The home village of Dokarim (Abdul-karim), the illiterate composer of the Hikayat Prang Gompeuni. ‘Dokarim of Glumpang Dua in the VI Mukims of the XXV is the composer of this hikayat. Writer we may not call him, for he can neither read nor write. He went on for five years gradually composing this poem in celebration of the heroic deeds of the Achehnese in their conflict against the Dutch.‘
Expanded account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — VI Mukims of the XXV
The VI Mukims of the XXV — the “Six Mukims” within the Sagi of the XXV Mukims of Acheh — form one of the districts of the XXV sagi which, in The Achehnese, are repeatedly mentioned in connection with the great head mosque of Indrapeurua, the political history of the sagi’s chieftainship, and the sacrificial feasts at the gampong of Bitay.
The VI Mukims first appear in Vol. I as the seat of the great mosque of Indrapeurua, one of the four “great mosques” (meuseugit raya) attributed to the foundation of Sultan Meukuta Alam (1607–1636). The Meuseugit Raya of the capital was the metropolitan mosque; that of Indrapuri served the XXII Mukims, Indrapeurua served the XXV, and Indrapatra near Ladong served the XXVI Mukims. The attribution to Meukuta Alam “gave the tone” to the religious topography of the sagi; the mosque of Indrapeurua, of which scarcely any trace remained by Snouck Hurgronje’s time, was thus the central religious foundation of the VI Mukims and of the whole XXV.
Politically, the VI Mukims had a complicated history. The hereditary chief of the Mukim Meura’sa — Teuku Ne’ Raja Muda Seutia, one of the two “grandfathers” (ne’) of the sultan — was “in earlier times” also chief of the VI Mukims, so that the title of ne’ of the sultan applied to his rule over both districts. In later times the VI Mukims were “wrested” from him by Teuku Nanta Seutia, who figures in Vol. I as one of the principal chiefs of the XXV sagi. The VI Mukims thus passed, at some date before the Dutch war, from the house of Meura’sa to that of Nanta Seutia, a transfer which Snouck Hurgronje treats as one of the episodes by which the balance of power within the sagi was progressively altered.
The VI Mukims are also the location of the gampong of Bitay, where the kurubeu’en or profane sacrificial feasts were held in the month of Haji. “We have already made acquaintance with this gampong of Bitay (which belongs to the VI Mukims of the XXV)”, writes Snouck Hurgronje, “in telling the somewhat legendary story of the relations opened by a Sultan of Acheh in the 16th century with the Sultan of Turkey, and of the artisans lent by the latter to his Achehnese vassal to instruct his people.” The tomb of Tuan di Bitay, the saint who according to tradition taught the Achehnese the art of casting cannon, stood in Bitay; and it was here, from the 10th to the 13th of the month Haji, that all the sagis sent their contributions to a noisy gathering which degenerated into gambling, cockfighting and sadati-games, and which gave to the Achehnese language the word kurubeu’en — “a heathenish tumult.” The choice of Bitay, in the VI Mukims, as the proper place for these sacrifices was traditional rather than rational; the author confesses that “it is difficult to conjecture why this tomb in particular is esteemed the proper place for offering sacrifices in the month of Haji.”
At the election of a new sultan, the support of the real wielders of power in each sagi counted for more than that of the nominal panglimas. In the XXV, the two effective chiefs were Teuku Ne’ Peureuba Wangsa of the IX Mukims and Teuku Ne’ Raja Muda Seutia (and, after him, Teuku Nanta Seutia) of Meura’sa and the VI Mukims. These, together with the head kali and the panglima sagi Teuku Seutia Ulama, made up the four chiefs of the sagi who were traditionally reckoned among the “twelve uleebalangs who appoint and dethrone princes” — though Snouck Hurgronje warns that this round number is at best “a tradition placed on record” of conditions that obtained only during a short period.
See Also
- Acheh
- Dokarim
- Hikayat Prang Gompeuni
- XXV Mukims
- IX Mukims
- Teuku Ne’ Raja Muda Seutia
- Teuku Nanta Seutia
- Teuku Seutia Ulama
- Bitay
- Teungku di Bitay
- Indrapeurua
- Sultan of Turkey
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.