Lam Gut (also spelled Lam Guha, Lam Gutë) was a gampong (village) in the XXVI Mukims sagi of Great Acheh in Acheh Proper, renowned as the hereditary seat of the chief kali (religious judge) of the sagi and as the place whose name was borne by the learned teacher Teungku di Lam Gut (proper name Jalaluddin). The variant spelling Lam Guha — possibly reflecting the Sanskrit-derived guha (cave) — also attaches to a tradition concerning a Javanese religious teacher from Demak who secluded himself in a cave for many years and whose tomb behind the Ulee Lheue mosque became a place of pilgrimage.
The Hereditary Kali Teungku Lam Gut
Snouck Hurgronje introduces Lam Gut in his survey of the religious-judicial hierarchy of the three sagis in The Achehnese Vol. I. He writes: “When the Dutch first came to Acheh, the chief kali of the XXVI Mukims was a man named Teungku Lam Gut, the grandfather on the mother’s side of the present hatib (preacher) of the principal mosque at Kuta Raja. Born in Lam Gut and appointed as the successor of his father, who had some reputation for learning, he subsequently changed his abode, in consequence of his marriage, to Lam Bhu close to the Dalam.”
The proper name of Teungku di Lam Gut was Jalaluddin. He was a pupil of the Malay scholar Abduggamad and became not only a popular teacher but also the kali of the XXVI Mukims. His son inherited his title and dignity but transferred his duties to his son-in-law Cheh Marahaban of Pidie, a scholar long resident in Mecca who served as ulama and kali to the sovereign of the port during the last years of the Sultanate. The grandson of the old Teungku di Lam Gut survived as kali in name only and was consulted by none — an illustration of the decay of the hereditary religious offices in the closing decades of the sultanate.
The Marriage Alliance with Cheh Marahaban
In Lam Bhu, the kali “married his daughter to a scholar of Pidie named Cheh Marahaban, long a resident in Mecca, who was ulama and kali to the sovereign of the port during the last years of the Sultanate. Teungku Lam Gut was thus able to rely in his official work on the superior knowledge of his son-in-law, for he himself though a man of sound intelligence was devoid of learning.” The marital alliance linked the lowland XXVI Mukims to the more learned east-coast tradition of Pidie and represents the recurring Achehnese pattern by which hereditary kalis of little learning were obliged to lean on more scholarly sons-in-law.
The Javanese Cave-Dwelling Teacher
A separate Achehnese tradition, recorded by Snouck Hurgronje in The Achehnese Vol. II, attaches to the variant form Lam Guha — a name possibly connected with the Sanskrit guha (cave). From this gampong the teacher Teungku di Lam Guha took his name. He was a Javanese from Demak who secluded himself in a cave for many years. His tomb, which lies behind the mosque at Ulee Lheue, is now visited by many pilgrims.
The two traditions concerning Lam Gut / Lam Guha — the hereditary kali line of the XXVI Mukims on the one hand, and the Javanese cave-dwelling teacher of Demak on the other — may either reflect two distinct religious figures associated with the same place across generations, or two slightly variant local traditions. Snouck’s text uses the two forms without explicitly equating or distinguishing them.
The Malay Treatise of Mohammad Zain bin Jalaluddin
In a footnote, Snouck Hurgronje mentions that Mohammad Zain bin Jalaluddin from Acheh wrote a Malay treatise on Mohammedan marriage law lithographed at Constantinople in A.H. 1304, and likely connects with the Teungku di Lam Gut who in A.H. 1242 wrote the Tambih rapilin (a book of admonition). The cloth pattern ija Lam Gugob also mentions the nearby hamlet of Lam Gugob.
Significance
Although Lam Gut itself appears in The Achehnese principally as the native place of the chief kali of the XXVI Mukims, the mention is significant for the religious geography of the sagi. The hereditary office of the chief kali of that sagi was, at the time of the first Dutch invasion in 1873, attached to the family of Lam Gut, and the family’s marital alliance with the scholarly Cheh Marahaban of Pidie linked the lowland XXVI Mukims to the more learned tradition of the east-coast region.
See Also
- Abduggamad
- Acheh
- Cheh Marahaban
- Constantinople
- Demak
- Kali Malikul Adil
- Lam Bhu
- Lam Gugob
- Mohammad Zain bin Jalaluddin
- Teungku di Lam Gut
- Teungku di Lam Guha
- Teungku Lam Gut
- Ulee Lheue
- XXVI Mukims
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.
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.