‘A similar story (of the Eulenspiegel and the board he greases instead of the axle) was written down by me at the dictation of a Javanese dongeng-reciter at Jogjakarta.‘
Expanded account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Jogjakarta
Jogjakarta (modern Yogyakarta) is the principal principality of south-central Java mentioned in The Achehnese Vol. I in connection with the Achehnese form of conditional divorce known as the ta’liq. Snouck Hurgronje cites Jogjakarta as a Javanese comparator for an Achehnese matrimonial custom whose geographic spread extends well beyond the limits of Java itself.
The Ta’liq Custom in Jogjakarta
Snouck’s discussion of the Achehnese ta’liq — a conditional repudiation appended to the marriage contract in favour of the wife — leads him to note the wide distribution of the institution in the archipelago and to invoke the Javanese evidence: “In olden times in Java, not only in the kingdom of Mataram, but also in such places as Chirbon and Banten, the ta’liq was ordained by the rulers of the country.” The Javanese tradition ascribes the introduction of the ta’liq to the great Muslim teachers of the early modern period.
The specific Jogjakarta reference comes in a footnote on the technical terminology of the custom. Snouck observes that “some courts also wrongly apply the name pasah to proof of the talaq which has arisen through ta’liq, but we must not draw from this use of the term any negative conclusions in regard to the adat of the ta’liq.” He continues: “In certain parts of Jogjakarta (where ta’liq is universal and faskh in its proper sense very rare) the word pasah is used to designate the official who is elsewhere called naib or district pangulu.” The Jogjakarta usage is thus cited as a local terminological peculiarity, illustrating the wider argument that the Achehnese ta’liq is part of a continuous matrimonial adat shared by Java and Sumatra.
Significance
Although Jogjakarta is mentioned in Vol. I only in this comparative context, the mention is significant for Snouck’s general method, which sets Achehnese institutions in their wider Indonesian setting. The Mataram heritage of Jogjakarta — the principal survivor of the great Muslim Javanese kingdoms — is for Snouck one of the keys to the diffusion of the ta’liq custom across the archipelago. Vol. II of The Achehnese contains further comparative material on Javanese parallels to Achehnese adat.
Expanded account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta (in Dutch colonial spelling Djokja, in modern Indonesian Jogjakarta) is a city in south-central Java which is mentioned in The Achehnese in connection with the observance of the ruya doctrine — the principle that the beginning of each Mohammedan month should be fixed by observation of the new moon, rather than by astronomical calculation. Snouck Hurgronje cites the city, alongside Batavia, as a place where the ruya had “long since” been adopted, on the authority of Dr. A. B. Cohen Stuart.
The ruya doctrine in the Archipelago
According to the Shafi’ite school of Mohammedan law — to which the Mohammedans of the Archipelago belong — the dates of the religious festivals should not be established by calculation; the commencement of each month must be fixed by observation of the new moon. If, for example, the month preceding the fasting month should, according to the reckoning, number 29 days, still the following day must not be regarded as the beginning of the fast unless it is proved by witnesses, in the manner prescribed by the law, that the new moon has been actually seen on the evening following the 29th day. If this observation of the moon (ruya) is not established by proof, the month must, in spite of astronomy, be regarded as a full one of thirty days.
Although all the Mohammedans of the Archipelago are Shafi’ites, the doctrine of the ruya was, at the date of Snouck’s writing, far from being universally observed. In many districts calculation (hisab) was adhered to, though according to the teaching of that school it should be employed only for the indifferent affairs of daily life. It was only lately, under the influence of Mecca and Hadramaut, that the ruya had been more universally accepted. Cohen Stuart, in his remarks in the Government Almanac for 1868, records that the ruya had “long since” been adopted in Yogyakarta and Batavia; the same doctrine was universally adopted among the Malays of the Straits Settlements.
In contrast with Acheh
The practice of Yogyakarta is set by Snouck in sharp contrast with that of Acheh. In Acheh the “calculation” was the method followed from the earliest times. The ulamas overcame the difficulty of a conflicting doctrine in the books of the law by the consideration that, in these parts, the atmosphere is only occasionally clear enough to allow of the new moon being seen on the first day of her appearance. In the edicts of the sultans, a regulation directed that the commencement of the fasting month in each year should be fixed by a council of the learned held on the last Friday of the preceding month; the date was then made known to the people by the firing of guns on the previous day. This, Snouck observes, “was quite inadmissible according to the ruya doctrine.” Yogyakarta, in adopting the ruya, was thus in advance of Acheh — though both were Shafi’ite — by reason of its more direct exposure to the reforming influence of Mecca and Hadramaut.
See Also
- Java
- Banten
- Mataram
- Van den Berg
- Acheh
- Batavia
- Mecca
- Hadramaut
- Straits Settlements
- Dr. A. B. Cohen Stuart
- Indian Archipelago
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.