’sa (Alue Rasa). The inhabitants of these and the neighbouring villages, together with their language and customs, were distinguished by the epithet banda — that is, town-bred or civilized — and those of other districts who conformed as much as possible to the tone of the capital enjoyed the same title. In contrast with these, all others who spoke in their own local dialects and were unacquainted with the manners of the town were called dōseu (like dōseu in the Sundanese country), that is, countrified or uncivilized.
Alue Rasa’s inclusion in this enumeration marks it as a settlement of the lowland banda population, on the same level of civic standing as Gampong Jawa (the Javanese quarter), Pande (the smiths’ quarter), Peunayong (the Chinese quarter) and Lueng Bata (which later became a separate mukim of the XXV Mukims). The Achehnese war and the Dutch bombardment of the capital are not described in Vol. I in detail, but the prosperous pre-war cluster of which Alue Rasa formed a part was largely destroyed in the course of the conflict.
The name “Alue Rasa” itself is composed of the Achehnese alue (a small watercourse or stream-bed, a common element in the toponymy of the lowlands) and rasa, the meaning of which in this particular compound is not explained by Snouck Hurgronje. Such compounds are characteristic of the village-names of the Achehnese lowlands, which (in contrast to the obscure names of countries and races) are, as the author observes, “as a rule fairly easy of analysis.”
See Also
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.