A village near Kutaraja. It appears in the historical index as a subdivision of the capital area.
Expanded account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Pande
Pande was, before the Dutch war, one of the principal gampongs (villages) of the capital of Acheh and a constituent element of the commercial nucleus that gave its tone to the whole country. In The Achehnese Vol. I, Snouck Hurgronje enumerates Pande among the chief gampongs of the old capital.
The Old Capital
The author describes how the Dalam, or residence of the Sultan — which the Dutch incorrectly termed Kraton, and which is also known as Kuta Raja or “the king’s fort” — formed, before the war, the nucleus of a number of fine and prosperous gampongs. The centre of these, with its mosque and market-place, was called Banda Acheh — that is, the capital or trading-mart of Acheh — and gave the tone to the whole country in matters of custom, dress, and manners. The most important of these gampongs were Gampong Jawa, Pande, Peunayong, Lam Bhu, Lu’eng Bata, Lam Seupeu’eng, Ateung, Batoh and Meura’sa.
The Banda and the Dusun
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 manners 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 duson. As a banda village, Pande thus belonged to that privileged circle of communities which set the standard of Achehnese urbanity, and which formed, as it were, the metropolitan quarter of the kingdom.
The Name
The name Pande — literally “craftsman” or “artisan” in Achehnese and Malay — suggests that the village may originally have been a settlement of skilled craftsmen attached to the Sultan’s court, supplying the capital with the smiths, carpenters, goldsmiths and other artisans whose trades were indispensable to its life. Such artisan-quarters, known by analogous names, are a common feature of the chief towns of the archipelago, and the Pande of Banda Acheh may be reckoned among them.
See Also
- Kutaraja
- Banda Acheh
- Dalam (Sultan’s Court)
- Gampong Jawa
- Peunayong
- Lam Bhu
- Lu’eng Bata
- Ateung
- Batoh
- Meura’sa
- Kuta Raja
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.