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the fait accompli, making it appear that the new state of things had been brought about at the will of the Khalif himself.
The nine-fold and the five-fold seal.There are sayings and stories current among the Achehnese which show that they believed that the like had happened in their case; of these the most graphic is the following: a sultan once confirmed in his authority a chief who had risen to power through acts of injustice and deeds of violence, usurping the place of the rightful rulers. On his attention being drawn to the contempt which such an appointment would bring upon hereditary rights recognized by his predecessors in many documents, the sultan replied: "What avails the chab sikureuëng (the nine-fold seal) to him who cannot show himself possessed of the chab limòng" (the five-fold seal, i.e. the hand as the symbol of power).
Again when we speak of the sultanate of Acheh as it appeared in our own time, as being the ruined relic of what it once was, we must remember that this only applies to the importance of Banda Acheh as a commercial town and the external influence of the rajas, for even in past centuries the influence they exercised on the affairs of the interior was limited to certain short periods, and left no enduring results behind.
The sultanate retrograded in its relations with the interior also; but in this sense, that whereas in former times the sultan was primus inter pares as regards the ulèëbalangs, he was reduced to be a mere ward under the three great panglimas even before the end of that 17th century which began so magnificently[1].
Acheh as the imperishable bride.These three chiefs were the guardians of Acheh, which was represented as a bride that continually renewed her youth; they gave her in marriage to whom they would after mutual consultation. They usually selected the bridegroom from the family of his predecessors, yet did not shrink upon occasion from the introduction of a new dynasty or even the choice of a foreigner, as we see in the case of the Sultans of Arab descent. The bridegroom had to pay to each of the chiefs a sum of 500 dollars as a wedding gift (jinamèë or jeunamèë).
The power of the panglimas of the sagi.The three guardians, the panglima sagi, did not however succeed in the long run in retaining the supremacy over the federate dominions which they had possessed when this metaphorical marriage-contract was concluded.
Panglima Pòlém (Lord Elder Brother) is the title which the chief of
- ↑ See pp. 89–91 above.
