17
A comparison of the Achehnese language (which exhibits noteworthy points of difference from the kindred tongues of neighbouring peoples), with those of Cham and Bahnar[1] has at the very outset given important results, but we must for the present refrain from deciding what may be deduced therefrom as regards the kinship or historical connection between the peoples.
Of the information supplied by the Achehnese themselves as to their descent, we furnish here only such particulars as may be classed as popular tradition. Outside the limits of this tradition every Achehnese chief and ulama who takes any interest in the question has his own conjectures, partly in conflict with the traditions and partly grafted on to them.
Achehnese theories.To the sphere of these conjectures belongs almost all that can be gathered from the Achehnese as to the Hindu element in their origin. It is past all doubt that Hinduism exercised for a considerable time a direct or indirect influence on the language and civilization of Acheh, though there is but little trace of such influence remaining in her present popular traditions and institutions. Even in Mohammedan times there are numerous indications of contact with the inhabitants of India; it is indeed more than probable that Acheh, like other countries of the Indian Archipelago, was mohammedanized from Hindostan. Not only Mohammedan Klings and people from Madras and Malabar, but also heathen Klings, Chetties[2] and other Hindus, have carried on trade in Acheh down to the present time, and there has been from first to last no serious opposition to the permanent establishment in the country of such kafirs, harmless as they were from a political point of view. For all that, the question as to what Hindus or people with Hindu civilization[3] they were, who exercised a special influence in Acheh, or what the period was when this influence made itself felt, remains enveloped in doubt. Still less is it certain in what degree Hindu blood flows in the veins of the Achehnese.
- ↑ See "Bijdrage tot de kennis der verhouding van het Tjam tot de talen van Indonesië" by G. K. Niemann in the Bijdragen van het Kon. Inst. voor de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch Indië for 1891 at the Hague p. 27 et seq., and the Bibliographische Bijdragen at the same place p. 339 et seq.
- ↑ The money-lending caste of Southern India. (Translator).
- ↑ Compare again the treatise of G. K. Niemann quoted above, p. 44. The theory of van Langen cited by him, according to which the kawōm of the Imeum peuet is of Hindu origin, does not rest on popular tradition, but must be ranked among the learned conjectures of certain of the Achehnese.
