A rice-plain in the XXVI Mukims. The tomb of Tuan di Lungkeueng — a saint named because his tomb is wholly surrounded by thick roots — has his resting-place in the Blang Bintang. During his life he was wont to frequent the fields in that locality and to water the grazing flocks at midday. Sick cattle are brought to his tomb where their heads are besprinkled with water.
Expanded account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — XXVI Mukims
The XXVI Mukims (Achehnese Dua ploh nam, “twenty-six”) is the third of the three sagis or “angles” into which Acheh proper outside the sultan’s immediate territory was anciently divided. It lies to the right of the Acheh River, opposite the XXV Mukims, and, together with the XXII Mukims and the XXV, makes up the tripartite “true Acheh” which the Achehnese compare to a winnowing-basket. Unlike its two sister sagis, the XXVI continues to correspond with its ancient name, having undergone less growth than either of the others.
The highland fringe and the Bueng
Although reckoned among the lowland (baroh) sagis, the XXVI Mukims contains a notable tract whose speech and manners are almost identical with those of the uplands. This is the VII Mukims Bueng, inhabited by the ureueng Bu’eng or “people of the swamp.” The word bu’eng itself belongs to their peculiar dialect and means “swamp” — a sense elsewhere rendered in Acheh by paya. The VII Mukims Bueng is the part of the XXVI that has most in common with the highlanders in language and manners, and the political life of its kawoms (clans) has on that account remained more archaic. It is in the VII Mukims Bueng, in the IV Mukims, and in the XXII Mukims, that molasses is chiefly manufactured, since in those places the cane is of inferior quality.
A panglimaship of small importance
The panglima sagi of the XXVI Mukims had long been a person of small importance. When the holder of the title died during the reign of Ibrahim Manso Shah (1858–1870), Teuku Muda Lampaseh was, according to the adat, the proper successor; he was accordingly, after reporting himself in the Dalam, solemnly recognized by the sultan as panglima. Even before he had quitted the Dalam, however, the firing of guns was heard from the direction of the XXVI Mukims: the people of that district, objecting to Teuku Muda Lampaseh on the ground that he was an opium-smoker, had installed a younger brother of the deceased panglima in his stead. This was Teuku Chut Lamreueng, father of the present panglima Teuku Nya’ Banta. After the death of Teuku Muda Lampaseh, the latter’s son Teuku Juhan was appointed panglima at Keumala; and so the double panglimaship continued to exist, though in fact Teuku Juhan was not able to pose as a rival of Teuku Nya’ Banta.
The two chief uleebalangs
If the panglima sagi was of small account, two of his sub-chiefs were powerful enough to be reckoned, alongside the two Ne’s of the XXV Mukims and the two chiefs of the XXII, among the “twelve uleebalangs who appoint and dethrone princes.” These were Teuku Ateue’, chief of the IV Mukims Ateue — whose power, according to tradition, was much more considerable in earlier times than it was at the date of writing — and Teuku Imeum Tungkob, chief of the XIII Mukims Tungkob. In addition, Teuku Chut Tungkob is named as a powerful chief in the XXVI Mukims. The sagi mosque of the XXVI was Indrapatra, almost in the very place where Ladong now stands; of this, as of Indrapeurua in the XXV, scarcely any trace remained in Snouck’s day.
Internal adat: the peusah panchuri
The adat of the XXVI Mukims differed in some particulars from that of its sister sagis. The peusah panchuri, the formal investigation carried out at the scene of a theft to identify the thief, was in the XXVI to be carried out only by the panglima sagi — a restriction not paralleled in the XXV Mukims, where any uleebalang might perform it, or in parts of the XXII, where the uleebalang, if he resided at too great a distance, might be replaced by a conclave of three imeums.
See Also
- XXII Mukims
- XXV Mukims
- Great Acheh
- VII Mukims Bueng
- Baroh
- Teuku Nya’ Banta
- Teuku Juhan
- Teuku Ateue’
- Teuku Imeum Tungkob
- Indrapatra
- Ladong
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.