Gampong Baroh (Achehnese gampông barôh, “the lower village”) is a settlement in the highland sagi of the XXII Mukims of Great Acheh whose name is preserved in the territorial title of Teuku Waki Chi’ Gampong Baroh, chief of the V Mukims and one of the traditional “twelve uleebalangs” of the sultanate.
Snouck Hurgronje mentions the village only in passing, in the course of his list of the chief uleebalangs of Great Acheh as they were recognised at the court of Banda-Acheh. For the XXII Mukims two chiefs are named: Teuku Ba’et, uleebalang of the VII Mukims, and Teuku Waki Chi’ Gampong Baroh, chief of the V Mukims. The full territorial style of the latter chief — Waki Chi’ being the highland Achehnese equivalent of the lowland keuchi’ (the father of the community) and Chi’ the respectful title of address applied to venerable persons — records the place of his original jurisdiction. The survival of the village name in the territorial title of the entire chiefdom is itself an index of the personal ascent by which the waki of a single gampong had risen to the uleebalangship of a whole mukim-cluster.
The toponym barôh — “low, lower, downstream” — is one of the commonest spatial qualifiers in Achehnese settlement nomenclature, used to distinguish the lower or seaward portion of a settlement complex from its atrôe (upper) counterpart. Villages of this name are thus found in many parts of Acheh, and the Gampong Baroh associated with the V Mukims should not be confounded with the better-known Kampong Baru of colonial Banda-Acheh or with the Baroh locality in the lowlands.
Snouck warns, however, that the traditional list of twelve uleebalangs — though long received as a definitive statement of the Achehnese constitution — at most represents the conditions that existed during a short period. In reality the whole twelve had not in the long run a voice in the affairs of the capital, while some of them had absolutely no share therein. On the other hand, there were uleebalangs in the sultan’s territory and the so-called wakeueh-districts — such as Teuku Kali, Panglima Meuseugit Raya, and the Imeum of Lueng Bata — who had much more weight in the scale than many of the members of the board of twelve. The V Mukims and its chief, bearing the name of Gampong Baroh, must accordingly be regarded as one of the highland chiefdoms whose territorial importance was real in its own country but whose voice at the capital was, by the close of the nineteenth century, altogether secondary.
Additional account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Gampong Baroh
Gampong Baroh (Achehnese gampông barôh, literally “the lower village”) is a settlement of the XXII Mukims of Great Acheh whose name survives in the territorial style of Teuku Waki Chi’ Gampong Baroh, the chief of the V Mukims and one of the traditional twelve uleebalangs enumerated in Achehnese political memory.
In the Enumeration of the Twelve Uleebalangs
Snouck Hurgronje’s chapter on the constitution of the Sultanate reproduces the conventional list of the twelve great chiefs who, according to tradition, surrounded the sultan at Banda-Acheh. For the highland sagi of the XXII two chiefs are named: Teuku Ba’et, uleebalang of the VII Mukims Ba’et, and Teuku Waki Chi’ Gampong Baroh, chief of the V Mukims. The style of the latter — Waki Chi’ being the highland Achehnese equivalent of the lowland keuchi’ (“father of the community”), and Chi’ the respectful title used in addressing a venerable person — fixes the original seat of the chief’s authority at the village of Gampong Baroh.
Toponymy and Settlement Pattern
The qualifier barôh — “low, lower, downstream, seaward” — is one of the commonest spatial designations in Achehnese settlement nomenclature. It routinely distinguishes the lower or seaward section of a settlement complex from its atrôe (upper) counterpart. Villages called Gampong Baroh are accordingly numerous across the Achehnese lowlands, and the Gampong Baroh of the V Mukims should not be confounded either with the Kampong Baru of colonial Banda-Acheh or with the Baroh locality in the lowland coast.
A Title that Outgrew its Village
The survival of a single village name in the territorial style of an entire mukim-cluster is itself revealing. It indexes the personal ascent by which the waki of one gampong — a subordinate officer appointed by the uleebalang — had, in the course of generations, parlayed his local authority into the uleebalangship of a cluster of five mukims. Such upward mobility was not uncommon in Acheh, where the distinction between the religious-ceremonial keuchi’ (or waki chi’), the imeum of a mukim, and the uleebalang of a district was often blurred by adat.
A Secondary Voice at the Capital
Snouck warns, however, that the traditional list of twelve — long received as a definitive statement of the Achehnese constitution — at most represents the conditions that existed during a short period. The whole twelve had not in the long run a voice in the affairs of the capital, while some of them had absolutely no share therein. On the other hand, there were uleebalangs in the sultan’s territory and the so-called wakeueh-districts — such as Teuku Kali Malikon Ade, Panglima Meuseugit Raya, and the Imeum of Lueng Bata — who had much more weight in the scale than many of the members of the board of twelve. The V Mukims and its chief, bearing the name of Gampong Baroh, must accordingly be reckoned among the highland chiefdoms whose territorial importance was real in its own country but whose voice at the capital was, by the close of the nineteenth century, altogether secondary.
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.