A village near Kutaraja. Referenced in the index as a subdivision of the capital area.
Expanded account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Batoh
Batoh is a gampong of the lowland cluster around the Sultan’s Dalam which, together with Gampong Jawa, Pande, Peunayong, Lam Bhu, Lueng Bata, Lam Seupe’eng, Ateueng and Meura’sa, made up the nucleus of Banda Acheh — the town-bred, “civilised” core of the capital that gave the tone to the whole country in matters of custom, dress and manners. Batoh is listed among these principal gampongs of the capital in The Achehnese Vol. I.
The Banda of the Capital
Snouck Hurgronje introduces Batoh in his discussion of the highland–lowland distinction in Great Acheh. The Dalam, or residence of the Sultan, “formed before our war with Acheh the nucleus of a number of fine and prosperous gampongs. The centre of these with its mosque and market-place was called Banda Acheh i.e. the capital or trading mart of Acheh, and gave the tone to the whole country in matters of custom, dress etc. The most important of these gampongs were Gampong Jawa, Pande, Peunayong, Lam Bhu Lu’eng Bata, Lam Seupe’eng, Ateueng, Batoh and Alcura’sa.” 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 the people of other districts who conformed as much as possible to the tone of the capital enjoyed the same title.”
Significance
Batoh’s inclusion in this list marks it as one of the principal settlements of the pre-Dutch capital. Its standing as a banda village placed its inhabitants among the ureueng banda, the town-bred people whose dialect and manners were the standard of urban civilisation in Great Acheh. The brief mention in Vol. I is supplemented in Vol. II of The Achehnese, where individual gampongs of the capital are described in greater detail.
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.