A territory to the south or west of the capital, associated with highland origins and danger. ‘If that contents thee not, I take you farther still; go to Gle Putoih (in Daya) to plant pepper. I will not go to Gle Putoih, for the men of Daya are at enmity with (us) Achehnese.’ (sadati dialogue). The guree (teacher) of the Panglima Meuseugit Raya ‘is Teungku Gam, said to come from Daya.’ Also, Teuku Uma ‘passed some time at Rigaih and became master of Krueng Sabe without striking a blow.’ After his treacherous act on the Hok Canton, ‘the poet describes the expeditions of T. Uma with the imprisoned nyonya.’ Finally: ‘the poet details at some length the exploits of this hero till his return to Daya.‘
Expanded account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Daya
Daya is a region on the West Coast of Acheh, one of the outlying districts whose institutions and agricultural customs are noticed in The Achehnese Vol. I. It is chiefly cited for two features: the division of its upper part among three chiefs, one of whom bears the title Teuku Hakim, and the survival in its rice-cultivation of the practice of leaving the planting-out (pula) to women, who work for a small daily wage.
The upper part of Daya has three chiefs, one of whom bears the title Teuku Hakim. This arrangement is one of the political peculiarities of the West Coast, which in many respects stood apart from the sagi-organised heartland of Great-Acheh. The title Teuku Hakim (“Chief Judge”) suggests the survival, in this remote district, of a chiefship whose original functions were judicial; the survival of such a title is itself a witness to the diversity of the political forms that existed in the outlying parts of the Achehnese country, where the elaborate structure of the Three Sagis was never reproduced in full.
In agriculture, Daya shares with Pidie and some parts of the highlands the custom that the planting-out (pula) of rice is left to the women, who work for a small daily wage — formerly 1 gupang = 12½ cents. In the lowlands of Great-Acheh, by contrast, the various tasks connected with the cultivation of rice are performed by men only. The agricultural calendar of the West Coast also differs from that of the lowlands: Wednesday is pantang (forbidden) for pepper-planting as well as rice-cultivation on the West Coast. Ladangs (hill plantations) are opened in the forests of the highlands and especially of the East and West Coasts, in order to make the ground suitable for pepper-planting by a year’s rice-cultivation; besides padi and pepper, sugarcane, champli (chillies), onions, etc. are planted in these ladangs. The padi-planting in such ladangs is done by means of dibbling, in contrast to the swamp-cultivation of the lowland blangs.
The most favourable time for the voyage from the capital to the West Coast begins about keunong 11 of the Achehnese calendar and lasts till about keunong 17; during the S. W. monsoon, the days of keunong 23 are safe for sailing from the capital to the West Coast. These seasonal windows of navigation were of practical importance to the maintenance of communications with the outlying district of Daya, whose pepper-planting economy drew to its forests a continual stream of labourers from the more settled parts of Acheh.
See Also
- Acheh
- Krueng Sabe
- Meuse
- Meuseugit Raya
- Rigaih
- Teuku Uma
- West Coast (of Acheh)
- Pidie
- Teuku Hakim
- East Coast (of Acheh)
- Tunong
- Great Acheh
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.