Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/108

 of the trawèh service (see Chapter II § 2). The popular idea of the Achehnese is that the pitrah which the teungku receives from all at the end of the fasting month is a sort of payment for this trawèh!

If the teungku is more or less malém (skilled in booklore), this will tend greatly to increase his revenues, as he will then be called in to give his help in all kinds of sickness or other misfortune, and receive payment for his ministrations. Sick children will be brought to him that he may blow on their heads after muttering a tangkay (prayer or formula to lay evil spirits), or else he will be requested to charm some water. On such occasions no great demands are made upon the skill of the exorcist; women are often heard to say to those who refuse to render such a service on the ground of absolute want of skill, "oh, do just blow a little!"

The teungku is also occasionally the recipient of votive gifts, either some flowers from the market, such as the Achehnese delight in attaching to their head-gear, or dishes with good things of various sorts. When a gift of this sort has been vowed to the Prophet, to the saint Mirah Sab or Meurasab (who lies buried at Nagore in British India) or even to Teungku Anjōng, whose tomb is in Gampōng Jawa, the vow may be fulfilled by handing over the thing promised to a teungku for his own use. All that the latter need do is to recite over the gift the first chapter of the Quran (the fātihah), and dedicate the celestial recompense for that recitation to him to whom the vow was made.

Beyond these special sources of income (which in cases of total incompetence are withheld from the teungku and fall to the share of some leubè or malém) he has no lack of other more or less obligatory presents in kind. For instance, not only is it adat to invite the teungku to every kanduri or religious feast, but there are many kinds of kanduris which cannot be held without his presence, even such as do not require the attendance of the keuchiʾ.

Where the teungku gives religious instruction this again brings him in no inconsiderable profit; though here of course some grasp of his subject is indispensable.

The most certain sources of the income of the teungku are:

1°. The pitrah, paid by almost every householder for himself and his family at the conclusion of the fast. It consists of two arès of husked rice for every person so taxable, which includes almost the whole community. This tax is, however, sometimes commuted for a