Plate 23.—Fig. 1. Hanuman.
Hanuman, the monkey-god, used by ’Che ʿAbas in the shadow-play of S’ri Rama (the Malay Ramayana).
Fig. 2. Pauh Janggi and crab.
The Pauh Janggi or coco-de-mer, used by ’Che ʿAbas in the shadow-play. At the foot of it is seen the gigantic crab which is believed to be the cause of the tides.
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The puppets for these shadow-plays are usually cut out of deer-skin (not buffalo hide) and it is worth remarking that they are all considered to be more or less animated; a stringent propitiatory ceremony has to be performed in their honour, incense being burnt and rice scattered about, just as in the Ma’yong ceremony already described.
The present writer, while in Selangor, bought from a Kelantan Malay named ’Che ʿAbas, a performer of shadow-plays, his entire stock-in-trade, including not only his musical instruments (amongst which were some curious drums called gĕdu and gĕdombak), but also his candle (with its shade), the rice used for the ceremony, and his entire stock of shadow-pictures, all of which are now in the Cambridge Museum.
The following classification of the more important kinds of theatrical performances, which was drawn up for the present writer by ’Che Hussein of Penang, the actor of whom mention has already been made, may be of interest, and will serve to indicate briefly their several characteristic features, though it does not profess to be absolutely exhaustive:—