12. DIVINATION AND THE BLACK ART
Omens and Dreams
The significance of ominous signs and dreams is a subject which possesses vast ramifications, extending so deeply into every department of the Malay national life, that it will be impossible to do it anything like full justice within the narrow limits of this book. My object will be merely to indicate the main lines on which these two important doctrines of the Malay natural religion appear to have been developed.
Briefly, then, omens may be drawn either from the acts of men or the events of nature. Examples of the ominous import attributed to the acts of man will at once suggest themselves. Thus sneezing is said to be fortunate as tending to drive away the demons of disease;[208] yawning is a bad sign, for obvious reasons, if the breath is loudly emitted, but if a quiet yawn occurs when the stomach is craving for food, it imports that it will soon be filled. So too stumbling is a bad omen, especially if the person who stumbles is about to set out on a journey.[209] Then, again, “to be long in getting up after a meal is said to be a bad omen. It means that the person, if unmarried, will meet with a bad reception from his or her parents-in-law hereafter. The Malay saying in the vernacular is ‘Lambat bangket deri tampat makan, lambat di-tegur mentuwak.’ Clothes which have been nibbled by rats or mice must not be worn again. They are sure to bring misfortune, and are generally given away in charity. ... When a Malay dinner is served, the younger members of the family sometimes amuse themselves by throwing rice into the pan from which the curry has just been taken, stirring it round in the gravy that remains and then eating it. This is not permitted when one of them is to be married on the following day, as it would be sure to bring rainy weather. It is unlucky for a child to lie on his face (menyehrap), and kick his feet together in the air (menyabong kaki). It betokens that either his father or mother will die. A child seen doing this is instantly rebuked and stopped....
“The evil eye is dreaded by Malays. Not only are particular people supposed to be possessed of a quality which causes ill-luck to accompany their glance (the mal’occhio of the Italians), but the influence of the evil eye is often supposed to affect children, who are taken notice of by people kindly disposed towards them. For instance, it is unlucky to remark on the fatness and healthiness of a baby, and a Malay will employ some purely nonsensical word, or convey his meaning in a roundabout form, rather than incur possible misfortune by using the actual word ‘fat.’ ‘Ai bukan-nia poh-poh gental budak ini?’ (‘Isn’t this child nice and round?’) is the sort of phrase which is permissible.”[210]
Among omens drawn from natural events are the following:—
“When a star is seen in apparent proximity to the moon, old people say there will be a wedding shortly....
“The entrance into a house of an animal which does not generally seek to share the abode of man is regarded by the Malays as ominous of misfortune. If a wild bird flies into a house it must be carefully caught and smeared with oil, and must then be released in the open air, a formula being recited in which it is bidden to fly away with all the ill-luck and misfortunes (sial jambalang) of the occupier. An iguana, a tortoise, and a snake, are perhaps the most dreaded of these unnatural visitors. They are sprinkled with ashes, if possible, to counteract their evil influence.
“A swarm of bees settling near a house is an unlucky omen, and prognosticates misfortune.”[211]
So, too, omens are taken either from the flight or cries of certain birds, such as the night-owl, the crow, some kinds of wild doves, and the bird called the “Rice’s Husband” (laki padi).
Passing from the idea of mere omens drawn from fortuitous events we easily arrive at the idea of a conscious attempt on the part of the worshipper to ascertain the divine pleasure with respect to a sacrifice newly offered. This effort of the worshippers becomes crystallised in time into a sub-rite, which yet forms an integral portion of most, if not all, of the more important ceremonies,[212] and eventually develops into a special and separate rite called Tilek (divination), of which examples will now be given.
One form of this rite was taught by a Malay of Penang extraction, whose instructions, taken down by me at the time, ran as follows:—
Take a lemon (limau purut), a hen’s egg, a taper made of bees’-wax (lilin lĕbah), four bananas, four Malay (palm-leaf covered) cigarettes, four “chews” of betel-leaf, a handful of parched rice, washed rice, and rice stained with turmeric (saffron), one of the prickles or “thorns” (duri) of a thorn-backed mudfish, a needle with a torn eye (taken out of one of the sets of a “score” in which they are sold—jarum rabit dalam sĕkudi), and a couple of small whips, or rather birches, one of which must be composed of seven, and the other of twelve, leaf-ribs of the “green” cocoa-nut palm (niyor hijau).
Two of the bananas, two cigarettes, two chews of “betel,” half of each of the three kinds of rice, the egg, and the birch of seven twigs, must now be taken outside the house and set down under a tree selected for the purpose. When setting it down the egg must be cracked, the cigarettes lighted, and finally the taper also. On one occasion when I witnessed the performance, the taper, after being taken up between the outstretched fingers of my friend’s two hands, was waved slowly to and fro—first to the right and then to the left; finally it was set down on the ground and began to burn blue, the flame becoming more and more dim until it almost expired. On seeing this the medicine-man exclaimed, “He has promised” (dia mĕngaku), and led the way back to the house, where he proceeded to go through the remainder of the ceremony.
First, he deposited the brazier with incense upon the leaf of a banana-tree, then took the prickle of the fish and thrust it horizontally through the lower end of the lemon, leaving both ends exposed; then he thrust the needle through in a transverse direction, so as to form a cross, the ends of the needle being likewise exposed, and slipped the noosed end of a piece of silken thread of seven different colours over the points thus exposed.
Next he scattered the rice round the censer and fumigated the birch and the lemon, recited a charm as he held the latter in his right hand, recited the charm for the second time[213] as he took the birch in both hands, with the upper end close to his mouth and the lower (spreading) end over the brazier, and finally repeated the charm for a third time, suspending, as he did so, the lemon over the brazier by means of the thread held in his left hand and holding the birch in the right.
Everything being ready, he now began to put questions to the lemon into which the spirit was supposed to have entered, rebuking it and threatening it with the birch whenever it failed to answer distinctly and to the point. The conversational powers of this spirit were extremely limited, being confined to two signs signifying “Yes” and “No.” The affirmative was indicated by a pendulum-like swaying of the lemon, which rocked to and fro with more or less vehemence according to the emphasis (as my friend informed me) with which the reply was to be delivered. Negation, on the other hand, was indicated by a complete cessation of motion on the part of the lemon.
When it is required to discover, for instance, the name of a thief, the names of all those who are at all likely to have committed the theft are written on scraps of paper and arranged in a circle round the brazier, when the lemon will at once swing in the direction of the name of the guilty party. The best night for the performance of this ceremony is a Tuesday.
Sir Frank Swettenham’s account of a similar ceremony of which he was an eye-witness will serve as a good illustration of the methods in use for this purpose:—
“It was my misfortune some years ago to be robbed of some valuable property, and several Malay friends strongly advised me to take the advice of an astrologer, or other learned person who (so they said) would be able to give the name of the thief, and probably recover most of the stolen things. I fear that I had no great faith in this method of detection, but I was anxious to see what could be done, for the East is a curious place, and no one with an inquiring mind can have lived in it long without seeing phenomena that are not always explained by modern text-books on Natural Philosophy.
“I was first introduced to an Arab of very remarkable appearance. He was about fifty years old, tall, with pleasant features and extraordinary gray-blue eyes, clear and far-seeing, a man of striking and impressive personality. I was travelling when I met him, and tried to persuade him to return with me, but that he said he could not do, though he promised to follow me by an early steamer. He said he would be able to tell me all about the robbery, who committed it, where the stolen property then was, and that all he would want was an empty house wherein he might fast in solitude for three days, without which preparation, he said, he would not be able to see what he sought. He told me that after his vigil, fast, and prayer, he would lay in his hand a small piece of paper on which there would be some writing; into this he would pour a little water, and in that extemporised mirror he would see a vision of the whole transaction. He declared that, after gazing intently into this divining-glass, the inquirer first recognised the figure of a little old man. That having duly saluted this Jin, it was necessary to ask him to conjure up the scene of the robbery, when all the details would be re-enacted in the liquid glass under the eyes of the gazer, who would there and then describe all that he saw. I had heard all this before, only it had been stated to me then that the medium through whose eyes the vision could alone be seen must be a young child of such tender years that it could have never told a lie! The Arab, however, professed himself not only able to conjure up the scene, but to let me see it for myself if I would follow his directions. Unfortunately, my gray-eyed friend failed to keep his promise, and I never met him again.
“A local Chief, however, declared his power to read the past by this method, if only he could find the truthful child. In this he appeared to succeed, but when, on the following day, he came to disclose to me the results of his skill, he said that a difficulty had arisen, because just when the child (a little boy) was beginning to relate what he saw he suddenly became unconscious, and it took the astrologer two hours to restore him to his normal state. All the mothers of tender-aged and possibly truthful children declined after this to lend their offspring for the ordeal.
“My friend was not, however, at the end of his resources, and, though only an amateur in divination, he undertook to try by other methods to find the culprit. For this purpose he asked me to give him the names of every one in the house at the time the robbery was committed. I did so, and the next day he gave me one of those names as that of the thief. I asked how he had arrived at this knowledge; he described the method, and consented to repeat the experiment in my presence. That afternoon I went with him to a small house belonging to his sister. Here I found the Chief, his sister, and two men whom I did not recognise. We all sat in a very small room, the Chief in the centre with a copy of the Korân on a reading-stand, near to him the two men opposite to each other, the sister against one wall, and I in a corner. A clean, new, unglazed earthenware bowl with a wide rim was produced. This was filled with water and a piece of fair white cotton cloth tied over the top, making a surface like that of a drum.
“I was asked to write the name of each person present in the house when the robbery was committed on a small piece of paper, and to fold each paper up so that all should be alike, and then to place one of the names on the cover of the vessel. I did so, and the proceedings began by the two men placing each the middle joint of the fore-finger of his right hand under the rim of the bowl on opposite sides, and so supporting it about six inches above the floor. The vessel being large and full of water was heavy, and the men supported the strain by resting their right elbows on their knees as they sat cross-legged on the floor and face to face. It was then that I selected one of the folded papers, and placed it on the cover of the vessel. The Chief read a page of the Korân, and as nothing happened he said that was not the name of the guilty person, and I changed the paper for another. This occurred four times, but at the fifth the reading had scarcely commenced when the bowl began to slowly turn round from left to right, the supporters letting their hands go round with it, until it twisted itself out of their fingers and fell on the floor with a considerable bang and a great spluttering of water through the thin cover. ‘That,’ said the Chief, ‘is the name of the thief.’
“It was the name of the person already mentioned by him.
“I did not, however, impart that piece of information to the company, but went on to the end of my papers, nothing more happening.
“I said I should like to try the test again, and as the Chief at once consented we began afresh, and this time I put the name of the suspected person on first, and once more the vessel turned round and twisted itself out of the hands of the holders till it fell on the floor, and I was surprised it did not break. After trying a few more I said I was satisfied, and the ordeal of the bowl was over. Then the Chief asked me whose name had been on the vessel when it moved, and I told him. It was a curious coincidence certainly. I wrote the names in English, which no one could read; moreover, I was so placed that no one could see what I wrote, and they none of them attempted to do so. Then the papers were folded up so as to be all exactly alike; they were shuffled together, and I did not know one from the other till I looked inside myself. Each time I went from my corner and placed a name on the vessel already held on the fingers of its supporters. No one except I touched the papers, and no one but the Chief ever spoke till the séance was over. I asked the men who held the bowl why they made it turn round at that particular moment, but they declared they had nothing to do with it, and that the vessel twisted itself off their fingers against their inclination.
“The name disclosed by this experiment was certainly that of the person whom there was most reason to suspect, but beyond that I learnt nothing.
“Another plan for surprising the secret of the suspected person is to get into the room where that person is sleeping, and after making certain passes to question the slumberer, when he may truthfully answer all the questions put to him. This is a favourite device of the suspicious husband.
“Yet another plan is to place in the hand of a pâwang, magician, or medium, a divining-rod formed of three lengths of rattan, tied together at one end, and when he gets close to the person ‘wanted,’ or to the place where anything stolen is concealed, the rod vibrates in a remarkable manner.”[214]
A somewhat analogous practice is the ordeal by diving, described by the late Sir W. E. Maxwell as “a method of deciding a disputed point which was occasionally resorted to in Perak in former times. I got the following account of the manner of conducting the ordeal from a Malay chief who saw it carried out once at Tanjong Sanendang near Pasir Sala, in the reign of Sultan Abdullah Mohamed Shah, father of the present Raja Muda Yusuf:—
“The ordeal by diving requires the sanction of the Sultan himself, and must be conducted in the presence of the Orang Besar Ampat, or Four Chiefs of the first rank. If two disputants in an important question agree to settle their difference in this way they apply to the Raja, who fixes a day (usually three days off) for the purpose, and orders that a certain sum of money shall abide the event. This appointment of time and place is the first stage in the proceedings, and is called bertepat janji, and the laying of the bet or deposit of stakes is called bertiban taroh. On the day appointed the parties attend with their friends at the Raja’s balei,[215] and there, in the presence of the Court, a krani[216] writes down a solemn declaration for each person, each maintaining the truth of his side of the question. The first, invoking the name of God, the intercession of the Prophet, and the tombs of the deceased Sultans of the country, asserts the affirmative proposition, and his adversary with the same solemnity records his denial. This is called bertangkap mangmang or ‘taking up the challenge.’ Each paper is then carefully rolled up by the krani, and is placed by him in a separate bamboo tube; the ends of both are then sealed up. When thus prepared the bamboo tubes are exactly alike, and no one, not even the krani, can tell which contains the assertion and which the denial. Two boys are then selected; one of the bamboos is given to each, and they are led down to the river, where the Raja and Chiefs take up their station, and the people flock down in crowds. Two stakes have been driven into the bed of the river in a pool previously selected, and the boys are placed beside them, up to their necks in water. A pole is placed horizontally on their heads, and on a given signal this is pressed downwards, and the boys are made to sink at the same moment. Each holds on to his post under water and remains below as long as he can. As soon as one gives in and appears above water his bamboo tube is snatched from him and hurled far out into the stream. The victor is led up in triumph to the balei, and the crowd surges up to hear the result. His bamboo is then opened and the winner declared.
Plate 24.—Fig. 1. Weather Chart.
Weather chart used by Malays for foretelling the weather during a whole year.
Fig. 2. Diagram.
A magic diagram in the author’s possession, which is intended to represent the various parts of the human anatomy, e.g. the heart and the lungs.
Page 544.
“The Perak Malays believe this to be an infallible test of the truth of a cause. The boy who holds the false declaration is half-drowned, they say, as soon as his head is under the water, whereas the champion of the truth is able to remain below until the bystanders drag the post out of the river with the boy still clinging to it. Such is the power of the truth backed by the sacred names and persons invoked!
“The loser is often fined in addition to suffering the loss of his stakes (one-half of which goes to the Raja). He also has to pay the customary fees, namely, $6.25 for the use of the balei, $12.50 to the krani, and $5 to each of the boys.
“This ordeal is not peculiar to Perak. I find a short description of a similar custom in Pegu in Hamilton’s New Accounts of the East Indies (1727). In Pegu, he says, the ordeal by water is managed ‘by driving a stake of wood into a river and making the accuser and accused take hold of the stake and keep their heads and bodies under water, and he who stays longest under water is the person to be credited.’”[217]
But by far the largest class of divinatory rites consists of astrological calculations based on the supposed values of times and seasons, or the properties of numbers. For the purposes of the native astrologer, exhaustive tables of lucky and unlucky times and seasons have been compiled, which are too long to be all examined here in detail, but of which specimens will be found in the Appendix. Few of them are likely to be original productions, most, if not all, being undoubtedly translated from similar books in vogue either in India or Arabia. Besides these tables, however, use is frequently made of geometrical (and even of natural) diagrams, to the more important parts of which certain numerical values are assigned.[218]
Perhaps the oldest and best known of the systems of lucky and unlucky times is the one called Katika[219] Lima, or the Five Times. Under it the day is divided into five parts, and five days form a cycle[220]: to each of these divisions is assigned a name, the names being Maswara (Maheswara), Kala, S’ri, Brahma, and Bisnu (Vishnu), which recur in the order shown in the following table or diagram:—
| Morning. | Forenoon. | Noon. | Afternoon. | Evening. | |
| (pagi) | (tĕngah naik) | (tĕngah hari) | (tĕngah turun) | (pĕtang) | |
| (1st day) | Maswara | Kala | S’ri | Brahma | Bisnu |
| (2nd day) | Bisnu | Maswara | Kala | S’ri | Brahma |
| (3rd day) | Brahma | Bisnu | Maswara | Kala | S’ri |
| (4th day) | S’ri | Brahma | Bisnu | Maswara | Kala |
| (5th day) | Kala | S’ri | Brahma | Bisnu | Maswara |
These names are the names of Hindu divinities, Maheswara being Shiva, and constituting with Brahma and Vishnu the so-called Hindu Trinity, while Kala is either another title of Shiva, or stands for Kali, his wife, and S’ri is a general title of all Hindu gods[221]; but it may be doubted whether this division of time is not of Javanese or Malayan origin, although the importance of the number five is also recognised by the Hindus.[222]
The same mystic notions of colour and the like are attached to these divisions by the Malays as obtain in the case of the Javanese days of the week: thus Maheswara’s colour is yellow-white (puteh kuning): if you go out you will meet a man of yellow-white complexion, or wearing yellow-white clothes; it is a lucky time for asking a boon from a Raja, or for doing any kind of work; good news then received is true, bad news is false, and so on.
Kala’s colour is a reddish black (hitam merah[223]); if you go out you will meet a bad man or have a quarrel; it is an unlucky time altogether: the good news one hears turns out untrue, and the bad true; illness occurring at this time is due to a ghost (hantu orang), and the remedy is a black fowl; in cock-fighting a black cock will beat a white one at this time, but when setting him to fight you must not face towards the west, etc.
Similarly S’ri’s colour is white, Brahma’s is red, Vishnu’s is green, and each division has its respective advantages or disadvantages.[224]
Another version of this system, known as the Five Moments (saʿat), is based on a somewhat similar diagram, but has orthodox Muhammadan names for its divisions, viz. Ahmad, Jibra’il (Gabriel), Ibrahim (Abraham), Yusuf (Joseph), and ʿAzra’il (Azrael).
Its diagram, as will be seen, is not quite the same as that of the Katika Lima, though the general scheme of the two systems corresponds closely.
| Sunrise. | Forenoon. | Noon. | Afternoon. | Sunset. | |
| (k’luar mata hari) | (tĕngah naik) | (tĕngah hari) | (tĕngah turun) | (waktu maghrib) | |
| (1st day) | Ahmad | Jibra’il | Ibrahim | Yusuf | ʿAzra’il |
| (2nd day) | Jibra’il | Ibrahim | Yusuf | ʿAzra’il | Ahmad |
| (3rd day) | Ibrahim | Yusuf | ʿAzra’il | Ahmad | Jibra’il |
| (4th day) | Yusuf | ʿAzra’il | Ahmad | Jibra’il | Ibrahim |
| (5th day) | ʿAzra’il | Ahmad | Jibra’il | Ibrahim | Yusuf[225] |
So in Ahmad’s division if you lose a buffalo or a bullock, it has gone to the southward and will be recovered; good news then received is true, bad news is false; the time is auspicious for any kind of work, for going on a voyage, sailing, or planting, and very profitable for trading; it is a lucky time for going to war, but you must wear white clothes and face southwards by a little east, and pray to God Almighty. Jibra’il’s time is fairly lucky too, being good for planting and profitable for trading, and if gold or silver is lost then, it will be quickly found, but there may be some trouble in getting it back; a lost buffalo or bullock has gone southwards, but will be recovered after some slight trouble; if you go to war at this time you must wear green, but must not face towards the south. Ibrahim’s time is most unlucky, and going out then is sure to involve bloodshed or other misfortune; bad news is true, good is false; things lost then will not be recovered; going to war is ruinous, and if you do go, the only way of safety is to face to the north, but it is best to stay at home altogether at this time.
Yusuf’s time is lucky in some respects, but unlucky in others; in warfare one must face towards the west, and wear yellow. ʿAzra’il’s time is most unlucky; to go to war then is most disastrous; any business pending at this ill-omened time should be postponed to a more favourable occasion.[226]
Besides these two there is a system in which each of the seven days of the ordinary week is divided into five parts, each of which is characterised by one of the words ampa, bangkei, rezki, and aral (for ʿaradl), symbolical apparently of No Success, Death, Success, and Unforeseen Obstacle.[227]
Another scheme (Katika Tujoh), based on the Seven Heavenly Bodies, divides each day into seven parts, each of which is distinguished by the Arabic name of one of the Heavenly Bodies.
The first day runs,—
| (1) | Shams | (2) | Zuhrah | (3) | ʿUtarid | (4) | Kamar |
| Sun | Venus | Mercury | Moon | ||||
| (5) | Zuhal | (6) | Mushtari | and | (7) | Mirrikh | |
| Saturn | Jupiter | Mars |
and the times are—early morning (pagi-pagi), morning (tĕngah naik), just before noon (hampir tĕngah hari), noon (tĕngah hari), afternoon (dlohr), late afternoon (ʿasr), and sunset (maghrib).
For the second day the series begins with the Moon, and goes on in the above order to Mercury; and for the third day it begins with Mars; so that each day of the week begins with its appropriate planet in the usual order, which is best seen in the French names Mardi, Mercredi, Jeudi, Vendredi, and the English Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Each of the seven divisions has its lucky or unlucky characteristics, much as in the systems already described.
Besides these, each day of the week has its own appropriate occupations, according to another system, at times ascertained by measuring the length of one’s shadow. Further, it would appear that some days are unlucky altogether: one account gives seven unlucky days in every month; another asserts that Thursday is unlucky in the months Dhu-’l-hijjah, Muharram, and Safar; Tuesday in Rabiʿ-al-awal, Rabiʿ-al-akhir, and Jumada-’l-awal; Saturday in Jumada-’l-akhir, Rĕjab and Shaʿban; Sunday in Ramadhan, Shawal, and Dhu-’l-kaʿidah; a third specifies twelve other most inauspicious days in every year, viz. the 28th of Muharram, the 10th of Safar, the 14th of Rabiʿ-al-awal, and so on, while for greater convenience a calendar has been drawn up, which is far too long to be reproduced here, but which closely resembles the weather chart illustrated on another page, and gives the whole list of days of the Muhammadan year classified under the heads lucky (baik), somewhat unlucky, very unlucky, and neutral.
Besides this, whole years are lucky or unlucky according as the first of Muharram falls on a Sunday, Monday, etc.; and, moreover, years vary in luck according to the letter they bear in the Cycle of Eight.[228]
Most of these systems of divination involve the construction of a sort of calendar, and require some degree of astronomical knowledge; but of astronomy properly so-called the Malays have scarcely even a smattering, its place being taken by the, to them, far more important science of astrology. “Their meagre ideas regarding the motions of the heavenly bodies are derived, through the Arabs, from the Ptolemaic system.”[229]
The seven Heavenly Bodies (Bintang Tujoh), mentioned above, whose motions they believe to be produced by the agency of angels,[230] retain their Arabic names,[231] and are believed to rule the “seven ominous moments” (Katika Tujoh), which are supposed to depend on the influences of these several sidereal bodies.[232]
The signs of the Zodiac similarly bear Arabic appellations, the form of divination in which they bear the principal part being called the Twelve Constellations (Bintang Dua-b’las).[233]
This form of divination is not quite so common as are those of the Five Ominous Times (5-square) and the Seven Heavenly Bodies (7-square), and I have not been able to find out much about the methods of working it, but a copy of one of the diagrams used for the purpose will be found on another page.
According to one view, which is perhaps the prevalent one, every man’s luck is determined by one or other of the zodiacal constellations, and in order to find out which one it is, the following direction is given:—
“Reckon the numerical equivalent of the person’s name and of the name of his mother by the values of the letters according to the system of the Abjad; add the two numerical equivalents together, and divide the total by twelve; if the remainder is 1, his sign is the Ram, if 2, the Bull, and so on.”
Each constellation has a series of characteristics which are supposed to influence the whole life of the person who is subject to it.[234]
Besides the above, a few of the other constellations are known to possess Malay names, and wherever this is the case, the name given appears usually to be quite original, having no connection with the nomenclature obtaining among nations with which we are more familiar.[235]
In addition to the above, the Malays possess a curious system by which the lunar month is divided into a number of parts called Rĕjang. According to Newbold, “the twenty-eight Rĕjangs resemble the Nacshatras or lunar mansions of the Hindoos, rather than the Anwa of the Arabs”;[236] and it is a priori very probable that they owe their origin to this Hindu system. But by the Malays their application has been generally misunderstood, and their number is usually raised to thirty so as to fit the days of the lunar month. Each of these divisions has its symbol, which is usually an animal, and the first animal in the list is (in almost all versions) the horse. A horse’s head is also the figure of the first of the Hindu Nakshatras, but there seems to be little trace of identity in the remaining figures, which for the sake of comparison are given, side by side with the Malay symbols, in the Appendix. The Malays have embodied this system in a series of mnemonic verses (known as Shaʿir Rĕjang), of which there are several versions, e.g. the Rĕjang of ’Che Busu, the Rĕjang Sindiran Maiat, and others.[237]
The Rĕjangs are also dealt with at length in prose treatises: one of these, which identifies the Rĕjangs with the days of the lunar month, begins “on the first day of the month, whose rĕjang is a horse, God Almighty created the prophet Adam; this day is good for planting, travelling, and sailing, and trading on this day will be profitable; it is also a good day for a wedding, and on this day it is lucky to be attacked (i.e. in war), but rather unlucky to take the offensive; ... good news received (at this time) is true, bad news is false; property lost (on this day) will soon be recovered; the man who stole it is short of stature, with scanty hair, a round face, a slender figure and a yellow complexion; the property has been placed in a house, ... under the care of a dark man; ... if a child is born on this day it will be extremely fortunate; if one is ill on this day, one will quickly recover; the proper remedy for driving away the evil (tolak bala), is to make a representation of a horse and throw it away towards the (East?)”[238] In other respects this system of divination seems to agree in its main features with those which have already been described.
Having mentioned the divisions of the calendar which are chiefly used in divination, it seems desirable, for the sake of completeness, to allude briefly to those that remain.
“The better informed Malays acknowledge the solar year of 365 days, which they term the toun (tahun) shemsiah, but in obedience to their Mohammedan instructors, adopt the lunar year (toun kumriah) of 354 days.”[239]
This remark is still true, no doubt, of the up-country Malays on the West Coast, but in most districts, and to an extent commensurate with European influence, the solar year is now being gradually introduced.
The same remark applies to the method of reckoning months, a dual system being now in vogue in many places where there is most contact with Europeans. Regarding the native methods the following quotation is to the point:—
“There are three ways of reckoning the months. First, the Arabian, computing thirty days to the first month, and twenty-nine to the second month, and so on alternately to the end of the year.
“Second, the Persian mode, viz. thirty days to each month; and, thirdly, that of Rum, i.e. thirty-one days to the month. The first is in general use. Some few, with greater accuracy, calculate their year at 354 days eight hours, intercalating every three years twenty-four hours, or one day to make up the deficiency, and thirty-three days for the difference between the solar and lunar years.
“But the majority of the lower classes estimate their year by the fruit seasons and by their crops of rice only. Many, however, obstinately adhere to the lunar months, and plant their paddy at the annual return of the lunar month.”
“The Malay months have been divided into weeks of seven days, marked by the return of the Mohammedan Sabbath. Natives who have had intercourse with Europeans divide the day and night into twenty-four parts, but the majority measure the day by the sun’s apparent progress through the heavens, the crow of the cock, etc. The religious day commences at sunset, like that of the Arabs and Hebrews.”
“There are two cycles borrowed from the Arabs, and known only to a few, viz. one of 120 years, the dour[240] besar, and the other of eight, dour kechil. The latter is sometimes seen in dates of letters, and resembles the mode adopted by us of distinguishing by letters the different days of the week, substituting eight years for the seven days. The order of the letters is as follows: Alif-ha-jim-za-dal-ba-wau-dal-Ahajazdabuda. The present year (1251) is the year Toun-za.
“In a Malay MS. history of Patani, in my possession, I find the Siamese mode of designating the different years of the cycle by the names of animals adopted.”[241]
Plate 25.—Fig. 1. Diagrams.
Diagrams used for divinatory purposes—the two on the right being different kinds of “magic squares.” The left-hand top figure has small circles at different points of its anatomy, which are used as the means of divination. The left-hand figure at the bottom is used as a sort of compass—the diviner counting round it from point to point.
Fig. 2. Diagrams.
Other patterns of the preceding diagrams, together with two additional diagrams (those at the top on the right hand), the method of counting from point to point being that used in each case.
Page 555.
Most if not all these systems of reckoning seem to have been treated by the Malays from the astrological point of view as forming a basis for divination, and these crude notions of the lucky or unlucky nature of certain times and seasons are to some extent systematised by or in some degree mixed up with the idea of the mystic influence of numbers and geometrical figures.
Of the mystic figures used in divination, the first in importance is, no doubt, what has been called the “magic square,” a term applied to “a set of numbers arranged in a square in such a manner that the vertical, horizontal, and diagonal columns shall give the same sums.”
The ordinary form of magic square, which was formerly in use in Europe, is the following; it is occasionally found even among the Malays.
Magic Square of 3.
| 8 | 1 | 6 |
| 3 | 5 | 7 |
| 4 | 9 | 2 |
Magic Square of 5.
| 17 | 24 | 1 | 8 | 15 |
| 23 | 5 | 7 | 14 | 16 |
| 4 | 6 | 13 | 20 | 22 |
| 10 | 12 | 19 | 21 | 3 |
| 11 | 18 | 25 | 2 | 9 |
Magic Square of 7.
| 30 | 39 | 48 | 1 | 10 | 19 | 28 |
| 38 | 47 | 7 | 9 | 18 | 27 | 29 |
| 46 | 6 | 8 | 17 | 26 | 35 | 37 |
| 5 | 14 | 16 | 25 | 34 | 36 | 45 |
| 13 | 15 | 24 | 33 | 42 | 44 | 4 |
| 21 | 23 | 32 | 41 | 43 | 3 | 12 |
| 22 | 31 | 40 | 49 | 2 | 11 | 20 |
But the form of magic square generally used by the Malays is the same figure reversed.
Magic Square of 3.[242]
| 6 | 1 | 8 |
| 7 | 5 | 3 |
| 2 | 9 | 4 |
Magic Square of 5.[242]
| 15 | 8 | 1 | 24 | 17 |
| 16 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 23 |
| 22 | 20 | 13 | 6 | 4 |
| 3 | 21 | 19 | 12 | 10 |
| 9 | 2 | 25 | 18 | 11 |
Magic Square of 7.[242]
| 28 | 19 | 10 | 1 | 48 | 39 | 30 |
| 29 | 27 | 18 | 9 | 7 | 47 | 38 |
| 37 | 35 | 26 | 17 | 8 | 6 | 46 |
| 45 | 36 | 34 | 25 | 16 | 14 | 5 |
| 4 | 44 | 42 | 33 | 24 | 15 | 13 |
| 12 | 3 | 43 | 41 | 32 | 23 | 21 |
| 20 | 11 | 2 | 49 | 40 | 31 | 22 |
The ordinary Malay astrologer most likely understands very little of the peculiar properties of a magic square, and consequently he not unfrequently makes mistakes in the arrangement of the figures. I believe, also, that in using the squares for purposes of divination he now usually begins at one corner and counts straight on, the beginning place being almost always distinguished by a small solitary crescent or crescent and star just over the square.[243] When coloured squares are introduced, as is the case with several of the 5-squares, the sum of 25 squares is subdivided into five sets or groups of five squares each, a different colour being assigned to each group. These colours would no doubt retain the comparative values usually assigned to them by Malay astrologers. Thus white would be the best of all; yellow, as the royal colour, little, if at all inferior to white; brown, blue, or red would be medium colours; black would be bad, and so on.
Sometimes, again, the names of the five Hindu deities already mentioned will be found similarly arranged, in which case they appear to refer to the divisions of the day, described above under the name of Katika Lima. Besides this class of magic squares, however, there are other kinds which present irregularities, and are not so easily explainable. Some of these violate the fundamental rule of the magic square, which insists that each square shall have an equal number of small squares running each way, and that this number shall be an odd one.
Others exhibit the right number of small squares (3 × 3 or 5 × 5 or 7 × 7), but instead of a subdivision into sub-groups, have merely an arrangement of alternative emblems, such as a bud and a full-blown flower, or the like.
An analysis of the squares whose figures are given in the illustrations shows that the order of the colours, deities, and planets is by no means always the same.
Thus, in the matter of the order of the five colours, we have:—
| In Plate 26, Fig.1, | |
| 1–5 | brown (? red). |
| 6–10 | yellow. |
| 11–15 | white. |
| 16–20 | black. |
| 21–25 | white. |
| and in another figure, | |
| 1–5 | white. |
| 6–10 | black (red is substituted by mistake in No.9). |
| 11–15 | red. |
| 16–20 | blue (17 is made black by mistake). |
| 21–25 | yellow. |
And in the matter of the order of the Five Deities we find:—
| In Plate 26, Fig. 1, | and in another figure, | ||
| 1–5 | Brahma (Brahma). | 1–5 | Bĕsri (S’ri). |
| 6–10 | Bisnu (Vishnu). | 6–10 | Kala. |
| 11–15 | Maswara (Maheswara). | 11–16 | Maswara (Maheswara). |
| 16–20 | S’ri (17 is called Kala bymistake).[244] | 16–20 | Bisnu (Vishnu). |
| 21–25 | Kala (23 and 24 are calledS’ri by mistake). | 21–25 | Brahma. |
And yet another 5-square containing the names of Deities (Pl. 26, Fig. 2) is composed as follows:—
| 1–5 | Bisnu (Vishnu). |
| 6–10 | Brahma. |
| 11–15 | Maswara (Maheswara). |
| 16–20 | |
| 21–25 |
From Pl. 26, Fig. 2, it would appear that this form of the 5-square is used to ascertain the best time of day to commence an operation, e.g. to start on a journey.
Plate 26.—Fig 1. Diagrams.
A set of diagrams corresponding to preceding, and used in the same manner, the whole forming an entire set of diagrams alleged to have been formerly used by Selangor pirates before setting out on a piratical excursion.
Fig. 2. Diagrams.
Varieties of the preceding, photographed from Malay charm-books in the author’s possession.
Page 558.
In a 7-square we find the following:—
| 1–7 | Shams (Sun); Sunday (1). |
| 8–14 | Mirrikh (Mars); Tuesday (2). |
| 15–21 | Mushtari (Jupiter); Thursday (3). |
| 22–28 | Zuhal (Saturn); Saturday (4). |
| 29–35 | Kamar (Moon); Monday (5). |
| 36–42 | Ketab[245] (Mercury); Wednesday (6). |
| 43–49 | Zahari[246] (Venus); Friday (7). |
This 7-square is based on a heptacle in which every alternate day is skipped, thus:—
Fig. 7.—Heptacle on which the 7-square is based.
This form of square is evidently used to ascertain the best day of the week to commence any operation.
Next in importance to the methods of divination by the use of magic squares, come those which depend upon “aspect,” and involve the use of diagrams which I propose to call “aspect-compasses.” Of these the commonest form is a drawing, in which the places usually occupied by the points of the compass are occupied by the names of certain things (usually animals or birds) which are supposed to be naturally opposed to each other. Thus in one of these compass-like figures we find (vide Pl. 25, Fig. 2):—
| The Bird [sic] (N.) | opposed to the | Fowl | (S.) | ||||||
| The Crocodile (N.E.) |
| Fish | (S.W.) | ||||||
| The Rat (E.) |
| Cat | (W.) | ||||||
| The Tiger (S.E.) |
| Stag | (N.W.) |
Another has:—
| The Kite (N.) | opposed to the | Fowl | (S.) | ||||||
| The Crocodile (N.E.) |
| Fish | (S.W.) | ||||||
| The Rat (E.) |
| Cat | (W.) | ||||||
| The Tiger (S.E.) |
| Stag | (N.W.) |
And a third:—
| The New Moon (N.) | opposed to the | Kite | (S.) | ||||||
| The Cat (N.E.) |
| Rat | (S.W.) | ||||||
| The Crocodile (E.) |
| Fish | (W.) | ||||||
| The Stag (S.E.) |
| Tiger | (N.W.) |
whilst a fourth has alternately cape and bay.
The way in which these figures were used for divination is very clearly shown by Pl. 25, Fig. 1, which is copied from a figure in one of my (Selangor) charm-books, which had the days of the month, from the 1st to the 30th, written round it in blue ink. Starting from the north aspect, you count round to the left until (allowing one day to each aspect) you arrive at the aspect corresponding to the number of the day of the month upon which you wish to start your journey. If it coincides with an aspect assigned to one of the weaker influences, it will be most imprudent to start on that day. Start on a day assigned to one of the stronger influences, and you will be all right. If the first aspect-compass which you consult is not accommodating enough for your requirements, go on consulting others until you find one which is satisfactory.
Other forms of the compass-figure are used for divining whether if he starts on a certain day the man will get the better of his enemy, or meet with a person (e.g. a slave or a thief) who has run away. In the former case a double circle of human figures is used, the figures of the inner circle representing the person who seeks the information, and those of the outer circle his enemy. The counting is carried out in precisely the same manner as before, and the headless figure in each case represents the man who will lose. In the case of a drawn battle neither party, of course, loses his head.
In the case of an absconder, a single circle of figures is used, the figures pointing towards the centre signifying that the absconding party will return or be caught, and those pointing away from the centre signifying the opposite. In one case (Pl. 25, Fig. 2) there are fourteen human figures arranged in two opposing rows of seven, every alternate figure being headless. In this case you start the counting at the right-hand figure of the bottom row, and count towards the left. Yet another form of divination in which the human figure is made use of, is shown in Pl. 25, Fig. 1; a number of small red circles (which should be alternately dark and light) are drawn at the salient points of the figure, and counted down to the left in order, beginning at the head. All I have yet been able to discover about the villainous-looking individual here portrayed is the fact that he is said to represent one “Unggas Tĕlang,” who was described to me as an “old war-chief” (hulubalang tua) of the Sea-gypsies (Orang Laut) and the Malay pirates.
Plate 27.—Fig. 1. Diagrams.
Further varieties, photographed from Malay charm-books in the author’s possession, showing the gradual conventionalising of the human figure.
Fig. 2. Diagrams.
Further varieties of these Diagrams taken from a Malay charm-book in the author’s possession.
Page 561.
Figures of dragons (naga) and scorpions (kala) are sometimes used in a similar manner; and there is also an aspect-compass known as the Rajal-al-ghaib or Jinazah Sayidna ʿAli ibn Abu Talib (the body or bier of Our Lord ʿAli, the son of Abu Talib), which, according to this notion, “is continually being carried by angels[247] towards the different quarters of the heavens, and must not be faced; for if one faces towards it, one is sure to be defeated in battle or fight.” The aspect to be avoided varies from day to day, turning towards each of the eight points of the ordinary Malay compass three or four times in the lunar month.
The subject of omens in general has been shortly dealt with at the beginning of this section, and also incidentally mentioned in connection with various departments of nature and human life. It would hardly be possible to make a complete or systematic list of the things from which omens are taken. Apart from those depending merely on Times, Seasons, Numbers, and Aspect, which have been already dealt with at quite sufficient length, it may be noted that omens are drawn from earthquakes, thunder, “house-lizards, rats, and other four-footed things,” according to the times at which they are observed, from the colour, smell, and nature of soil (in choosing building-sites), from birds, and, in fact, from a very large variety of matters which cannot be classified under any general head. The lines of the hand are, of course, interpreted among the Malays, as elsewhere, as signs of good and evil fortune. It has not been possible to collect much information on the subject of Malay chiromancy, but for the benefit of European adepts in “palmistry” (as it seems to be usually styled nowadays) it may be worth while mentioning that the Malays attach importance, as an indication of long life (ʿalamat panjang ʿumor),[248] to the intersection of the line round the base of the thumb[249] with the one which runs round the wrist (simpeian ʿAli), while a broken line across the palm (rĕtak putus) is believed by them to be a sign of invulnerability (tanda pĕnggĕtas, ta’ buleh di-tikam). Upright lines running up the lower joints of the fingers, in the same line as the fingers themselves, are a sign of prospective wealth (ʿalamat ’nak di-panjat dĕ’ duit, tanda orang kaya), and a whorl of circular lines on the fingers (pusat bĕlanak) is a sign of a craftsman (ʿalamat orang tukang).
More important, perhaps, are the omens believed to be derived from dreams, of which there seem to be several different methods of interpretation. According to one system the initial letter of the thing dreamt of determines the luck: thus to dream of a thing beginning with T is very lucky indeed, to dream of a thing beginning with H means that a visitor from a distance is to be expected; N indicates sorrow, L is a hint to give alms to the poor and needy, and so forth. According to another system, a purely arbitrary meaning is put upon the subject-matter of the dream, or, at most, some slight analogy is the basis of the interpretation. Thus to dream of a gale of wind in the early morning is an omen of sorrow, to dream of hail means acquisition of property, to dream of bathing in a heavy shower of rain indicates escape from a very great danger, a dream about mosquitoes, flies, and the like, means that an enemy is coming to the village, to dream about eating jack-fruit (nangka) or plantain (pisang) is an indication of great trouble impending, and so on; an extract from a treatise on this subject is given in the Appendix, and it is impossible to dwell at greater length upon it here. Among Malay gamblers special importance is attached to dreams as an indication of luck in gambling (mimpi paksa or dapat paksa). If the gambler dreams of “sweeping out the gambling farm” (mĕnyapu pajak), i.e. “breaking the bank,” or of running amok in it (mĕngamok pajak), or of bailing out the ocean (mĕnimba lautan), or of the ocean running dry (lautan k’ring), or even of his breeding maggots on his person (badan bĕrulat), he is confident of great good fortune in the near future.
As a specimen of the importance traditionally ascribed to dreams, it seems worth while to give the following popular legend, which also illustrates the type of folk-tales in which hidden treasure plays a great part:—
“Che Puteh Jambai and his wife were very poor people, who lived many generations ago at Pulo Kambiri on the Perak river. They had so few clothes between them that when one went out the other had to stay at home. Nothing seemed to prosper with them, so leaving Pulo Kambiri, where their poverty made them ashamed to meet their neighbours, they moved up the river to the spot since called Jambai. Shortly after they had settled here Che Puteh was troubled by a portent which has disturbed the slumbers of many great men from the time of Pharaoh downwards. He dreamed a dream. And in his dream he was warned by a supernatural visitant to slay his wife, this being, he was assured, the only means by which he could hope to better his miserable condition.
“Sorely disturbed in mind, but never doubting that the proper course was to obey, Che Puteh confided to his wife the commands which he had received, and desired her to prepare for death. The unhappy lady acquiesced with that conjugal submissiveness which in Malay legends, as in the Arabian Nights, is so characteristic of the Oriental female when landed in some terrible predicament. But she craved and obtained permission to first go down to the river and wash herself with lime juice. So taking a handful of limes she went forth, and, standing on the rock called Batu Pembunoh, she proceeded to perform her ablutions after the Malay fashion. The prospect of approaching death, we may presume, unnerved her, for in dividing the limes with a knife she managed to cut her own hand and the blood dripped down on the rocks and into the river; as each drop was borne away by the current, a large jar immediately rose to the surface and floated, in defiance of all natural laws, up-stream to the spot whence the blood came. As each jar floated up Che Puteh’s wife tapped it with her knife and pulled it in to the edge of the rocks. On opening them she found them all full of gold. She then went in search of her husband and told him of the treasure of which she had suddenly become possessed. He spared her life, and they lived together in the enjoyment of great wealth and prosperity for many years. Their old age was clouded, it is believed, by the anxiety attending the possession of a beautiful daughter, who was born to them after they became rich. She grew up to the perfection of loveliness, and all the Rajas and Chiefs of the neighbouring countries were her suitors. The multitude of rival claims so bewildered the unhappy parents that, after concealing a great part of their riches in various places, they disappeared and have never since been seen. Their property was never found by their children, though, in obedience to instructions received in dreams, they braved sea-voyages and went to seek for it in the distant lands of Kachapuri and Jamulepor.
“Several places near Jambai connected with the legend of Che Puteh are still pointed out; at Bukit Bunyian the treasure was buried and still lies concealed. A deep gorge leading down to the river is the ghaut down which Che Puteh’s vast flocks of buffaloes used to go to the river. Its size is evidence of the great number of the animals, and therefore of the wealth of their owner. Two deep pools, called respectively Lubuk Gong and Lubuk Sarunai, contain a golden gong and a golden flute which were sunk here by Che Puteh Jambai. The flute may sometimes be seen lying on one of the surrounding rocks, but always disappears into the depths of the pool before any mortal can approach it. The treasures of Lubuk Gong might before now have passed into human possession, had it not been for the covetousness of the individual selected as their recipient. A Malay of Ulu Perak was told in a dream to go and fish in the pool of the gong and to take a pair of betel-nut scissors (kachip) with him. He was to use the kachip immediately on being told to do so. Next morning he was at the pool early, and at his first cast hooked something heavy and commenced to draw it up. When the hook appeared above water there was a gold chain attached to it. The lucky fisherman then commenced to pull up the chain into his canoe, and hauled up fathoms of it, hand over hand, until the boat could hardly hold any more. Just then a little bird alighted on a branch close by and piped out a couple of notes, which sounded for all the world like kachip. The man heard, but he wanted a little more, and he went on hauling. ‘Kachip,’ said the bird again. ‘Just a very little more,’ thought the fisherman, and he still continued dragging up the chain. Again and again the warning note sounded, but in vain, and suddenly a strong pull from the bottom of the pool dragged back the chain, and before the Malay had time to divide it with his tweezers, the last link of it had disappeared beneath the water.”[250]
Charms, Talismans, and Witchcraft
While by divination and by inferences from omens and dreams, Malays attempt to ascertain the course of fate, so by charms of the nature of amulets and talismans they sometimes endeavour to influence its direction or modify its force. Charms of the nature of invocations have been dealt with already under different headings in connection with a variety of matters, and it will only be necessary to refer here to a few miscellaneous ones of a less elaborate character. It should be observed that some charms are directly effective or protective, like amulets or talismans, while others are supposed to work only by influencing the volition of another mind. Under the latter head come the great mass of love-charms, charms for securing conjugal fidelity, or for compelling the revelation by another person of his or her secret thoughts, and the like, of which Malay books of magic are full; while under the former come sundry recipes of a more or less medicinal nature for the purpose of curing various diseases, of increasing physical power or virility, or of protecting the person against evil influences, natural or supernatural. In most of these cases the modus operandi is of the simplest character; the charm consists usually of a short Arabic prayer or a few letters and figures, sometimes quite meaningless and conventional, sometimes making up one or more of the sacred names (Allah, Muhammad, ʿAli, etc.). These charms are written on paper or cloth and worn on the person; sometimes they are written on the body itself, especially on the part to be affected; occasionally they are written on a cup which is then used for drinking purposes. Such prescriptions are infinite in number, and are to be found in Malay charm-books, wedged in amongst matter of a more strictly medical kind; in fact, it would be quite correct to say that letter-charms (rajah, ʿazimat) and sacred names have their place in the Malay Pharmacopœia side by side with spices, herbs, roots, and the like. But such charms are also used for many other purposes: “to ward off demons (sheitan), to make children feed at the breast properly, to prevent them from crying and from going into convulsions, to prevent the rice-crops from being devoured by pigs, rats, and maggots,” are consecutive instances of the charms contained in a page of one of the numerous Malay treatises on these matters. It would, from the nature of the case, be utterly impossible to exhaust this endless subject, and it is not necessary to dwell upon it at greater length, as the details of the charms used (of which a few are quoted in the Appendix) do not as a rule offer any features of general interest.[251]
Far more interesting is that form of the Black Art which attempts to “abduct,” or in some way “get at” another person’s soul, whether (as in the case of the ordinary love-charm), in order to influence it in the operator’s favour, or, on the other hand, with a view to doing the victim some harm, which may take the form of madness, disease, or even death.
These results can be arrived at by a variety of methods: in some of them the influence works entirely without contact, in others there is some sort of contact between the victim and the receptacle into which his soul is to be enticed. A few specimens of the methods employed will conclude this part of the subject; they are necessarily somewhat of a miscellaneous character; but it will be seen that they are really only different applications of the same general principle, the nature of which has already been indicated in the section on the Soul.[252]
The following is an instance of direct contact between the soul receptacle and its owner’s body—
“Take soil from the centre of the footprint (hati-hati tapak) of the person you wish to charm, and ‘treat it ceremonially’ (di-puja) for about three days.
“The ‘ceremonial treatment’ consists in wrapping it up in pieces of red, black, and yellow cloth[253] (the yellow being outside), and hanging it from the centre of your mosquito-curtain with parti-coloured thread (pĕnggantong-nya bĕnang pancharona). It will then become (the domicile of) your victim’s soul (jadi sĕmangat). You must, however, to complete the ceremony, switch it with a birch of seven leaf-ribs taken from a ‘green’ cocoa-nut (pĕnyembat-nya lidi niyor hijau tujoh ’lei) seven times at sundown, seven times at midnight, and seven times at sunrise, continuing this for three days, and saying as you do so:—
“‘It is not earth that I switch,
But the heart of So-and-so.’
(Bukan-nya aku mĕnyembat tanah,
Aku mĕnyembat hati Si Anu).
“Then bury it in the middle of a path where your victim is sure to step over it (supaya buleh di-langkah-nya), and he will certainly become distraught. The only taboo in connection with it is that you should let no one share your sleeping-mat.” The soul-receptacle in this case is the lump of earth taken from the centre of the victim’s footprint. It is said to actually “become (the victim’s) soul,” but no doubt this is merely figurative, though it completely proves the identification of the soul with its receptacle in the Malay mind. The object of the birching is not self-evident, but may be intended to dispel evil influences, and so purify it for the incoming soul.
Another way of obtaining the required result is to scrape off some of the wood of the floor from the place where your intended victim has been sitting. Having secured this, take some of the soil from his or her footprint and mix them both together with wax from a deserted bees’ comb, moulding the figure into his or her likeness. Fumigate it with incense, and “beckon” to the soul by waving a cloth (lambei sĕmangat) every night for three nights successively, reciting this charm:—
“‘OM!’ shout it again and again!
Stupid and dazed
Be the heart of Somebody,
Thinking of me.
If you do not think of me,
The forty-four angels shall curse you.”
Plate 28.—Fig. 1. Wax Figures.
Specimens of the wax figures used for sticking pins into, vide the central figure.
Fig. 2. Spirit Umbrellas and Tapers.
Two umbrellas (made of cloth coated with wax) and two nail-shaped tapers, used in the ceremony for charming the wax figures.
Page 570.
Another method is as follows:—
Take parings of nails, hair, eyebrows, saliva, etc. of your intended victim (sufficient to represent every part of his person), and make them up into his likeness with wax from a deserted bees’ comb. Scorch the figure slowly by holding it over a lamp every night for seven nights, and say:—
“It is not wax that I am scorching,
It is the liver, heart, and spleen of So-and-so that I scorch.”
After the seventh time burn the figure, and your victim will die.
The description of the next ceremony is taken word for word from a charm-book which I obtained from a Langat Malay (named ’Che Indut), and which is still in my possession. As it illustrates several new points about these wax figures, and as such charms are exceedingly rare and all but impossible to obtain, I here give a word for word translation of the whole text, the original Malay version of which will be found in the Appendix:[254]—
“This refers to making images to harm people. You make an image to resemble a corpse out of wax from an empty bees’ comb,[255] and of the length of a footstep. If you want to cause sickness, you pierce the eye and blindness results; or you pierce the waist and the stomach (lit. the waist) gets sick, or you pierce the head and the head gets sick, or you pierce the breast and the breast gets sick. If you want to cause death, you transfix it from the head right through to the buttocks, the ‘transfixer’ being a gomuti-palm[256] twig; then you enshroud the image as you would a corpse, and you pray over it as if you were praying over the dead; then you bury it in the middle of the path (which goes to) the place of the person whom you wish to charm, so that he may step across it. This refers to when you want to bury the image—
“Peace be to you! Ho, Prophet ’Tap, in whose charge the earth is,
Lo, I am burying the corpse of Somebody,
I am bidden (to do so) by the Prophet Muhammad,
Because he (the corpse) was a rebel to God.
Do you assist in killing him or making him sick:
If you do not make him sick, if you do not kill him,
You shall be a rebel against God,
A rebel against Muhammad.
It is not I who am burying him,
It is Gabriel who is burying him.
Do you too grant my prayer and petition, this very day that has appeared,
Grant it by the grace of my petition within the fold of the Creed La ilaha,” etc.
There are, as I have said, several new points to be got from this charm. You must make the image resemble a corpse; you must make it of the length of the footstep (doubtless that of the intended victim); you must pierce the part which you want to affect; if you want to kill your man, you must transfix him from the head downwards with the twig of a gomuti-palm (that is to say, with one of the black splinters used as pens by the Malays[257]); you must wrap the image in a shroud, and read the burial service over it; and, finally, in order to absolve yourself from blood-guiltiness, you shift the burden of your crime on to the shoulders of the Archangel Gabriel!!!
There are, of course, many slight variations of the actual ceremony. Sometimes the wizard, during the insertion of the pins into the image, exclaims:—
“It is not wax that I slay[258]
But the liver, heart, and spleen of So-and-so.”
And then, after “waving” the figure in the smoke of the incense, and depositing it in the centre of a sacrificial tray (anchak), he invites the spirits to banquet upon his victim’s body:—
“I do not banquet you upon anything else,[259]
But on the liver, heart, and spleen of So-and-so.”
When the ceremony is over the image is buried in the usual way in front of the victim’s door-step.
Another method is described as follows:—
“Make the wax figure in the usual way and with the usual ingredients. At sundown take parched rice, with white, black, green, and yellow (saffron) rice, a “chew” of betel-leaf, a wax taper and an egg—this latter as the representative of a fowl (ʿisharat ayam). Burn incense, and recite this charm:—
“Peace be with you, O Earth Genie,
Bull-shaped Earth-spirit, Earth-demon, Bull-shaped World-spirit.
Come hither, come down, I pray you, and accept the banquet I offer.
I have a something that I want you for,
I want to give you an order,
I want to get you to aid me
| Andassist me in causing the |  | sickness |  | (as thecase may be), of Somebody. |
| or madness | ||||
| or death |
If you do not accept the banquet I offer
You shall be a rebel to God,” etc.
This is a charm for sowing dissension between husband and wife (pĕmbĕnchi):—
Make two of the wax figures in the ordinary way, but taking care that one resembles the husband and the other the wife. Sit down with your legs stretched out before you, and hold the figures face to face while you repeat the charm thrice, and at the end of each repetition breathe upon their heads. Then lay the man upon the ground on your right side close to your thigh, but looking away from it; and the woman at the side of the left thigh in a similar position, so that they both look away from each other. Then burn incense and recite the same charm twenty-two times over the man and twenty-two times over the woman. Now put them back to back, and wrap them up in seven thicknesses of the leaves of tukas,[260] and tie them round with thread of seven colours wrapped seven times round them, repeat the charm and bury them. Dig them up after seven days and see if they are still there. If you find them the charm has failed, but if not, it will work, and they will assuredly be divorced. The charm runs as follows:—
“’Ndit marangan ’ndit!
Angkau Fatimah kambing,
Si Muhammad harimau Allah;
Kalau Fatimah tĕntangkan Muhammad,
Sapĕrti kambing tĕntang harimau.
Muhammad sabĕnar-bĕnar hulubalang,
Harimau Allah di-atas dunia.
Dĕngan bĕrkat” d. s. b.
Which, so far as it is intelligible, appears to mean:—
. . . . . . . . . .
“Thou, Fatimah, art a goat;
Muhammad is God’s tiger.
If Fatimah is face to face with Muhammad,
She will be as a goat facing a tiger.
Muhammad in very truth is the Chief,
The Tiger of God upon earth.
By the grace of,” etc.
The following is a clear example of soul abduction without contact:—
The simplest way, perhaps, of abducting another person’s soul is to go out, when the sun clears (matahari mĕncharak, at sunrise?), or when the newly-risen moon looks red, and standing with the big toe of the right foot resting on the big toe of the left, to make a trumpet of your right hand and recite the appropriate charm through this improvised speaking-trumpet thrice. At the end of each recital you blow through the hollowed fist. The charm runs as follows:—
“‘OM.’ I loose my shaft, I loose it and the moon clouds over,
I loose it, and the sun is extinguished,
I loose it, and the stars burn dim.
But it is not the sun, moon, and stars that I shoot at,
It is the stalk of the heart of that child of the congregation, So-and-so.
Cluck! cluck! soul of So-and-so, come and walk with me,
Come and sleep and share my pillow.
Cluck! cluck! soul,” etc.
A second method is to beat your own shadow,[261] ceremonially; according to this method you take a cane (of rattan or rotan sĕga), in length as long as your body, fumigate it with incense and recite a charm over it seven times, striking your own shadow with the cane once after each recital. Repeat this at sundown, midnight, and early morning, and sleep under a coverlet made of five cubits of white cloth, and the soul you wish for will assuredly come to you. The following is the charm, a very curious one:—
“Ho! Irupi, Shadowy One,
Let the Queen come to me.
Do you, if Somebody is awake,
Stir her and shake her, and make her rise,
And take her breath and her soul and bring them here,
And deposit them in my left side.
But if she sleep,
Do you take hold of the great toe of her right foot
Until you can make her get up,
And use your utmost endeavours to bring them to me.
If you do not, you shall be a rebel to God,” etc.
Another method of abducting another person’s soul is as follows:—
“Take a lime branch which has seven limes on a single stalk, and suspend it from the top of your mosquito-curtain on three successive nights. When you suspend it recite the charm already given[262] (beginning ‘Om! shout it again and again!’).”
The following ceremony is one in which the soul of another person is abducted without any direct contact between the soul-receptacle, which in this case is a head-cloth, and the soul-owner. The directions are as follows:—
“Go out on the fourteenth night of the lunar month (full moon) and two successive nights; seat yourself on a male ant-hill (busut jantan) facing the moon, burn incense, and repeat the charm:—
“I bring you a (betel-) leaf to chew,
Dab the lime on to it, Prince Ferocious,
For Somebody, Prince Distraction’s daughter, to chew.
Somebody at sunrise be distraught for love of me,
Somebody at sunset be distraught for love of me.
As you remember your parents, remember me,
As you remember your house and house-ladder, remember me.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
When thunder rumbles, remember me,
When wind whistles, remember me,
When the heavens rain, remember me,
When cocks crow, remember me,
When the dial-bird tells its tales, remember me,
When you look up at the sun, remember me,
When you look up at the moon, remember me,
For in that self-same moon I am there.
Cluck! cluck! soul of Somebody come hither to me,
I do not mean to let you have my soul,
Let your soul come hither to mine.”
Here wave the end of your head-cloth (puncha detar) in the direction of the moon seven times every night for three successive nights. Then take the turban (detar) home and place it under your pillow (for the three nights). If you want to use it by day, burn incense, and say:—
“It is not a turban that I carry in my girdle but the soul of Somebody.”[263]
At sundown, when the sun is hovering on the brink of the horizon (matahari ayun tĕrmayun), chew betel, and spit out (sĕmborkan) the chewed leaf thrice. Then stand opposite the door, looking if possible towards the west, burn incense, and repeat this charm:—
“Nur Mani is your name,
Si Pancha Awalis my name;
By the grace of my using the prayer called ‘Kundang Maya Chinta Bĕrahi’
Concentrate your thoughts on me,
Be enamoured of me,
Be distraught for love of me,
Distraught both by day and by night,
Distraught seven times in the day,
And distraught seven times in the night.
Come back to your home,
Come back to your palace.”
Although this looks at first sight not unlike a love-charm, the last two lines show that it is really intended to induce a wandering soul (sĕmangat riang) to return to its owner. In fact, the wizard who gave me this charm told me that it was taboo to let any one pass during the whole evening, when this charm was used, between the light and the patient.
It seems possible, however, that it might be used on occasion, and mutatis mutandis, as a love charm as well.
The following ceremony is professedly a species of divination (tilek or pĕnilek), but as it is clearly only another form of soul-abduction I give it here. The instructions are as follows:—
“First take some wax from a deserted bees’ comb and make a wax taper out of it as well as you can; stick it upon the rim of a white cup, and repeat this charm, when you will be able to see the person you wish to affect in the taper’s flame (buleh di-tengo’ orang-nya didalam puchok api). The charm runs as follows:—
“I know the origin from which you sprang,
From the glitter of the White Blood.
Come down then to your mother,
Stemming both ebb and flood tides,
Cluck! cluck! souls of Somebody,
Come all of you together unto me.
Whither would ye go?
Come down to this house and house-ladder of yours.
This solitary taper is your house and house-ladder,
Since already the liver, stomach, heart, spleen, and great maw
Of all of you have been given into my care,
So much the more have the body and life
Of all of you been given into my care.
Grant this by the grace of my use
Of the prayer called divination by (secret) cognizance (tilek maʿrifat) of Somebody.
“Next you take a fathom’s length of thread, with seven strands, and seven colours running through the strands (bĕnang tujoh urat, tujoh warna mĕlintang bĕnang), and a pen made of a splinter of the sugar-palm (puchok kabong), and draw a portrait of the person you wish to charm (mĕnulis gambar orang itu). When the portrait is finished you suspend it from the end of a pole by means of the parti-coloured thread, and make fast the lower end of the pole to the branch of a tree, fixing it at an angle, so that the portrait may hang free and be blown to and fro without ceasing by every breath of wind. This will cause her heart to love you.”
It will be noticed that a general similarity underlies these several methods of soul-abduction in spite of their apparent variety, and the diversity of the objects in view in the different cases. On this point it is impossible to enlarge here: the purpose of this book has been primarily to collect authentic specimens of the various magic practices in vogue among the Malays of the Malay Peninsula, and to indicate the nature of the beliefs on which these practices are based, leaving it for others to draw from them such inferences and to make such comparisons as may throw further light on the subject. It has not been deemed desirable to anticipate such inferences and comparisons here; but, without trespassing beyond the scope of the present work, it may be noticed that there is a special appropriateness in concluding it with the above account of the various methods of soul-abduction. From them, taken together with what has already been said on the subject,[264] a fairly complete idea can be gathered of the Malay conception of the Soul; and it is hardly too much to say that this conception is the central feature of the whole system of Malay magic and folklore, from which all the different branches with their various applications appear to spring.
The root-idea seems to be an all-pervading Animism, involving a certain common vital principle (sĕmangat) in Man and Nature, which, for want of a more suitable word, has been here called the Soul. The application of this general theory of the universe to the requirements of the individual man constitutes the Magic Art, which, as conceived by the Malays, may be said to consist of the methods by which this Soul, whether in gods, men, animals, vegetables, minerals, or what not, may be influenced, captured, subdued, or in some way made subject to the will of the magician.
It would, however, probably be a mistake to push this analysis too far; for side by side with the theory of a universe animated by souls, which by the use of the appropriate words and forms can be cajoled or threatened, there are the ideas of Luck and Ill-luck, and the notion, strong in Muhammadans all over the world, of a preordained course of events. Sometimes, presumably in extreme cases, there is no escape from this destiny: if a man is fated to die at a certain time, die he must, whatever he may do. But to a great extent ill-luck can be avoided if one knows how; though we cannot stop it, we need not expose ourselves to its influence. Thus a particular hour may be unlucky for the doing of a certain act; but if we know that it is so, we need not incur the danger.
There are, therefore, for a Malay three alternatives, it would seem: viz. Charms, for occasions where moral pressure can be brought to bear; Divination, to assist in detecting dangers which in the ordinary course must come but can be avoided; and, finally, Islām (Resignation), when he has to meet the inevitable, whether it be regarded as the course of Fate or the eternal purpose of God.
[1] “To return to the elemental spirits, it was explained to me by a Malay, with whom I discussed the subject at leisure, that apart from the spirits which are an object of reverence, and which when treated with proper deference are usually beneficent, there are a variety of others. To begin with, spirits (the word used on this occasion was hantu) are of at least two kinds—wild ones, whose normal habitat is the jungle, and those that are, so to say, domesticated. The latter, which seem to correspond to what in Western magic are called ‘familiars,’ vary in character with their owners or the persons to whom they are attached. Thus in this particular village of Bukit Sĕnggeh, a few years ago, there was a good deal of alarm on account of the arrival of two or three strangers believed to be of bad character, who were supposed to keep a familiar spirit of a peculiarly malignant disposition, which was in the habit of attacking people in their sleep by throttling them. One or two cases of this kind occurred, and it was seriously suggested that I should make the matter the subject of a magisterial inquiry, which, however, I did not find it necessary to do. But the familiar spirits are by no means necessarily evil.... The chief point of importance is to keep these wild spirits in their proper place, viz. the jungle, and to prevent them taking up their abode in the villages. For this reason charms are hung up at the borders of the villages, and whenever a wild spirit breaks bounds and encroaches on human habitations it is necessary to get him turned out.”—Blagden in J.R.A.S., S.B. No. 29, p. 4. [↑]
[2] Vide Klinkert, v.d. Wall, and Pijnappel, sub voce. [↑]
[3] This “Bajang” was copied for me by ’Che Sam (for many years Malay munshi and clerk at Kuala Lumpur, Selangor), from the original which was posted up on the door of one of his neighbours. The outlines of the figure are made up from varying combinations of the names “Allah,” “Muhammad,” “ʿAli,” etc., in the Arabic character. [↑]
[4] “In all parts of the Peninsula the Bajang is said to be of the male gender, while the Langsuir is supposed to be a female. It is usually believed by Malays that the Bajang is merely a malignant spirit which haunts mankind, and whose presence foretells disaster. In Perak and some other parts of the Peninsula, however, the Bajang is regarded as one of the several kinds of demons which, the Malays hold, can be enslaved by man and become his familiar spirit. Such familiars, it is believed, are handed down in certain families as heirlooms. The master of the familiar is said to keep it imprisoned in a tabong, or vessel made from a joint of the bamboo, which is closed by a stopper made from the leaves of the Cotyledon laciniata, the Daun chĕkar bebek, or Daun sadingin, as they are variously termed by the Malays. Both the case and the stopper are prepared by certain magic arts before they can be employed in this way. The familiar is fed with eggs and milk. When its master wishes to make use of it he sends it forth to possess and prey upon the vitals of any one whom his malice may select as a victim. The individual thus persecuted is at once seized by a deadly and unaccountable ailment, which can only be cured by magic agencies. If the Bajang is neglected by its owner, and if the latter omits to feed it regularly, it is said that he often falls a victim to his own familiar.”—Clifford and Swett., Mal. Dic., s.v. Bajang. [↑]
[5] Swett., Mal. Sketches, p. 194, seqq. [↑]
[6] Swett., Mal. Sketches, pp. 198, 199. [↑]
[7] J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, p. 28. Cp. “Langsuior, the female familiar, differs hardly at all from the bâjang, except that she is a little more baneful, and when under the control of a man he sometimes becomes the victim of her attractions, and she will even bear him elfin children.”—Swett., Mal. Sketches, p. 198. [↑]
[8] “Pontianak” appears to be synonymous with “Mati-anak,” which may perhaps be a shorter form of Mati bĕranak (“stillborn”); indeed, one of the charms against the Pontianak which I collected, commenced with the words, “Pontianak mati bĕranak.” [↑]
[9] Mr. Clifford (of Pahang), however, speaks of “that weird little white animal, the Mati-ânak, that makes beast noises round the graves of children.”—In Court and Kampong, p. 231. [↑]
[10] Cp., however, “The Pĕnangal, that horrible wraith of a woman who has died in childbirth, and who comes to torment small children in the guise of a fearful face and bust, with many feet of bloody, trailing entrails in her wake.”—Clifford, loc. cit.
“He (Mr. M.) said, ‘Very well then, tell me about the penanggalan only, I should like to hear it and to write it down in English so that Europeans may know how foolish those persons are who believe in such things.’ I then drew a picture representing a woman’s head and neck only, with the intestines hanging down. Mr. M. caused this to be engraved on wood by a Chinese, and inserted it with the story belonging to it in a publication called the Anglo-Chinese Gleaner. And I said, ‘Sir, listen to the account of the penanggalan. It was originally a woman. She used the magic arts of a devil in whom she believed, and she devoted herself to his service night and day until the period of her agreement with her teacher had expired and she was able to fly. Her head and neck were then loosened from the body, the intestines being attached to them, and hanging down in strings. The body remained where it was. Wherever the person whom it was wished to injure happened to live, thither flew the head and bowels to suck his blood, and the person whose blood was sucked was sure to die. If the blood and water which dripped from the intestines touched any person, serious illness immediately followed and his body broke out in open sores. The penanggalan likes to suck the blood of women in childbirth. For this reason it is customary at all houses where a birth occurs to hang up jeruju[11] leaves at the doors and windows, or to place thorns wherever there is any blood, lest the penanggalan should come and suck it, for the penanggalan has, it seems, a dread of thorns in which her intestines may happen to get caught. It is said that a penanggalan once came to a man’s house in the middle of the night to suck his blood, and her intestines were caught in some thorns near the hedge, and she had to remain there until daylight, when the people saw and killed her.
“‘The person who has the power of becoming a penanggalan always keeps at her house a quantity of vinegar in a jar or vessel of some kind. The use of this is to soak the intestines in, for when they issue forth from the body they immediately swell up and cannot be put back, but after being soaked in vinegar they shrink to their former size and enter the body again. There are many people who have seen the penanggalan flying along with its entrails dangling down and shining at night like fire-flies.
“‘Such is the story of the penanggalan as I have heard it from my forefathers but I do not believe it in the least. God forbid that I should.’”—Hikayat Abdullah, p. 143. [↑]
[12] “The origin of the Polong is this:—The blood of a murdered man must be taken and placed in a bottle (buli-buli, a bottle having a spherical or wide body and a long narrow neck). Then prayers are said over it, and something or other is read, I don’t know what, but it has to be learnt. After seven days of this worship, according to some people, or after twice seven days according to others, a sound is heard in the bottle like the chirping of young birds. The operator then cuts his finger and inserts it into the bottle and the Polong sucks it. The person who thus supports the Polong is called his father, or, if it happens to be a woman, she is his mother. Every day the parent feeds it with his (or her) blood. The object of doing this and the advantage to be gained from it are these:—if he entertains a feeling of anger against any one he orders the Polong to go and afflict him, that is to say, to cause him pain or sickness; or if a third person is at enmity with another he goes in secret to the person who keeps the Polong, and gives him a sum of money to send the Polong to attack the person against whom he bears ill-will. This is the use of it. The person who is tormented by the Polong, whether a virgin, or a married woman, or a man, cries out and loses consciousness of what he (or she) is doing, and tears and throws off his (or her) clothing, biting and striking the people near, blind and deaf to everything, and does all sorts of other things. Wise men are called in to prescribe remedies; some come and chant formulas over the head of the patient, others pinch his thumb and apply medicines to it. When the remedy is successful the sick person cries out, ‘Let me go, I want to go home.’ The doctor replies, ‘I will not let you go if you do not make known who it is that has sent you here, and why you have come, and who are your father and mother.’ Sometimes he (the Polong in the patient) remains silent and will not confess or give the names of his parents; sometimes he confesses, and says ‘Let me go, my father is such-a-one and lives at such-and-such a kampong, and my mother is so-and-so. The reason that I have come here is that such-a-one came to my parents and asked for their aid, and gave them a sum of money because he bore ill-will against this person’ (or whatever the reason may have been). Sometimes he makes a false statement, and mentions entirely wrong persons in order to conceal the names of his parents. As soon as the people know the name of the person who has contrived the attack and the reason, they let him go, and the sick person at once recovers his consciousness, but he is left weak and feeble. When a Polong attacks a person and will confess nothing, the person who is attacked shrieks and yells in anger, and after a day or two he dies. After death blood pours forth bubbling (ber-kopak-kopak) from the mouth, and the whole body is blue with bruises.”—Hikayat Abdullah, p. 143. Notes and Queries, S.B.R.A.S. No. 4, sec. 98, issued with No. 17 of the Journal. [↑]
[13] Mĕrepet kata kuching. [↑]
[14] Cp. Clifford, In Court and Kampong, pp. 230–244. “Pôlong and pĕlsit are but other names for bâjang, the latter is chiefly used in the state of Kĕdah, where it is considered rather chic to have a pĕlsit. A Kĕdah lady the other day, eulogising the advantage of possessing a familiar spirit (she said that, amongst other things, it gave her absolute control over her husband and the power of annoying people who offended her), thus described the method of securing this useful ally:—
“‘You go out,’ she said, ‘on the night before the full moon, and stand with your back to the moon, and your face to an ant-hill, so that your shadow falls on the ant-hill. Then you recite certain jampi (incantations), and bending forward try to embrace your shadow. If you fail, try again several times, repeating more incantations. If not successful, go the next night and make a further effort, and the night after, if necessary—three nights in all. If you cannot then catch your shadow, wait till the same day on the following month and renew the attempt. Sooner or later you will succeed, and, as you stand there in the brilliance of the moonlight, you will see that you have drawn your shadow into yourself, and your body will never again cast a shade. Go home, and in the night, whether sleeping or waking, the form of a child will appear before you and put out its tongue; that seize, and it will remain while the rest of the child disappears. In a little while the tongue will turn into something that breathes, a small animal, reptile, or insect, and when you see the creature has life put it in a bottle and the pĕlsit is yours.’
“It sounds easy enough, and one is not surprised to hear that every one in Kĕdah, who is anybody, keeps a pĕlsit.” Swett., Malay Sketches, pp. 197, 198. [↑]
[15] No less than seven “Bidans,” it is said, were formerly requisitioned at the birth of a Raja’s child, and occasions when even nine are mentioned are to be met with in Malay romances. The most general custom, however, seems to have been to summon seven “Bidans” only, the number being possibly due to the Malay theory of a sevenfold soul (v. Soul). The profession was an honourable one, and the Bidans received the title of “Dato’ (abbreviated to ’Toh) Bidan”; but if the child of a Raja happened to die, the Bidan who was adjudged to be responsible paid the penalty with her life. [↑]
[16] Vide also N. & Q. No. 3, sec. 65, issued with J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 16. [↑]
[17] If the betel-leaf adheres to the chĕrana it is a bad sign (uri mĕlĕkat tiada mahu k’luar). [↑]
[20] So, too, in the report of the Dutch Expedition to Mid-Sumatra, vol. i. p. 266, it is stated that delivery took place “in a sitting posture.” [↑]
[22] One account says that the Pĕnanggalan (or Manjang, i.e. Pĕmanjangan another name for her) if she comes will be caught in this snare, and that next morning when the fowls are let loose out of the fowl-house they will peck at the sac of her stomach to get at its contents. Thus she will be detected, and can be punished by having her stomach filled up with ground glass and sherds of earthenware, which will kill her in about seven days’ time! [↑]
[23] When the “sickness” is severe, the Bidan draws upon her almost inexhaustible stock of Malay charms, a specimen of which will be found in the Appendix. Salt and asam are taken (apparently by the Bidan?) into the mouth (di-kĕmam asam garam) while the selected charm is repeated. [↑]
[24] Vide McNair, Perak and the Malays, p. 231. “The children of the Malays are received into the world quite in religious form, prayer being said, and the Azan or Allah Akbar pronounced by the father with his lips close to the tender infant’s ear.” The bang, according to ’Che Sam, a Malay pandit of Kuala Lumpor, ran somewhat as follows:—Allahu Akbar (twice), ashahadun la-ilaha-illa-’llah (twice), ashahadun Muhammad al-Rasul Allah (twice), hei ʿAli al-saleh (twice), hei ʿAli al-faleh (twice), Allahu akbar (twice), la-ilaha-illa-’llah (twice); and the kamat as follows:—
Allahu akbar (twice), ashahadun la-ilaha-illa-’llah, ashahadun Muhammad al-Rasul Allah. Hei ʿAli al-saleh, hei ʿAli al-faleh, kad kamat al-salata (twice), la-ilaha-illa-’llah. [↑]
[26] Mr. H. N. Ridley, Director of Gardens and Forests at Singapore, in a pamphlet on Malay Materia Medica (dated 1894) describes a somewhat similar ceremony as follows:—
“When a child suffers from sampuh pachut, that is to say, when it persistently cries and will not take its food, it is treated in the following way: the leaves of Hedyotis congesta, Br., a tall jungle weed, known as Lida Jin [lidah jin, lit. Demon’s Tongue] or Poko’ Sampuh Pachut, are boiled with some other leaves till one-third of the liquor is evaporated, and the decoction exposed to the dew for a night, and the child is bathed with it; or a quantity of road-side rubbish, dead-leaves, sticks, chewed sugar-cane, etc. is boiled and the child is bathed in the liquid (it is washed afterwards), and it is then smoked over a fire consisting of a nest of a weaver-bird (sarang tampur), the skin of a bottle-gourd (labu), and a piece of wood which has been struck by lightning.” [↑]
[27] Kur, sĕmangat Muhammad ini! Kur, sĕmangat Fatimah ini! [↑]
[28] Vide pp. 353–355, infra. [↑]
[29] Of the Pahang customs Mr. Clifford writes:—
“Umat rushes off to the most famous midwife in the place, and presents her with a little brass dish filled with smooth green sîrih leaves, and sixpence of our money (25 cents) in copper, for such is the retaining fee prescribed by Malay custom. The recipient of these treasures is thereafter held bound to attend the patient whenever she may be called upon to do so, and when the confinement is over she can claim other moneys in payment of her services. These latter fees are not ruinously high, according to our standard, two dollars being charged for attending a woman in her first confinement, a dollar or a dollar and a half on the next occasion, and twenty-five, or at the most fifty cents being deemed sufficient for each subsequent event.”—Clifford, Studies in Brown Hum., pp. 47, 48. [↑]
[30] To each corner of this hearth is fastened a bunch of lemon-grass leaves, each of which is separately charmed by ejecting betel-leaf upon it (di-sĕmbor); at the same time a pillow is prepared for it by the insertion of a needle at each end. The fire (api saleian) is always lighted by the Bidan, and must never be allowed to go out for the whole of the 44 days. To light it the Bidan should take a brand from the house-fire (api dapor), and when it is once properly kindled, nothing must be cooked at it, or the child will suffer. Moreover, whenever during this same period there happens to be a hen sitting on its eggs in the house, the blades of weapons, such as daggers (k’risses) and spears, must not be reset in their handles (mĕmbalau) either over the hearth-fire or the fire of the saleian. [↑]
[31] J. D. Vaughan in vol. xi. of J.I.A.
Cp. the following passage:—
“Later, comes a day when Sĕlĕma nearly loses her life by reason of the barbarities which Malay science considers necessary if a woman is to win through her confinement without mishap.”—Clifford, Stud. in Br. Hum., p. 51. [↑]
[32] The following methods are resorted to for the curing of faintness: (a) the patient is made to smell (di-isapkan), first with one and then with the other nostril, the bottom of the copper (or brass) receptacle (pĕkaporan) in which the lime, which is one of the invariable concomitants of the betel-chewing apparatus, is kept; (b) the “rattan” (rotan sĕga) “cure,” which is said to consist in charring the end of a piece of rattan (rotan sĕga), taking the burnt end in the mouth, and blowing the smoke into the patient’s ear (di-ĕmbuskan). [↑]
[33] Clifford, Stud. in Brown Hum., pp. 48–50. [↑]
[34] The following is the list of actual ingredients so far as I could ascertain them: bark of the jambus, sĕntul, b’ruas, rambutan, kachang kayu, ’lĕban, dĕdap, pĕtaling, rambei, lawang, kayu manis, sĕrapat, and mĕmp’las hari; and the following herbs, roots, or spices, such as kunyit t’rus, lada hitam, bawang puteh, bawang merah, chingkeh pala, buah pĕlaga, katumbar, jĕmuju Jawa, jĕmuju kĕrsani, chabei tali, chabei pintal, changkoh, sudu ayer, mur daging, mur tulang, pekak, jintan puteh, jintan hitam, manjakani, manjarawai or mĕnjĕlawai (?), akar manis, biji sawi, jadam, puchok ganti, mesur, alim, mustakim, chuchor atap, kĕmukus, and kadĕkai. [↑]
[35] J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, p. 19. [↑]
[36] Clifford, Stud. in Brown Hum., p. 51. [↑]
[37] Lit. “sharpening of the teeth.” [↑]
[38] Lit. “heirs” (warith), but often, as here, used in the sense of representative members of the family. [↑]
[39] The leaf-brush in this case consisted of leaves of the sapĕnoh, pulut-pulut, sapanggil, sambau dara, and sĕlaguri, and was bound up with ribu-ribu (a kind of creeper). [↑]
[40] Into this egg, it is supposed, all evil influences proceeding from the teeth enter. Hence it is regarded after the ceremony as sial (unlucky), and cannot be eaten—indeed it is considered “bad” (tĕmb’lang). [↑]
[41] Besides the tray containing the articles described, there stood at one side of the room what is called a dulang-dulang. This consists of a tray full of unhusked rice surmounted by a tray full of husked rice and a roughly-husked cocoa-nut (niyor gubalan) which rests upon the latter. The pointed top of the cocoa-nut referred to is encircled by a hank of “Java” thread (bĕnang Jawa), which is said to avert injury to the tooth-filer’s eyes whenever, as sometimes happens, the evil influence (badi) issues from the teeth. This dulang-dulang is valued at a quarter of a dollar, and is taken as part payment of the tooth-filer’s services, or it may be retained by the householder when the full fee of fifty cents is paid. This dulang-dulang is thought, moreover, to dispel evil influences (mĕmbuang sial), the hank of yarn being used by the Pawang to wipe his eyes should any harm to them accrue from evil influences residing in the teeth. Such evil influences (badi), however, can only accrue when people are having their teeth filed for the first time (orang bungaran). [↑]
[45] “Both sexes have the extraordinary custom of filing and otherwise disfiguring their teeth, which are naturally very white and beautiful, from the simplicity of their food. For files they make use of small whetstones, and the patients lie on their backs during the operation. Many, particularly the women of the Lampong country, have their teeth rubbed down quite even with the gums; others have them formed in points, and some file off no more than the outer coat and extremities in order that they may the better receive and retain the jetty blackness with which they almost universally adorn them. The black used on these occasions is the empyreumatic oil of the cocoa-nut shell. When this is not applied the filing does not, by destroying what we term the enamel, diminish the whiteness of the teeth.... The great men sometimes set theirs in gold by casing with a plate of that metal the under row; and this ornament, contrasted with the black dye, has, by lamp or candle light, a very splendid effect. It is sometimes indented to the shape of the teeth, but more usually quite plain. They do not remove it either to eat or sleep.”—Marsden, Hist. of Sumatra (ed. 1811), pp. 52, 53. [↑]
[46] The oil used for this purpose is also obtained by burning the leaves of the lime-tree (Clifford and Swett., Mal. Dict., s.v. Bâja) or (in Selangor) the wood of certain trees, such as the jambu biawas and mĕr’poyan. [↑]
[47] “At the age of about eight or nine they bore the ears and file the teeth of the female children; which are ceremonies that must necessarily precede their marriage. The former they call betendĕ, and the latter bedabong; and these operations are regarded in the family as the occasion of a festival. They do not here, as in some of the adjacent islands (of Nias in particular), increase the aperture of the ear to a monstrous size, so as in many instances to be large enough to admit the hand, the lower parts being stretched till they touch the shoulders. Their ear-rings are mostly of gold filagree, and fastened, not with a clasp, but in the manner of a rivet or nut screwed to the inner part.”—Marsden, Hist. of Sumatra (ed. 1811), p. 53. [↑]
[48] The formula (shahadat) used by the Mudim (tukang mĕmotong) runs as follows:—
“Ashahadun la-ilaha-illa-’llah wa ashahadun Muhammad al-Rasul Allah allahumma ajaʿlni mina ’l-tawabina wa ajaʿlni mina ’l-matatahirrina.” [↑]
[49] Some of these charms are also Love-charms, vide App. [clxv]. [↑]
[57] Kuntum mĕlor bĕlum kĕmbang. [↑]
[62] Ramping sapĕrti tangkei bunga. [↑]
[65] Chahia bintang Zuhrah. [↑]
[68] The youth’s representatives had further the right to interview the girl, and personally assure themselves that she was “without blemish and without spot.” This interview passed by the name of the “Inspection of the Buffalo-calf,” and was conducted somewhat as follows:—When the youth’s representatives (the Wooing Party) go to inspect the girl, one of them says—
“See how fruitful are the satela yams,
Where the hills of Bantan rise by the sea;
I know not whether good luck or calamity will follow it,
But my heart turns towards you.”
Here one of the girl’s representatives says, “Look well at this buffalo-calf of mine that has been allowed to forage for itself. Maybe its coat is torn, its limbs broken, or its sight lost.” The youth’s representative, if all is satisfactory, then replies—
“The sun being so high,
The buffalo-calf will die if tethered;
This long while have I been prosecuting my search,
But not till to-day did I meet with what I wanted.”
[69] Diamond, i.e. the girl about whom the wooing party has come to treat. [↑]
[70] The kati is the “Indian” pound (1⅓ pound avoir.), and the tahil is its sixteenth part. The phrase sakati lima is explained by Klinkert as an elliptical expression = sa-kĕti lima laksa, i.e. 150,000 cash (pitis). Vide Kl. sub voce. [↑]
[71] i.e. when the sago is being extracted from the stem. [↑]
[72] The native substitute for a rowlock. [↑]
[74] This line is obscure, the word “bingku” (which I have translated rim, on the supposition that it may be merely a longer form of biku), not appearing in any dictionary. The next line also is not quite clear, but it would appear to mean “let us make sacrifice,” rice stained with saffron being always used sacrificially. [↑]
[75] In Denys’ Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya, under the word “Marriage,” we find:—
“The only terms for marriage in Malay are the Arabic and Persian ones, respectively nikah and kahwin, the native ones having probably been displaced by these and forgotten.”
Both these words are used in Selangor, the first (nikah), which properly signifies the mere ceremony or “wedding,” being more commonly used by the better class of Malays than the more comprehensive kahwin, which corresponds pretty nearly to the English word “marriage.” Words describing the married state with reference to one of the parties only, however, are in frequent use: such as the bĕrsuami and bĕristri of the higher classes, and the bĕrlaki and bĕrbini of the common people; and yet again there is the word bĕrumah-rumah, which is applied indifferently to either of the two parties or to both, and is the politest word that can be used with reference to the common people, but is never applied to Rajas, in whose case bĕrsuami and bĕristri alone are used.
I may add, on the authority of Mr. H. Conway Belfield, lately Acting-Resident of Selangor, that a curious periphrastic expression is sometimes used by Perak women in talking of their husbands, whom they call rumah tangga, which literally means “House and House-ladder,” and which is tantamount to saying, “My household,” instead of “My husband.” [↑]
[76] I remember Mr. C. H. A. Turney (then Senior District Officer at Klang) telling me of a great disturbance that arose at Klang because too many of these big pillows were being used at a Malay wedding. Order was only restored by the intervention of the police. [↑]
[77] A hasta is the length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, or about eighteen inches. [↑]
[78] There is, I believe, a special ceremony connected with the opening of this curtain which is performed by the bridegroom after the wedding ceremony, special cakes, called “curtain-openers” (kueh pĕmbuka k’lambu), being eaten. [↑]
[79] C. and S. give—“Bun (Dutch), a large tin or copper box for tobacco or sirih leaves—Van der Tuuk.” “Bun” is given as a “trunk” in a Dutch Dictionary. [↑]
[80] This is called main zikir—or, more commonly, jikir—maulud if it is unaccompanied, and zikir bĕrdah if accompanied by musical instruments. [↑]
[81] Tĕpong tawar, or “Neutralising Paste,” is believed to avert ill-luck (mĕmbuang sial); for further details vide Chap. III. pp. 77–81, supra. [↑]
[82] Not at a Raja’s wedding. [↑]
[83] This ceremony is also called mĕnyĕlang or bĕrlĕbat. [↑]
[84] One of these fillets, which was purchased by the writer, had for its pattern two dragons (naga), which looked different ways, and a couple of butterflies as pendants at each end. The substitute used by poor people is frequently manufactured from the leaf of the thatch-palm (nipah). [↑]
[85] According to v. d. Wall this plant is Carthamus tinctorius. [↑]
[86] A weight used for weighing the precious metals. According to C. and S. Dict., s.v. Bûngkal, it is equal to 822 grains troy; according to Maxwell, Manual of the Mal. Lang., p. 141, to 832. [↑]
[87] The mast with its branches carrying artificial flowers, streamers, and coloured eggs, appears to be emblematic of a fruit-tree, the eggs representing the fruit, the artificial blossoms its flowers, and the streamers its leaves. [↑]
[88] For instance, in reply to an appeal from the Bride’s Relations to “take into account the duty which is the custom of the country,” one of the Bridegroom’s Relations would repeat the following:—
“Even the woodpecker knows how to fly,
And how much more the lory;
Even my grandsire’s commands I take into account,
And how much more the duty imposed by the State.”
[89] It is said that this is a departure from the old custom, according to which the wedding ceremony took place the day before the procession (except at the re-marriage of a widow who has no children, kahwin janda bĕrhias). In the case of the re-marriage of a widow who has no children by her former husband there is no procession at all, and the ceremonies are somewhat abridged. I may add that a childless widow has the subang (ear-rings which are the symbol of virginity) tied on to her ears. Vide p. 360, supra. [↑]
[90] A couple of matronly ladies are generally told off for this service, the ceremony being as follows:—
1. They raise first the man and then the woman slowly to a standing posture; when it is reached the bridegroom says to the bride, “Take heed, care for thy husband, care for my good name, care for me” (Baik-baik jaga laki awak, jaga nama sahya, jagakan aku); to this the bride responds in a similar strain, mutatis mutandis, and they are then as slowly re-seated.
2. They are similarly raised, and repeat as before, in turn, the words, “Assuredly I will not do thee any shame whatever” (Sahya ta’buleh buat satu apa kamaluan di-atas awak).
3. When raised for the third and last time they say, “I ask the Lord God to give us both long life, and that all our handiwork may prosper” (Sahya minta’ kapada Tuhan Allah bĕrsama-sama panjang ʿumor, samua kĕrja dĕngan salamat). [↑]
[91] It used to be considered an insult to omit offering one of these eggs to a guest, so much so, that I was assured that in former days a woman whose husband had been thus slighted would have a right to sue for a divorce. [↑]
[92] The Kathi is an official having superintendence over several mosques and jurisdiction in matters connected with marriage, divorce, and ecclesiastical affairs generally. The Imām is the chief elder of one mosque. [↑]
[93] There is a difference between b’lanja and mas kahwin, the former usually meaning the wedding expenses, the latter the dower; at least this is the Malacca terminology, which probably also obtains elsewhere. [↑]
[94] The descendant of one of the four great Chiefs (Orang Bĕsar bĕr-ampat) of Selangor. [↑]
[95] Ex-Prime Minister of Perak. [↑]
[96] Sireh or sirih, the betel leaf. [↑]
[97] The Bilal is an elder of the mosque; in western Muhammadan countries he is styled Muezzin. [↑]
[98] Selangor Journal, vol. i. No. 2, p. 23. [↑]
[99] Probably this should be 4th. [↑]
[100] He was of Arab extraction. But wearing clothes in the Arab fashion is not unusual even in the case of purely Malay bridegrooms. [↑]
[101] Selangor Journal, vol. iv. No. 2, pp. 23–5. The list of presents sent by friends on this occasion included buffaloes, a bullock, goats, spices, plate, and jewellery. [↑]
[102] Sir William Maxwell in N. and Q., No. 4, sec. 91, issued with No. 17 of the J.R.A.S., S.B. [↑]
[103] “At their funerals the corpse is carried to the place of interment on a broad plank, which is kept for the public service of the dusun, and lasts for generations. It is constantly rubbed with lime, either to preserve it from decay or to keep it pure. No coffin is made use of, the body being simply wrapped in white cloth, particularly of the sort called hummums. In forming the grave (kubur), after digging to a convenient depth they make a cavity in the side, at bottom, of sufficient dimensions to contain the body, which is there deposited on its right side. By this mode the earth literally lies light upon it; and the cavity, after strewing flowers in it, they stop up by two boards fastened angularly to each other, so that the one is on the top of the corpse, whilst the other defends it on the open side, the edge resting on the bottom of the grave. The outer excavation is then filled up with earth; and little white flags, or streamers, are stuck in order around. They likewise plant a shrub, bearing a white flower, called kumbangkamboja (Plumeria obtusa), and in some places wild marjoram. The women who attend the funeral make a hideous noise, not much unlike the Irish howl. On the third and seventh day the relations perform a ceremony at the grave, and at the end of twelve months that of tegga batu, or setting up a few long elliptical stones, at the head and foot, which, being scarce in some parts of the country, bear a considerable price. On this occasion they kill and feast on a buffalo, and leave the head to decay on the spot, as a token of the honour they have done to the deceased in eating to his memory. The ancient burying-places are called krammat, and are supposed to have been those of the holy men by whom their ancestors were converted to the faith. They are held in extraordinary reverence, and the least disturbance or violation of the ground, though all traces of the graves be obliterated, is regarded as an unpardonable sacrilege,”—Marsden, Hist. of Sumatra (ed. 1811), pp. 287, 288. [↑]
[104] The explanation usually given by Malays is that the betel-nut scissors symbolise iron. Short weapons are sometimes substituted. [↑]
[105] Tradition says that formerly the corpse was watched for three days before burial, and that sometimes it was kept for a week or even a longer period. One Raja S’nei is reported to have been kept 40 days in her coffin above ground! It is also stated that before the introduction of Muhammadanism the dead were burned.
It is still the custom to keep both the hearth-fire (api dapor) and lamps (palita) burning not only for so long as the corpse may be in the house, but for seven days and nights after occurrence of the death. It is also the custom to open the sick person’s mosquito-curtain when death is approaching, and in some cases, at all events, the dying are taken out of their beds and laid upon the floor. I may add that the material for fumigation (pĕrabun) is placed upon the hearth-fire after death, to scare away the evil spirits, just as salt is thrown upon the fire during a thunderstorm, in order that it may counteract the explosions of thunder (mĕmbalas pĕtir), and thus drive away the demons who are believed to be casting the thunderbolts. [↑]
[106] The kati is a weight equivalent to 1⅓ lb. avoirdupois. [↑]
[107] The form found in most dictionaries is banchoh or banchuh. [↑]
[108] Whence the expression “charik kapan,” which means literally to tear the shroud (i.e. to tear off the selvage of the shroud, and not to tear off a piece of cloth to form the shroud). [↑]
[109] Cubit, the length of the forearm. [↑]
[110] The short motto which usually heads Malay letters. [↑]
[111] I may add that in pre-Muhammadan days certain articles are said to have been buried with the corpse, viz. “b’ras sa-p’riok, asam, garam,” together with (in the case of a man) rough wooden models of the deceased’s weapons. [↑]
[112] Tradition says that originally one grave-post (nisan) was used, and that the earlier form of a tomb was a circular mound with a single grave-post in the centre. It is said that such mounds were formerly used in Sungei Ujong, but I am unable to say if this is so. Sultan Zeinal ʿAbidin of Johor is also described as having a tomb of this description at Kota Tinggi. [↑]
[113] This notion probably arose from an erroneous idea of etymological connection between the words talkin and bĕrtĕlku. [↑]
[114] Of course if the karanda is used the bands have to be removed before it is nailed down. On their removal these bands are handed to the next-of-kin, who tear them up and plait the strips into a rough sort of bracelet, which they wear as long as it lasts in memory of the deceased. Little children are made to pass thrice underneath the karanda of their parents when it is first lifted in the chamber, “to prevent them from pining for the deceased.” [↑]
[115] From observing a good many of these grave-posts in different localities, I should be inclined to suppose that the grave-post used for men had been evolved from a phallic emblem, whilst that used for women occasionally assumes a rude resemblance to a human being. [↑]
[116] Newbold, Malacca, vol. ii. p. 352. [↑]
[117] As to the titles Bomor and Pawang, see [Chapter III]. p. 56, note. [↑]
[118] There are, it need hardly be said, innumerable charms and talismans which are valued by the Malays for their supposed efficacy in preventing disease; there are also an immense number of short charms (often mere texts from the Korān) which are considered invaluable for checking minor ailments. It being impossible, however, in the scope of this work to give specimens of the entire “materia medica” of the Malays, examples of the more important branches only are given. [↑]
[119] The Pawang may either effect this himself, by luring the evil spirits out of the sick person’s body into some object, such as an egg, a substituted image or scapegoat (tukar ganti), a “Spirit-Hall,” or spirit-boat, in which the evil spirits are carried out of the house and got rid of; or else he may induce a stronger spirit, e.g., the Tiger Spirit (vide infra), to enter into his own person, and assist him in the task of evicting the offender. [↑]
[120] Jikalau sa-rasi dĕngan aku, mĕngadap-lah angkau, asap, kapada’ku, kalau ta’ sa-rasi, mĕlintang-lah ’kau dĕngan aku, atau ka kiri, atau ka kanan. [↑]
[121] Kur! Sĕmangat Si Anu ka-tujoh-nya! Mari-lah kita bĕrsama-sama ini, Tengo’kan ubat, sĕmangat Si Anu! [↑]
[122] If ashore, it is usually suspended from a tree. If at sea, from a wooden tripod, or a projecting pole affixed to the seaward end of a fishing-stake. [↑]
[123] Another method is described by Messrs. Clifford and Swettenham (vide their Malay Dictionary, s.v. Anchak) as follows: “The (anchak pĕrbingkas) is fastened to the end of a branch, which is pulled down almost to the ground, and held there while the medicine-man goes through his incantation or invocation, after which it is allowed to fly up, and all the things on it are scattered by this means,” but it is not yet clear to which class this use of the anchak should be referred. [↑]
[124] Some of them are enumerated under Fishing Ceremonies, pp. 311 seqq., supra. See also pp. 76, 257, 260. [↑]
[126] So called in Malay (tali pĕnggantong); they consist of the four cords which start from the four corners of the tray respectively, and are carried up to meet at a point some two or three feet above the centre of the tray, from which point upwards a single cord only is used. [↑]
[127] Kĕtupat and lĕpat. There were fourteen of each kind of bag, the kĕtupats being diamond-shaped and the lĕpats cylindrical. Each set of fourteen bags contains seven portions of cooked and seven portions of uncooked food. Vide also supra. [↑]
[128] Abong = full to overflowing; cp. mĕrabong, etc. [↑]
[129] As to these stones, vide p. 274, supra. [↑]
[130] Kalau kĕna kĕlingking, k’rat-lah kĕlingking, kalau kĕna daun dayong, di-chatok-nya, champak-lah dayong. Numerous sea-snakes do, as a fact, exist in the seas of the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago. They are all, I believe, venomous. Vide Miscell. Papers relating to Indo-China, First Series, vol. ii. pp. 226–238. [↑]
[131] Ipoh raʿyat laut, kalau kĕna sa-orang di-sandarkan sa-orang, mati sampei tujoh orang bĕrsandar. [↑]
[132] Supposed to be identical with Lukmanu-’l-hakim, a mysterious person mentioned in the Korān. Vide Hughes, Dict. of Islam, s.v. Luqman. [↑]
[133] For the Wild Huntsman, vide Birds and Bird-charms, Chap. V. pp. 113–120, supra. [↑]
[134] Apparently v. d. W. means the fascination which a tiger has for its prey. In Selangor this fascination is called g’run or pĕngg’run in the case of a tiger, and badi only in the case of a snake—the person affected by it being said to be kĕna g’run or kĕna badi, as the case may be. [↑]
[135] Vide App. [lx]., lxxii., lxxix. The different names under which “Badi” is invoked are worth noting; e.g. “Badiyu, Mak Badi, Badi Panji, Mak Buta,” in an elephant-charm (App. lx.); and again “Ah Badi, Mak Badi” in a deer-charm (v. App. [lxxii].), and in a later deer-charm, “Hei Badi Serang, Badi Mak Buta, Si Panchur, Mak Tuli” (v. App. [lxxix].), and again “Sang Marak, Sang Badi” (v. App. lxxix.), and “Jĕmbalang Badi” (v. App. lxxx.). I may remark that Sabaliyu is given by Logan in the J. I. A. vol. i. p. 263, as meaning a deer in the Camphor Language (bhasa kapor or pantang kapor) of Johor, and this word was afterwards confirmed by Mr. D. F. A. Hervey. [↑]
[136] Influence of the Breath in Healing.—In Notes and Queries, No. 1, p. 24, a Malay bomor, or doctor, is described as blowing upon something to be used as medicine. Breathing upon sick persons and upon food, water, medicines, etc., to be administered to them is a common ceremony among Malay doctors and midwives. The following note would seem to show that the Malays have learnt it from their Muhammadan teachers:—
“Healing by the breath [Arab. Nafahal, breathings, benefits, the Heb. Neshamah, opp. to Nephest (soul), and Ruach (spirit)] is a popular idea throughout the East, and not unknown to Western magnetists and mesmerists. The miraculous cures of the Messiah were, according to Moslems, mostly performed by aspiration. They hold that in the days of Isa, physic had reached its highest development, and that his miracles were mostly miracles of medicine; whereas in Mohammed’s time eloquence had attained its climax, and, accordingly, his miracles were those of eloquence, as shown in the Koran and Ahadis.”—The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Burton, vol. v. p. 30.—Notes and Queries, J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 4, sec. 92, issued with No. 17. [↑]
[137] Vide pp. 569–574, infra. [↑]
[138] Vide pp. 418 seqq., supra.
Strictly speaking, money (which is called batu-batu lanchang or lanchang stones) should always form part of them. In Kedah three kĕndĕri (one kĕndĕri amounting to three cents) are said to be used; in Perak three wang, and in Selangor three duits (cents). [↑]
[139] I believe this usually takes place immediately after the ceremony, but one medicine-man whom I knew (’Che Amal of Jugra) used to keep the boat into which the spirits were thought to have entered until the patient recovered, and then set it adrift. When the medicine-man is launching it, he takes the boat in both hands, and repeatedly gives it a rotatory movement towards the left (as if he were using a sieve), and repeats the charm. A small portion of each dish deposited in the lanchang has to be carried back to the patient’s house, and there administered to the patient, together with water scooped up in a bowl from underneath the lanchang as it lay in the water before drifting away. As the sick man receives the offerings, the person who administers them says, addressing the spirit of evil, “Here is your wage, return not back here unto So-and-So; and cause him to be sick no more,” and the spirit replies through the man’s mouth, “I will never return.” [↑]
[140] Arong also means “to cross the water,” and there may be some doubt as to the precise meaning of this line. See the original in App. [cciv]. [↑]
[141] i.e. the Crocodile-spirit (vide pp. 286 (note), 298, supra.) [↑]
[142] In this connection it may be added that there are sundry medical “taboos” in use on various occasions: e.g. it is sometimes forbidden to enter the house where the sick man lies or to approach it by a particular path, and a string, with cocoa-nut leaves hung on it, is often drawn across the path as an indication of such prohibition. The fine for breaking such a taboo (langgar gawar-gawar) was “half a bhara,” or in the case of a Raja “two bharas.” [↑]
[143] Swettenham, Malay Sketches, pp. 153–159. Another excellent account, also by an eye-witness, of a similar ceremony will be found in J.R.A.S. S.B., No. 12, pp. 222–232. [↑]
[144] Studies in Brown Humanity, p. 46. [↑]
[145] Bintang, a star, means “the eye” in Malay ghost language. [↑]
[146] About ⅚ lb. avoirdupois. [↑]
[147] A maiam is 1/16th of a bungkal and equal to 52 grains. [↑]
[148] The peeling-knife (pisau raut) is mentioned because it is dreaded by the demons, who hurt themselves (it is alleged) by treading on one end of it, when, owing to its curved blade, the other end flies up and wounds them. Such spirits as the Wild Huntsman are specially mentioned as being afraid of it. Vide p. 118, supra. [↑]
[149] Swettenham, Malay Sketches, pp. 208–210. [↑]
[150] This is a description of Malay dancing from the European point of view; the reason of the “undoubted fascination which it has for the Malays” being no doubt the fact that for them it has a real meaning, which by Europeans (like that of the Malay four-rhymed stanza or pantun) is quite inadequately understood. [↑]
[152] The attitude is that obtained by transferring the body directly from a kneeling to a sitting position. [↑]
[153] Swettenham, Malay Sketches, ch. vii. pp. 44–52. [↑]
[154] This dance is said to be borrowed from the Arabs. [↑]
[155] Newbold, Malacca, vol. ii. p. 179. [↑]
[156] “I have said that all birds fight more or less, but birds are not alone in this. The little, wide-mouthed, goggled-eyed fishes, which Malay ladies keep in bottles and old kerosine tins, fight like demons. Goats sit up and strike with their cloven hoofs, and butt and stab with their horns. The silly sheep canter gaily to the battle, deliver thundering blows on one another’s foreheads, and then retire and charge once more. The impact of their horny foreheads is sufficient to reduce a man’s hand to a shapeless pulp should it find its way between the combatants’ skulls. Tigers box like pugilists, and bite like French school-boys; and buffaloes fight clumsily, violently, and vindictively, after the manner of their kind.”—In Court and Kampong, p. 52. [↑]
[159] Sic, correctly Kĕnantan. [↑]
[160] Sic, better Bangkas. [↑]
[161] Sic, correctly Bĕlurang. [↑]
[162] Sic, correctly K’labu. [↑]
[163] Vide pp. 545–547, infra. [↑]
[164] Newbold, Malacca, vol. ii. pp. 179–183. [↑]
[165] i.e. Sepak raga, which means “kick the wicker-work (ball).” [↑]
[167] Also Tĕki-tĕki. Examples are,—What is it which you leave behind when you remember it, and take it with you when you forget it?” Ans. “A leech.” “What is it that builds a house within a house, getting the materials out of his own body?” Ans. “A spider.” [↑]
[168] i.e. “Tuju lobang,” which means “Aim at the Hole.” [↑]
[169] Newbold, op. cit. vol. ii. pp. 183–185. [↑]
“Yes, it’s sweet
... to grouse about the crops,
And sweet to hear the tales the natives tell,
To watch the king and chieftains playing leisurely at tops,
While the country’s bowling gaily down to hell.”
—Hugh Clifford (adapted from Rudyard Kipling). [↑]
[171] More probably India or Persia (?). [↑]
[172] Taken from Clifford and Swett., Mal. Dict., s.v. Châtor. [↑]
[173] Notes and Queries No. 1, sec. 23, issued with J.R.A.S., S.B. No. 14. Quoted in Denys, Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya, s.v. Cards. [↑]
[174] Selangor Journal, vol. v. No. 13, pp. 210–12. I may add that luck in gaming is largely thought by the Malays to depend upon fortunate dreams. Vide p. 563, infra. [↑]
[175] I cannot find either ping, ning, or biling in the dictionaries, and the only chance perhaps of finding out the meaning will be to collate the rhymes used for this game in other States. I have heard it several times here, and it has always been the same. [↑]
[176] Probably the species of sea-turtle known by that name. [↑]
[177] The ordinary Indian name for “clarified butter,” which is used largely in Eastern cookery. [↑]
[178] It is almost impossible to translate nursery rhymes satisfactorily, and the versions here given must be regarded as tentative and necessarily imperfect. [↑]
[179] Vide supra, p. 484, note. [↑]
[180] Literally, “Brothers and Sisters and Chiefs”; this refers to the Spirits who inhabit the villages, and not to the Humans. [↑]
[181] The term used is Penjak pengantin, which means musicians and bridegroom. The former term includes all people belonging to the Ma’iong who make a noise. The latter term means a man whose wedding is being celebrated, but in this connection it is applied to the Pa’iong or jeune premier. [↑]
[182] These names are given by the Ma’iong people to the two big gongs used by them (tetâwak or tâwak-tâwak). Gĕmûroh is formed from gûroh (= thunder), in exactly the same way as kĕmûning, the yellow wood used for the cross-pieces of kris scabbards, is formed from kûning (= yellow). Dĕngong is the word used to describe the noise made by a gong, by the wind, or any other sonorous sound. [↑]
[183] The phrase in the original is Halûan sûsun. The former word means the bows of a boat, the latter is applied to things fitted together, as sirih leaves are fitted when one leaf is laid on the top of another. The use of this phrase is very curious, and I believe it to convey the sense which I have rendered. I have never heard the phrase in any other connection, nor have I met with it except in this incantation. [Should not the correct reading be halun (= alun) susun, which is a fairly common Malay phrase used of the waves “crowding” one upon another on a stormy day?—W.S.] [↑]
[184] Chinta-mâni, the name of a very short snake of a golden yellow colour, the presence of which is regarded as a lucky omen. [↑]
[185] Awang is a very common male proper name among the natives of Kelantan, and in addressing any man whose name is not known it is always used, much as Kûlop is employed among the natives of Perak. [↑]
[186] Malays believe Spirits to be extremely sensitive as regards their origin and their habits, and any knowledge possessed by a human being on these subjects renders the spirit harmless. [The same idea has been noticed supra with reference to animals, etc.] [↑]
[187] The least sensitive spirit in the world might not unreasonably dislike so many personal remarks of such a frankly unflattering nature. [↑]
[188] This is hardly an accurate description of the temporary shed in which ma’iong people perform. Seven among the Malays, as with other Orientals, is the mystic number. [↑]
[189] Selangor Journal, vol. ii. No. 26, pp. 423–429. [↑]
[190] If the performance is to last for more than one or two nights, a proper shed (bangsal) may be erected. [↑]
[191] The third is for the Jin Puteh, or “White Genie,” and the fourth for the Jin Hitam, or “Black (Earth) Genie.” [↑]
[192] The Malay account of this ceremony with the text of the charms used will be found in App. [ccxxiv]. seqq. [↑]
[193] Vide J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 2, p. 163. [↑]
[194] J. D. Vaughan in J.I.A., quoted in Denys, Desc. Dict. of Brit. Mal., s.v. Puppet Shows. [↑]
[196] Even wild beasts, it is said, can be stopped in this way; see Beast Charms, p. 156, supra. [↑]
[197] Vide Eagle-wood tree, Camphor, Fishing, etc., supra. [↑]
[198] Defiance is intimated by a war-dance on the ramparts (pĕnglima bĕrsilat or bĕrentak di-atas kubu). Cp. Begbie, Malayan Peninsula, p. 170. [↑]
[199] This legendary war of Tan Saban with the second king of Perak owes its origin probably to mythological accounts of the wars of Salivahana and Vikramaditya, which Hindu settlers, not improbably, brought to Malay countries. Saban is a natural corruption of Salivahana.—J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 9, p. 94. [↑]
[200] When swearing fidelity, alliance, etc., water in which daggers, spears (lĕmbing), or bullets have been dipped is drunk, the drinker saying, “If I turn traitor, may I be eaten up by this dagger” or “spear,” etc., as the case may be (jika aku belut, aku di-makan k’ris ini d.s.b.) [↑]
[201] Vide supra, p. 4, note. [↑]
[202] In original, Manikou. [↑]
[203] In original, belangur. [↑]
[204] The original text proceeds to give an explanation of certain patterns of damask given in a plate, which is not reproduced here. [↑]
[205] The Code of Sultan Mahmud Shah, the last Malay Raja of Malacca, who was expelled by the Portuguese under Albuquerque in A.D. 1511.
This Code was probably founded on earlier regulations ascribed to Sultan Muhammad Shah, the first Muhammadan Raja of Malacca, and Sultan Mudhafar Shah, his son. Nothing is known about the laws of the last named, except that (according to the Sĕjarah Malayu, chap, xii.), “he ordered the Book of Institutes, or Kitab Undang-Undang, to be compiled,” but the preceding chapter of the same work has a good deal to say about the laws of Sultan Muhammad Shah, and mentions that he “prohibited the ornamenting of creeses with gold, etc.” See Leyden, op. cit., pp. 94, 118.
A similar prohibition occurs in section i. of Sultan Mahmud’s Code, of which a translation will be found in Newbold, Malacca, vol. ii. pp. 231 seq. [↑]
[206] Newbold, op. cit. vol. ii. pp. 202–208. Vide Chap. II. p. 33, supra. [↑]
[207] Swettenham, Malay Sketches, pp. 207, 208. [↑]
[208] Yet the act of sneezing is considered so fraught with the risk of the soul’s escaping, that not unfrequently after a severer sneeze than usual, a Malay will attempt to call his soul back by ejaculating “Cluck! Soul!” (kur, sĕmangat!) as if he were calling a chicken, and the regular use of the phrase “Al-hamdu li’llah” (Praised be God), after sneezing suggests that he may be relieved to find his soul still in his own possession. [↑]
[209] See J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, pp. 19, 20. [↑]
[210] J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, pp. 26–28. In Selangor “Kursĕmangat, tuboh budak ini,” “My soul! the body of the boy,” or some such phrase is occasionally used. [↑]
[211] J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, p. 27. [↑]
[212] Examples are:—(1) the burning of incense ... (vide Medicine, pp. 410 seqq. and elsewhere, passim); (2) the inspection of the water in the “Three Jars” ceremony, ibid.; (3) the scattering of parched rice, ibid.; (4) the application of the “Rice-Paste” (tĕpong-tawar) ceremony (vide Marriage, Fishing, etc.); (5) the sound of water struck by a canoe paddle (vide Crocodile-catching); (6) the manner of falling of the filed-off portion of a tooth (vide Adolescence); (7) the whisper of the sap in the bark of a gharu-tree, when the latter is struck by a cutlass (vide Vegetation Charms), and a host of others. [↑]
[213] My informant did not make it plain whether the same charm was repeated on each of these three occasions, or whether a different charm was used in each case. Probably the latter would be the more correct course. [↑]
[214] Swettenham, Malay Sketches, pp. 201–207. [↑]
[217] J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 3, pp. 30, 31. Ordeals by immersion of the hands in boiling oil or molten tin are also mentioned in the old Johor Code of Laws. Vide Crawford, Dict. of Ind. Isl., s.v. Ordeal. [↑]
[218] A number of these diagrams, all of which are in the author’s possession, are shown in the illustrations to this section. They seem to be closely connected with the system of “magic squares,” which has probably come to Europe from the East. [↑]
[220] “The original Javanese week, like that of the Mexicans, consists of five days, and its principal use, like that of the same people, is to determine the markets or fairs held in the principal villages or districts. This arbitrary period has probably no better foundation than the relation of the numbers to that of the fingers of the hand. The names of the days of this week are as follows:—Lăggi, Pahing, Pon, Wagi, Kliwon.... The Javanese consider the names of the days of their native week to have a mystical relation to colours, and to the divisions of the horizon.
“According to this whimsical interpretation, the first means white, and the east; the second, red, and the south; the third, yellow, and the west; the fourth, black and the north; the fifth, mixed colour, and focus, or centre. It is highly probable that, like the week of the continental nations of Asia and Europe, the days were named after the national gods. In an ancient manuscript found in Java, which will be afterwards referred to, the week of five days is represented by five human figures, two of which are female and three male.”—Crawfurd, Hist. of the Indian Archipelago, vol. i. pp. 289, 290. [↑]
[221] Communicated by Sir George Birdwood of the India Office.
But in Bali S’ri is the wife of Vishnu, or more usually of Shiva. “As goddess of the rice-fields she is called S’rî ... and has temples on the sawahs [rice-fields], and on the roads between them.”—Misc. Papers relating to Indo-China, etc., Second Series, vol. ii. p. 105.
She is frequently mentioned in Malay invocations connected with rice-planting; vide p. 89, supra, and App. [cix]. [↑]
[222] Cf. such words in Malay as panchawarna or pancharona (lit. of five colours), panchalogam (lit. of five metals), which are of Indian origin, with the Indian pancharangi, panchatantra, etc. [↑]
[223] Or does this mean “black or red”? But red is Brahma’s colour, and for Kala one would a priori expect black to be appropriate. [↑]
[224] See App. [ccxliii]. for an extract from a treatise on these subjects. [↑]
[225] Both this table and that of the Katika Lima have been reversed in translating from the originals, which, being in the Arabic character, run from right to left. [↑]
[226] See App. [ccxliv]. for an extract from a short treatise on this subject. [↑]
[227] The table is given in App. [ccxlv]. [↑]
[229] Newbold, op. cit. vol. ii. p. 354. [↑]
[231] The names are given supra. Katib is another name for Mercury, and Venus is sometimes known as Bintang Kajura and Bintang Babi; vide Kl., s.v. Bintang. [↑]
[232] Maxwell in J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, p. 21. [↑]
[233] Newbold, op. cit. vol. ii. p. 355. [↑]
[234] There is a treatise on the Bintang Dua-b’las, too long to give in full, of which a short extract will be found in App. [ccliv]. [↑]
[235] The following names of constellations are taken from Klinkert, s.v. Bintang and elsewhere:
Bintang Mayang, the Virgin (lit. the Spathe of Palm-blossom).
Bintang Pari, the Southern Cross (lit. the Skate or Sting-ray).
Bintang B’lantek (C. and S.) i.e. the Spring-gun, or rather Spring-spear-trap (also called by its Arabic name al-jubar), Orion.
Bintang Bidok, or Bintang Jong, the Great Bear (lit. the Boat or Junk).
Others bear more familiar names, e.g.:—
Bintang Utara or Kotub (?), the Pole-Star (lit. North Star).
Bintang Kala, the Scorpion.
Whilst Bintang Alnasj (Alnash) is the “Wain.” [↑]
[236] Newbold, op. cit. vol. ii. p. 355. Cf. Colebrooke’s Life and Essays, vol. iii. p. 284. [↑]
[237] A Shaʿir Rĕjang has been published at Singapore, and for an extract from the Rĕjang of ’Che Busu, the reader is referred to the Appendix. [↑]
[238] The MS. here and in the blanks above is defective or illegible. But the prescriptions for the other days show that the image is to be thrown either in some definite direction or into the jungle, simply; on each day the thing to be thrown away of course corresponds with the symbol of the particular day. [↑]
[239] Newbold, op. cit. vol. ii. pp. 356, 357. [↑]
[242] Occasionally these squares, instead of being reversed, are turned sideways, thus:—
| 8 | 3 | 4 |
| 1 | 5 | 9 |
| 6 | 7 | 2 |
| 17 | 23 | 4 | 10 | 11 |
| 24 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 18 |
| 1 | 7 | 13 | 19 | 25 |
| 8 | 14 | 20 | 21 | 2 |
| 15 | 16 | 22 | 3 | 9 |
| 30 | 38 | 46 | 5 | 13 | 21 | 22 |
| 39 | 47 | 6 | 14 | 15 | 23 | 31 |
| 48 | 7 | 8 | 16 | 24 | 32 | 40 |
| 1 | 9 | 17 | 25 | 33 | 41 | 49 |
| 10 | 18 | 26 | 34 | 42 | 43 | 2 |
| 19 | 27 | 35 | 36 | 44 | 3 | 11 |
| 28 | 29 | 37 | 45 | 4 | 12 | 20 |
[243] The crescent, or crescent and star, are here used as emblems of the 1st day of the (lunar) month. [↑]
[244] The order should (it would seem) be Kala, S’ri. [↑]
[247] Possibly this notion is partly responsible for the ridiculous European legend about Muhammad’s coffin being suspended between heaven and earth, of which idea there seems to be no trace amongst the Muhammadans themselves. [↑]
[248] Another such indication is hair growing close to the ears. [↑]
[249] Double lines round the base of the thumb are called rĕtak madu. [↑]
[250] J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 9, pp. 23–26. [↑]
[251] An analysis of them would, however, show what objects are most generally aimed at by those who use them. It may be safely estimated that the sexual relations are here of the first importance, the majority of the charms having reference to them, directly or indirectly. [↑]
[252] Supra, pp. 49, 50. The methods here given are closely akin to those of medicine (v. pp. 452–456, supra); but the ends are different. The medical man always professes to aim at the cure of his patient, whereas here the intention is to cause harm to the person to be affected, or at least to acquire an influence over him for the operator’s own benefit or satisfaction (as in love-charms). [↑]
[253] For the colours of the cloth used, and the purport of the number seven, vide pp. 50, 51, supra. [↑]
[255] I class this with the instances of indirect contact (between the soul and the body of its owner), because there is no doubt whatever that the usual ingredients (clippings of hair, paring of nails, etc.) would have to be worked up with the wax, and that they are not mentioned, because understood. [↑]
[256] Generally called kabong when cultivated, or (h)ĕenau when wild (Arenga saccharifera, L., Palmeæ). [↑]
[257] Cp. the charm on p. 183, supra, and App. [lxxxiii]. [↑]
Bukan-nya aku mĕmbantai lilin
Aku mĕmbantai hati, jantong, limpa Si Anu.
Bukan-nya aku mĕnjamu sakalian yang lain,
Aku mĕnjamu hati, jantong, limpa Si Anu.
[260] Probably Ventilago leiocarpa, Benth. (Rhamneæ). [↑]
[261] The explanation of this ceremony is that the shadow is supposed in some way to embody or at least represent the soul. Thus the female reapers of the first ripe padi are specially enjoined to reap in a straight line facing the sun, so that their shadow may not fall upon the rice-soul in the basket at their sides (vide pp. 242–244, supra). No doubt the speaker’s shadow-soul is expected to fetch the woman’s body-soul, and the beating of the shadow-soul is perhaps purely ceremonial, to drive away evil influences from it, before it starts on its journey, but this latter suggestion is merely conjectural. The first line of the charm, however, in which the speaker addresses his shadow by name (Irupi) as he strikes it with the cane, points out most clearly the connection between the body-soul (or puppet-soul) and the shadow-soul, to which I have referred. The coverlet or white cloth is no doubt the soul-cloth, into which the woman’s soul is expected to enter when it arrives. [↑]
[263] Bukan-nya aku mĕmbawa detar, aku kandong sĕmangat Si Anu. [↑]
[264] Supra, pp. 47–54, 76, 77, 452–456, and under the headings Birds, Beasts, Vegetation, Minerals, etc. [↑]
APPENDIX
CHAPTER I
NATURE
Creation of the World
Introduction to Pawang’s Book[1] [Chap. i. p. [2].
Bahwa ini fasal pada menyatakan surat pawang yang pertama-tama katurunan deripada Nabi Allah Adam, dengan berkat muʿjizat Nabi kita Muhammad Rasul Allah sall’ Allahu ʿaleihi al-salam dengan berkat Dato’ Kathi Rabun Jalil, yang diam di Medinah yang sembahyang di Kaʿbat Allah dengan berkat Toh Sheikh Aʿalim Puteh yang bersandar di tiang ʿarash, yang tahu ’kan Lokh Mahpar yang menyuratkan dua kali mahshadat yang mengedap di pintu Kaʿbah serta dengan berkat Toh Saih Panjang Janggut yang diam di Beringin Sonsang serta dengan berkat Toh Kuning Maʿalim Jaya yang berdiam di Gunong Ledang dengan berkat Toh Puteh Sabun Mata yang diam di Gunong Berapi serta dengan berkat Toh Maʿalim Karimun yang berdiam di Pulau Karimun, serta dengan berkat Toh Lambang Lebar Daun yang diam di hulu Palembang di lembah Patawalau di bukit Saguntang-guntang tempat pinang beribut, dengan berkat Dang Pok Dang Leni, dengan berkat sakalian Wali Allah, dengan berkat Ibu serta Bapa, dengan berkat muʿjizat Bulan dan Matahari, dengan berkat Daulat Sultan Manikam yang diam di Puncha ʿArash, yang memegang sakalian benih anak Adam ia itulah ada-nya.
Tatkala Klam di-kandong Kabut, Kabut lagi di-kandong Klam, lagi didalam rahim hewanan Tuhan diam-diam aldiaman, Bumi belum bernama Bumi, Langit pun belum bernama Langit, Allah pun belum bernama Allah, Muhammad pun belum bernama Muhammad, ʿArash pun belum, Krusi pun belum, Samad awang-awang pun belum ada, maka sedia terjali dengan sendiri, yang jadikan sakalian ʿalamini, maka Ia-lah Pawang yang Tuha ada-nya. Maka jadikan Bumi itu sa-lebar dulang Langit sa-lebar payong, maka ia-itu ʿalam-nya Pawang ada-nya, maka datang-lah ia berahi sedia itu dengan sendiri-nya, maka terpanchar-lah sri manikam-nya itu di hati bumi sa-tapak [k]adam[2]itu, tersunjam tujoh petala Bumi, tersondak tujoh petala Langit, maka bergetoh-lah[3] tiang ʿarash, maka ia-itulah kuderat Pawang ada-nya.
Shahadan adalah asal-nya Pawang itu terlebeh dahulu deripada dahulu, ia-itulah Allah serta di-thahirkan-nya dengan chahia bulan dan matahari, maka ia-itu kanyata’an-nya pawang yang sabenar-benar-nya pawang ada-nya.
Menyatakan sri mana manikam itu menjadikan pusat Bumi tiang Kaʿbah, maka tumboh-lah ia di-ʿibaratkan sa-pohun kayu, di-namai kayu itu Kayu Rampak, Kayu Sinang, Kayu Langkah Langkapuri, kayu tumboh di halaman Allah maka ia-itulah tumboh-nya; dan ampat chawang kayu itu, dan sa-chawang bernama Sajeratul Mentahar, dan sa-chawang bernama Taubi, dan sa-chawang nama Khaldi, dan sa-chawang bernama Nasrun ʿAlam, sa-chawang ka [dak]sina, sa-chawang ka pa’sina, dan sa-chawang ka mashrik, dan sa-chawang ka maghrib, maka bharu-lah bernama ampat penjuru ʿalam.
Maka pusat Bumi itulah yang bernama Ular Sakatimuna, ia-lah yang memblit Bumi sa-tapak Nabi itu.[4]
Maka firman Allah taʿala didalam rahsia-nya kapada Jibrail “Palukan-lah aku Ular Sakatimuna itu, ambil uleh-mu besi tongkat Kalimah yang terjuntei di pintu Langit itu,” maka di ambil-lah besi itu serta di palukan-nya kapada ular itu maka putus dua ular itu, sa-k’rat kapala-nya ka-atas Langit menyentak naik, ekor-nya ka-bawah Bumi pun menyentak turun.
Dan kapala-nya itu menjadi Jin Sri ʿAlam, lidah-nya itu menjadi Jin Sakti, dan benih yang didalam mata-nya itu menjadi Jin Puteh; dan ruang-ruang mata-nya itu jadi Dato’ Mentala Guru, dan chahia mata-nya itu jadi sakalian Jin, Jin Hitam, Jin Hijau, Jin Biru, Jin Kuning, dan nyawa-nya itu jadi Si Raja Jin. Dan hati-nya itu jadi Lembaga Nyawa dan buah mata-nya itu menjadi limau dan tahi mata-nya itu menjadi kem’nyan; dan salupat mata-nya itu jadi kapas; dan hujut-nya itu jadi Jin Si Putar ʿAlam.
Dan prut-nya itu jadi Jin Si Lengkar ʿAlam dan jantong-nya itu jadi Jin Bentara ʿAlam, dan chahia manikam-nya itu menjadi Jin Gentar ʿAlam, dan suara-nya itu menjadi Halilintar ʿAlam, dan chahia pedang-nya jadi kilat. Dan hawa pedang itu menjadi tuju Si Raja Wana.
Dan pedang-nya itu menjadi plangi, dan hulu pedang jadi tunggul-nya, dan sengkang hulu pedang-nya itu menjadi bantal-nya; dan darah-nya itu jadi Mambang Kuning dan chahia darah-nya itu menjadi Mambang Sina; dan haba darah-nya itu jadi api.
Dan ruh-nya itu menjadi angin, dan jamjam-nya itu menjadi ayer. Dan mani-nya itu jadi bumi, dan sirmani-nya itu menjadi besi, dan bulu roma-nya itu menjadi rumput, dan rambut-nya itu menjadi kayu, dan ayer mata-nya itu menjadi hujan, dan ploh-nya itu menjadi ambun; dan sri mani-nya itu jadi padi, dan dirmani-nya itu menjadi ikan, dan darah pusat-nya itu jadi upas; dan penyakit datang deripada sir, penawar-nya datang deripada nur.
Maka inilah fasal yang ka-atas (langit).
Fasal ekor-nya yang ka-bawah itu menjadi tanah lembaga Adam, yang bharu, maka di-namai uri, tembuni, pusat, tentuban. Maka yang ampat inilah menjadi sakalian penyakit yang di-bawah. Dan darah-nya itu jatoh ka bumi menjadi Hantu Jembalang Puaka. Dan semangat uri tembuni pusat tentuban-nya itu jadi Polong Penanggal.
Dan bulu mata-nya itu menjadi Jin Bala Saribu. Waktu-nya saperti kilat manikam itu, ia-lah menjadi Mambang dan Dewa, dudok-nya didalam bulan dan matahari: maka sebab di-katakan dewa dan mambang ia-itu tiada mati, dan Toh Mambang Puteh itu dudok-nya dalam matahari, dan Toh Mambang Hitam dudok-nya dalam bulan. Dan jikalau ka laut di-katakan Mambang Tali Harus didalam-nya itu. Jikalau ka darat di-namakan ia Toh Jin Puteh Gĕmala ʿAlam, yang diam didalam matahari, maka Toh Jin Hitam Lembaga Adam, yang diam didalam bulan, maka dem’kian-lah aton-nya[5] Pawang sakalian-nya itu terhimpun kapada kalimah la ilaha, d. s. b.
Ampat Kuderat Pawang
Asal Jin Hantu, d. s. b.
| (1) | Asal Jin deripada pancharan manikam. | ||
| (2) |
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| (3) |
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[ii] Asal Kayangan
Inilah risik Sĕmar Hitam:—
Al-salam ʿaleikum, hei Jin Hitam,
Jembalang Tunggal, Jin Kuning,
Hei Jin Ishma[6] Allah Tunggal.
Tahu’kan asal-mu kaluar deripada bayang Allah mu yang bernama Isma Allah nama yang awal lagi yang dahulu; tatkala ashikkan[7] diri-mu bernama Jin Salenggang Bumi Tunggal rupa ’kan diri-mu maka ashikkan diri-mu bernama Raja Jin Sahabak mu tinggal rupa akan diri-mu ashikkan diri-mu di pintu langit yang pertama bernama nenek Bĕrumbung Sakti bertĕkak hitam berdarah puteh bertulang tunggal beroma songsang hulubalang yang asal maka tinggal rupa ’kan diri-mu masa maka jatoh deri atas pohun narun-narun[8] bernamakan Dewana maka datang uleh Suri Peri yang baik rupa-nya maka terpandang atipak uleh Dewana maka berchita si kaluar mani satitek maka chĕrah gilang gemilang maka terpandang uleh Suri Peri maka di-ambil uleh Suri Peri maka memiling[9] maka kaluar-lah anak ampat orang sa-hulu-hulu, sa-hilir-hilir akan Dewana tinggal rupa ’kan diri-nya maka mengashik akan diri-mu kamana jatoh ura-masa maka kembali-lah angkau rupa-mu bersipat dengan sipat yang kahar rupa angkau-mu sedia kala maka bernama Isma Allah tatkala sujud [kapada] Tuhan maka sakian lama minta menjadi negri kayang-kayangan, antara langit tudongan[10] bumi maka di-benar uleh Tuhan maka memohun kapada Tuhan maka hilang akan diri-nya dia ka-mana jatoh ura-masa, maka jatoh kapada awan yang kuning maka bernama Dewa Asal Yang Tunggal maka berikat tapa ʿumor dua-b’las tahun maka tinggal rupa[11] akan dirimu-nya, maka di-bangkitkan Aji Pesuna, maka tutup lambongan kiri, tutup lambongan kanan, tujoh-tujoh ekhlas; maka pandang sa-b’lah awun t’rus sa-b’lah awun, pandang sa-b’lah wetan t’rus sa-b’lah wetan, maka pandang sa-b’lah pipiran t’rus sa-b’lah pipiran, pandang sa-b’lah pagalan t’rus sa-b’lah pagalan pandang turun tujoh petala bumi t’rus tujoh petala bumi, pandang naik tujoh petala langit, t’rus tujoh petala langit maka di-jadikan satu hikmat maka di-jadikan satu negri kakayangan tujoh maka masokkan[12] diri-mu kamana jatoh ura masa jatoh didalam negri kakayangan, didalam negri ratna gading pĕtah tinggi mutu manikam maka di-jadikan Dewa Bentara ʿUmar di-tilek uleh Dewa Bentara ʿUmar aku sa-orang-orang diri maka di-jadikan Dewa Bentara Guru, maka di-tilek uleh Bentara Guru aku-lah Dewa Asa yang tunggal, Jin yang dahulu, Dewa yang asal, aku-lah mengakukan diri aku-lah sa-orang-orang Dewa asal yang tunggal cherah gilang gemilang, terlalu baik rupa-nya bersemayam terlalu malu akan Dewa yang katiga, maka sujud, maka lalu berpesan tinggal jikalau rosak didalam negri kakayangan di-sebut akan nama aku Isma Allah nama aku yang asal lagi dahulu, maka masokkan diri-mu kamana jatoh ura masa maka jatoh didalam awan yang hitam maka bernama Jin Sagebang Langit, sa-b’lah hidong mengidukan langit, sa-b’lah hidong mengidukan bumi, maka tinggal rupa akan diri-mu mengashik tatkala mutu-mutu ’kan ʿalam dunia maka bernama Jin Hitam Sa-halilintar, maka tinggal akan rupa diri-mu maka mengashik jadi mengambor naik ka kayangan tujoh maka di-tilek ampat penjuru ʿalam maka mengambor turun berikat tapa di-bawah baloh matahari jatoh bernamakan Ajai Biku Puteh maka di-tinggal rupa-mu mengashikkan diri-mu bernama Anak Jin Sakti ʿAlam tunggal maka berdiri di pintu langit sa-b’lah kaki berdiri di pintu bumi sa-b’lah kaki jatoh ka tanah Jawa maka bernama Alan Semar.
[1] Note.—It may be as well to observe generally that the Malay texts here given are often evidently corrupt, and that it has not always been found possible to suggest satisfactory emendations. A comparison of several different versions of each charm, etc. would be a necessary preliminary to the establishment of a really sound text. [↑]
[4] Newbold, op. cit. vol. ii. pp. 84 and 199. [↑]
[7] Qu. ʿashikkan, and so infra throughout this section. [↑]
[12] Em. Mengʿashikkan and so infra. [↑]
CHAPTER II
MAN AND HIS PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE
(a) Creation of Man
[iii] Asal Pawang [Chap. i. p. [4].
[Chap. ii. p. [19].
“Kun” kata Allah, payah[1] “kun” kata Muhammad:
Menjadi benih, benih jadi urat,
Urat jadi batang, batang jadi daun;
“Kun” kata Allah, payah[1] “kun” kata Muhammad:
Tanah sa-tapak pembahagian Tuhan,
Tanah sa-tapak didalam Tuhan;
Ada Bumi, ada Langit,
Kechil Bumi sagelang dulang,
Kechil Langit sagelang payong.
Bertitah Allah taʿala:
“Jangan angkau engkar Jibrail,
Pergi ambil hati Bumi.”
Ta’ dapat ambil hati Bumi:
“Aku ta’ kasih” kata Bumi.
Pergi mendapat Nabi Israfil,
Ta’ dapat juga ambil hati Bumi.
Pergi mendapat ʿIjrail,[2]
Tiada juga dapat hati Bumi.
Pergi mendapat ʿIjrail,[3]
Bharu-lah dapat hati Bumi.
Sudah dapat hati Bumi bergunchang ʿarash dengan krusi
Dengan sagala ʿalam.
Dapat hati Bumi di-buat-nya lembaga Adam,
Menjadi kras pula hati Bumi itu.
Ayer pula masok lampau lembut pula,
Masok api, bharu di-tĕmpa lembaga Adam.
Sudah-lah bangkit lembaga Adam,
Minta nyawa kapada Allah taʿala.
Bri-nya nyawa Allah taʿala, bersin-lah
Allah taʿala, redam-lah lembaga Adam.
Balik membuat lembaga Adam;
Menyuroh Allah taʿala ambil besi Khersani,
Di-lantakkan di blakang, menjadi tiga puloh tiga tulang,
Di-atas besi yang tua, yang muda di-bawah.
Besi yang tua tersundak ka langit,
Besi muda tertunjam ka bumi.
Sudah bernyawa lembaga Adam
Tinggal didalam shurga,
Di-tengok-nya mĕrak chantek bukan kapalang,
Tiba malaikat Jibrail:
“Ya malaikat Jibrail, aku sa’orang diri,
Murah lagi berdua, aku minta bini.”
Bertitah Allah taʿala, “Suroh-lah Adam
Sembahyang suboh dua rakaʿat,”
Sembahyang-lah Adam, turun-lah
Baba Hawa, di-tangkap-nya Nabi Adam
Belum chukup sembahyang, di-ambil balik.
Maka sembahyang hajat dua rakaʿat,
Habis di-dapat-lah Baba Hawa:
Sudah nikah, sakali beranak
Berdua, sampei ampat puloh ampat anak.
Maka anak pun kahwin, chantek sama chantek,
Burok sama burok.
Uri anak yang sulong Dato’ Petala Guru
Jadi bijeh:
Darah-nya jadi amas nur Allah.
Maka anak-nya Dato’ Gemalakim[4] tinggal di langit,
Itulah Pawang yang Tua,
Yang ka’ampat kita.
[iv]
A’uzu billahi min al-sheitani ’l-rajimi. Bismillahi ’l-rahmani ’l-rahimi. Adapun angin bertiup, ombak berpalu, ʿarash bĕlum bernama ʿarash, kursi belum bernama kursi, tanah satapak pĕmbĕri Tuhan kita singga(h) tanah terbalik sahĕlei akar putus sabatang kayu rĕbah, maka ada pawang di-jadikan Allah taʿala, “Kun” kata Allah, paya “Kun” kata Muhammad, ada Langit, ada Bumi, di-jadikan Allah taʿala, maka bertitah Allah subhana wa taʿala kapada Jibrail [suroh pergi mengambil hati Bumi, maka Jibrail pun] sudah pergi tidak dapat; kemdian Jibrail balik mengadap Tuhan mengatakan tidak dapat, kemdian bertitah Allah taʿala kapada Mikail menyuroh mengambil hati Bumi warna-nya puteh; kemdian Mikail pun tidak dapat juga, kemdian bertitah Allah subhana wa taʿala kapada Israfil, menyuroh mengambil hati Bumi warna-nya puteh, kemdian Israfil pun tidak dapat juga; kemdian bertitah Allah subhana wa taʿala dengan merka-nya kemdian lalu bertitah Allah subhana wa taʿala kapada ʿIjrail menyuroh mengambil hati Bumi kemdian ʿIjrail pun lalu-lah pergi. Kemdian apakala sampei kapada Bumi maka ʿIjrail pun lalu membĕri salam kapada Bumi maka kata-nya “Al-salam ʿaleikum, Ya Bumi!” dan Bumi pun menyahut “W’ʿaleykum salam, wa rahmat Allah, wa bertuah, ya ʿIjrail!” Kemdian ʿIjrail pun berchakap kapada Bumi “Aku ini datang kapada angkau, aku di-titahkan uleh Allah subhana wa taʿala mengambil hati angkau,” kemdian di-jawab uleh Bumi “Aku tidak kasih, karna aku Allah taʿala yang membuat dan jikalau angkau ambil hati aku tentu aku mati,” Kemdian marah ʿIjrail “Jikalau angkau kasih-pun aku ambil juga, dan jikalau angkau tidak kasih-pun aku mengambil juga,” kemdian ʿIjrail-pun menolakkan Bumi dengan tangan kanan-nya, dan tangan kiri-nya menchapei hati Bumi lalu di-dapat-nya, bĕtul juga warna-nya puteh. Kemdian ʿIjrail pun lalu mengadap Allah subhana wa taʿala menyembahkan hati Bumi; kemdian sudah di-tĕrima Allah subhana wa taʿala hati Bumi itu, kemdian maka di-panggil Allah taʿala Jibrail, kemdian Jibrail pun datang mengadap Allah subhana wa taʿala, kemdian bertitah Allah subhana wa taʿala kapada Jibrail “Angkau tĕmpa lembaga Adam itu;” kemdian Jibrail handak menĕmpa lembaga Adam tidak buleh jadi sĕbab kĕras, kemdian bertitah Allah subhana wa taʿala “Buboh ayer,” maka Jibrail lalu di-buboh ayer, kemdian terlalu banyak ayer jadi chayer pula, kemdian Jibrail pun pergi mengadap Allah subhana wa taʿala menyembahkan terlalu chayer, maka bertitah Allah subhana wa taʿala kapada Jibrail “Buboh api,” kemdian lalu-lah Jibrail mĕnĕmpa lembaga Adam. Kemdian sudah jadi Adam, kemdian Jibrail pun pergi mengadap Allah subhana wa taʿala memintakan nyawa lembaga Adam, kemdian di-bri Allah taʿala nyawa kapada Jibrail dan Jibrail pun pĕgang dengan tangan kanan nyawa lembaga Adam dan nyawa Siti Hawa di-sablah tangan kiri, kemdian sampei di tengah jalan di-buka Jibrail tangan kiri-nya kemdian nyawa Siti Hawa balik kapada Allah subhana wa ta’ala dan nyawa lembaga Adam lalu di-hinggapkan kapada ubun-ubun lembaga Adam nyawa itu, lalu-lah hidup lembaga Adam kemdian Siti Hawa pun sudah jadi, kemdian lalu-lah kahwin lembaga Adam sama Siti Hawa, kemdian lalu hamil Siti Hawa lama-nya sambilan bulan, kemdian lalu beranak, kemdian gĕlap gulita tidak tampak handak mengrat pusat anak Adam itu, kemdian lalu Adam mengambil serban-nya lalu di-kĕbaskan kapada anak-nya, lalu-lah trang: itulah asal terbit badi kapada anak Adam, dan uri-nya anak Adam itu di-timbunkan didalam tanah, dan itulah asal jadi bijeh, dan chahia-nya anak Adam itu jadi intan, dan darah-nya anak Adam itu jadi amas.
Adapun terbuat Pawang itu kapada lembaga Adam adapun sahabat lembaga Adam itu ampat orang, nomber satu nama Kedus, nomber dua nama Kedim, nomber tiga nama Kempas, nomber ampat nama Merjan—itulah ampat orang asal Pawang yang di-jadikan Allah subhana wa taʿala.
Dan yang nomber satu, dia-nya tinggal di hulu ayer; dan yang nomber dua tinggal di-sablah matahari hidup; dan yang nomber tiga tinggal di-sablah matahari mati, dan yang nomber ampat tinggal didalam lautan.
(1) Anak Pawang Hutan; (2) anak Pawang [?]; (3) anak Pawang Rusa; (4) anak Pawang Bijeh. Maka anak sakalian Pawang-Pawang melainkan di-satu-lah[5] terbit (?) dan taʿlok-nya, dan itulah Pawang yang di-turunkan Allah subhana wa taʿala ada-nya.
[v] (b) Sanctity of the Body [Chap. ii. p. [23].
It is impossible for want of space to give illustrations of this subject other than those quoted in the text.
For further details, vide inter alia Leyden, Malay Annals, pp. 20–24, 95–107; Newbold, British Settlements in the Straits of Malacca, vol. ii. pp. 83–86, 176, 178; J.R.A.S., S.B. No. 9, pp. 87–89; J.R.A.S., S.B. No. 28, pp. 67–72.
(c) The Soul
Invocations to the Soul [Chap. ii. p. [47].
[vi] Mengalih semangat [Chap. vi. p. [454].
Al-salam ʿaleikum hei Ruh yang berusoh[6] yang berasal
Mari Ruh kamari,
Mari Kechil kamari,
Mari Burong kamari,
Mari Halus kamari,
Mari, aku dudok puja mu
Mari, aku dudok melambei mu
Balik kapada rumah tangga mu
Kapada lantei sudah jongkat-jongkatan,
Atap sudah bintang-bintangan
Jangan angkau berkechil hati
Jangan angkau berkechil rasa
Jangan angkau mengambil salah
Jangan angkau mengambil sileh.
Aku dudok puja mu
Aku dudok hela mu
Aku dudok sru mu
Aku dudok lambei mu
Mari pada waktu ini, mari pada katika ini.
[vii] Riang Semangat [Chap. ii. p. [48].
[Chap. vi. p. [455].
Kur! Semangat Si Anu ini yang sakit,
Kembali-lah kamu ka-dalam salerang tuboh Si Anu ini
Ka rumah tangga kampong ’laman,
Ka mak bapa, sarong kamu.
[viii] Another Version [Chap. ii. p. [50].
[Chap. vi. p. [454].
Kur, semangat-semangat Si Anu yang ka-tujoh,
Balik-lah kamu ka rumah tangga sendiri,
Inilah mak bapa ’kau datang memanggil,
Ka rumah tangga, kampong ’laman,
Mengadap ka mak bapa, ka kaum kalurga:
Jangan ’kau sara-bara,
Pulang ka rumah-’kau sendiri.
[ix]
The Malays believe that it is very bad for one to be awakened suddenly, and even when one coolie is waking another, he does so with the greatest gentleness, calling him softly by his name in an ever varying tone until he has succeeded in awaking him. Rajas and Chiefs are never aroused until they wake naturally. The European passion of being called in the morning is regarded by the Malays as only one more symptom of the madness which is known to possess these people.[7]
[3] i.e. ʿAzrail: so infra in iv. [↑]
[4] Em. Kemalu-’l-hakim, i.e. Lukmanu-’l-hakim. [↑]
[7] Hikayat Raja Budiman, Part ii. No. 3, p. 35, Publications of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. For other charms connected with the Soul vide infra Chap. VI. esp. secs, ccxiii, ccxiv, cclxv, cclxxv. [↑]
CHAPTER III
RELATIONS WITH THE SUPERNATURAL WORLD
The Magician
[x] ʿIsharat Pawang [Chap. iii. p. [56].
The Pawang’s Shibboleth
Ashahadu Allah ilaha-illa-’llah
Wa ashadu anna Muhammadu-’l-rasul Allah.
Ya saudara-ku Jibrail, Mikail, Israfil, ʿAzrail,
Angkau berampat berlima dengan aku
Aku dudok di Krusi Allah
Aku bersandar di tiang ʿArash
Aku bertongkatkan di pusat tiang Ka’bah,
Tembuni akan alas-ku.
Hak Bumi, satahan Bumi, sengga Langit
Ya Allah arastu rabi-ku
La-ilaha-illa-’llah ya pata
Lul-uyu-bi-’l-athim
La-ilaha, d.s.b.
[xi] Pendinding Pawang
Hei S’ri ʿAlam, Si Gentar ʿAlam
Sheikh ʿAlam, Dato’ Si Putar ʿAlam,
Yang diam di kandang besi puteh ampat penjuru ʿalam:
Yang diam di kandang hulubalang ampat penjuru ʿalam:
Hu tidor di-luar, liput chahia ensan,
Ensan tidor di-luar, liput chahia Hu.[1]
Ghaib-lah aku di-dalam kandang kalimah
La-ilaha-illa-’llah: Hu!
Nature of Rites
[xii] Invocation to the Spirit of Incense [p. [75].
Zabur Hijau nama-nya kem’nyan,
Zabur Bajang nama-nya abu-’kau,
Zabur Puteh nama-nya asap-’kau,
Daki Rasul Allah asal ’kau jadi;
Asap dikau tujoh Petala Bumi,
Asap dikau tujoh Petala Langit,
’Kan penyĕru sagala ruh yang sakti yang kramat,
Ruh aulia Allah, yang diam di galang-gang matahari,
Yang berulang ka Kaʿbat Allah,
’Kan pemanggil aulia Allah,
Yang diam di Pintu Lawang Langit,
Yang berulang ka Intan Puteh
Dahulu[2] Misir, petang dan pagi,
Tahu menghidupkan ranting yang mati
Tahu mengembang bunga yang layu,
Tahu menjawatkan kata Allah,
Dengan berkat la-ilaha-illa-’llah,
Muhammad Rasul Allah.
[xiii] Rice Paste Invocations and Charms [p. [81].
(a) Tepong tawar, tepong jati,
Katiga dengan tepong Kadangsa,
Jikalau buleh kahandak hati
Jangan sakit, jangan mati,
Jangan chachat, jangan binasa.
(The tepong tawar is made of rice-flour and water with pounded leaves of selaguri and sambau dara mixed up in it. The brush is censed first at the bottom and then at the top before being used to sprinkle the tepong tawar.)
(b) Tepong tawar, tepong jati,
Katiga dengan tepong Kadangsa,
Naik-lah ’mas berkati-kati,
Naik-lah wang be-ribu laksa.
(c) Tepong tawar, tepong jati,
Tepong tawar sa-mula jadi,
Barang ’ku chinta, aku peruleh,
Barang yang di-pint samua-nya dapat.
(d) Tepong tawar, tepong jati,
Kerakap tumboh di batu,
Allah menawar, Muhammad men-jampi,
Gunong runtoh di-riba aku.
Bukan aku yang punya tepong tawar,
Toh Sheikh Puteh Gigi yang punya tepong tawar;
Bukan aku yang punya tepong tawar,
Dato’ La’ailbau yang punya tepong tawar;
Bukan aku yang punya tepong tawar,
Dato’ Betala Guru yang punya tepong tawar:
Kabul Allah, d.s.b.
(e) Ini ʿisharat menurunkan padi; maka tepong tawar: dahulu pertama ambil daun ati-ati daun gandarusa daun ribu-ribu daun sadingin daun sipuleh dan tanah liat puteh: ini tawar-nya:—
Tepong tawar, tepong jati,
Dapat amas berkati-kati,
Aku menepong tawar bĕras padi
Sudah berisi maka menjadi.
[1] Bunyi nafas yang masok “Allah,” bunyi nafas yang kaluar “Hu,” kata orang Malayu. [↑]
CHAPTER IV
THE MALAY PANTHEON
[xiv] Gods [Chap. iv. p. [88].
List of Mythical and Religious Terms[1]
| English. | Malay. |
| A god, a deity. | Dewa, dewata. |
| A goddess. | Dewi. |
| A great god. | Batara. |
| Vishnu(?) | Batara Guru. |
| Vishnu. | Bisnu. |
| Durga. | Durga. |
| Varuna. | Baruna. |
| Yama. | Batara Yama. |
| Buddha. | Buda. |
| Brahmin. | Brahmana. |
| Spiritual guide. | Guru. |
| God. | Tuhan, Allah. |
| Praise, adoration. | Puji, puja. |
| Heaven. | Swarga. |
| Hell. | Naraka, Patala. |
| The soul. | Nyawa. |
| Fast. | Puwasa. |
| Idol. | Brahala. |
| Astrology. | Panchalima. |
| Astrologer. | Satrawan. |
| Charm, spell. | Guna, ubat, mantra. |