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Tuan Meurasab.The 9th, 10th and 11th days of this month are consecrated to a saint whose tomb is to be found at Nagore on the Coromandel coast. He has also many worshippers in Acheh, seemingly through the influence of those inhabitants of Southern India who introduced here the creed of Islam.
What I have observed elsewhere[1] with regard to feasts of saints at Mekka, is equally true of these "saints days" in Acheh—nay throughout the whole Moslem world. "The people have no clear idea as to what the "day" of a saint really is. They say, it is true, that it is the ḥaul or anniversary of the death of the holy man. But some saints have more than one ḥaul per annum, the exact day of the death of most is unknown, and from the way in which many of the saint's feasts are celebrated, it is a sure conclusion that some of the ancient pagan feasts of the people, after throwing off certain of their more characteristic heathen features disguised themselves under the names of saints to avoid the extermination which threatened them."
The saint to whom we have just referred is called in his own country Kadir Wali Sahib[2]. The Achehnese name for him is Meurahsab or Meurasab[3].
The 10th day of the sixth month is accepted as the anniversary of his death, and the kanduri held thereon is called kanduri tōʾ thōn Tuan Meurasab, i. e. "the religious feast for the expiration of the year of Tuan Meurasab."
Strange stories are told of Tuan Meurasab[4]. He grew up in the wilderness in complete innocence, and it so happened that he saw the breasts of a woman for the first time just when he was himself suffering from a pimple on his hand. As this tiny swelling caused him so much pain, he thought that this poor woman must suffer terrible agony from such gigantic tumours on her chest. He prayed for the removal of these protuberances, and his prayer was at once answered. The woman
- ↑ Mekka. Vol. II pp. 52–53.
- ↑ For further information regarding this saint and the manner of his worship in the Deccan, see the work already quoted, Qanoon-e-islam pp. 160–163.
- ↑ I. e. Meurah Sahib. Meurah is an ancient title, occurring in the records of the kingdom of Pasè. It appears to be of foreign origin, and almost to correspond with Mir = Amir in Indian names. There are still families in Acheh which bear the title, and these are regarded as descendants of ancient chiefs. The elephant is called Pò Meurah in stories. Sab is an abbreviation of the Indian title Sāhib.
- ↑ Qanoon-e-islam pp. 162–163.
