We have little information bearing upon the origin and history of these Kayan gods. But a few remarks may be ventured. The names of many of the minor deities are proper personal names in common use among the Kayans or allied tribes, such as JU, BALARI, ANYI, IVONG, URAI, UKA; and the title LAKI, by which several of them are addressed, is the title of respect given to old men who are grandfathers. These facts suggest that these minor gods may be deified ancestors of great chiefs, and this suggestion is supported by the following facts: —
First, a recently deceased chief of exceptional capacity and influence becomes not infrequently the object of a certain cult among Klemantans and Sea Dayaks. Men will go to sleep beside his grave or tomb, hoping for good dreams and invoking the aid of the dead chief in acquiring health, or wealth, or whatever a man most desires. Sea Dayaks sometimes fix a tube of bamboo leading from just above the eyes of the corpse to the surface of the ground; they will address the dead man with their lips to the orifice of the tube, and will drop into it food and drink and silver coins. A hero who is made the object of such a cult is usually buried in an isolated spot on the crest of a hill; and such a grave is known as RARONG.
Secondly, all Kayans, men and women alike, invoke in their prayers the aid of ODING, LAHANGand his intercession with LAKI TENANGAN. That they regard the former as having lived as a great chief is clearly proved by the following facts: firstly, many Kayans of the upper class claim to, be his lineal descendants; secondly, a well-known myth,[98] of which several variants are current, describes his miraculous advent to the world; thirdly, he is regarded by Kayans, Kenyahs, and many Klemantans as the founder of their race.
The Kenyahs also invoke in their prayers several spirits who seem, like ODIN LAHANG, to be regarded as deceased members of their tribe; such are TOKONG and UTONG, and PA BALAN and PLIBAN. From all these descent is claimed by various Kenyah and Klemantan sub-tribes; and that they are regarded as standing higher in the spiritual hierarchy than recently deceased chiefs, is shown by the prefix BALI,[99] commonly given to their names, whereas this title or designation is not given to recently deceased chiefs; to their names the word URIP is prefixed by both Kayans and Kenyahs. The word URIP, means life or living; the exact meaning of this prefix in this usage is obscure, possibly it expresses the recognition that the men spoken of are, though dead, still in some sense alive.
A further link in this chain of evidence is afforded by the Kenyah god of thunder, BALINGO. This spirit, it would seem, must be classed among the departmental deities, being strictly the Kenyah equivalent of LAKI BALARI of the Kayans; and all the Kenyahs and many Klemantans seem to claim some special relation to BALINGO,[100] while one Madang (Kenyah) chief at least claims direct descent from him.[101]
The last mentioned instance completes the series of cases forming a transition from the well remembered dead chief to the departmental deity, the existence of which series lends colour to the view that these minor gods have been evolved from deceased chiefs. The weakness of this evidence consists in the fact that the series of cases is drawn from a number of tribes, and is not, so far as we know, completely illustrated by the customs or beliefs of any one tribe.
There is, then, some small amount of evidence indicating that the minor gods are deified ancestors, whose kinship with their worshippers has been forgotten completely in some cases, less completely in others. If this supposition could be shown to be true, it would afford a strong presumption in favour of the view that LAKI TENANGAN also has had a similar history, and that he is but PRIMUS INTER PARES. For among the Kayans, as we have seen, a large village acknowledges a supreme chief as well as the chiefs of the several houses of the village; and in the operations of war on a large scale, a supreme war chief presides over a council of lesser chiefs. And it is to be expected that the social system of the superior powers should be modelled upon that of the people who acknowledge them.
On the other hand, none of the facts, noted in connection with the minor gods as indicating their ancestral origin, are found to be true of LAKI TENANGAN, except only his bearing the title LAKI, which, as we have seen, is the title by which a man is addressed as soon as he becomes a grandfather. The name TENANGAN is not a proper name borne by any Kayans, nor, so far as we know, does it occur amongst the other peoples. LAKI in Malay means a male. The name is possibly connected with the Kayan word TENANG which means correct, or genuine. The termination AN is used in several instances in Malay (though not in Kayan) to make a substantive of an adjective. The name then possibly means — he who is correct or all-knowing; but this is a very speculative suggestion.
It is possible that the Kayans owe their conception of a supreme god to their contact. with the Mohammedans. But this is rendered very improbable by the facts: firstly, that the Kayans have had such intercourse during but a short period in Borneo, probably not more than 300 years, (though they may have had such intercourse at an earlier period before entering Borneo); secondly, that among the Sea Dayaks, who have had for at least 150 years much more abundant intercourse with the Mohammedans of Borneo than the Kayans have had, the conception has not taken root and has not been assimilated.
The Kenyah gods and the beliefs and practices centering about them are very similar to those of the Kayans. This people also recognises a principal god or Supreme Being, whose name is BALI PENYLONG, and a number of minor deities presiding over special departments of nature and human life. The Kenyahs recognise the following minor deities: BALI ATAP protects the house against sickness and attack, and is called upon in cases of madness to expel the evil spirit possessing the patient. A rude wooden image of him stands beside the gangway leading to the house from the river's brink; it holds a spear in the right hand, a shield in the left; it carries about its neck a fringed collar made up of knotted strips of rattan; the head of each room ties on one such strip, making on it a knot for each member of his roomhold. Generally a wooden image of a hawk, BALI FLAKI, stands beside it on the top of a tall pole.