Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese Vol II. - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/238

 the idea is of course applicable to any ṭarīqah, and the Achehnese have applied the "saw" notion as an ornamental epithet of the ratéb Saman.

The ratéb sadati is the most characteristic and at the same time the most favourite caricature of the religious ratéb met with in Acheh. It is performed by companies of from 15 to 20 men accompanied by a pretty little boy in female dress who has been specially trained for the purpose. The men composing each company always come from the same gampōng; they are called the daléms, aduëns or abangs i.e. "elder brothers" of the boy, while the latter shares with the ratéb itself the name of sadati.

Each company has its chèh (Arab. shaich) who is also called ulèë ratèb (chief of the ratéb) or pangkay or baʾ (director or foreman) and one or two persons called radat, skilled in the melody of the chant (lagèë) and the recitation of nasib or kisahs.

The boys who are trained for these performances, are some of them the best-looking children of Nias slaves, while others are the offspring of poor Achehnese in the highlands. It is said that these last used sometimes to be stolen by the daléms, but they were more generally obtained by a transaction with the parents, not far removed from an actual purchase. The latter were induced by the payment of a sum of money to hand over to his intended "elder brethren" the most promising of their boys as regards voice and personal beauty. The parents satisfy their consciences with the reflection that the boy will be always finely dressed and tended with the utmost care, and that as he grows up he will learn how to provide for himself in the future.

The following is the most probable origin of the name sadati. In Arabic love-poems, both those which are properly so called and those which are employed as a vehicle for mysticism, the languishing lover often makes his lament to his audience whom he addresses with the words yā sadāfi (Arabic for "Oh, my masters!"). Such expressions, much corrupted like all that the Achehnese have borrowed from abroad, also appear in the sadati poetry. Hence no doubt the name. of sadati came to be applied both to the ratéb itself, and later on to the boy who takes the leading part therein.