Shaman, Saiva and Sufi

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SHAMAN, SAIVA AND SUFI
A STUDY OF THE EVOLUTION OF MALAY MAGIC
BY
R. O. WINSTEDT, M.A., D.LITT.(OXON.)
MALAYAN CIVIL SERVICE
CONSTABLE 8 COMPANY LTD.
LONDON - BOMBAY - SYDNEY
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PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BV ROBERT MACELHOSE AND CO. LTD,
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, GLASGOW
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PREFACE
THis hook is the outcome ol a close study ol the lanuae and heliels ol the Malays durin a
period ol residence in the Malay Peninsula that has now reached twenty-two years. Its ohject is to
unravel a complex system ol maic in the liht ol historical and comparative data. By itsell this
system is a tanle every thread ol which scholars workin in Europe are led to term Malay,
althouh even the native distinuishes this thread as Indian and that as Muslim. Chapters i.-iv.
deal with the Malay's evolution lrom animist to Muslim, chapters v. and vi. with his animism,
chapters vii. and viii. with his shamanism, chapter ix. with rites larely inlected with Hindu
maic, and chapters x. and xi. with Muslim accretions.
Like all writers on this suhject I am indehted to the classical works ol Tylor, Irazer, and evons,
and particularly to the articles hy specialists on the maic ol dillerent races and laith in Hastins'
Enc,c|opoeJio o| Pe|iion onJ Ei|ics. Workin lar away lrom an adequate lihrary, I have lound
this Encyclopaedia ol incalculahle value.
Chapters iv., vi. and viii. are hased almost entirely on manuscripts written down lor me hy Malays
and checked hy my own ohservation. The chapter on Maician and Muslim is lounded on
Malay lithoraphed texts and on a manuscript maico-reliious treatise ohtained hy Dr. Gimlette
in Kelantan and kindly lent hy him to me. The same manuscript and an old Perak court charm-
hook have heen used lor the chapters on The Malay Charm and Maician and Mystic. Papers
on Malay charms, on hirth and marriae ceremonies, on the ritual ol the rice-lield and the ritual
ol propitiatin the spirits ol a district have appeared lrom my pen in the 1ovrno| o| i|e FeJeroieJ
Mo|o, Sioies Mvsevms, and should he in the hands ol those who wish to study oriinal sources
and vernacular terms. I owe a deht to the authors ol many articles printed in the Siroiis (now
Mo|o,on) Bronc| o| i|e Po,o| Asioiic Sociei,, to Dr. Gimlette's Malay Poisons onJ C|orms, to
Foscicv|i Mo|o,enses hy Messrs. Annandale 8 Rohinson, and ahove all to that assiduous collector,
Mr. W. W. Skeat, the author ol Mo|o, Moic. Not to hurden my paes with lootnotes I ive
detailed relerences and authorities lor each chapter in an appendix.
I would remind Malay readers that every race has its lumher-room ol maical heliels and
practices, and many such survivals are racious and heautilul and lull ol historical interest. It is to
he hoped that the rapid inllux ol modern ideas will not wash away too many ol the landmarks ol
their complex and ancient civilisation.
I have to thank Mr. C. O. Bladen, Reader in Malay at the School ol Oriental Studies, London,
and Che' Zainal-Ahidin hin Ahmad ol the Sultan Idris Collee, Perak, lor readin this work in
manuscript, the lormer has made many uselul suestions and the latter iven me valuahle
material.
SINGAPORE,qa.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREIACE
. INTRODUCTION
II. GODS, SPIRITS AND GHOSTS.
(a) Primitive Gods
(h) Siva and the Hindu Gods
(c) Good and Evil Spirits ol Dead Mortals
(d) Primitive Spirits, Iairies and Ghosts
(e) Anels and Devils ol Islam
(l) inn
III. THE MALAY MAGICIAN
IV. THE MALAY CHARM
V. THE SOUL OI THINGS
VI. THE RITUAL OI THE RICE-IIELD
VII. THE SHAMAN'S SEANCE
VIII. THE SHAMAN'S SACRIIICE
IX. MAGIC AND MAN.
(a) Birth and Inlancy
(h) Adolescence
(c) Betrothal and Marriae
(d) Death
(e) Installation Ceremonies
X. MAGICIAN AND MUSLIM
XI. MAGICIAN AND MYSTIC
AUTHORITIES AND REIERENCES
INDEX
I. INTRODUCTION
THIS hook deals with the maic ol the Muslim Malays ol the Crown Colony ol the Straits
Settlements, comprisin Sinapore, Penan and Malacca, ol the Iederated Malay States, Perak,
Selanor, Neri Semhilan and Pahan, ol the Unlederated Malay States, ohore, Kedah, Kelantan
and Trenanu, and ol Patani, a northern Malay State helonin to Siam.
The Malay Peninsula is the most southern extremity ol the continent ol Asia. It has the reion ol
Indo-China to the north. South lies the Malay Archipelao. It stands midway hetween India and
China. Nature has laid it open to many inlluences, thouh students not presented with the
evidence ol eoraphy, anthropoloy and history are apt to speak as il Malay maic were unique
and indienous.
The lanuae helons to the Malayo-Polynesian or Oceanic or Austronesian lamily, which ohtains
lrom Iormosa to New Zealand and lrom Madaascar to Easter Island. To the eastern hranch
helon the lanuaes ol Samoa, Tahiti and Tona. To the western hranch helon Malay, Malaasy,
and lanuaes ol the Philippines, Sumatra, ava, Borneo and Celehes. This latter hranch is termed
Indonesian, rather unlortunately, since lor anthropoloists the word delines a particular physical
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strain lound in the Bataks ol Sumatra, the Dayaks ol Borneo and the Torajas ol Celehes.
The typical civilised Indonesian peoples, Malays and avanese, are variants ol a Proto-Malay race
with Indian, Arah and other lorein admixtures. In that Proto-Malay race, whatever else may he
its components, there is a Monoloid strain.
In the south ol the Peninsula, the hullet-headed straiht-haired Proto-Malays are represented hy
junle-trihes known enerally as akun and specilically as Biduanda in Neri Semhilan, Blanda in
Selanor, and Mantra In Malacca. The coastal trihes are termed Oran Laut, or Men ol the Sea,
and lorm a link hetween the Proto-Malays ol the Peninsula and those ol the Riau Archipelao
and Sumatra, their oriinal home.
Another ahoriinal lorest-dweller is the wavyhaired lon-headed Sakai, supposed mainly on
linuistic rounds to have come down lrom Indo-China and on anthropoloical rounds to he
related to the Veddas ol Ceylon. A hranch ol this trihe, the Besisi, have intermarried lreely with
the akun.
Oldest ol all Malaya's inhahitants are the Seman and Panan ol the north, small dark lrizzy-
haired Neritos, thouht to he related to the Aetas ol the Philippines and the Mineopies ol the
Andamans.
Already at the heinnin ol the Christian era Indian reliions, the caste system and overnment hy
rajahs had heen introduced into ava and into Sumatra, whence most ol the Malays ol the
Peninsula came, and Indian inlluence spread in a less deree throuhout the Archipelao even as
lar as the Philippines. The old Malay kindom ol Palemhan in Sumatra introduced Mahayana
Buddhism into ava and had a vaue suzerainty over the Malay Peninsula lor several centuries,
until in the thirteenth the modern Siamese ained control in the north and Islam a permanent
hold in the south. A Buddhist inscription lrom Province Wellesley opposite Penan (in the
southern Indian style ol writin lound In West ava) dates hack to cc A.D. But in Malaya, as in
ava, the reliion ol Siva retained a lootin until the advent ol Islam.
II. GODS, SPIRITS AND GHOSTS
(a) PRIMITIVE GODS
THE Mantra, a Proto-Malay trihe, claim to he descended lrom Mertan, the lirst maician, who
was the child ol two persons called Drop ol Water and Clod ol Earth. In the Moluccas the earth
is a lemale deity, who in the west monsoon is imprenated hy Lord Sun-Heaven. The Torajas in
Celehes helieved in two supreme powers, the Man and the Maiden, that is, the sun and the earth.
The Dayaks ol Borneo hold that the sun and the earth created the world. The terms, Iather Sky
and Mother Earth, occur in the Malay ritual ol the rice-year, at the openin ol mines and ol
theatrical shows and in the invocations ol the Kelantan shaman. A Kelantan account relates that
sun and earth once had human lorm, sun the lorm ol a man and earth the lorm ol a woman,
whose milk may he traced in the tin-ore ol Malaya and whose hlood is now old. Actors in the
north ol the Malay Peninsula say that the earth spirit, whom actors lear, is the dauhter ol
Seretan || Booh, who sits in the sun and uides the winds, and ol San Siuh, the mother ol the
earth, who sits at the navel ol the world. Many reliions at once unite and dissociate the lruitlul
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earth and the loomy underworld. But as Malay drama came lrom India, this northern tradition
may he a corruption ol Hindu mytholoy. By some Malay actors Raja Siu, lord ol the surlace ol
the earth, is invoked alon with Siva, and the name is perhaps a corruption ol Siva. Anyhow, in
time Siva and Sri usurped the place ol Iather Sky (or Iather Water, as he is sometimes called)
and ol Mother Earth in the Malay pantheon, and to-day even the existence ol these two primitive
ods has heen lorotten.
The study ol early cults shows that the place ol a sky-od tends later to he taken hy ods ol the
sun, the moon and the stars. So in some ancient layer ol Malay heliels helore the introduction ol
Saivism, the white spirit ol the sun, the hlack spirit ol the moon, and the yellow spirit ol sunset
may have heen important, seein that they have Indonesian names (mombon), have heen
incorporated into the Malay's Hindu pantheon, and have survived under Islam as humhle enies.
The lishermen alon the west ol the Peninsula sacrilice to lour reat spirits (also called
mombon) who o hy many names hut whose scope is always the same. One is the spirit ol the
hays, another
|. A dialect lorm ol Sultan.|
that ol hanks or heaches, another that ol headlands, and last and liercest is the spirit ol tideways
and currents. Three ol these hear primitive names used hy the Proto-Malays. The spirit ol the
tides is lamous. The spirit ol the hays is mentioned as a hlack enie and the spirit ol headlands as
a white. Was there oriinally a lourth spirit: To the three Proto-Malay names yet another, not
convincinly authentic, is sometimes added. But only three ol the lour hear Sanskrit names. And
the modern namin ol lour spirits alter the Archanels may he due to the likin ol the Malay
Muslim pantheist lor that numher.
It is uncertain, too, il the primitive Malays, like the people ol Madaascar and Celehes, helieved
in lour ods ol the air in chare ol the quarters ol the lohe. In Bali Indian inlluence ave these
ods Hindu names, and three are still worshipped there as lorms ol Siva. One Peninsular charm
speaks ol the lour children ol Siva who live at the corners ol the world. A Perak charm
descrihes Berana Kala as the spirit ol the West, San Beor as the spirit ol the East, San Deor
as the spirit ol the North, and San Rana Gempita as the spirit ol the South. But enerally the
lour corners ol the world are held to he in chare ol lour Shaikhs, ol whom the most olten
mentioned, 'Ahdu'I-Qadir, is prohahly the lounder ol the lamous order ol Muslim mystics.
A Malay knows ol Vayu under the name ol Bayu. But when with arms akimho, loosened hair,
and head-cloth streamin over his shoulder, the sailor whistled to the Raja ol the Wind, he may
have heen invokin not Vayu hut some indienous spirit or the Prophet Solomon, to whom Allah
ave dominion over the hreezes ol heaven.
In the Malay pantheon there is a mysterious hlack Awan, addressed hy actors as kin ol the
earth, who walks alon the veins ol the earth and sleeps at its ate. Apparently, therelore, he is
identilied with Siva, and this identilication, il correct, suests a hih place lor this lorotten
liure ol some early cult. But in a Proto-Malay charm to propitiate the aloresaid spirits ol the sea,
Warrior Awan liures as their servant, who climhs the mast ol a ship in distress, a youn man
with hairy chest, red eyes, hlack skin and lrizzy hair. A Kelantan charm, also, depicts him as a
haunter ol lorest underrowth, a span in heiht, with hald temples, lrizzy hair, red eyes, white
teeth, hroad chest, and leet and hands disliured with skin disease. This is a ood picture ol a
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Nerito, memher ol the oldest race in Malaysia, hut it may he a posthumous description as
applied to this od or odlin ol a primitive cult, who rides the storm and can cause aue and
disease.
(b) SIVA AND THE HINDU GODS
A white enie, jewel ol the world, lives in the sun and uards the ates ol the sky. He has a
hrother, with seven heads, kin ol all the jinn. This white enie is entitled Maharaja Dewa, a
Malay corruption ol Mahadeva, the hlue-throated Siva. The distinction hetween this white enie
and his hlack hrother, who lives in the moon, is sometimes ohliterated, as in the invocation used
when openin the stae lor a mo',on play.--Peace he upon Mother Earth and Iather Sky' ...
Peace he upon thee, Black Awan, kin ol the earth' ... Peace he upon the hlessed saints at the
lour corners ol the world' ... Peace he upon my randsire, Batara Guru, the lirst ol teachers, who
hecame incarnate when the hody was lirst created, teacher who livest as a hermit in the moon,
teacher who rulest in the circle ol the sun, teacher ol mine whose coat is ol reen heads, teacher
ol mine whose hlood is white, who hast hut one hone, the hair ol whose hody is upside down,
whose muscles are still, who hast a hlack throat, a lluent tonue and salt in thy spittle.
Incidentally it is interestin to lind the Malay still payin homae to Siva as Nataraja, lord ol
dancers and kin ol actors, thouh to-day he is quite unaware ol this name and rle ol the Hindu
od whose theatre is the world and who himsell is actor and audience. In another Malay
invocation the Black Genie too is painted as havin hut one hone, the hair ol whose hody is
upside down, who can assume a thousand shapes. Thouh he has one loot on the heart ol the
earth, yet this Black Genie also hans at the ate ol the sky.
Batara Guru or Divine Teacher is the Malay name lor Siva. And it is not surprisin to lind that on
acceptin the Hindu deities into their spirit-world Malays paid reat homae to Siva under his
sinister aspect ol Kala the destroyer ol lile. Anyhow, here are the white spirit ol the sun and the
hlack spirit ol the moon identilied with manilestations ol Siva. The spirit ol the tides is olten
associated with the spirits ol the sun and moon, and, aain, the Malay expressly identilies him
with Siva and makes Kala the dread od ol the sea.
Iurthermore, in Malay mytholoy there is a Spectre Huntsman, whom maicians identily with
Siva. This Spectre Huntsman is even known hy the various Malay appellations ol the Divine
Teacher such as Raja ol land-lolk, Raja ol Ghosts, and Galler Lon Claws. Now Siva, ol
course, was the Rudra ol Vedic times. And it has heen pointed out how in Rudra are lound the
same characteristics that distinuish the German Wodan (or Odin), namely those ol a storm-od
lollowed hy hosts ol spirits, a leader ol lost souls, identilied hoth in Malay and German leend
with the Spectre Huntsman. The association hy Malays ol the Spectre Huntsman with Siva
clearly corrohorates the relationship hetween Rudra and Wodan and lends colour to the theory ol
an Indo-Germanic storm-od, the common source ol the Indian and Teutonic myths.
The identilication ol Siva with Galler Lon Claws linds a parallel amon the Bhils, Kols and
Gonds ol India, who also conlound him with a chthonic tier-od. And like those trihesmen the
Malay appears sometimes to conluse Siva with Arjuna, callin that demiod the earth spirit and
kin ol the sea.
Last phase ol all, Siva hecomes lather and kin ol the jinn imported with Islam. Even his white
hull Nandi is yoked to the service ol the new reliion. Accordin to early Hindu mytholoy
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Brahma, or accordin to later heliel Vishnu, took the lorm ol a hoar and raised the earth out ol
the waters. Other stories current in India make an elephant or a hull the support ol the earth.
Muslim cosmoony delinitely places the earth on a hull with lorty horns havin seven thousand
hranches, a heast whose hody stretches lrom east to west. So the Kelantan maician invokes the
lather and chiel ol all jinn practisin austerity in the stall ol the hlack hull who supports and lans
and shakes the world. The idea that the kin ol the jinn is the lather ol seven children may he
connected with the Muslim notion ol seven earths.
The wile ol Siva is known to Malays as Mahadewi the reat oddess, as Kumari the Damsel,
and ahove all, as Sri, oddess ol rice-lields. As Sri she may he said to have taken the place ol
Mother Earth, just as her divine spouse represented Iather Sky. As Kumari she is supposed in
the north ol the Peninsula to have heen made hy Galler Mahsiku out ol a hit ol ealewood. (In
Patani a name lor the earth spirit is Siriku.) The oddess married her creator. But the leend adds
that she had one dauhter hy the od (Jevo) ol the moon and one hy the od ol the sun, a
remarkahle preservation ol the Malay myth that the Divine Teacher under dillerent
manilestations lived in hoth those luminaries. The same tradition adds that Kumari is invoked
aainst lock-jaw and dumhness, hecause she made her eldest dauhter live on a hill as an ascetic
with her mouth wide open till it rew into a cave which Hanuman entered'
The Malay maician olten vaunts that the sword ol Vishnu is helore his lace to protect him.
And with Siva, Brahma, Kala and Sri, this od presides over the live divisions ol the old-world
diviner's day. Brahma is known as Berma Sakti, hut hardly enters into Malay maic. In Kelantan,
Krishna is said to he entreated to cure snake-hites and the stins ol scorpions and centipedes.
Ganesha, under the name ol Gana, is little more than a villae odlin.
The Hindu demons and demiods that have lound a place in the maic ol the Malays may he
conveniently inserted here. Ol most ol them the maician has only a literary knowlede. The
Asuras exalted demons that war not aainst men hut ods, are represented hy Rahu, who causes
eclipses ol the sun and moon, and to the Malay mind is a hue draon. Danu, a demon relation ol
his in Hindu mytholoy, is the serpent who inhahits the rainhow. In the north, where plays
lounded on the Ramayana are popular, Sri Rama, the hero ol that epic, is a demiod invoked
especially in charms connected, with the huntin ol elephants, and Hanuman, the monkey-od, is
an evil spirit with the lace ol a horse and the hody ol a man. There, too, the reat Rishis or saes
are invoked, and the maician takes shelter hehind the name ol Narada and the name ol Samha,
his derider.
Bhuta and Raksasa are olten mentioned as demons even hy Malay peasants. But to-day, at any
rate, acquaintance with them is due mainly to popular romances that have come lrom the
Deccan. The Malay will turn, lor instance, to the story ol Marakarma and read ol a Raksasa who
lihts a lire as hi as a hurnin town, pours rice on a mat a hundred yards wide, and eats it alon
with spiders, centipedes, lizards, llies, rats and mosquitoes that, overcome hy the steam, drop on
to his lood, he drinks a well ol water, hiccups like thunder, and picks lrom his teeth with a lo
chunks ol lood so lare that they kill cat, oose or lowl hy their impact. Ol the cousinship
hetween the Indian Bhutas and the Indonesian spirits ol men who have perished hy violence so
little is known that in one account the Spectre Huntsman is called a Bhuta and in a Perak charm
the reat oddess Sri is descrihed as the Genie Bhuta Sri who presides over rice-lields' But in
lact it is not these immirant demons that are the concern ol the Malay maician.
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Ior centuries the Muhammadan zealot and more recently the Iord car have invaded the
lastnesses where Malaya's illiterate priests ol Siva invoked these alien deities. The Hindu ods
continue to survive in invocations deraded to maical charms. Still, too, at the installation ol a
Perak Sultan the real Hindu name ol the demiod, who descended on a Mount Meru in Sumatra
and hecame the lather ol most ol the royal houses ol the Peninsula, is whispered hy Sri Nara
'diraja, keeper ol the State secret, into the ear ol the new ruler. He and his master are perhaps
unaware that so at the initiation ol a child into one ol the hiher Hindu castes his teacher
whispers a lormula containin the name ol the od who is to he his special protector throuh lile.
It is to he hoped that lanaticism will never extinuish this voice lrom the past.
(c) GOOD AND EVIL SPIRITS OF DEAD MORTALS
The view that ancestor-worship is the oldest ol reliious practices no loner ohtains. Some
savaes have helieved in a od existin helore the comin ol death. Some sacrilice to ods and not
to the hosts ol the departed. Others, exchanin old lihts lor new, have come to nelect their
hih ods and sacrilice to dead ancestors. Many have nature-ods. Besides, hein a lamily cult,
ancestor-worship cannot have accompanied the roup-marriae ol the most primitive trihes.
The oriin ol this lorm ol worship is easily intelliihle. The dead appear to the livin in dreams.
Or the dead may he horn aain in a child, who is the imae ol a lorelather. A Malay prays at the
rave ol an ancestor to heet a child, unaware that prohahly his worship is hased on the idea ol
the dead welcomin reincarnation. The exact likeness ol a male child to his lather, that is, the
possession ol two hosts hy the same soul, causes alarm to a Malay, one ol the hoy's ears must he
pierced, otherwise either the lather or the son is likely to die. Curiously, the resemhlance ol a irl
to her lather or ol a hoy or irl to the mother is ol no moment.
That the dead can he kind to the livin is a notion not lorein to the Malay mind. The ritual hy
which a Malay acquires the powers ol a shaman suests that oriinally the maician's lamiliars
were spirits ol the dead. At the propitiation ol the spirits ol Upper Perak, invocations were
addressed to the spirits ol a lamous Raja Nek and ol the hyeone maicians ol the neihhourhood.
A ruler looks to his royal ancestors lor the protection ol his person and his State, visits their
scattered tomhs alter his installation or helore any reat enterprise, and when sickness alllicts his
house sets a coolin potion lor the patient overniht upon a lamily rave. As a Muslim the Malay
makes vows to prophets and saints implorin their aid in the hour ol need. In Sinapore many
vows are sworn at the shrine ol Hahih Noh, a humhle clerk ol the last century, who ave up the
pride ol the eye and the lusts ol the llesh lor reliious asceticism until he could appear in several
places at once. In every part ol Nanin are lound tomhs ol men lamed lor piety, in whose names
the people make vows lor the prosperous termination ol any project and whose hurial places
they honour with lrequent visits and ohlations. One outward and visihle sin ol the sanctity ol
such tomhs is the supernatural lenthenin ol the space hetween the head and loot stones,
supposed to he the work ol the deceased. There are the lon raves ol Shaikh Muhammad and
Shaikh Ahmad on Bukit Gedon in Malacca, the hurial place ol an old Achinese medicine-
woman at Kemuntin in Perak, the raves ol Shaikh Sentan at Temerloh, ol To'Panjan at Kuala
Pahan and ol To'Panjan at Ketapan in the Pekan district ol Pahan. These sacred tomhs, which
exist throuhout Malaya, hear an Arahic name (Ioromoi), thouh the dead whose tenements they
are need not he Muslim saints and may have heen merely some powerlul ruler or the revered
lounder ol a settlement, or even a paan trallicker with hlack maic. A celehrated shrine is the
reputed tomh ol Sultan Iskandar, the mythical last Malay ruler ol ancient Sinapore, whose rave
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on the slopes ol Iort Cannin is the resort ol many suppliants, and a lew years ao, when it was
desired to explore it, no one, Malay, Indian or Chinese, would undertake the task. In empul, in
Neri Semhilan, there is a rave shaded hy a yellow-hlossomed c|empoIo tree, whose hranches
are always hun with strips ol white cloth to commemorate the vows paid to a maician interred
heneath them. Il the entreaty lor health or a son or whatever may he desired wins a lavourahle
answer, then lailure to sacrilice the promised oat and hold a least with prayers and cracker-lirin
heside the rave hrins trihulation upon the perjured inrate. The tenant ol that empul rave
was helieved to attend his widow in the lorm ol a tier. He would lrihten oll his dauhters'
lovers, protect the home when their mother was ahsent, and drive temporal tiers lrom their
path. There are many little raveyards throuhout empul which are credited with havin
produced tiers out ol-human corpses. So, too, the spirit ol the last chiel ol Muar is supposed to
haunt the wooded hills round his home, a sacred tier lriendly to his people. The credulity ol
these Sumatran settlers in Neri Semhilan linds a counterpart in that ol certain Patani lamilies,
who in sickness or mislortune invoke the aid ol 'To Sri Lam, an ancestor's sister who turned into
a crocodile. None ol these spirits ol the dead that can he racious to suppliants are homeless
hosts, they are attached to a reliion, a district or a clan.
Iear, however, leads to respect lor many sacred places. The aner ol a Malay ruler is dreaded
when he is alive, it is not less terrihle when he is one. A European who visited the raves ol the
ohore princes at Kota Tini in 8a6 records how his uide tremhled on approachin the place,
declarin that any injury to the stones would hrin mislortune on all present and hehaved as il a
demon was ahout to pounce upon him. There may have heen a peculiar reason lor this. Amon
the tomhs is that ol Sultan Mahmud, the last representative ol the royal house ol Malacca, which
lurnished rulers lor most ol the Peninsular States. He alone ol Peninsular rulers was murdered,
stahhed to death lor a sexual crime, the white hlood ol (Muslim saints and) Malay royalty ushin
lrom his veins. Apparently he survives in Kelantan as a white enie, Sultan Mahmud, a sea-spirit,
who can cause chills and aue. A chiel, swearin to his suzerain that he had not ollered a hrihe to
a Government ollicer, undertook in a tremendous oath (which came into my hands) to he
smitten hy the majesty ol the ruler and ol his royal ancestors, il he were committin perjury.
Attrihutahle, perhaps, to this lear ol deceased rulers is the custom ol droppin their real names
alter death and ivin them such titles as The Deceased who died at the Three Islands, The
Deceased Pilrim, and so on. The maician also is not less terrihle alter death than in lile. Only
lear could reard as a sacred place the rock at Batu Harnpar, where a Sultan ol ohore, caused to
he executed a paan junle chiel detected in necromantic practices' Three months alter his
execution this akun chiel appeared to his son on the same spot and therealter haunted it,
sometimes assumin the lorm ol a white cock.
Especially hanelul are the homeless hosts ol those who perish hy a violent death, ol murdered
men, ol women who die in child-hirth. To them no honour is paid. They are driven away hy
maical charms and amulets, hy prickly thorns, ashes, and the stench ol hurnt herhs.
Accordin to the Muhammadan laith those who die in child-hirth are entitled to the rank ol
martyrs with whom God is well pleased. The Malay has lound it hard to accept this comlortahle
doctrine. The horror ol their untimely end led his ancestors to think that such women enerate
malevolent spirits. Throuhout Malaysia terror is lelt at the plaintive cry ol a hanshee
(PoniionoI), which is supposed enerally to appear in the lorm ol a hird and drive her lon claws
into the helly ol the expectant mother, killin her and the unhorn child. Another hanshee
(Lonsv,or) llies in the shape ol an owl with a lace like a cat. The knowin imitate her hoot and
utter the insultin ejaculation, Your hoot is near, your rave is lar, and you are sprun
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lrom the lid ol a cookin-pot in a deserted house, whereupon she keeps silent and cannot hrin
death or disaster to any one in the villae. Or she may wear the lorm ol a heautilul woman with
llowin tresses. But in the nape ol her neck is a hole, which she is terrilied may he lound hy the
smooth-scaled climhin perch, used therelore hy the cunnin to make protective amulets. She
llies hy niht and the rustle ol her tresses is as the rustle ol rain. She loves to aliht on tall trees
and hide in the hird's-nest lern. When this hanshee passes, the prenant woman should he hathed
and the lollowin charm recited over hetel-vine, which must he iven her to chew
I om o Creoi Pis|i
I s|o, wii|ovi osIin |eove
I be|eoJ wii|ovi moIin enjvir,
I om A||o|'s c|ompion on eori|
I con Jesiro, o|| creoivres,
On|, w|oi I creoie I connoi Jesiro,.
Ve ore c|i|Jren o| Ji||ereni seeJ
O i|ov wii| brooJ bosom onJ smo|| ieei|
T|ov wii| ||owin iresses onJ |on noi|s
T|ov wii| i|e swo,in oii
I| i|ov o|i|iesi on o iree,
Misiress SiicI|osi is i|, nome
I| i|ov o|i|iesi on o ropiJ,
Son Pono is i|, iii|e
I| i|ov siiiesi on o ireesivmp,
T|e Foir B|vio is i|, nome.
I| i|ov o|i|iesi on i|e rovnJ,
T|e Foir Swo,in One i|, nome
I| i|ov movniesi i|e |ovse|oJJer,
T|, nome i|e Foir Siiier
I| i|ov siiiesi oi i|e |ovseJoor,
T|, nome i|e Foir BorJoor.
I| i|ov siiiesi on o roo|beom,
T|, nome i|e Foir Peerer
I| i|ov o|i|iesi on i|e moi,
T|, nome i|e Foir SeoieJ Vomon
Mo|esi noi i|e c|i|Jren o| AJom
Or i|ov wi|i be o iroiior io A||o|
Such, at any rate, is the charm used in Upper Perak.
To prevent a woman who dies in child-hirth lrom hecomin one ol these hanshees lass heads are
put in the corpse's mouth to keep her lrom inhuman shriekin, hen's es laid under her armpits
so that she may not lilt them to lly, and needles placed in the palms ol her hands so that she may
not open or clench them to assist her lliht. (A hen's e is laid also under the arm-pit ol a still-
horn child helore hurial.)
Another spirit (Penono|on) which sucks the hlood ol those in child-hed, consists ol a woman's
head and neck with trailin viscera, which shine at niht like lire-llies. Il she sucks the hlood ol
woman or child, death lollows. The lihts ol a hill in Perak called Chankat Asah, lihts descrihed
in that most readahle hook on the Peninsula, Geore Maxwell's In Mo|o, Foresis, are
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thouht hy the superstitious to he troops ol these shinin ones.
Then there is a class ol lamiliar spirits created lrom the dead. Many Malays say that their several
names are only dialect terms lor one lamiliar, hut others distinuish three species. The Bojon
may he just a malinant lorest spirit or, accordin to others, a man's lamiliar. As the latter he is
kept in a stoppered hamhoo vessel and led with es and milk. Released he will cause sickness
and delirium to his victims, especially to children. His visihle emhodiment is a civet-cat. He may
he the hereditary property ol his owner, hut more olten is conjured at dead ol niht lrom the
newly-du rave ol a still-horn child. Pour the hlood ol a murdered man into a hottle and recite
the appropriate charm, and alter seven or twice seven days a hird-like chirp will announce the
presence ol a Po|on. Every day the owner must leed this lamiliar with hlood lrom his or her
liner. Its victim dies ravin unless throuh his mouth the Po|on will conless the name ol its
owner and ol any malicious person who may have hired it lrom that owner. But the hest known
ol these lamiliars (Pe|sii) is ol the niet type and takes the shape ol a house-cricket. A woman
oes into the lorest on the niht helore the lull moon, and standin with her hack to the moon
and her lace to an ant-hill recites certain charms and tries to catch her own shadow. It may take
three nihts. Or she may have to try lor several months, always on the same three nihts. Sooner
or later she will succeed and her hody never aain cast a shadow. Then in the niht a child will
appear helore her and put out its tonue. She must seize the tonue, whereupon the hody ol the
child vanishes. Soon the tonue turns into a tiny animal, reptile or insect, which can he used as a
hottle imp. Accordin to a more ruesome version the tonue that can chane into this lamiliar
must he hitten out ol the exhumed corpse ol the lirst-horn child ol a lirst-horn mother and
huried at cross-roads. This vampire cricket is employed especially hy jealous wives to injure their
rivals or their rivals' children.
Besides these two classes ol malicious hirth-spirits and lamiliars, created lrom the corpses ol man,
there are raveyard spooks ol the sheeted dead. In Patani one ol the most noted ol these (|oniv
bvnIvs) is thouht to appear as a white cat or to lie like a hundle ol white ras near a hurial
round. Should a person pass it who is alraid, it unrolls, twines itsell round his leet, enters his
person hy means ol his hi toe and leasts within on his soul, so that he hecomes distrauht and
dies in convulsions, unless a competent medicine-man can exorcise it in time to save his lile and
reason. A hold person anxious to see hosts has only to use as a collyrium the tears ol the wide-
eyed slow loris'
A relic ol the Malay's lear ol the departed survives in the morihund custom ol ahandonin a
house where a death has occurred.
(d) PRIMITIVE SPIRITS, FAIRIES AND GHOSTS
Spirits and hosts that are not termed jinn hy the Malay spontaneously may he classed toether as
llotsam ol primitive heliels. They may he the hosts ol men who lived too lon ao to he
associated ordinarily with the enies ol a reliion they never practised in their lives. They may he
lairies too human to have sprun lrom smokeless lire. They may he odlins or nature-spirits too
local or petty and nelected to have attracted the attention ol the pious. Or they may he spirits
too vaue to have acquired a local hahitation and a name. Challened, the devout Malay would
ive to all ol them the sinister canonisation ol inn.
Some ol this class are on the horder-line hetween spirits and hosts. There is the Spectre
- - a a - -
Huntsman, known enerally as a host, in one aspect an avatar ol Siva, in another an uxorious
villaer whose endless hunt lor a mouse-deer lor his ravid wile led to his hein turned alive into
a lorest demon. In many lands a vanquished ahoriinal people are allotted hy their conquerors to
the horderland class hetween host and spirit. Were it not that he also is identilied with Siva, it
would he temptin to include in it Black Awan in his shape as a Nerito (p. y svpro).
Then there are Bachelor spirits, who may he lorotten odlins or the hosts ol youths cut oll in
their prime. There is the Bachelor Cock-lihter, who presides over mains and hates liars. There
are the Black Bachelor and the Boy with the Lon Lock, ol whom Perak peasants speak.
There are a lew spirits ol hih places, like the Chiel ol the mountain Beremhun in Perak or Dato
Parol, sainted lord ol Gunon Ansi in Neri Semhilan and commander ol an army ol the dead
who have sprun lrom their raves as tiers. Most lamous is the lairy Princess ol Mount Ledan in
Malacca, who married Nakhoda Raam, a wanderin prince ol Borneo. Alter his death at sea lrom
the prick ol her needle she donned lairy arh and llew to Gunon Ledan, whence she mirated
later to Bukit ura lurther up the coast with a sacred tier as her companion. Others make her
consort ol the lounder ol Malacca. But a lorein and literary oriin is suested lor this lairy hy
the mention ol her llyin arh, the account in the seventeenth century Mo|o, Anno|s ol her arth,
her sinin hirds and her demand, when a Sultan ol Malacca wooed her, lor a hetrothal present ol
seven trays piled with the livers ol mosquitoes, seven trays piled with the livers ol lleas, a tuh ol
tears, a hasin ol royal hlood, and one olden and one silver hride to he huilt lrom Malacca to her
hill top.
There is a mysterious Grannie Keman, known hoth in Sumatra and in the Malay Peninsula. In
Perak it is thouht that she will sow tares, a relue lor ohlin pests, on the lresh clearin unless
the larmer rise hetimes to alleviate with cool ollerins, the smart ol the hurnt lorest. Her
cookin-pot is the inexhaustihle widow's cruse ol the Malay peasant. She is said to have tauht
the art ol rice-cultivation. One Perak account speaks ol her as the emhodiment ol the rice-soul.
(In a Kelantan charm she is descrihed as the niet vampire and declared to he the product ol the
alterhirth.)
There are echo-spirits ol the mountains, like men and women in shape. Il one ol them visits a
mortal woman, she hears an alhino child. A lormer Dato' ol Kinta lived with a lemale echo-spirit
in a cave in the lace ol a limestone hlull, a heautilul woman called the Princess ol the Rice-lields
hy the Hot Sprin. One ol his lollowers took another echo-spirit to wile. In three weeks she hore
him a son, whom no mortal woman could suckle.
There is a vaue dream demon, Ma' Kopek, the ha that causes nihtmare. Children playin hide
and seek may lose themselves hehind her prodiious hreasts and he lound days later dazed and
loolish. Sometimes she takes them to a thorn-hrake and leeds them on earth-worms and muddy
water, which hy her maic look and taste like delicate cates.
There is a Kitchen Demon, a ray dishevelled ha, who warms hersell helore the hearth at niht
and loves to hlow into llame the emhers in a deserted house.
There is the Spook that Dras Himsell alon. He wears the shape ol an oran-outan, peeps into
attics where lair maids sleep, and once carried a irl oll up a tree and lived with her as his wile.
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There are lormless spirits that hrin colic, cholera, smallpox, hlindness. Most ol these are
unknown except to the medicine-man, who dianoses, lor example, one hundred and ninety nine
spirits ol smallpox accordin to the part allected, and names the one that attacks a patient's
tonue alter the Muslim Anel ol Death'
Iormless too are malelicent auras that emanate lrom the corpses ol murdered men, ol slain deer,
wild pi, wild dos, certain reptiles and hirds. Soon alter death the hristles on the hack move,
and stand on end with contraction and relaxation ol the muscles, and to come within the rane ol
the aim ol these hristles, which have the position they assume when the livin animal is enraed,
is to invite the attack ol the bo|Ji. A white junle cock, or indeed any junle cock ol unusual
colour, a junle cock that does not strule in the toils hut perches on the rod that suspends the
noose, these have bo|Ji. The bo|Ji have the power ol hrinin sickness, hlindness or madness
upon the hunter, and an attack ol lever alter unwonted exertion in a malarial lorest is always
ascrihed to them. The jini can let the deer pass hy the unwittin hunter in the lorm ol a mouse
or attack him in the lorm ol a tier. They can also ive the hunter the appearance ol the hunted
and thus expose him to the lire ol his lriends. The eno|in can kill the hunter outriht. In these
auras the idea ol potent soul-suhstance seems to have hecome mered in the idea ol malicious
spirits. The bo|Ji ol a deer can he expelled hy sweepin lirst a un, then a hranch, and linally the
noose in which the animal was cauht, over its carcase lrom muzzle to hind-les, the noose is
quickly slipped on to a stake and tihtened round it. Here the maician appears to remove
transmissihle properties ol matter to the stake. In Patani syncretism has iven the aura ol a
murdered man the shape ol a mannikin, and has made the auras ol heasts the slaves ol Siva. By
some Kelantan maicians bo|Ji are said to he one hundred and ninety in numher and are iven a
name (ono) meanin spirit. All these evil inlluences are sometimes classed with jinn.
With jinn, too, are olten classed one hundred and ninety ohlins ol the soil (jembo|on) that creep
into the haskets ol the reaper and round the stems ol rice-plants, and inlest hill and mountain and
plain. Ordinarily their shape, il they have a shape, is not iven. In Patani it is said they are the
hosts ol men and, under Muslim inlluence, it is alleed that they may he seen at niht in waste
places, leanin on lon sticks, wearin red caps and eatin earth. Il any one is hold enouh to seize
one ol their caps and swilt enouh to escape their pursuit, he will ain the reat art ol hecomin
invisihle.
There are numerous nature-spirits, the spirit ol the river hore, that drowns men in its matlike
curlin wave, the spirit ol the cataract that lies prone on the water with head like an inverted
copper, spirits ol the sea that settle on masts in the lorm ol St. Elmo's lire, spirits ol the junle
track, spirits that tamper with the noose and snare ol the hunter, spirits that live in trees
especially where wild hees nest, the spirit ol the laded lotus. Many a sacred place in junle and
rove, supposed now to he the site ol some saint's vanished tomh, is really a relic ol primitive
worship ol the spirits ol nature.
(e) ANGELS AND DEVILS OF ISLAM
To-day in every hamlet in Malaya, that has sullicient inhahitants to lorm a conreation, there is a
mosque where, alon with his lellow villaers, the maician acknowledes that there is no God
hut Allah and Muhammad is His Prophet. The ollice ol Caliph or head ol the Muslim laith
within his own State is the most cherished preroative ol a Malay ruler. His installation is
attended hy the maician, once master ol the ceremony hut now merely an onlooker, who listens
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and hears the court heralds call to the lour archanels to send down upon their new ruler the
divine majesty ol kins hy the hands ol his anels. the anels ol the risin sun, the anels ol the
evenin, the anels who stand upon the riht and lelt ol the empyrean throne, the anel ol the
zenith and the horned princess, anel ol the moon. Suckled in creeds outworn, the maician sits
at the leet ol the pious and learns all he can ahout these anels and the demonoloy ol the
younest ol Malaya's reliions. He adds the names ol anels and devils and spirits to his repertory
ol incantations.
He learns that there are anels, demons (or Shaitan) and jinn, all hiher than man. Actually he has
had a Malay account ol Muhammadan mytholoy lor nearly three hundred years in a work called
the CorJen o| Kins, written in 68 A.D. hy an Indian missionary ol Islam in Acheen. That work
tells him ol the lour anels who hear the throne Ol God, one in the lorm ol a hull, one in the
lorm ol a tier, one in the lorm ol an eale, and one in the lorm ol a man. It tells also ol the
cheruhim who cry incessantly Glory to God. But more interestin to him are the lour
archanels with individual names, who are concerned with the wellare ol men. There is Gahriel,
the anel ol revelation, with six pinions, each composed ol one hundred smaller wins, he is
covered with sallron hairs, hetween his eyes is a sun, and hetween every two hairs ol his hody a
moon and stars. Every day he dives three hundred and sixty times into the Sea ol Liht, and every
drop ol water lrom his wins creates a spiritual anel (Pv|oni,vn) in his likeness. Two ol his
pinions he expands only when God desires to destroy hamlet or town. Two reen pinions he
opens only once annually on the niht ol destiny, when lrom the tree that stands hy the throne ol
God the leaves lall inscrihed with the names ol those who shall die durin the ensuin year.
There is Michael, created live hundred years helore Gahriel and live hundred years alter Isralil.
His whole hody is covered with sallron hairs, every hair possessin a million laces havin a
thousand mouths, each mouth containin a thousand tonues that entreat the mercy ol God,
while the tears ol his million eyes, weepin lor the sins ol the laithlul, create cheruhim in his
likeness. These cheruhim are his servants, who control rain and plants and lruits, so that there is
not a drop ol rain lallin on earth or sea that is not watched hy one ol them. There is Isralil,
whose head is level with the throne ol Allah and whose leet reach lower than the lowest earth.
With one pinion he envelopes the west, with another the east, with a third he covers his person,
and with a lourth he veils himsell lrom mouth to chest. Between his eyes is the jewelled tahlet ol
late. His duty it will he to sound the last trump on the day ol judment. There is 'Azrail, who
accordin to this version is not (as he should he) the anel ol death hut only his warder, and is
like Isralil in appearance. The anel ol death, hier than the seven earths and the seven heavens,
God kept hidden and chained with seventy thousand chains until the creation ol Adam. When he
was seen hy the anels, they lell into a laint that lasted a thousand years. He has seven thousand
pinions. His hody is lull ol eyes and tonues, as many as there are men and hirds and livin thins.
Whenever a mortal dies, an eye closes. He has lour laces. When he takes the lile ol prophet or
anel, he shows the lace on his head, the lace on his chest is shown to helievers, the lace on his
hack to inlidels, and the lace on the soles ol two ol his leet to jinn. Ol his other two leet one is on
the horders ol heaven, the other on the hrink ol hell. So hue is he that il the waters ol all seas
and all rivers were poured upon his head, not one drop would reach the earth. No livin creature
shall escape death except the lour archanels and the lour anels who hear the throne ol God.
There is also a hue anel called Ruh or the Spirit, with the lace ol a man, who will stand heside
the throne on the day ol judment and implore mercy lor the laithlul.
There are the two inquisitor anels, Munkar and Nakir, who visit the dead in their raves and
- - - -
enquire il they are helievers.
Niht and day man is protected lrom devils and jinn hy two out ol lour attendant anels, who
chane uard at sunrise and sunset. Recorders ol his ood and evil deeds, they are termed Kiraman
Katihin, the Nohle Writers, ood deeds are written down hy the anel on his riht, had hy the
anel on his lelt.
Nineteen Zahaniah (or Guardian Anels), under Malik their chiel, are in chare ol hell.
Iinally, Ihlis, the lallen rehel anel who relused to prostrate himsell helore Adam, is commander
ol an army ol supreme interest to the maician, the host ol inlidel enies or jinn.
(f) JINN
inn or enies spran lrom three manrove-leaves, the reen jinn lrom a leal that soared into the
reen sky, the hlack lrom a leal that lell at the ate ol the lorest, the white lrom a leal that lell
into the sea. Accordin to another incantation they were created lrom the earth ol the mountain
Mahameru, the Malay Olympus with the Hindu name. So Malays helieve, unless it is to he
supposed that in such charms the maicians were merely inventin lictitious oriins lor spirits
they wished to control. Accordin to some incantations the enies ol the earth were horn ol
alterhirth, accordin to others ol the mornin star. One maician's account says that jinn are
sprun lrom the coconut monkey' Another declares that they were created lrom Sakti-muna, a
reat serpent. the kin ol the jinn lrom his lile's hreath, the white jinn lrom the whites ol his eyes,
the hlack, hlue, reen and yellow jinn lrom their irises, the enie that lives in the lihtnin lrom
his voice. Muslims hold that an was the lather ol all. the jinn, and an in the Quran also sinilies
a serpent. There is another leend with a Muslim colourin. When Cain and Ahel were still in the
womh they hit their thumhs till the hlood came, and alon with them were horn jinn, hlack lrom
the hlood that spurted cloud-hih, white lrom the hlood that lell to the round. So run the
discrepant accounts ol the Malay maician, who accepts also the Quran's version that jinn were
created lrom smokeless lire.
The account ol enies in the CorJen o| Kins is as lollows. an, the lather ol all jinn, was oriinally
an anel, called lirstly Aristotle hut later 'Azazil. When 'Azazil relused to do oheisance to Adam,
his name was chaned to Ihlis or an and his lorm into that ol a enie, ol the relation ol Ihlis to
the enies, however, there are several variant accounts. Beettin a child every two days, an
hecame the ancestor ol all the enies, countless shadowy heins, numerous as the sands ol the
earth and lillin hill and cave, lorest and plain. At lirst they inhahited the lowest heaven. Thence
they ot the permission ol Allah to descend to the earth, seven thousand troops ol them. In time
they louht amon themselves and disoheyed God. So He sent Prophets and Anels to quell them
and pen them in a corner ol the world. To plaue mankind jinn can assume any shape. Some take
the lorm ol men, others ol horses or dos or pis, others ol snakes, others ol insects. Some can lly.
Some can eat, drink and marry. One tradition talks ol three classes ol jinn, one wined, another in
the lorm ol dos and insects, another in human lorm. A lew are ood Muslims and will o to
heaven, most are inlidels doomed to hell. Their reat ae is illustrated lrom the story ol the enie
detected hy Muhammad under the disuise ol a very old man. Bein reconised as a enie, he
admitted that he had met Noah and all the Prophets alter him.
Aain the Malay has read ol jinn in his recension ol the story ol Alexander the Great. That world-
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conqueror meets a descendant ol the enie Sakhr, who stole Solomon's rin, and assumin
Solomon's shape reined in his stead lor lorty days. He and his kin are uardin till the day ol
judment a mosque huilt lor Solomon hy Sakhr in retrihution lor his presumption. He appears to
Alexander in the lorm ol a handsome youth hut turns hy request into his proper shape. hue as
the mosque, havin seven heads, each with two laces, each lace havin lour eyes like tonues ol
llame, a cavernous mouth, teeth like liery tonues, a nose like the nose ol a hull, on each lorehead
are two snakey locks, and the enie has the leet ol a duck and the tail ol a hull' Near the horder
ol the world where the sun sinks Alexander linds enies uardin Kin Solomon's treasure-house
ol jewels. They are the descendants ol human men and ten dauhters ol Ihlis. When Alexander
marvels, the Prophet Khidzr quotes the case ol the Queen ol Sheha, who had a human lather and
a enie mother, and showed this oriin hy the hair on her calves.
All jinn are the suhjects not ol Muhammad hut ol Solomon, to whom God ave authority over
enies, the animal creation and the wind ol heaven.
One Malay charm speaks ol in the son ol an ol the line ol the Pharaohs, a pediree lounded on
the Arah notion that the last kin ol the pre-Adamite jinn was an the son ol an, and that he
huilt the Pyramids.
Accordin to Malay heliel there are jinn inhahitin the sun, the moon, the sky, the wind, the
clouds. There are others whose homes or hosts are ant-hills, wells, rocks, the hard heartwood ol
trees, ravines, lields, swamps, lakes, rivers, mountain or plain. Others are enies ol cape or hay,
the sea, the tide, estuaries. Syncretism has included in these classes Indonesian soul-suhstance and
nature-spirits and Hindu divinities, hut one tradition ol the Prophet also distinuishes three kinds
ol enies, one in the air, one on the land, and one on the sea. Malay medical lore, havin horrowed
lrom Arahia Plato's theory ol the oriin ol disease, dillerentiates a lourth class, the enies ol lire
and liery sunsets.
The colour ol a Malay enie varies accordin to his hahitation. Genies ol earth and the dark
lorests and lowerin clouds are hlack. Those inhahitin the sky are hlue or to the Malay eye reen.
The jinn ol lire and sunset are yellow. In lleecy clouds and the shimmerin sea they are white.
ust as Plato ascrihed disease to disturhance ol the halance ol power hetween the lour properties
ol earth, air, lire and water, out ol which the hody is compacted, so the Malay medicine-man
ascrihes all diseases to the lour classes ol enies presidin over those properties. The enies ol the
air cause wind-horne complaints, dropsy, hlindness, hemipleia and insanity. The enies ol the
hlack earth cause vertio, with sudden hlackness ol vision. The enies ol lire cause hot levers and
yellow jaundice. The white enies ol the sea cause chills, catarrh and aues.
All these are external enies, visihle to lonely waylarers, to the maician in a trance or, accordin
to Kelantan heliel, to the azer upon the liner-nails ol small innocent hoys. They can talk amon
themselves or throuh the mouth ol the shaman medium. Genies ol the earth may appear in
human lorm lloatin in the air and not always remainin the same size, or in the lorm ol
animals or ants or scorpions or in any shape they please. The manulacture ol old Chinese crackle-
ware is ascrihed hy Malays to enies. Muslim enies haunt two mosques in Neri Semhilan,
llittin to and lro in lon white rohes and sometimes chantin the Quran. Il a person stand under
a ladder and hathe in water wherein a corpse has heen washed, he has only to stoop and look
hetween his les to see crowds ol enies and demons sippin the water. Inlidel enies ol the earth
are thouht in Patani to assume the lorm ol dos and uard hidden treasure. Il they take a
- - y y - -
lancy to a person, they chane into little old men and leave sacks ol old lor their lavourites to
remove. Peculiar huhhles on the surlace ol the water indicate the presence ol jars ol treasure
placed hy enies in pool or well. There is a enie supposed to resemhle the human lorm hut to
dart ahout like a will-o'-the-wisp and daze the man that crosses it. Seize a enie and hold him, no
matter what terrilyin aspect he may assume, and one can wrest lrom him the secret ol
invisihility. Il a man had a tame enie, he could cause the meat lrom another man's cookin-pot
to come to him. The lounder ol a house ol reat chiels in Perak was a poor lisherman. His traps
were repeatedly thrown on the hank and his weirs opened. He watched and saw the ollender, a
enie clad in the reen rohes and turhan ol a Muslim pilrim. He seized the enie and relused to
let him o. The enie said Swallow this, spat in his mouth, and told him that he would hecome
the reatest chiel in the country and his lamily prosper lor seven enerations.
But these external jinn (lor whom Malay physicians lind yet another oriin suitahle to their
medical theories, namely wind) cannot inllict disease without the help ol the class ol enies that
inhahit the hodies ol men. So, at least, it is said in Kelantan. When the enie, whose host a man's
hody is, has weakened him hy loss ol hlood, couhin, dyspepsia, then only can jinn lrom outside
enter and cause him hurt. There is a yellow enie controllin a man's live senses. There is a white
enie (jin or mo|oiIoi), also called the Liht ol the Prophet, that takes up its ahode in the heart
ol every Muhammadan and prevents him lrom hein wicked, Even these internal jinn have
colour and shape. Ialse etymoloy and recollection ol the Indonesian hird-soul make Patani
Malays identily a man's white enie with a hird, one ol Muhammad's parrots'
In some enies ahstract ideas seem to lind a local hahitation and a name.
T|e enie o| o|Jen |i|e,
T|e enie o| bri|i Jesire,
Veorin bon|es o| bross onJ cooi o| siee|,
can hoth ahduct a woman's soul on her lover's hehall.
The moral character ol the white enie in man's hosom may he due to conlusion ol this spirit
with the Liht ol the Prophet. Genies, destined lor heaven, are moral heins, and helon to the
several schools ol Muslim heliel. The others are capricious and do not distinuish hetween ood
and evil.
The syncretism that has made the name ol Malay jinn leion is patent in the Perak maician's
address to the procession ol the thousand jinn. In that invocation the evil inlluence helieved hy
Malay animists to invest the corpses ol deer, Indonesian ohlins ol the soil, the Misty Beauty that
lloats over hlind wells, the Piehald Pony, lour spirit uardians ol the corners ol the world, Kala or
Siva in his destructive lorm, Sri the Hindu Ceres, a Hindu Moon Iairy heautilul upon waters, the
Herald ol the World that dwells in the clouds with a name hall Sanskrit hall Arahic, amshid a
spirit ol the headlands hearin the name ol a Persian kin, the spirits ol the Muslim dead-these
and scores more are entreated so that the maician may display the wealth ol his uncritical lore,
ollend none ol the spirit world and let no enie escape the net ol his maic.
An equally ood example is lound in the list ol the uardian jinii ol Perak, or, to ive them their
other name, the enies ol the royal trumpets, whose indwellin spirits were led and revived
annually centuries helore the comin ol Islam. These include the Iour Children ol the Iron Pestle,
Old Grannie lrom up-river, the Prince ol the Rollin Waves, the Children ol the Galler
- - 8 8 - -
who lives in the sky. Brahma, Vishnu, and Indra are amon them. Kin Solomon and 'Ali, the
lourth Caliph, lind a place. There are royal lamiliars ol the State shaman and his assistant. There is
the Raja ol all the jinn, who is throned on the hreeze ol heaven. There is the Sultan ol the
Unsuhstantial World (mo,o), who condescends to the ear-posies ol kins lrom his throne on a
crystal car that is lollowed hy all the Sultans ol the universe. And there are spirits with royal titles
in Persian, and lemale lairies with Sanskrit names. The list shows a wide knowlede ol Malay
romances, like the HiIo,oi S|omsv'|Bo|roin and the HiIo,oi InJropviro, that are hased on
Indian models and lull ol heroes and enies with Indian names. Acquaintance with such literature
was an esteemed accomplishment at Malay courts. Amon the jinn rearded hy Perak commoners
is 'Umar Ummaiya, the Ulysses ol the Persian romance ol Amir Hamzah'
III. THE MALAY MAGICIAN
ANTHROPOLOGY and history conlirm the various staes in the development ol the Malay
maician.
Iirst he was the Indonesian animist, requirin no initiation into his ollice and no help lrom a
lamiliar spirit. Huntin, lishin, plantin, and healin the sick demanded merely dillerent experts
acquainted with the practice and customs ol the particular cralt. In the ritual ol the rice-lield, lor
example, a midwile or other old woman took the leadin part, hecause her sex had a henelicent
inlluence on the lertility ol the crop, and her experience with human inlants qualilied her to
handle the rice-hahy. Courtesy and persuasion and diplomatic lanuae were the weapons ol the
Malay maician ol animism.
Next came the shaman. Comparative study has, revealed that shamanism was the native reliion
ol the Ural-Altaic peoples lrom Behrin Straits to the horders ol Scandinavia, and prohahly ol
the early Monol-Tartar peoples and others akin to them, lor example, in China and Tihet. Its
part in the reliions ol Malaysian trihes reminds one that on linuistic rounds it has heen
surmised the Malay descended lrom the continent ol Asia and that anthropoloists detect in him
a Monol strain. The shaman still retains his pride ol place amon the ahoriinal trihes ol the
Malay Peninsula, Nerito, Indo-Chinese and Proto-Malay. One word is used hy the Malay hoth
lor the maician expert in some particular line and lor the shaman who controls spirits hy the
help ol a lamiliar. But a distinction hetween them is reconised. Upon the exercise ol the
shaman's power every Malay looks with considerahle dread, and the least orthodox shakes his
head when it is mentioned. Islam looks lar more askance at the shaman who calls down spirits at
a sonce than at the commoner medicine-man who relies solely on charms and invocations
covered with a veneer ol orthodox phraseoloy. His hrothers in maic respect the shaman more
hihly. In Kelantan when a shaman is operatin in any district all other medicine-men are
disqualilied lor the time hein.
Sometimes the Malay shaman wears cords round his wrists and across hack and hreast over each
shoulder and under the opposite arm. He can use cloth ol royal yellow at a sonce. Rarely he is a
Raja. In Perak the State shaman was commonly ol the reinin house and hore the title ol Sultan
Muda. He was too exalted to inherit any other ollice except the Sultanate, and accordin to one
account could ascend no temporal throne. He was allotted a State allowance lrom port dues and
the tax on opium. The twenty-lilth holder ol the ollice was a randson on the distall side ol
Mor|vm Ko|or, a lamous ruler ol Perak in the eihteenth century. on the spear side he was a
descendant ol the Prophet' The wile ol its holder hore the title ol Raja Puan Muda. His
- - q q - -
deputy or heir-apparent was styled Raja Kechil Muda. So, too, in parts ol Timor two Rajas are
reconised-a civil raja who overns the people, and another raja who can declare tahus and must
he consulted hy his colleaues in all important matters.
At a curative (hut not apparently at a State-cleansin) sonce the spirit-raisin shaman may he a
woman. Durin the last illness ol Sultan Yusul, a nineteenth century ruler ol Perak, a sonce was
conducted hy Raja Nah, a scion ol the reinin house on the lemale side, a middle-aed woman
dressed as a man lor the occasion-a device I have seen adopted hy Malay midwives also. In
Kelantan the shaman may he a Malay or a Siamese woman.
Neritos and certain northern Sakai placed the hodies ol dead shamans in shelters huilt amon
tree-hranches. The soul ol a Nerito maician may enter tier, elephant, or rhinoceros, and there
ahide until the animal dies, when the soul at last oes to its own heaven. Some Kinta Sakai used
lormerly to leave the corpses ol maicians unhuried in the houses where they died. The akun ol
Rompin put them on platlorms and their souls o up to the sky, while those ol ordinary mortals,
whose hodies are huried, o to the underworld. Other akun helieve that reat maicians are
translated alive to heaven. Clearly it was the custom ol the Peninsular ahoriines not to hury a
maician. His soul miht inhahit a lare animal temporarily, hut lound its way in the end to some
place in the air that is lull ol the unseen spirits he controlled. Malays have lon huried their
maicians. The majority ol sacred places in the Patani States are the reputed raves ol reat
medicine-men. But in two ol the States on the west coast, at least, when a practiser ol hlack
maic is in the throes ol death, it is helieved that the spirit ol lile can escape only il a hole is made
in the rool ol the house.
A shaman hy inheritance comes into possession ol a lamiliar spirit, or perhaps he may inherit one
lrom his preceptor. In Patani it is said that il a shaman does not hequeath his (or her) art to a
pupil helore dyin, then his clothes, drums, censer, and other maical appurtenances will enerate
a savae host. There, too, it is held that hairy persons are especially qualilied to hecome
maicians. The Benua, a Proto-Malay trihe, helieve that the soul ol a dead shaman (who has to he
lelt unhuried in the lorest) will in the seventh day attack his heir in the lorm ol a tier. il the heir
hetrays no lear and casts incense on a lire, he will lall into a trance and he visited hy two heautilul
lemale spirits who hecome his lamiliars, il the heir lails to watch hy the corpse and ohserve this
ritual, the dead man's soul enters a tier lor ever. Accordin to the heliel ol the akun his lamiliar
spirit comes to a shaman hy inheritance or in a dream. In all accounts the shaman must acquire as
his lamiliar a spirit that has not lound rest. This he does in a trance, olten durin a viil heside a
rave.
Kelantan Malays prescrihe a method ol acquirin a shaman's powers that shows an accretion ol
Muslim heliel on a primitive idea, akin to the Proto-Malay superstition that round a rave a ditch
must he du wherein the soul ol the deceased may paddle his canoe. Sittin one at the head and
one at the loot ol the rave ol a murdered man, the would-he shaman and a companion hurn
incense and make helieve to use paddles shaped lrom the midrih ol a royal yellow coconut palm,
callin the while upon the murdered man to rant maical powers. The landscape will come to
look like a sea and an aed man will appear, to whom the request lor maic must he repeated.
Now one ol the evidences ol Muslim saintship is the ecstatic vision or dream ol the Prophet or ol
one ol the reater saints ol Islam. Possihly the aed man was Luqman al-Hakim, the reputed
lattier ol Arahian maic. One day, accordin to Kelantan heliel, the Anel Gahriel was
commanded to upset Luqman and his hooks at sea as a punishment lor his pride, and the linders
ol the lew scattered paes ol those hooks hecame medicine-men in their several
- - a ac c - -
countries. A Selanor account corrohorates the Kelantan heliel that Luqman was the lirst
maician. he lived in the sky, was descended lrom Adam and Eve, was a son (or perhaps hrother)
ol Siva, and so a link with the Hindu element in the modern Malay medicine-man's shihholeth'
The Malay has always heen apt to ascrihe reater power to lorein maic, whether that ol a
naked illiterate ahoriine lrom the woods or that ol a Hindu trader or an Arah missionary. In an
eihteenth century history ol Perak it is recorded how amon the medicine-men in attendance on
the dauhter ol a lamous Malay ruler there were Sakai lrom the junle. Maicians, like prophets,
have more honour outside their own horders. It is no wonder, therelore, that the Malay midwile
learnt lrom the Hindu all the maic he could teach lor the reat occasions ol hirth, adolescence,
and marriae, or that the Malay shaman added ods ol the Hindu pantheon to his demonoloy
and made invocations and ollerins to Siva. Lon helore the introduction ol Islamic mysticism,
Hinduism had encouraed the Malay maician to lortily his powers and command the wonder ol
the credulous hy ascetic practices. Malay romances, paraphrased lrom Indian oriinals, are lull ol
stories ol heroes who acquire maic, especially lor warlare, hy retirin into a hermit's seclusion on
a mountain-top. In Patani there is a curious heliel, perhaps more Siamese than Malay, that no
man can hecome a really reat maician in any country in which the peaks ol the hills are
rounded, and that therelore the State ol Patalun, in which there are many conical hills, produces
the most powerlul medicine-men in the Malay Peninsula.
When Islam came, the Malay maician sat at the leet ol its pundits, studied their arts ol
divination, and horrowed their cahalistic talismans. Belore his old incantations he set the names ol
Allah and Muhammad, olten in impious contexts. He detected his latest avatar in the livin saint
ol Islam, to whom lolk resort lor advice in leal disputes or as to the success or lailure ol an
enterprise or as intercessor lor the sick or to et a child or to remove hliht or plaue or conlound
enemies. He will, therelore, seclude himsell lor certain days ol the week or lor a period, the
practice hein iven an Arahic name and havin a reliious colour. Sometimes he keeps celihate.
Or he may last to impress the common herd and enahle himsell to see visions. A maician ol this
type is enerally a disciple ol a crude lorm ol Sulism derived lrom India. A Selanor account,
stronly allected hy Neo-Platonic ideas, makes Allah (as Ahsolute Bein heyond all relations) the
lirst ol maicians. When haze was still in the womh ol darkness and darkness in the womh ol
haze, helore earth hore the name ol earth or sky the name ol sky, helore Allah was called Allah
or Muhammad was called Muhammad, helore the creation ol the Divine Throne and its lootstool
and the lirmament, the Creator ol the worlds was manilested hy Himsell and He was the lirst
maician. He made the maician's universe, a world ol the hreadth ol a tray, a sky ol the hreadth
ol an umhrella.... The maician helore time existed was Allah and He revealed Himsell hy the
liht ol moon and sun and so showed Himsell to he verily a maician. The lirst sentence ol this
quotation is a Malay paraphrase ol the Prophet's simile lor God helore the creation. the dark
mist ahove which is a void and helow which is a void. As Skeat has suested, the conception ol
a miniature universe, Plato's lixed archetypes, would remind the Malay ol the relation ol the
tiny Indonesian soul to the physical hody. It reminds also ol Ihn 'Arahi's sayin that all the
universe contains lies potential in God like the tree in the seed. Indeed, one Malay account ol the
oriin ol the maician relates how at the Muslim word ol creation (Ivn) the seed was created
and lrom the seed the root, lrom the root the stem, and lrom the stem the leaves, and then in
the same sentence relates how the word ol creation hrouht into hein a miniature earth and sky.
So time has chaned the Malay hrother ol the Siherian shaman into a humhle relative ol the Suli
mystic.
- - a a - -
Are there traces ol the maician in the Malay kin: Amon some, at least, ol the Proto-Malay
trihes ol the Peninsula the commoner chiel or Batin is jude, priest, and maician.
Between the old-world commoner chiels ol the matriarchal trihes ol Neri Semhilan and the Raja
ruler there are several ties. Like the maician (and the European district ollicer') hoth can
inlluence the weather. a wet season will he ascrihed to a cold constitution' Both are chosen lrom
several hranches ol one lamily, theoretically lrom each hranch in rotation, actually lrom the
hranch that happens to possess the candidate most suitahle in years and character. Both, therelore,
like the Malay maician hold ollices hereditary or at least conlined to the memhers ol one
lamily.
Like the Brahmin the Malay maician and the Malay ruler have a tahu lanuae. A kin does not
walk hut has himsell carried, he does not hathe hut is sprinkled like a llower, he does not
live hut resides, he does not leed hut takes a repast, he does not die hut is horne away.
Ol the dozen or more words constitutin this vocahulary hall are Malay, hall Sanskrit. Shaman
and ruler hoth have lelt the inlluence ol Hinduism.
Like the maician, the ruler has wonder-workin insinia ol ollice. The tamhourine and other
appurtenances ol the shaman will enerate an evil spirit il not hequeathed to a successor. To
tread on a Malay State drum may cause death. even a Chinaman has heen known to swell up and
die alter removin a hornet's nest lrom this terrilic instrument. The realia ol a Malay ruler were
miraculous talismans that controlled the luck ol the State. Quite recently in Malacca a pretender
to the chieltainship ol Nanin ot hold ol the insinia ol ollice, relused to surrender them, and
declared that possession ol them ave him a ood title.
In the old annual ceremony ol expellin malinant spirits lrom a Malay State, the ruler took a
leadin part. And in the ritual ol the now ohsolete Perak court maician there are two
noteworthy details. At the sonce held durin his last illness Sultan Yusul was placed shrouded on
the wizard's mat with the wizard's rass-switch in his hand to await, as at an ordinary sonce the
shaman alone awaits, the advent ol the spirits invoked. Aain, alter the annual sonce to revive
the Perak realia, the State maician hathed the Sultan and in his person the enies ol the State,
who would seem therelore to he rearded as His Hihness' lamiliar spirits. Accordin to an old
account the State shaman ol Perak was eliihle lor the Sultanate, and the Raja Muda, or heir to
the throne, could hecome State shaman.
Modern man has lorotten that in appropriatin hullaloes with peculiar horns, alhino children,
turtles' es and other lreaks ol nature, the Malay ruler started not as a raspin tyrant hut as a
maician, competent ahove all his people to lace the daners ol the unusual and untried. Ior
under paanism, Hinduism and Islam maician and raja dead and alive have heen credited with
supernatural powers. It is claimed lor a modern Malay maician that he can remain under water
lor an hour' It was claimed lor a hye-one ruler ol Perak that every Iriday he could translate
himsell to Mecca and once hrouht hack three reen lis as evidence ol his journey. The raves ol
kins and the raves ol maicians have heen alike the ohject ol worship.
IV. THE MALAY CHARM
THERE are three words used hy Malays lor incantation or charm, two ol them Sanskrit (jompi,
moniro), the other the Arahic word lor prayer (Jo'o). Charms are employed in aricultural
- - a aa a - -
operations, hy lishermen, hunters, lowlers and trappers, to ahduct or recall the soul, to revive ore
in a mine or a patient on a hed ol sickness, aainst cramp, poison, snakehite, enemies, vampires,
evil spirits, at hirth and at teeth-lilin, to save men lrom tiers, and crops lrom rats and hoars and
insect pests, lor heauty, virility, love, to weaken a rival in a race or in a liht, to divert a hullet or
hreak a weapon as it is hein drawn.
A Malay charm may lorm part ol a primitive ritual, like that ol the rice-year, conducted hy a
skilled maician. It may he merely recited on an appropriate occasion hy any layman who has
learnt it. One may huy the words ol a love-charm, lor example, lrom an expert lor three dollars,
three yards ol white cloth, cotton and thread, limes and salt, areca-nut, and hetel-vine, or lor
limes and salt, three small coins, live yards ol white cloth and a needle.
The charm may require to he supplemented hy contaious and hy homoopathic or mimetic
maic. Sand lrom the loot-print ol the woman loved, earth lrom the raves ol a man and woman,
the hair-like lilaments ol hamhoo, hlack pepper. these are olten steamed in a pot while a love-
charm is hein recited. Another method is to take a lime, pierce it with the midrih ol a lallen
coconut palm, leavin one liner's lenth stickin out on either side wherehy to han the lime.
Han it up with thread ol seven colours, leavin the thread also hanin loose an inch helow the
lime. Take seven sharpened midrihs and stick them into the lime, leavin two liners' lenth
projectin. The stickin ol the midrih into the lime is to symholise piercin the heart and liver
and lile and soul and all ol the heloved. Put jasmine on the end ol the midrih skewers. Do this
lirst on Monday niht, lor three nihts, and then on Iriday niht. Imaine you pierce the irl's
heart as you pierce the lime. Recite the accompanyin charm three or seven times, swinin the
lime each time you recite the words and lumiatin it with incense. Do this live times a day and
live times a niht in a private place where no one shall enter or sleep. A woman recites a charm
lor heauty over the water in which she hathes or over the coconut oil with which she anoints her
hair.
Sometimes the Malay appears to he indehted to India lor a charm and to have lorotten or
purposely omitted the accompanyin ritual. In the Ai|orvoVeJo there is an incantation to arouse
the passionate love ol a woman.
Mo, |ove, i|e Jisjvieier, Jisjviei i|ee, Jo noi |o|J ovi vpon i|, beJ. Vii| i|e
ierrib|e orrow o| Komo I pierce i|ee in i|e |eori
T|e orrow wineJ wii| |onin, borbeJ wii| |ove, w|ose s|o|i is vnJevioiin Jesire,
wii| i|oi we||oimeJ Komo s|o|| pierce i|ee in i|e |eori
Vii| i|oi we||oimeJ orrow o| Komo w|ic| porc|es i|e sp|een, w|ose p|vme ||ies
|orworJ, w|ic| bvrns vp, Jo I pierce i|ee in i|e |eori
ConsvmeJ b, bvrnin orJovr, wii| porc|eJ movi|, come io me womon, p|ioni, i|,
priJe |oiJ osiJe, mine o|one, speoIin sweei|, onJ io me JevoieJ
I Jrive i|ee wii| o ooJ |rom i|, moi|er onJ i|, |oi|er, so i|oi i|ov s|o|i be in m,
power, s|o|i come vp io m, wis|
A|| |er i|ov|is Jo ,e, O Miiro onJ Vorvno, Jrive ovi o| |er. T|en |ovin JepriveJ
|er o| |er wi|| pvi |er inio m, power o|one.
Now turn to the modern Malay equivalent.
In i|e nome o| CoJ, i|e Merci|v|, i|e Compossionoie
Bvrn, bvrn, sonJ onJ eori| I bvrn i|e |eori o| m, be|oveJ
- - a a - -
AnJ m, |ire is i|e orrow o| Arjvno
I| I bvrni o movnioin, ii wov|J|o||,
I| I bvrni rocI, ii wov|J sp|ii osvnJer.
I om bvrnin i|e |eori o| m, be|oveJ,
So i|oi s|e is broIen onJ |oi wii| |ove,
T|oi ivei| |er no resi ni|i or Jo,,
Bvrnin ever os i|is sonJ bvrns.
Lei |er ceose io |ove porenis onJ |rienJs
I| s|e s|eeps, owoIen |er
I| s|e owoIes, covse |er io rise onJ come
Yie|Jin |erse|| vnio me,
DevoiJ o| s|ome onJ Jiscreiion
B, virive o| i|e poison o| Arjvno's orrow,
B, virive o| i|e invocoiion,
"T|ere is no CoJ bvi CoJ onJ Mv|ommoJ is His Prop|ei."
The Malay lover only talks ol Arjuna's arrow. But the Hindu lover pierced the heart ol a clay
elliy hy means ol a how with a hempen strin carryin an arrow whose harh was a thorn and
whose plume was plucked lrom an owl.
Even in Vedic times, however, olten no ritual was required and the mere recital ol the verhal
charm sulliced. A Hindu would mutter in the presence ol a hostile witness.-I take away the
speech in thy mouth, I take away the speech in thy heart. Wherever thy speech is I take it away.
What I say is true. Iall down inlerior to me. So, too, the Malay today without any ritual recites.-
O God' let the world he hlind, the universe deal, the earth stretched out dumh, closed and
locked he the desire ol my enemy, or he whispers,
Om Iin o| enies
T|e rocIsp|iiiin |i|inin is m, voice
Mic|oe| is wii| me
In virive o| m, vse o| i|is c|orm
To moIe |eov, onJ |ocI,
I |ocI i|e |eoris o| o|| m, oJversories,
I moIe Jvmb i|eir ionves,
I |ocI i|eir movi|s,
I iie i|eir |onJs,
I |eiier i|eir |eei.
Noi ii|| rocI moves
S|o|| i|eir |eoris be moveJ,
Noi ii|| eori| m, moi|er moves
S|o|| i|eir |eoris be moveJ.
The voice ol the Malay animist is heard in the charm callin the corn-hahy to her emhroidered
cradle, or in the sailor's invocation lor a hreeze. Come, wind, loose your lon llowin tresses, or
in the Perak raltsman's address to the spirit ol a perilous rapid.-Accept this ollerin, randdam'
Send our ralt sale throuh the lon rapid, we heseech thee' Cause us no harm in mid journey.
Open like the uncurlin hlossom ol the palm' Open like a snake that uncoils. But it is not in
many incantations that the Malay roars thus ently as any suckin dove.
- - a a - -
Most ol his charms hear all the characteristic marks ol the Indian moniro. They must he kept
secret. They are in rude metrical lorm. Many are a mixture ol prayer and spell. Numerous spirits
are enerally invoked so that the particular spirit whose help is wanted or whose malevolence is
to he haulked shall not escape mention. And as knowlede ol a man's name will ive another
power over him, so it is souht to inlluence and control a spirit hy enumeratin his various
names. 'Take an address to the Earth-Spirit.-
Ai Jo,breoI i|ov ori co||eJ LorJ o| i|e SvnPo,,
In i|e mornin LorJ o| Forivne,
Ai miJJo, LorJ o| i|e Vor|J,
Ai evenin LorJ o| i|e Evenin Li|i.
In i|e |i| |oresi i|, nome is i|e Leo|, Orc|iJ,
In miJ p|oin, i|e F|oi One,
In i|e rivv|ei, i|e F|owin One,
In i|e sprin, i|e TricI|er.
Like the Brahmin, the Malay maician will exhaust a series ol possihilities, expellin disease lrom
SIin onJ bone onJ joini onJ vein,
F|es|, b|ooJ, |eori, sp|een, rocIeJ wii| poin,
or hiddin
Cenies o| i|e movnioins reivrn io i|e movnioins
Cenies o| i|e |i||s reivrn io i|e |i||s
Cenies o| i|e p|oin reivrn io i|e p|oin
Cenies o| i|e |oresi reivrn io i|e |oresi
Ior the Malay, too, as lor the Hindu the oriin ol a thin or spirit ives maical control over
them. In the Atharva-Veda the mention ol the names ol the lather and mother ol a plant, lor
example, is a typical part ol a maic lormula. Incense is hailed hy the Malay maician as a product
ol the hrain ol Muhammad, its smoke the hreath ol his spiritual lile.
Rice-paste.-
Ii come Jown |rom A||o|'s presence,
From o Jrop o| Jew JescenJeJ
From i|e woier w|ence eierno|
Li|e comesi|oi ii's sovrce o| bein.
The trapper addresses enies -
I Inow i|e sovrce o| ,ov, enies
From i|e monrove |eoves ,e were sprvn
One sooreJ inio i|e sI, onJ become i|e reen enies.
One |e|| oi i|e oie o| i|e |oresi onJ become i|e b|ocI enies
One |e|| in i|e seo onJ become i|e w|iie enies
- - a a - -
Sometimes an ahsurdly hase oriin is purposely assined, as in a charm aainst tiers.-
Ho iier I Inow ,ovr oriin
Yovr moi|er, iier, wos o iooJ
On i|e p|oins o| S,rio ,ov were beoiien
The Malay maician under Indian inlluence threatens and commands, thouh he is apt to disclaim
responsihility.-
ToIe i|is boii, crocoJi|e,
A coIe o| ,e||ow rice
T|e i|i o| i|, sisier Foiimo|
I| i|ov ioIesi ii noi,
T|ov s|o|i be cvrseJ b, |er,
or aain.-
Obe, m, worJs, iroppeJ e|ep|oni
I| i|ov obe,esi noi,
T|ov wi|i be Ii||eJ b, Sri Pomo.
I| i|ov obe,esi,
T|e Creoi Pis|is wi|| Ieep i|ee o|ive.
In a charm to weaken a rival the Malay hoasts.-
Ii is noi on i|e eori| i|oi I ireoJ
I ireoJ on i|e |eoJs o| o|| |ivin i|ins.
In a charm aainst a thunderstorm he outroars the tempest.-
Om Virin oJJess, Mo|oJewi Om
Cvb om I o| mi|i, iier
'A|i's |ine i|rov| me JescenJs
M, voice is i|e rvmb|e o| i|vnJer,
V|ose bo|is siriIe o poi| |or m, seein,
ForIeJ |i|inin's i|e ||os| o| m, weopons
I move noi ii|| eori| moves
I rocI noi ii|| eori| rocIs
I jvoIe noi ii|| eori| jvoIes,
Firm sei os eori|'s oais.
B, virive o| m, c|orm oi |rom 'A|i
AnJ o| Is|om's con|ession o| |oii|.
To lrihten and capture a male elephant the hunter stands on one le at sunrise and vaunts his
prowess.-
M, covnienonce is i|e |i|i o| breoIin Jo,
M, e,es ore i|e sior o| Jown
- - a a6 6 - -
M, boJ, is os i|oi o| o ivsIer
M, prop is o |ierce iier
M, seoi is o rovenin crocoJi|e
Sittin on the skin ol a tier was supposed hy Hindus to ive invisihle strenth. But these darin
assumptions ol power were very lar lrom the mind ol the primitive animist, who addressed all
thins in heaven and earth with courtesy and delerence.
In Malay as in Hindu charms the curse plays a weihty part.-
I wov|J weJ i|e imoe in i|e pvpi| o| m, misiress' e,e
Vii| i|e imoe in i|e pvpi| o| m, own
I| i|ov |ooIesi noi vpon me,
Mo, i|, e,ebo||s bvrsi
Or aain.-
Cenies o| svpernoivro| power
Yovr |ome is oi i|e nove| o| i|e seo,
B, i|e iree on i|e broIen rocI
Enier noi i|e |ine Jrown b, m, ieoc|er
E|se wi|| I cvrse ,e wii| i|e worJs,
"T|ere is no CoJ bvi A||o| onJ Mv|ommoJ is His Prop|ei."
Om I neviro|ise o|| evi|,
O So|omon In i|e nome o| CoJ.
The mystic Om, symholical ol the Hindu triad, Vishnu, Siva, and Brahma, still remains a word ol
power with this Muslim maician, thouh almost supplanted hy the Arahic Ivn, Let it he, the
creative word ol Allah.-
I |r, sonJ |rom i|e |ooiprini o| m, be|oveJ,
No,, I |r, |er |eori onJ |iver
Ni|i onJ Jo,, os i|is sonJ is |rieJ.
"Lei ii be," so,s CoJ.
"AnJ ii is so," so,s Mv|ommoJ, His Aposi|e.
Lei |er boJ, iic| wii| Jesire
Civin |er no resi |rom |onin |or me.
"AnJ ii is so," so,s Cobrie|.
Islam, comin lirst lrom India, introduced the Malay to a wide lield ol lresh maic. A woman
desirin the love ol a man ets the lollowin charm written down, wrapped in cerements that
have covered the lace ol a male corpse, and huried where her lover is hound to step. The charm
is interestin, hecause so, too, the Moroccan hride will pray to Allah and the Prophet and Iatimah
that her hushand may he lond ol her as the dead is lond ol his rave, and Syro-Christian charms
(which appear to have inlluenced early Islam) invoke the Iather and the Son to hind the tonues
ol lalse witnesses and the navel ol the newly-horn child as the ox in the yoke, the dead in the
rave. The Malay charm runs as lollows.-
- - a ay y - -
I| Mv|ommoJ con be svnJereJ |rom A||o|
AnJ o corpse move in i|e rove,
On|, i|en s|o|| m, |over's Jesire move io onoi|er.
T|e Jesire o| |is |eori s|o|| be on|, |or me,
Siro,in now |ii|er |e s|o|| be m, moie vnio Jeoi|,
So|e neor me |iIe o corpse in i|e rove.
The Muslim element in Malay maic will lorm the suhject ol a separate chapter. But the linal
evolution ol the spoken charm in the Malay vernacular may he illustrated here hy the incantation
wherehy the Kelantan shaman exorcises the demon ol disease at a sonce.-
O vniverse, i|e wor|J o| AJom
Eori| wos moJe |rom o c|oJ rom PoroJise,
Voier |rom o river o| PoroJise,
Fire |rom i|e smoIe o| He||,
Air |rom i|e |ovr e|emenis.
SIin onJ |oir, ||es| onJ b|ooJ,
Bones onJ sinews, |i|e onJ seeJ
Come |rom |ovr e|emenis o| sperm.
SIin onJ |oir were creoieJ b, Cobrie|,
F|es| onJ b|ooJ b, Mic|oe|,
Bones onJ sinews b, Isro|i|,
Li|e onJ seeJ b, 'Azroi|
V|ere is i|is enie |oJin onJ ioIin s|e|ier?
V|ere is |e |oJin onJ crovc|in?
Cenie i| i|ov ori in i|e |eei o| i|is poiieni,
Know i|oi i|ese |eei ore moveJ b, A||o| onJ His Prop|ei,
I| i|ov ori in i|e be||, o| i|is poiieni,
His be||, is CoJ's seo, i|e seo, ioo, o| Mv|ommoJ.
I| i|ov ori in |is |onJs,
His |onJs po, |omoe io CoJ onJ His Prop|ei.
I| i|ov ori in |is |iver, Ii is i|e secrei p|oce o| CoJ onJ His Prop|ei
I| i|ov ori in |is |eori,
His |eori is Abv BoIor's po|oce.
I| i|ov ori in |is |vns,
His |vns ore 'Omor's po|oce.
I| i|ov ori in |is sp|een,
His sp|een is 'Usmon's po|oce.
I| i|ov ori in |is o||b|oJJer,
His o||b|oJJer is 'A|i's po|oce.
T|e |eori, i|e |vn, i|e sp|een, i|e o||b|oJJer
Are i|e |omesieoJ o| |i|e,
Noi i|e |omesieoJ o| enie or Ib|is,
Noi i|e |omesieoJ o| sicIness or sv||erin.
Ho i|ere, enie i|, oriin wos |rom i|e ionve|iIe |vmes o| smoIe|ess |e||.
I Inow i|, oriin,
T|e nome o i|, |oi|er, i|, moi|er, onJ o| i|, c|i|J.
- - a a8 8 - -

V. THE SOUL OF THINGS
THI, primitive Malay looked helow the outer aspect ol man and heast and plant and stone and
lound a veiled power or inner lile lor which their exterior is the host or tahernacle. This
animatin spirit he called the vital spark (semanat), prohahly hecause the dead are cold. Ior
lack ol an exact equivalent, it may he termed soul, despite that word's other connotations. It is
possessed hy all thins in widest commonalty spread. There is no aristocracy amon souls, no
rank, condition or deree, distinuishin the soul ol man lrom the soul ol plant or animal. But
souls inhahitin thins uselul to men, like rice, arrest the Malay's attention only less than his own
soul. The soul is the personal property ol its host. It is also an impersonal suhstance, whose
deliciency in the sick can he supplied hy soul-suhstance derived, lor example, lrom proper diet,
ruhhin with a hezoar stone, hein hreathed upon hy the medicine man or hrushed with the lush
rass ol his asperillum.
This suhstance, which enters the Malay child the moment the hamhoo knile (or midwile's teeth)
severs the umhilical cord, permeates his whole hody and its secretions like an electric lluid. In
some parts ol the lohe it is helieved that there are separate souls lor the head, the hlood, the
heart, the saliva, and even the loot-prints. A survival ol this idea may he traced in the Malay
shaman's altar piled with morsels representin every part ol the heast sacriliced. Accordin to one
Malay account the soul lives in the helly. His head to a Malay is sacred. he resents it hein
touched even in play. All parts ol the hody where soul-suhstance is present must he uarded
lrom the sorcery ol enemies. A woman's hlood can he employed to her hurt hy a disappointed
lover. Clippins lrom hair or nails are hidden or destroyed lor lear possession ol them may ive an
enemy control over their owner's soul and so over his lile. Clippins lrom liner-nails can turn
into lire-llies just as the soul ol a whole man can turn into a lirelly. So stron is the soul-suhstance
in the hair shorn at a irl's lirst tonsure that it is huried at the loot ol a harren tree to hrin lruit as
luxuriant as her tresses. The ahundance ol this suhstance in hair and teeth makes it politic to
sacrilice all save a lock ol a Malay hoy's hair and to lile oll part ol a child's teeth at puherty.
lormerly the stumps were hlackened, it has heen surmised, to conceal lrom the spirits the partial
nature ol the sacrilice. In old days warriors especially, like Samson, wore their hair lon and
uncut. And alter a death relatives used to sacrilice some or all ol their locks so that the dead
miht not revisit them. The history ol Pasai tells ol a Malay princess horn lrom a hamhoo whose
lile was hound up with one olden hair that littered amon her raven tresses. when her consort
pulled it out, white hlood ushed lorth and she died.
The Malay's respect lor saliva is shown hy the deputin ol a courtier to take chare ol the royal
cuspidore on ceremonial occasions. The midwile spits on the hahy she welcomes into the world.
This is a ilt ol a portion ol one's sell, a plede ol union and ood-will, a diluted lorm ol hlood-
covenant. Reliious teachers ol piety and learnin are invited hy parents to spit upon a child's
head or into his mouth to endow him with intellience and lacility lor learnin to recite the
Quran. The saliva ol a livin saint hrins henelits to the credulous. Ior medicinal purposes saliva
is olten reinlorced hy scarlet hetel juice. At a sacrilice in Malacca to the earth spirit helore the
plantin out ol the youn rice a man walked round the lield, spittin rice lrom his mouth,
- - a aq q - -
prohahly not a mere ollerin ol lood hut a hond ol union hetween himsell and the earth to which
his rice-plants were to he entrusted.
Alter-hirth is lull ol soul-suhstance, and droppin on the earth can enerate evil spirits. In many
charms the maician threatens such spirits with knowlede ol their oriin.-
I Inow i|e oriin w|ence ,e spron
V|en i|e Jisc|ore be|ore biri| beon,
A Jrop o| b|ooJ |e|| io i|e eori|,
Creoiin enies o| i|e eori|, ob|ins o| i|e soi|.
The soul may he attacked throuh ohjects that have come into contact with its owner. One way
to ahduct a irl's soul is to take sand or earth lrom her loot-print or lrom her arden path or the
lront ol her door or lrom her carriae wheels or her pony's hooves. Iryin this soul-suhstance in
oil, one recites a charm.-
I om bvrnin i|e |iver, i|e |eori, i|e |vsis onJ possions o| m, be|oveJ,
So i|oi s|e is broIen onJ |oi wii| |ove,
MoJ|, in |ove wii| me onJ resi|ess,
Bvrnin os i|is sonJ bvrns.
The personal soul may depart in sleep what it sees the man dreams. A well-known Malay
quatrain tells how a irl pats her pillow and calls upon her lover's soul, which comes to her in
dreams. Sudden awakenin, lriht or sorcery may separate soul lrom hody lor ever. Then the
house ol lile will lall into disrepair and, unless the shaman or medicine-man can recall the
wanderer, the hody will die. The shaman's personal soul quits his hody in a trance to hold
intercourse with spirits. The soul may leave the human lrame and enter that ol a tier to prey
upon men.
The Nerito ol the Malay Peninsula conceives a man's soul to have human shape, to he red like
hlood, and no hier than a rain ol maize. A Besisi leend linds it in a person's shadow. Both
these conceptions ol the soul in its personal aspect recur in the heliels ol the Malay.
The soul is in the shadow ol the physical hody. One should not walk upon a person's shadow, the
ariculturist must not hack his own shadow and the maician, to estahlish and vaunt his
invulnerahle strenth, will declare his shadow to he the shadow ol one heloved hy Allah and the
Prophet and anels lorty-and-lour.
The personal soul is in one's name. The Malay is reluctant to utter his own name lest hreathin it
he may part with a piece ol his soul-suhstance. a third party must he asked to divule the secret.
A child receives a tentative name helore the umhilical cord is cut, hut il the inlant lalls sick the
name will he rearded as unlucky and chaned to mislead the spirits ol disease. A name like
'Ahdu'l-Qadir may ollend the Muslim saint who lounded the reat reliious order. Some parents
even call their children hy such names as Uly or Iool in order to persuade demons that they
are unattractive prey. It is desirahle always to disuise one's real name. An adult Malay is olten
known as lather (or mother) ol so-and-so. A neihhour calls her lriend's hushand your house.
A Perak man relers to his wile as the person at home or my rice-ha, a Perak woman to her
hushand as my chopper. The Malay seldom mentions the names ol close relations, alludin to
them as elder hrother, youner sister, randad, mother-in-law, and so on. Ol
- - c c - -
the dead person he speaks as that soul, usin an Arahic word. To his ruler he relers as Lord or
He-under-whose-leet-we-are. and the lile name ol a dead Sultan is always dropped lor a new
Arahic title, The Deceased on whom Allah have mercy, Allah's Great Saint, The Iriend ol
Allah, The Deceased who was stron. The mention ol Siva is rare in Malay charms, the od
was invoked as the Supreme Teacher, and the worldly Malay Muslim in ordinary talk speaks ol
Allah simply as Lord, hoth practices suestive ol a tahu ol divine names. The Malay is alraid
even to attract the spirits ol heasts. In the junle the dreaded tier is randlather. On a mine the
elephant, whose heavy leet and rovin trunk can undo the work ol puny men, must he called
the tall one, the hlunderin water-hullalo the unlucky one,the poisonous snake the live
creeper. In Patani Bay lishermen call a crocodile the ap-toothed thinummy-hoh, a oat or
sheep the haahaa, a hullalo moo, a sea-snake the weaver's sword, a tier stripes, a monkey
Mr. Lon Tall, a vulture hald-head, a Buddhist monk the yellow one, and sea-spirits
thinummies. Smallpox in many places is termed the complaint ol the ood lolk. The
mention ol the real name may attract the capricious attention ol the lords ol the sea, the spirit ol
a disease, a human host, a kin, a mammal or a mother-in-law. it may also lrihten away such
elusive thins as ore in a mine or camphor in a tree. So on a tin-mine the ore must he called
rass-seed and the metal white stone. Collectors ol camphor use an elahorate tahu vocahulary
ol ahoriinal, rare and artilicial words. the hamhoo is called the drooper, hananas the lruit in
rows, hees seeds on hranches, hlood sap, a cat the kitchen tier, a lire-lly a torch lor the
eyes, the nose the smeller, the jaws the chewers, a hed the cuddlin place, and so on. Not
only is the name ol camphor itsell avoided, hut no words are uttered which miht lead the tree
to suspect that Malays were in search ol its treasures. So human in aner and lear are trees and
minerals and heasts.
Ior there is no dillerence hetween the soul ol man and the soul ol heasts and plants and ohjects.
As the soul ol man can take the lorm ol insect or hird, it is easy to liure him re-incarnated in
animal lorm. The deer was a man who died ol ahscess on the le. The tier wears the stripes he
earned as a nauhty school-hoy. The elephants have a city where they live in the shape ol men.
Limes can he used to ahduct the soul ol an elephant as well as the soul ol a irl. The solid-
casqued hornhill was a malicious son-in-law, the arus pheasant once a woman. In usin dos to
hunt deer, the maician reminds them ol that common kinship which in a Malay lolk-tale makes
the house-do a littin hrideroom lor his master's dauhter, and he ures them hy promise ol
relationship or marriae with the quarry
BvcI onJ |e s|o|| be i|, broi|er
Doe onJ s|e s|o|| be i|, misiress.
Dos, like rice, are close lriends ol man and have personal names and souls.
To make it hear lruit the durian tree is heaten like a nauhty child. There are plants to which a
particularly stron soul-suhstance is attrihuted, on account ol their touh vital power. Amon all
Indonesians, Drocoeno iermino|is stands loremost. It is the sacred plant, which is used hy
maicians in all their proceedins, and whose stron soul-suhstance they try to transler to man.
Moreover, plants, like men, have this suhstance in every part ol them. Take the tree, where wild
hees nest. Its root is called the Seated Raja, its stem the Trailin Raja, its hranch the Pendent Raja,
its leal the Soarin Raja-in Malay the word Raja denotes either sex. Similar names are iven to the
parts ol the lime tree, and the spirits ol the parts ol the eale-wood tree are called expressly
princesses. The aesthetic side ol such nomenclature is a side issue to the Malay. To the coconut
palm he ascrihes delinitely seven souls, named alter princesses whose neck the tapper
- - - -
seizes, whose hlossom-like hair he rolls up, lor whose juice he holds an ivory hath, where the
princesses may clap their hands and chase one another. Like rajas and spirits, the camphor tree
is addressed with a special tahu vocahulary. Iormerly there were seven experts required to take
camphor, as there are seven midwives required to hrin a raja into the world.
The camphor princess lives in the tree, which is her house. Once she was wooed in her human
lorm hy a man. When he hroke her command and recited to his ruler the maical chants his hride
had tauht him, she hecame a cicada and llew up into a coconut palm. So the soul-suhstance ol a
camphor tree may appear in either shape, as the soul ol rice may appear as a rasshopper or he
treated as a human hahy. The soul ol the rattan is in its tiny mimic, the stick-insect. The soul-
suhstance ol eale-wood, the coconut palm and ol man is conceived as a hird. Therelore, souls are
summoned hy the hurrin call ol the housewile to her chicken, and rice is sprinkled over a man
to retain his soul in his hody. Stress was laid rather on the soul's power ol lliht than on any
delinition ol this symhol until the Malay philoloist studyin the Muslim cosmoony discovered
the soul in the NvriMv|ommoJ (the Radiance ol Muhammad) and identilied the hird in his
hosom as the Prophet's parrot (nvri Mv|ommoJ)'
The llutter ol the heart, the vital spark in the lirelly, the stridulous teleraphy ol the cicada in a
tree, the rustlin lliht ol a hird lrom its hranches, an uncanny likeness and the anthropomorphic
learnins ol men explain the oriin ol these conceptions. Possihly association ol colour has led to
the soul ol tin-ore hein detected in the hullalo and the soul ol old in the harkin deer, an
animal olten descrihed in Malay romance as olden and stamped on the ohverse ol the tiny old
Jinor minted in Kelantan. A Besisi leend speaks ol a hriht snake with seven souls in the lorm ol
iridescent rainhows. The ascription ol seven souls to men and trees, when the soul-suhstance has
so many hosts and so many shapes, is a moderate estimate hased on the worldwide reard lor the
numher seven.
In Neri Semhilan the soul ol a house is said to appear as a cricket. The Patani lishermen think
that even a hoat has an individual soul (mo,o), enerally invisihle, to keep it lrom dissolution. It is
lucky to hear the chirpin sound ol this soul. It is luckier still to see the soul. That ol a du-out
manilests itsell as a lire-lly, that ol a lare hoat as a snake, that ol a ship as a person either male or
lemale accordin to the qualities ol the vessel. Il ill lortune at sea reveals that the soul ol his hoat
is weak, the lisherman enaes a maician to leed it with ollerins laid on each rih. There is no
soul until all planks have heen litted and the hull can he properly called a hoat. It is danerous to
keep a perlect neolithic celt (which the Malay takes to he a meteorite), as it has lile and will
attract lihtnin to disappear in the llash, hut chipped or damaed the stone is dead and harmless.
Hard ohjects have stron soul-suhstance, ol which maic makes ood use. The sick are ruhhed
with hezoar-stones. A candle-nut, a stone and an iron nail are employed hoth at the hirth ol a
child and at the takin ol the rice hahy. The drinkin ol water in which iron has heen put
strenthens an oath, lor the soul ol the metal will destroy a perjurer. Applied to the wound, the
hlades ol some daers can extract the venom lrom a snake-hite, and the mere invocation ol
manetic steel will help to join parted lovers.
VI. THE RITUAL OF THE RICE-FIELD
IN the maic sale-uardin rice lrom seed-time to harvest survives the primitive ritual ol the
Indonesian race. Strip away the ohvious accretions, the names ol Hindu deities, the
- - a a - -
thin Muslim veneer, and the essence ol the ritual remains intact in Malaya to-day. It deals with
the soul-suhstance, human, animal, veetahle, with the spirits ol dead maicians, nature-spirits
and Iather Sky and Mother Earth. Except lor Sky and Earth the spirits invoked lack the
omnipresence and individuality ol ods, hear eneric names and are indelinite in numher. Their
sphere is a particular district. They inhahit the rice-lield, the thick junle, the rays ol the settin
sun. No temples are erected in their honour. The customary and symholic rites that persuade
them to lriendly relations with man can he enacted in a lorest clearin, in the corner ol a rice
swamp, on the lloor ol a villae harn. No shaman or priest ol Siva or Muslim elder presides. The
maician has the narrow scope ol the spirits he serves. He helons to one small villae or humhle
district. Olten the rites controllin the rowth ol rice are conducted hy an old Malay woman,
relic ol the lar distant past when man hunted and killed, and woman, the hearer ol youn, delved,
lendin the henin inlluence ol her motherhood to make crops prolilic. Amon many ahoriines
this older custom is ohserved and the rites are celehrated not hy a man hut hy a woman, littin
midwile lor the rice-hahy. Still in parts ol the country aricultural implements are iven hy the
Malay room to his hride as a weddin present.
Belore startin to lell a clearin lor rice, the larmer takes a lump ol henzoin on a plate wrapped in
a white cloth as a present to the local maician, a survivor in Malay culture whose trust is lirst in
God, next in His Prophet, and then in the maicians ol old, the ancestral spirits who own the
clumps and clods ol the locality.|| This expert recites charms over the henzoin and returns it to
the planter with traditional instructions. Iirst he is to hurn the henzoin in a hamhoo conch and
lumiate his adzes and choppers, prayin to the uardian spirits, male and lemale, newly dead and
dead lon since, to he cool and propitious. Then he is to stand erect lacin eastward and look
round at the lour quarters ol the heavens, he is to notice at which quarter his hreath leels least
laint and hein to lell in that
|. Except where acknowledment is made to other sources, the lollowin account is hased on two manuscripts
written lor me hy Perak Malay headmen twelve years ao. It contains certain interestin details hitherto not noted in
the Peninsula.|
direction. Alter one or two hacks at the trees he must cease work lor the day.
When the time comes to hurn the clearin, the man ets more henzoin lrom the maician,
lurniates his torches, lihts them and cries thrice to spirits ol all sorts, Indonesian, Indian, Persian,
Arahian, to ohlins with a Sanskrit name, to indienous vampires, and ohlins ol the soil, sayin
that the maician has duly inlormed them ol his desire to hurn, that he himsell has paid them due
respect, and that trustin to the luck ol his instructor he hopes lor a lavourahle hreeze. Very early
in the mornin alter the hurn he and his wile and children must hurry to mitiate the smart ol
the hall-hurnt clearin with water in which are steeped cold rice lrom last niht's meal, a slice
lrom the cool heart ol a ourd, and other veetahle products chosen lor their natural lriidity or
appropriately cool names. Also a little maize should he planted. All this must he done helore
Grannie Keman can et up and sow rank weeds that will llourish and provide hidin places lor
ohlin pests. Belore quittin the clearin, one should pile and sine three rows ol the unhurnt
hrushwood. Then one must o home and wait three days helore completin the hurn.
The next important occasion is the plantin ol the rice-seed. In Perak and Kedah the time lor this
is taken lrom ohservation ol the Pleiades. When at .c a.m. or thereahouts a lew rains ol rice
slip oll the palm ol the hand, the arm hein outstretched and pointed at the constellation, or
when, the arm hein so directed, the hracelet slides down the wrist, it is considered to he time to
- - - -
put down the rice nursery. In some places the planter is uided hy ohservation ol the sun,
calculatin lrom the time when it is thouht to he exactly overhead at noon. Others keep the
seed-rain in store lor a certain delinite period, that varies with the character ol the rain and may
he anythin hetween lour and seven months.... This period ol rest is vital to the productive power
ol the seed. The lloodin ol some stream, the lruitin ol certain trees also allord rouh local
indications to supply the delect ol the misleadin Muhammadan lunar calendar.
A seed plot is chosen where the soil smells sweet. It is partitioned oll hy lour sticks into a square
ol a prescrihed size. Here hoth Sakai and Malays sometimes practise a method ol divination.
Water in a coconut shell and leaves are placed within the square. Il the next mornin linds the
leaves undisturhed, the water unspilt and the lrame unmoved, the spot is auspicious, it remains
only to plant rice-seed in seven holes within the square as custom ordains.
A stick, il possihle ol a special kind ol wood (termed the tortoise's chest) which has rown on
an anthill, must he cut lresh on the mornin ol the ceremony to make the mother dihhle. It
must he in lenth thrice the span hetween a woman's thumh and rin-liner and it must he
peeled. A match or twin lor the mother dihhle must also he prepared, ol any wood, unpecled,
three cuhits and three rin-liners lon. Another dihhle is selected hy the maician lrom the heap
ol dihhles hrouht hy the planters. A pretty lealy shruh is ot ready to make a playthin lor
the seed. The leader ol the villae mosque chants prayers lor all souls. Then those present least.
Next, with a white cloth ahout his head the maician squats, lacin the east. The hi toe ol his
riht loot is ahove the hi toe ol his lelt, and he recites charms over henzoin. He lumiates the
mother dihhle, her match and the other dihhle, and sprinkles them with rice-paste, does the
same to the other tools, and the same thrice to the earth in the middle ol the chosen square. He
holds out to the lour quarters ol heaven seven packets ol sweet rice, seven suar-canes, seven
hamhoos containin rice cooked in them, the Malay's most primitive cookin-pot, and rice
parched, yellow and white. He lilts the mother dihhle in hoth hands, holds it across his head, its
point towards the riht. Alter recitin charms he holds it ahove his shoulder point to earth, and
dis it into the middle ol the square, withdraws it and then plants it lirm and erect in the hole.
Next he plants the twin or duplicate, and then the lealy shruh. He ties the mother dihhle, her
twin and the shruh toether with hark, and decorates the mother dihhle with a creeper whose
name denotes increase. At the loot ol the mother dihhle he sets a hamhoo containin rice lrom
the lreak ears most lavoured lor the rice-hahy as certain to contain the rice soul, a rod ol iron, a
stone worn smooth in a waterlall, and three quids ol hetel. On the shruh he hans seven packets
ol sweet rice, seven suar canes, seven kinds ol hanana, seven sorts ol junle lruit, apparently to
attract and keep the seven souls ol the rice. He charms the third dihhle and, helore plantin it
also hy the side ol the mother dihhle, uses it to make seven holes, sayin as he makes them.
Peace he unto thee, Solomon, Prophet ol Allah, prince ol all the earth' I would sow rice lor seed.
I pray thee protect it lrom all daner and mischance.
Alter lumiatin two handluls ol rice he holds it with his riht hand ahove his lelt and sprinkles
it with cool rice-water ol the kind made lor his hurnt clearin and with the rice-paste used in all
maical ceremonies. (In Neri Semhilan as he does this he recites a verse
Piceposie wii|ovi specI
I'|| ei o|J b, i|e pecI
I c|orm m, rice crvs|eJ onJ in eor
- - - -
I'|| ei |v|| roin wii|in i|e ,eor.)
The rice-paste is taken lrom a coconut shell (or in modern days lrom a soap-dish'), in which
there have also heen steeped a nail and husked rice. It is applied with a hrush ol herhs whose
viorous rowth or lucky names (the reviver, the lull one) are calculated to henelit the seed,
hody and soul. Goin to the lirst hole the maician cries. Peace he unto thee, Solomon, Prophet
ol God, prince ol all the earth' Peace he unto you, enies and ohlins ol the soil' Peace he unto
my lather the Sky and my mother the Earth' Peace he unto you, uardian lather, uardian
mother' I would send my child, dauhter ol Princess Splendid to her mother. I would hid her sail
on the sea that is hlack, the sea that is reen, the sea that is hlue, the sea that is purple. Ior six
months I send her, and in the seventh I will welcome her hack. It is not seed I plant. it is rice-
rain. Holdin his hreath, he puts the seed into the seven holes. When he releases his hreath, he
does it ently and with averted lace.
The rice-paste he huries heside the mother dihhle and turns the coconut shell, its receptacle,
upside down on the surlace ol the round, lumiatin it and passin a censer three times round it.
Then he rises lrom his task.
Children rush to pick the sweet ollerins lrom the shruh, thouh one ollerin at least must he
lelt on its hranches. The leader ol the mosque intones prayers in honour ol the Prophet. Men
seize the dihhles, women the seed. With shouts and lauhter the sexes strive to outdo one
another in speed at their respective tasks. Belore he oes home the owner ol the lield removes
lrom the square the hamhoo lilled with rice. This cereal is eaten lor the evenin meal hy himsell
and his lamily, hut no straner may partake ol it.
Il it is dry hill rice, the seed has heen sown over the lield lrom the lirst and no transplantin is
required. Il the rice is to he planted in an irriated lield, the seed is sown in a nursery and lorty-
lour days later the youn shoots are transplanted. That wet rice cultivation is less primitive is
perhaps shown hy the omission in many districts ol all charms at this lunction, thouh aain
seven hunches are planted lirst, alon with a hanana plant and three stems ol the Clinoyne
randis, and a lence is huilt round them. (In Neri Semhilan the lollowin invocation is addressed
to spirits.-
O LonIeso O LonIesi
Spiriis o| i|e |ie|J ,e ore |ovr
Covniin me we ore |ive
Hvri noi nor |orm m, c|i|J
BreoI |oii| onJ ,e s|o|| be siricIen
B, i|e iron i|oi is siron,
B, i|e mojesi, o| Poor Pv,on
(Home o| ovr ro,o| |ovse),
B, i|e i|iri, c|opiers o| i|e vron.
A||o| |v||i| m, cvrse)
Alter this preliminary rite no work is done lor the rest ol the day. On the morrow the seedlins
are planted out hy women, who must neither drop the youn plants nor speak. A wooden dihhle
is used in remote districts, elsewhere a dihhle with a steel point that hears the euphemistic name
ol the oat's hool. This instrument carries lrom live to nine seedlins at once and is used seven
times in quick succession. While each ol seven hunches ol seedlins are hein planted the
- - - -
tonue must he pressed aainst the rool ol the mouth. At this season a propitiatory sacrilice is
sometimes ollered to the earth spirits. Il dry rice is hein cultivated, this is done ahout the time
the rice heins to swell. Irom ahout the lourth month ol its rowth no straner may enter the
lield.
As soon as the ear has swollen lare, the larmer cooks sweet rice in a hamhoo and invites the
maician, the leader ol the mosque, and other worthies to the least ol splittin the hamhoo.
Nihtly now ruhhish and stinkin herhs are hurnt to scare evil spirits.
When the crop is ripe lor harvest, the maician has to take the souls ol the rice. Ior two
evenins he walks round the ede ol the lield, coaxin and collectin them. On the third he enters
the lield to search lor their host, lookin ahout lor ears ol royal yellow, certain types ol lreak ear
remindin one ol a veiled or lauhin princess, ears on stalks interlaced, ears lrom stalks with a
lucky hird's nest at the root. When he has lound a suitahle host, he ties seven stalks with hark and
lihre and many coloured thread havin a nail attached to it, and slips the nail into the middle ol
the hunch. Thrice helore the cuttin ol the seven stalks is perlormed the maician walks round
them hiddin malicious earth spirits avaunt.-
Gohlins ol latter days' Gohlins ol the heinnin' Gohlins one hundred and ninety' Gohlins under
my leet and suhjection' Gohlins that creep into haskets and round stalks' Gohlins ol hill and
mountain and plain' Gohlins mine' Get ye hack and aside or I will curse ye.
Early the next mornin the leader ol the mosque mounts a covered shelter in the lield and
intones prayers in honour ol the Prophet. A least lollows. When evenin is ahout to lall, the
maician and an assistant and the larmer walk up to the plant chosen the day helore. A puzzle
rin is carried to han on the stalks. The maician, his head covered with a white cloth, draws
near. Takin care lest his shadow lall on the seven stalks, he lumiates them and, sprinklin rice-
paste, rasps them inerly, hidin in his palm a tiny hlade, whose handle is carved in the shape ol
a hird lor disuise. He hows his head to the round and mutters a traditional invocation.-
Sov| o| m, c|i|J, Princess Sp|enJiJ
I seni ,ov io ,ovr moi|er |or sia moni|s, io receive ,ov rowin io|| in i|e seveni|
moni|.
T|e iime is |v||i||eJ, onJ I receive ,ov.
I io|J ,ov io soi| io i|e seo i|oi is b|ocI, i|e seo i|oi is reen, i|e seo i|oi is b|ve,
onJ i|e seo i|oi is pvrp|e,
To i|e |onJ o| Pome, io InJio, C|ino, onJ Siom.
Now I wov|J we|come ,ov vp inio o po|oce |o||, To o broiJereJ moi onJ corpei.
I wov|J svmmon nvrses onJ |o||owers,
Svbjecis onJ so|Jiers onJ covri Jiniiories |or ,ovr service,
I wov|J ossemb|e |orses onJ e|ep|onis, JvcIs onJ eese, bv||o|oes onJ oois onJ
s|eep wii| o|| i|eir Jin.
Come, |or o|| is reoJ, I wov|J co|| ,ov |ii|er,
Come., m, crown onJ m, or|onJ, ||ower o| m, Je|i|i
I we|come ,ov vp io o po|oce|o||,
To o broiJereJ moi onJ corpei.
Come I wov|J we|come ,ov Forei ,ovr moi|er onJ weinvrse.
- - 6 6 - -
V|iie onJ b|ocI onJ reen onJ b|ve onJ pvrp|e ei ,e osiJe
Bri|iness o| enie onJ Jevi| beone
T|e reo| bri|iness is i|e bri|iness o| m, c|i|J.
Clearly the lour seas must symholize the hlack earth ol the newly-tilled lields, and the carpet ol
reen rice-plants chanin tint lrom liht to dark until the harvest.
The maician lilts his head. Skyward and all around he azes lor the advent ol the rice-soul. With
the sound ol a hreeze it appears either in the lorm ol a rasshopper or other insect or in the shape
ol a irl, Grannie Keman. Il it lails at lirst to come, the repetition ol the most coaxin lines ol
the invocation three times is certain to letch it. The maician holds his hreath, shuts his eyes, sets
his teeth, and with one cut severs the ears lrom the seven stalks. Like a midwile holdin a new-
horn child, he puts the ears in his lap and swaddles them in a white cloth. This rice hahy he hands
to the owner ol the land to hold. He cuts seven more clusters ol rain lrom round the plant
whence she was taken and puts them alon with an e and a olden hanana into the hasket
prepared lor the hahy. The rice-hahy is cradled amon hrinjal leaves, a stone and a piece ol iron,
and under a canopy ol cool creepers and hark and lihre and coloured thread. The maician smears
the seven stalks lrom which the ears were cut with clay, as medicine lor their hurt lrom the
knile, and hides them under neihhour stalks that are whole. Then lacin the east, he touches
the maimed stalks and cries.-
Ho oncesiresses w|ose rice|ie|Js s|one oi i|e comin o| ovr |irsi Iin
Crow |ere, moiJens, in c|vmps
Esiob|is| ,ovr |ome |ere
I| i|e seven iiers o| |eoven ore s|oIen,
T|en on|, s|o|| m, c|i|J, Princess Sp|enJiJ, be s|oIen,
I| i|e seven |o,ers o| eori| ore s|oIen,
T|en on|, s|o|| m, c|i|J, Princess Sp|enJiJ, be s|oIen,
E|se s|o|| s|e be esiob|is|eJ os rocI, |irm os iron
From i|is wor|J vnio i|e wor|J |ereo|ier,
Esiob|is|eJ in |imbs onJ boJ, wii| |oi|er onJ moi|er.
On|, i| i|e Prop|ei be porieJ |rom A||o|
S|o|| ,ov be porieJ |rom me.
The maician kisses the rice-stalks and heads the procession carryin the rice-hahy home. The
larmer is addressed as the lather ol the hahy and his wile as the mother. She and her children are
waitin and, as she takes the hasket lrom her hushand, the woman exclaims.-Dear heart' My lile'
My child' How I have loned lor your return lrom your voyae' Every day ol your ahsence, every
month, all the year I've missed you. Now you've returned sale and sound' Come' Your room is
ready. She kisses the rice-hahy three times. The maician lumiates and sprinkles a spot lor the
cradle. Then he takes the e out ol the cradle and hreaks it. Il there is an empty space at the top
ol the e, it is a poor omen, il at either side ol it, a ood, hut il the shell is quite lull, the omen is
so ood that it must he reeted with an ollerin ol yellow rice and a spatchcock. The e and the
olden hanana must he eaten hy the larmer and his lamily, and no one else may taste them. Ior
three days the household must keep viil, the lire may not he quenched, the lood in the cookin-
pots may not he linished, no one may o down lrom the house or ascend to it. Thus all the
precautions littin lor a new-horn child must he ohserved. Durin the three days lollowin these
hirth tahus, one small hasket ol ears a day may he reaped, and the reaper must work silently, not
aze around, and uard aainst his shadow lallin on the plants as he would uard aainst
- - y y - -
another's shadow lallin on his own. On the seventh day reapin may hein in earnest, hut the
yield lor that day is devoted to a least in honour ol the spirits ol dead maicians, the lorehears
who have chare ol the district.
The rice won on the seventh day is trodden out on a mat, and winnowed in a sieve. Then the
rain is placed on a mat in the middle ol the arden alon with hrinjal leaves, a stone lrom a
waterlall, an iron nail, a candle-nut, three cockle-shells, a creeper and the inverted rattan stand ol
a cookin-pot on which is put a coconut shell lull ol water (to quench the thirst ol the parchin
rain). Around this stand the rain is spread, nor may it he lelt unwatched until the sun has dried
it.
In some parts ol the Peninsula there is a harvest dance that lorms part ol the procedure ol
atherin in the rice. The perlormers are a hand ol some lilteen or twenty youn children, hoth
hoys and irls, who carry winnowin-sieves and other tools ol the harvester. The troop is invited
lorward hy an old woman takin up her position on the threshin screen and sinin to the
children, who respond hy dancin and puttin questions lor the old lady to answer in verse.
When the spectators are weary ol the dancin and sinin the perlormance is hrouht to an end
in the lollowin very curious way. The irl-leader ol the children's chorus sins a verse that
purports to he a charm ' makin all thins hrittle.' Havin done so (douhtless with the idea ol
makin the threshin easier) she leads her hand ol dancers to the screen hy way ol testin the
ellicacy ol the maic. The children tramp and stamp on the screen, and when a lath has shown its
hrittleness hy hreakin, the charm is supposed to have done its work and the dance ends.
The next process is to pound the rice in a wooden mortar. Aain the mortar must he hun with
hark, hlack lihre, coloured thread and cool-named leaves. Allah and the Prophet are invoked. The
pestle crushes the rain slowly three, live or seven times, and then may work at ordinary speed.
The rice crushed, the eldest child ol the year, is cooked in a spray-hun pot and eaten at a least.
The last and hiest least ol the rice year is the Malay harvest home. Each planter keeps open
house in turn, when all his lriends come to help him tread out his rain. Even the reverend elders
assume lor the time the manner ol children and verses are handied with the entle licence
characteristic ol Malay junketins. Games, theatricals (and lormerly hullalo-lihts) lormed part
ol the celehrations. Tithes are paid to the mosque and lees to the maician.
The maician presides over the lirst storin ol the rain in the harn. Aain, hrinjal leaves, a stone
lrom a waterlall, a piece ol iron, a candle-nut or hetter three candle-nuts, a plant with a line
healthy name, three cockle-shells, a piece ol torch, all covered with the ancestral rice-measure
and the measure covered with the rattan stand ol a cookin-pot hun with hark and lihre and
coloured thread-on these solid soul-strenthenin loundations he pours the rain lrom the three
hasketluls ol rice cut near the sheal whence the rice-hahy was taken. The shepherd ol souls has
perlormed his linal task and the remainder ol the rain is lelt lor the larmer to pile.
Some ol the ears that o to make up the rice-hahy will he mixed with next year's seed and some
with next year's maic rice-paste used at all lunctions hy the Malay maician.
This account ol the ritual ol the rice-year in the Malay Peninsula can he supplemented lrom
other sources. Nearly a century ao in Province Wellesley the seed was twice measured helore
hein sown in the nursery in order to ascertain that none had escaped preternaturally. There,
too, sometimes seven stalks were cut lor the rice-hahy, sometimes two only, a male and a
- - 8 8 - -
lemale, on each side ol which a old or silver rin was tied helore they were wrapped toether in
a white cloth. The most notahle point in the Perak account is that the larmer and his wile are
rearded as the lather and mother ol the rice-soul. In Malacca the sheal lrom which the hahy is
cut is called the mother, treated like a woman alter childhirth and reaped hy the larmer's wile. In
ancient Greece there was conlusion as to the moment when Demeter, the corn-mother, chaned
into Persephone, the corn-dauhter, and in many other countries the hucolic mind has lozed
over this dilliculty.
The charmin ol hatchets, the dihhle cut lrom a special tree likely hy sympathetic maic to
inlluence the quality ol the rice-plant, the dihhlin ol seven holes in a special plot, the holidays
prescrihed alter lellin and sowin and reapin, the seven ears lor the rice-soul, the various
communal leasts throuhout the rice-year, all these are lound amon the Proto-Malay trihes ol
Malaya.
In Neri Semhilan, where matrilineal custom lauhs at the proscriptions ol Islam, irls and men
handy Malay ponivn, hall verse hall riddle, one with another as they work in the lields.
Comparison with plantin rites in other lands has suested that riddles are a survival ol a tahu
lanuae, employed not to lrihten the soul ol a cereal hy direct relerence to the processes ol
ariculture.
The symholism ol the ritual will he clear to any one who has rasped the primitive Malay notion
ol the soul. The soul ol the rice in the lield is ol the same stull that villaers' are made ol and,
liured in anthropomorphic lorm, is treated with the care lavished on a new-horn child.
The reconition hy the animist ol souls that may inhahit stock or stone, man or plant, and quit its
host to assume the shape ol tier, rasshopper or irl, leads naturally to heliel in disemhodied
spirits that may enter man and make him sick, enter drum or stone and make it a letish, and act
as capriciously as animals or human heins. The idea ol the survival ol the soul apart lrom the
hody leads also to the worship ol ancestors. So in the ritual ol the rice-lield there is continual
relerence to ancestral spirits and ohlins ol the soil, the hill, the plain. Accordinly, every three or
lour years helore clearin their lields lor plantin Malay hushandmen have a mock-comhat to
expel evil spirits. Sometimes hanana stems are the weapons wielded. Sometimes the two
opposin parties hurl thin rods with pared llat ends like that ol an old-lashioned stethoscope
across a ully until a hlow makes the lace ol one ol the comhatants hleed and ends the lray. It has
heen suested that oriinally one ol the parties in such mimic hattles represented the lorces ol
evil. In Neri Semhilan the maician opens the proceedins with this conjuration.-
In i|e nome o| A||o|, i|e Merci|v|, i|e Compossionoie
Ancesiors i|oi in|obii i|e |o,ers o| i|e eori|
Cenies o| i|e soi| IJo|s o| iron
Cei ,e osiJe, enies onJ Jevi|s
MoIe wo, |or i|e mi|i o| A||o|
Yov w|o i|rvsi vp io peer
Bow Jown, |or os o iier I poss b,.
Cenies onJ Jevi|s onJ ob|ins
Tresposs noi w|ere A||o| |oi| |orbiJJen,
E|se ore ,e iroiiors io Him w|ose Bein eaisis o| necessii,.
I Inow i|e oriin w|ence ,e spron.
From i|e soi| o| Movni Merv ,e were born,
- - q q - -
In i|e c|ovJs, co||eJ i|e Beovii|v| Bi||ow, Ones
In i|e sI,, i|e PenJeni Ones
In i|e |iiree, i|e Peerers
In i|e woier, i|e Crow|ers
In i|e poi|s, i|e UpSiicIers
I |ove A||o|'s monJoie
His Prop|ei is m, prop.
T|e recorJin one|s |i|i |or me,
T|e |ovr orc|one|s ore m, brei|ren,
I |ive in o |ori wii| seven wo||s o| siee|.
DescenJ one|s onJ proieci me.
AnJ covse m, enemies io bow Jown,
LocIeJ be i|e ieei| onJ |eori onJ sp|een
O| o|| w|o pvrpose evi| ooinsi me.
I Inow i|e oriin o| ,e spiriis o| evi|.
Ye were sprvn |rom i|e serpeni SoIiimvno
Mo, ,e be o|||icieJ onJ JisiresseJ,
V|en ,e oze, mo, ,ovr e,es be b|inJeJ,
AnJ mo, ,ovr oin be s|ome|v| onJ rove||in.
CronJsire i|ov w|o Jwe||esi in bo, onJ reoc|es, vpsireom onJ Jown,
Dwe||esi on movnioin onJ in |oresi onJ on movnJ,
In rovine onJ vo||e, onJ sprin onJ iree onJ rocI
ToIe i|, so|Jier,, i|, peop|e onJ i|, c|i|Jren
To i|e s|oJ, iree oi i|e |onJ's enJ
Ai i|e |ooi o| Movni Ko|.
Keep me |rom |orm onJ Jesirvciion
Or i|ov s|o|i be smiiien b, i|e mojesi, o| CoJ's worJ.
For CoJ onJ Mv|ommoJ onJ His soinis onJ Prop|eis
AnJ i|e one|s |ori,onJ|ovr onJ i|e |ovr orc|one|s
Are wii| me.
Noo|, vorJion o| eori|
1ocob, vorJion o| rocI
Lvjmon, vorJion o| iron
So|omon, vorJion o| o|| |ivin i|ins
I crove eori|, woier, wooJ onJ sione,
A p|oce io bvi|J |ovses onJ |om|eis onJ o covnir,.
Ho o|| |ivin creoivres,
Ve ore o|| o| one oriin, o|| servonis o| CoJ
I| ,e |orm or Jesiro, me,
Ye s|o|| be smiiien b, i|e worJ o| CoJ,
T|e mirocv|ovs power o| Mv|ommoJ,
T|e sonciii, o| His soinis onJ prop|eis,
B, i|e |ovronJ|ori, one|s,
T|e |ovr orc|one|s onJ i|e i|iri, c|opiers o| i|e vron
CronJsire, sove me |rom |orm
I| i|, e,e o||enJ me, CoJ s|o|| b|inJ i|ee,
I| i|, |onJ mo|esi me, CoJ s|o|| breoI ii,
I| i|, |eori pvrpose evi| ioworJs me,
- - c c - -
Ii s|o|| be crvs|eJ b, i|e Aposi|e o| CoJ.
Another incantation lollows to open the doors ol the seven heavens and the seven earths.-
Cenies in|iJe| onJ Mvs|im
Yov onJ I ore o| one oriin, boi| servonis o| CoJ.
Bvi ,e ore born o| |e|||ire,
AnJ I o| i|e |i|i o| i|e Prop|ei
Ye ore c|i|Jren o| SoIiimvno i|e serpeni,
I om JescenJeJ |rom i|e Prop|ei AJom,
Ye ore |o||owers o| i|e Prop|ei So|omon,
I om o |o||ower o| i|e Prop|ei Mv|ommoJ.
Yov onJ I ore servonis o| CoJ.
P|ove noi i|e |o||owers o| Mv|ommoJ,
E|se ,e wi|| be iroiiors io CoJ,
To His Prop|ei onJ i|e |ovr orc|one|s
AnJ i|e one|s |ori,onJ|ovr.
Cenies onJ Jevi|s onJ ob|ins
Cei |ence io i|e bi |eo|, iree oi i|e |onJ's enJ
Ai i|e |ooi o| Movni Ko|,
E|se ,e wi|| be iroiiors io Him w|o wos |rom i|e beinnin
To CoJ's |ovse oi 1ervso|em, i|e primo| |onJ.
M, o|ior is sirewn wii| c|oJs reJ onJ b|ocI.
1inn ob|ins |ence onJ come ,e noi bocI.
This expulsion ol demons, these incantations, this relerence to an altar introduces the shaman
with his conlident control ol the spirit world, his sonces and periodical sacrilices lor the puhlic
wellare.
VII. THE MALAY SHAMAN'S SANCE
THE main tasks ol the Siherian shaman are healin and divination. His lamiliar spirit or spirits,
possessin him their medium, descend at a sonce to cure the sick, avert evil, loretell the luture or
answer enquiries. By auto-suestion the shaman lalls or pretends to lall into a trance and is
possessed hy spirits who speak throuh his mouth. All these are leatures ol the Malay sonce,
which resemhles very closely that ol the Monol shaman even in details ol ritual. the heatin ol a
tamhourine, wild sinin, the rustle and voices ol invisihle spirits, the expulsion or suckin out ol
the spirit ol disease, the medium on return to consciousness ohlivious ol what has passed, the
ollerins made to spirits.
Inlormation ahout the ritual ol the ahoriinal shaman ol Malaya is scanty hut accords enerally, so
lar as it oes, with what miht he expected. He perlorms mostly inside a round hut or circle ol
some kind. He wears on his head a wreath ol leaves with a tult, and he carries a switch ol leaves.
Olten his hut is darkened. Invocations are chanted to the sound ol hamhoo stampers clashed on
los. One account states that the shaman strokes the evil spirit out ol a patient with his switch,
and that he shouts and shrieks to drive it into a cae or network ol loops to he imprisoned hy his
maic. Perhaps this is a vaue description ol the lrenzy ol possession:
- - - -
The Malay sonce is used to cure sickness, to divine the whereahouts ol lost or stolen property, to
discover il a princess shall hear a son or what the luture holds lor a Mecca-hound pilrim' There
is a record ol a sonce where earth spirits were entreated to allow a sacred rhinoceros to he
hunted. The ohject ol the most lamous sonce in the history ol Perak remains ohscure. Either it
was to enquire lrom the spirits ol the State il a plot aainst the British Resident would succeed or
to ask their leave and help to take his lile.
Sir Irank Swettenham has descrihed how a spirit-raisin sonce was conducted hy a royal lemale
shaman durin the illness ol a ruler ol Perak some thirty years ao. The maician, dressed like a
man, sat with veiled head helore a taper, in her riht hand a sheal ol rass cut square at top and
hottom. This sheal she took convulsively. The taper llared, a sinal that the spirit invoked was
enterin the candle. The maician, now supposed to he in a trance, howed to the taper and to
each male memher ol the reinin lamily present' Alter many spirits had heen invoked, the sick
raja was hrouht out and seated on a sixteen-sided stand (an improvement on the douhle
pentacle called Solomon's seat) to await, with shrouded head and a square hunch ol rass in his
hand, the advent ol the spirits ol the State. Conducted hack to hed, His Hihness lell later into a
swoon attrihuted to possession hy those spirits' At this royal sonce the maician's dauhter led
an orchestra ol live or six irls holdin native drums, instruments with a skin stretched over one
side only and heaten with the liners.
At a humhler sonce held in Perak there was only one musician, the shaman's wile, a wild-
lookin Moenad. Her hushand held a hunch ol leaves in either hand. The musician heat a one-
sided drum and screamed out interminahle chants. Her hushand hean to nod drowsily, snilled at
his leaves, waved them over his head, struck them toether, and hecame possessed ol the
shaman's usual lamiliar, a tier-spirit, as shown hy rowls and snillin and crawlin under a mat.
Between the incantations he accepted a ciarette and talked to the patient's lamily, usin,
however, an ahoriinal Sakai dialect. Possessed aain ol the tier-spirit he executed weird dances
and sprinkled the sullerer with rice-paste. Iinally his tier-spirit identilied as the cause ol the
patient's illness a dumh vampire (Lonsv,or), to he expelled neither hy invocations nor the
sprinklin ol ricepaste.
Another maician accompanied hy a male tamhourine-player then took his place. He held
convulsively a sinle sheal ol rass and hecame possessed hy lour spirits in succession hut to no
purpose. Iinally hoth maicians waved all evil spirits away lrom the patient on to a miniature
revolvin model ol a mosque, and set it, lilled with the llesh ol a lowl and other delicacies, adrilt
upon the river.
In an account ol yet another sonce in Selanor, where to cure an ailment the maician hecame
possessed hy the tier-spirit, it is said that the ceremony usually took place on three nihts and
that the same odd numher ol persons should he present each time. Ior the reception ol the spirit
an artilicial houquet ol llowers, doves and centipedes, all made ol palm-leal, was prepared. Alter
an invocation the maician hathed himsell in incense, sullered spasmodic convulsions, spoke a
spirit lanuae, hecame possessed, sat with shrouded head, lit tapers on the edes ol three jars ol
water, and ruhhed the patient with a hezoar stone. Then donnin a white coat and head-cloth, he
lumiated a daer, dropped silver coins into the three jars, and azed to see their position under
the three tapers, declarin that it indicated the ravity ol the patient's illness. Scatterin handluls
ol charmed rice round the jars, he put into them improvised houquets ol areca-palm. hlossom,
and pluned his daer into each houquet to dispel lurkin spirits ol evil. Another sheal ol palm-
hlossom he anointed with oil and used lor strokin the patient lrom head to heel. Next
- - a a - -
he was possessed hy the tier-spirit, scratched, rowled and licked the naked hody ol the patient.
He drew hlood lrom his own arm, with the point ol his daer and lenced with his invisihle spirit
loe. Once more he stroked the patient with the sheal ol hlossom and with his hands. Aain he
stahhed the houquets, stroked the patient, and alter lyin still lor an interval recovered
consciousness.
In Perak a sonce is known as possession hy spirits. in Kelantan as the play ol the lairy
princess. This Kelantan ceremony is perlormed lor three or sometimes seven nihts in
succession. It is repeated alter a week or so il the sick person's condition improves. Besides the
shaman there are three musicians, one to strum on a three-strined viol, one to heat a hrass howl
with pieces ol hamhoo, one a drummer. The shaman recites a lon invocation to the lour
archanels, the lriends ol the Prophet, the seven miracle-workers, and the lather ol all enies,
explainin that not he hut Luqman al-Hakim is ollerin them a little rice and water and a quid ol
hetel. Next the musician with the viol chants a son with an orthodox introduction hut endin
with an invocation to the spirits ol the villae, various nature-spirits, the Spectre Huntsman and
Siva, hein them to recall any ol their lollowers plauin the sick man. The shaman shrouds and
lumiates himsell and lalls into a trance. The orchestra plays lrantically. A chant, disuised hy the
phrases ol Muslim medico-reliious lore, invites the spirit ol the lairy princess to enter the
medium. The shaman nods and whirls his head violently, his eyes are closed and he is possessed
hy spirit alter spirit until he has chosen the one he desires to retain. Gazin at the llame ol a
candle he reports the cause ol the patient's illness. He sucks or pretends to suck the hody ol the
sick man and starts another chant lull ol pantheistic Muslim lore declarin that man's hody is
God's house and no place lor spirits ol evil. This exorcism eventually translers the spirit lrom the
patient into the shaman, who has to dispel it thence with the help ol one ol his lamiliars.
Should the patient recover, a linal sonce takes place at which there is a sacrilicial ollerin. The
patient is hathed in charmed water lrom three jars and has three rins ol thread drawn over him
lrom head to heel. At Penpont, in Dumlriesshire, the emissary ol a patient, when he reached the
(holy) well, I had to draw water in a vessel which was on no account to touch the round, to turn
himsell round with the sun, to throw his ollerin to the spirit over his lelt shoulder, and to carry
the water without ever lookin hack to the sick person. All this was to he done in ahsolute
silence, and he was to salute no one hy the way.' In Pahan when a Malay woman letches water
lrom the river lor a sick person's sonce, she must let it trickle into her vessel slowly without
urlin, she must cover the mouth ol the lull vessel with leaves and she must not speak to any
one while carryin it.
In Kelantan there are several milder lorms ol exorcism, practised hy trallickers with special
spirits, such as the nature spirits ol yellow sunsets and the echo spirits. In one, where, however,
there is no music and recitations take the place ol chants, the shaman hecomes possessed and
waves over the sullerer a leather puppet liure ol Smor lrom the avanese shadow-play' Il
recovery ensues, amon the linal sacrilicial ollerins a model ol a wayside restin-place is reserved
with dainties lor Siva.
The sonce to revive (memv|e|) the Perak realia has never heen descrihed. The duties ol the
Sultan Muda or State maician were to he chiel ol all maicians and to know their merits, to
attend royalty in sickness, to pay homae to the enies presidin over the destinies ol Perak, and
to ive annually a least to the spirits inhahitin the realia. At the sonce precedin this least the
palace would he lull ol shrouded maicians, each invokin his or her lamiliar. The Sultan Muda
sat veiled, a hunch ol rass in his hand, while the chiel musician called upon the enies in
- - - -
order ol precedence to descend and hrin their thousand attendant spirits. Come down to the
ate ol this world' Pass in procession to the posy, your place to aliht. In your miht lies the
miht ol our Sultan. Come around, pass into the posy, your place to aliht, and enter your
jewelled curtain. As each spirit entered the posy, the chant ceased and the sound ol the
tamhourines was stilled.
Meanwhile some humhle musician would he cryin on the tier-spirit.-Warrior' Son ol a
warrior' Matchless in miht' Come, my lord' Come, my lile' Descend into this posy, your
alihtin place, and pass into your jewelled curtain. Come hy the hlessin ol 'Ali, the spirit who
hans at the door ol the sky. And as the tier-spirit came, the villae maician who had invoked
him would turn ahout seven times and leap and rowl, as his lamiliar asked why he had heen
summoned. The maician would answer.-You have heen invited hecause our lord has ot ready a
hall and is invitin the Sultan ol the Impalpahle Air and all his lollowers to a least upon the
morrow and he hopes that no harm may helall them on the way. Speakin throuh the maician,
the spirit answers.-It is well. I and my suhjects can he present. The had I will not hrin. So spirit
alter spirit was raised and invited until the Sultan Muda ave the sinal to retire.
The next mornin the Sultan Muda, the Raja Kechil Muda and their tamhourine players went
with rice-paste and turmeric and censers to superintend the huildin ol a nine-storeyed hall,
surmounted hy a model ol a lahulous hird, atayu (ollsprin ol Vishnu's Garuda) that lives on
dew. It was adorned with palm-streamers lrom which hun woven hoxes ol rice, cakes, suar-
cane and hananas. on the topmost tier was the severed head ol a pink hullalo, surrounded hy
water-vessels. An altar on sixteen posts was erected with ollerins lor spirits not connected with
the destinies ol the State. Two hamhoo conches served to hold lood lor hunry spirits ol the dead
(karamat). At dusk the Sultan Muda mounted and waved lrom the nine-storeyed hall. The others
waved heside the altar and the conches. Then the Raja Kechil Muda lell into a trance and with
shouts ascended to the mat prepared lor him. Twelve musicians heat tamhourines and chanted
invocations to the enies to leave the pools and plains ol spirit-land and enter the jewelled
curtains and posies prepared lor them. Alter a rest and relreshment the maicians renewed their
invocations. The tamhourines and drums ol their assistants were answered hy the thud ol all the
royal drums and the hlare ol the royal trumpets. On the riht ol the presidin maicians sat virin
princesses holdin sacrilicial ollerins on their laps, on the lelt youn unmarried princes
supportin the realia. Then the two chiel maicians did oheisance to the realia, ollered
delicacies to the thousand cnies and poured upon the royal drums and into the royal trumpets
drink, which vanished miraculously as thouh imhihed. Iinally, towards dawn the Sultan Muda
and his maicians letched the ruler ol the State, and hathin His Hihness hathed in his sacred
person the enies that presided over the destinies ol his kindom.
In Kelantan also when a least was prepared to propitiate the spirits ol a district or to hanish evil
spirits lrom the countryside a sonce lormed part ol the ritual.
Exactly how the spirits visit the medium is not expressly stated. They enter the llame ol candles
and cause them to llicker. At the installation ol a Sultan ol Perak the uardian enies ol the State
may inhahit the State sword and make it press upon the ruler's shoulder. In the realia ritual they
are invited to descend on posies (jinjon mo|oi), perhaps llowers stuck hehind the ear ol the
maician, as the yellow c|empoIo hlossom is still stuck hehind the ear ol a ruler at his installation.
The convulsive shakin ol the shaman's rass switch may indicate that they enter there. Sweet
jasmine attracts them. A Perak chiel, who knew how to make lrom the shroud and collin ol a
murdered man powder renderin spirits visihle, enahled a lriend at a sonce to see two
- - - -
women with streamin hair descend throuh the rool and aliht on the llower-vase, the artilicial
arden prepared lor their advent'
All the evidence points to the make-helieve ol the Malay shaman's trance. One maician
possessed hy a spirit rememhers court etiquette sulliciently to how to memhers ol the royal
lamily, and lalls down helore a dish-cover the siht ol which was anathema to the spirit
possessin her. Another toothless shaman asked why the hetel-nut has not heen pounded, as the
enie possessin him is stricken with years. One possessed hy a lemale spirit impersonates a
woman in his ait, and hy arranin his dress to suit the part is said to cause amusement to the
spectators. Another showed an anxious hushand a hollow hamhoo stopped up at either end.
Therein he declared, recovered hy his maic, was hair and a linernail ol my wile, which some
enemy had stolen. On no account was the hamhoo to he opened. But I was unhelievin, risked
the harm which old lolks prophesied and hroke the seals. Now my wile's hair was line as silk and
this was as coarse as the hair ol a horse's tail, my wile's liner-nail was curved like the youn
moon and delicate as pearl, and this nail was thick as the nail on a man's thumh. It is a pity the
white man has not made a law to clap such roues in aol, hut they shall he shut in Allah's aol
herealter, which is much worse.
There are parallels to the indication hy a lamiliar ol this cause ol a disease, hut the two related to
me were hoth examples ol a shaman's rouery. As a rule the ohject ol a sonce lor the sick is to
expel or coax an evil spirit out ol the sullerer's hody, sometimes into the shaman's own hut
usually on to a receptacle containin lood.
VIII. THE SHAMAN'S SACRIFICE
AT the primitive annual nocturnal rite ol leastin the spirits ol the realia and State ol Perak
the head ol a pink hullalo was set on the topmost tier ol the altar, the royal princesses held hits
ol the sacrilice on their laps, and there was a least on the spot while drink was hein poured upon
the royal drums and trumpets. The ceremony recalls Westermarck's theory that the oriin ol
sacrilice was the idea that supernatural heins, havin human wants and human needs, miht
suller privation and hecome leehle il ollerins were not made to them. This account ol an annual
least to the uardian spirits ol a Malay State can he supplemented hy records ol parallel rituals to
propitiate henelicent spirits and expel evil inlluences lrom State, district and sick men.
One account ol the ritual to least the spirits ol a district comes lrom Upper Perak. When the
people ol the place are areed as to the time ol the celehration, each hrins a measure ol rice and
two coconuts. Candles are lit and the shaman hurns incense, invokin it as horn ol the hrain ol
Muhammad, the hreath ol his spiritual lile' Next he calls upon the ancestor spirits, enies and
ohlins to whom the earth and water ol the district helon, and inlorms them that he is
slauhterin a pink hullalo, without hlemish and with horns the size ol a man's closed list, in
order to invite the countryside to a least. He prays that they may cherish all lrom daner and
hurt. The hullalo is slauhtered and its hlood cauht in a hamhoo. The shaman removes and sets
aside nose, eyes, ears, mouth, hooves, les and shoulders, tonue, tall, heart and liver,
representative ol every part ol the hody. Irom the llesh ol the carcase seven kinds ol lood are
prepared, soused, lried, hoiled, toasted, and so on, and one portion is lelt raw. In ancient China,
also, ollerins were ol hlood, ol raw llesh and ol sodden llesh. A lour-sided seven-tiered altar is
huilt ol palm stems. On the topmost tier are placed the hlood ol the hullalo, the pieces ol the
carcase set aside hy the shaman, the seven kinds ol meat, seven cooked and seven raw es,
- - - -
and seven vessels ol water. On the live central tiers are spread sweetmeats, on the lowest tier
twenty-live ciarettes and twenty-live quids ol hetel. The lood not ollered on the altar is eaten
hy those present. Il there is a surplus, it may not he removed. those who wish to eat it must
resort to the spot on the lollowin day. At dusk the Muslim audience depart, all except the
shaman and one or two hardy assistants. Circumamhulatin the altar, Malaya's primitive celehrant
then invoked the spirits to the least and summoned them hy hurnin incense and wavin a white
cloth. Seven times he cried hail to the spirits and then went away. Ior seven days no straner
miht enter the parish, no one miht throw anythin into it or take anythin lorth, no one miht
use ahusive lanuae or cause leal or hranch to wither.
In this and the Perak realia least have survived the elements ol one ol the world's oldest
ceremonies. the victim without spot, the least in which all partake helore the altar, the hlood that
is not lelt to lall upon the round, the ollerin that must he utterly consumed and that no
straner may approach, the celehration hy niht or helore dawn. Decay has marred the ritual. The
Upper Perak ceremony the Muslim villaers reard as an occasion lor junketin and, alraid or
ashamed to he present, depart helore the most tremendous moment has arrived. Aain, it is not a
totem hut spirits who are approached, nature-spirits, spirits ol the dead, Arahian enies and the
Prophet addressed as a shaman' Upon them all the celehrant cries the peace ol Allah.
In the realia ritual there are lour altars or receptacles lor the sacrilice, and their modern
sinilicance is explained. In Kelantan, too, when a sick person recovers alter the play ol the
princess, it is the custom to oller a sacrilice on lour altars or receptacles. On the model ol a
square live-storeyed platlorm are placed lish-a hit ol skate, ol shark, a crah, a prawn, llesh-pieces
ol chicken, duck, oat and heel, hoth cooked and raw, veetahles-various, hoth cooked and
uncooked, hoiled rice ol seven dillerent colours, two kinds ol intoxicatin liquors (arrack and
toddy), some hananas, various kinds ol cake, the hlood ol a lowl, and parched rice. . . . . One silver
dollar is placed on each storey. This money is intended lor the princess. Three tiny collections
ol the same thins in miniature, with a silver dollar to each, are put, one on a square mat, another
into a cradle-shaped hasket termed the raja's hall, and the third upon a little platlorm hall way
up a hamhoo splayed into a conch. The princess descends and proceeds to taste the ollerins,
heinnin with those on the small mat, oin next to the model platlorm, and endin at the
cradle-like hasket. The model platlorm is taken to the neihhourin junle and lelt there, hut the
small mat and the cradle, hoth desinedly appropriate lor the princess, are kept in the villae lor a
lew days'. The llat platlorm and the hamhoo posts splayed into conches may possihly he
connected with the widespread evolution ol the altar proper and the idol, developed lrom a post
or monolith heside the altar on which the sacred hlood ol the totem was splashed to keep it oll
the round. In Polynesia, also, heside the larer temple altars there were smaller altars some
resemhlin a small round tahle, supported hy a sinle post lixed in the round. occasionally the
carcase ol the ho presented in sacrilice was placed on the lare altar, while the heart and some
other internal parts were laid on the smaller.
Eatin toether marks the trihal hond amon Malays. In Neri Semhilan a newly elected chiel
invites all his people, men, women and children, the cocks that lay not es, the hens that cackle
and the chicks that chirp, to a puhlic least called the sprinklin ol the hroken rain. He
sprinkles the rain as a symhol ol atherin them under his win, and the hond ol trihal unity is
acknowleded in old-world sentences.-Toether we skin the heart ol the elephant, toether dip
the heart ol the louse. What we drop is common loss. what we ain is common prolit. No one
can slauhter a hullalo without permission ol the trihal chiel. No trihal chiel can reluse to he
present at a least lor which a hullalo is slauhtered. the heart, the liver, and a slice
- - 6 6 - -
oll the rump are his perquisites. A hullalo (never an Indian hull or cow) is slauhtered at all hi
Malay leasts, secular, maical or Muslim. At certain secular lestivals the animal is caparisoned
with cloth and has round its neck the three-tiered old ornament, modelled alter its horns and
worn at weddins. The Yamtuan or overlord ol Neri Semhilan used to claim all hullaloes with
ahnormal horns as perquisites ol royalty. To spirits a pink hullalo must he ollered. The rool-trees
ol the Bataks, a Proto-Malay people ol Sumatra, are decorated with hullalo-horns. This domestic
animal was imported into the Malayan reion aes ao lrom India.
In ceremonies conducted to coax away patently malelicent spirits, the risk ol a hond hetween the
spirits and their propitiators, il hoth partook ol the same sacrilicial meal, seems to he consciously
shunned. A hanana-leal tray or model house or hoat is olten lilled with ollerins lor the spirits
plauin a sick Malay, and hun up in the junle or set adrilt on the river to hear them away.
Amon the ollerins on one such tray was ohserved a laked quid, the hetelnut replaced hy
nutme, the amhier hy mace, and the lime hy oil. But the quid prepared alon with it to he
chewed and ejected hy the maician upon the patient's hack was enuine. Aain, there is a
notahle record lrom Selanor ol a wave ollerin lor a sick Malay. A hanin lrame-work or tray
was lilled with the usual three kinds ol rice, parched, sallron and washed, an e, hananas lrom
one comh, pieces ol uncooked llesh makin up a whole lowl. The hlood ol the lowls was placed
in one ol live miniature palm-spathe huckets, two ol the other lour containin water and two the
juice ol cane. Iive waxen tapers were placed on the tray and lihted to uide the spirits to their
meals, and live lihted ciarettes lor them were added. The tray was waved slowly ahove the
patient, waved seven times helore him, held lor him to spit on, and carried out and hun lrom a
tree in the junle. It is sinilicant that the cooked and uncooked llesh each made up a whole lowl
and that all the hananas were plucked lrom one comh. No meal was taken hy those present.
The precaution not to eat ol the lood presented to spirits is not however ohserved in the ritual to
cleanse a country or district. Perhaps like the coconut, hetel and ciarette ollered outside a
villae quarantined lor smallpox, the hullaloes sacriliced at the cleansin ol a countryside are
ollered not to malelicent spirits hut to the spirits invoked to comhat them. Until recent years
Perak used to he cleansed periodically hy the propitiation ol lriendly spirits and the expulsion
ol malinant inlluences.-The main line ol development in ritual is lrom the propitiation or
insulation ol evil inlluences to the conciliation ol henelicent powers. The royal state shaman, his
royal assistant, and the chiel maicians lrom the river parishes assemhled at a villae at the loot ol
the rapids helow which the hahitations ol Perak Malays hean. Sonces occupied seven days. A
pink hullalo was killed and a least was held. The head and other pieces ol the victim were piled
on one ol the ralts, which then set out down-stream. The lour leadin ralts were prepared lor the
lour reat classes ol spirits and were manned hy their appropriate maicians. The loremost ralt
carried a hranchin tree, erect and supported hy stays, and was lor the shaman's lamiliars. The
lilth ralt hore Muslim elders' Next came the royal hand with its sacred drums and trumpets, and
then the Raja Kechil Muda (the title ol the assistant State shaman) and his lollowers. As they
lloated down the river, the maicians waved white cloths and invoked the spirits ol the districts
passed to come ahoard and consume the ollerins. Whenever they reached a mosque, they halted
lor one niht while a sonce was held and the villaers slauhtered a hullalo, placin its head on
one ol the spirit ralts and eatin the rest ol the carcase. At the mouth ol the river the ralts were
ahandoned and allowed to drilt to sea. The State shaman did not accompany the procession
downstream, leavin the escort ol the spirit ralts with their risly lreiht to his assistant. So, too,
the maicians ol the dillerent parishes ol the river-hanks stayed hehind in turn, each ol them
supplyin a suhstitute to o downstream with the assistant State shaman.
- - y y - -
In Kelantan a similar ceremony took seven days and seven nihts, pink hullaloes were sacriliced,
and the shaman conducted the sonce called the play ol the princess.
The communal sacrilices lor state or district descrihed in this chapter all lollow a shaman's sonce
and may he surmised to he part ol the most primitive ritual in Malaya. They reveal the early
attitude ol the Malay mind towards sacrilice. With human wants, kind spirits may hecome leehle
throuh huner. With human weakness and lallihility, evil spirits will desert a person or country
lor ollerins ol lood and he decoyed hy reed on to waste waters. The partakin ol a sacrilice
estahlishes communion. It is necessary therelore to eat ol the ollerin to lriendly spirits. Iood
ollered to spirits ol disease one should he chary ol tastin. By a ilt, as in the shaman's invocations
a sacrilice is so olten termed, spirits can he conciliated. Iinally, when a patient recovers there is
the ollerin to the spirits lor their henelicence, actuated no douht hy lear ol punishment lor
omission hut containin also the erm ol the lreewill sacrilice ol ratitude.
Sacrilices were made to spirits either at the uncertain times ol epidemics or at periods more or
less delined. The sacrilice to revive the spirits ol the Perak realia was annual. The cleansin ol
the States ol Perak and Kelantan is said to have heen triennial. One account indeed states that
Perak was cleansed once in seven years or once in a Sultan's rein, hut this is prohahly a native
explanation ol the radual lapse ol the custom. The ritual to least the spirits ol the Upper Perak
district took place when the rain in the rice-lields was heinnin to swell. In most places
where rice is rown elahorate propitiatory ceremonies ol a communal character are celehrated in
the sprin ol every third or lourth year.
IX. MAGIC AND MAN
To protect the soul-suhstance ol his staple lood-plant the Malay peasant, conservative as
ariculturists all the world over, is content with the primitive ritual ol the animist, covered lor
decency's sake with a thin veneer ol his later reliions. Courts and ports, where new laiths lirst
lound acceptance, are more open to liheral inlluences, and to saleuard the hody and soul ol man
the Malay has added to the practices ol the animist all the maic that Hindu and Muslim could
teach him. Like all primitive peoples, he helieves that evil spirits are especially active on the
ahnormal occasions ol lile, so that hirth, puherty and marriae are invested with the most lavish
ceremonial. Ior the dead he accepts Muhammadan rites almost unalloyed.
(a) BIRTH AND INFANCY
As soon as a Malay woman is with child, she and her hushand have to ohserve certain rules and
ahstentions, so that no vampire may injure the expectant mother, no prenatal inlluence allect the
unhorn, and nothin impede or mar a sale delivery.
To lrustrate evil spirits the woman must carry a knile or iron ol some sort as a talisman,
whenever she ventures ahroad. Il her hushand stir out ol his house alter dark, he may not return
direct hut must visit a neihhour's house lirst to put any chance vampire lollowin him oll the
scent. At the time ol an eclipse when spirits prowl, the woman must hide under the shell in the
kitchen, armed with a wooden spoon and wearin as a helmet ol repulsion the rattan hasket-
stand that is used lor the hase purpose ol supportin the round-hottomed cookin pots. Every
Iriday she must hathe with limes, a lruit distastelul to devils, and drink the water that drops oll
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the ends ol her tresses.
To avert untoward prenatal inlluences reat circumspection is required. In the event ol an eclipse
the Malacca or Sinapore woman will hathe under the house-ladder, so that she may not ive
hirth to a parti-coloured child, hall hlack hall white. Il a Malay hushand hlinds a hird or lractures
the win ol a lowl, his ollsprin runs the risk ol hein horn sihtless or with a delormed arm. As
this last prohihition would involve a veetarian diet in humhle homes, modern hushands et over
it hy the convenient liction that, il the death ol an animal is compassed deliherately, there is no
startlin ol the child in the womh and so no lear ol harm. Belore the end ol the sixth month,
when the loetus acquires personality, and especially helore the third month, the Patani hushand
may not even cut down a creeper, and il he slits the mouth ol a lish to remove a hook, the child
will have a hare-lip.
At a Perak house where there is a prenant woman, no one may enter hy the lront door and pass
out at the hack or contrariwise, prohahly hecause there is one exit only lrom the womh, the
house ol hirth. Guests may not remain only one niht, perhaps hecause any lorm ol hurry is likely
to induce miscarriae. Neither hushand nor wile may sit at the top ol their house-ladder, a rule
wide-spread in the Malay Archipelao, lor any hlockin ol a passae protracts delivery. An
unplaned house-pillar indented hy the pressure ol a parasitic creeper that twined round it when it
was a livin tree will exercise a like ohstructive inlluence. Alter the enaement ol the midwile
in the seventh month, the Malay hushand (like the Brahmin) may not have his hair cut, lor lear
the alterhirth hreak.
In Upper Perak another rite precedes the customary lustration in the seventh month ol a lirst
prenancy. Apparently it is an example ol imitative maic, desined to lacilitate delivery. A palm-
hlossom is swathed to represent a hahy with a child's hrooch on the hosom. This doll, adorned
with llowers, is laid on a tray and the tray placed in a cradle made ol three, live or seven layers ol
cloth accordin to the rank ol the prospective parents. Midwile and maician sprinkle rice-paste
on doll and cradle. The midwile rocks the cradle, croonin hahy sons. Then she ives the doll to
the luture mother and lather and all their relatives to dandle. Iinally the doll is put hack into the
cradle and lelt there till the next day, when it is hroken up and thrown into water.
Everywhere when a woman has one seven months with her lirst child there is perlormed a
ceremony, ohserved also hy Indian Muslims. In Malaya, today, it is heun with chants in praise ol
the Prophet. Next mornin hushand and wile, arrayed in holiday attire, are escorted down to the
river. Incense is hurnt. Toasted, sallron and white rice and a coolin rice-paste are sprinkled as at
every momentous husiness ol Malay lile, at seed-time and harvest, at hirth, at the shavin ol a
child's head, at circumcision, in sickness, on return lrom a lon journey, at a chiel's installation, at
a warrior's preparation lor hattle. Now it is sprinkled on water lor lustration. The couple are
hathed, a white cloth is stretched ahove their heads, coconut palms are waved over them seven
times, and they are drenched with water specially charmed to avert evil and procure wellhein, as
at the lustration alter marriae. Two candles are lit and carried thrice ahout their heads, and they
must lace the liht with direct lances to avoid any chance ol their child hein squint-eyed. Then
the procession returns to the house, where the couple sit toether in state as at a weddin. Shawls
are spread on the lloor (seven il the patient is a raja), and the expectant mother lies on her hack
with the shawls under her waist. The midwile seizes the ends ol the lirst shawl and rocks the
woman slowly as in a hammock, removes it, seizes the ends ol the next shawl and repeats the
perlormance seven times. Amon the presents iven to the midwile as her retainin lee on this
occasion is a hetel-tray. The contents ol this she empties. il all ol them drop toether, it is a
- - q q - -
sin that delivery will he easy. In Neri Semhilan hetel-nuts are cut into pieces and thrown like
dice, inlerences hein drawn as to the sex ol the unhorn child accordin as more llat or rounded
surlaces lie uppermost.
The maician chooses an auspicious place lor the hirth and surrounds it with thorns, nets, rays'
tails, hees' nests, dolls, hitter herhs and a rattan cookin-pot stand, to keep the spirits ol evil lrom
molestin mother and child in the perilous hour ol their weakness. He selects the suitahle spot hy
droppin a chopper or axe-head and markin the place where it lirst sticks upriht in the round.
Thorns and rays' tails are thouht to he danerous to the trailin entrails ol the vampire, hitter
herhs are unpalatahle to every one, dolls may he mistaken lor the hahy, nets and hees' nests are
puzzlin to spirits hecause ol their complexity, and sometimes a much perlorated coconut is
hun over the door to hewilder hosts hy the multiplicity ol its entrances and exits. Most ol
these demon-traps are set under the lloor ol the house. But over the patient's head is hun a
lisherman's net and a hunch ol the red Drocoeno, whose touh vital power denotes its stron
soul-suhstance. By some midwives imitation weapons ol lathe are suspended lrom the rool. The
midwile may dress as a man. All locks on door or hox are opened, the sullerer's hair is unhound,
and any knot in her clothes is untied.
Il delivery is dillicult, the maician may he called to lilt the end ol the woman's tresses and hlow
down them. Or he may recite charms or write a text lrom the Quran on paper and tie it round
waist or thih. The hushand will he summoned to step to and lro across his wile or kiss her, thus
condonin any sins she may have committed aainst him. Il the woman is a Raja, chiels will make
vows ol a oat or other ollerin lor her recovery. To reister each vow, the midwile ties a rin
round the wrist ol the patient. Should the throes he proloned, hushand or mother puts dollars
under the sullerer's hack to he distrihuted in charity when her peril is past. Il the alterhirth will
not lollow, a portion ol the umhilical cord is cut lrom the child and tied to the patient's thih as a
kind ol sympathetic attraction. A hoy horn with a caul is considered very lucky. Immediately
alter hirth the umhilical cord is tied with seven circles ol hlack lihre and severed with a hamhoo
knile. later, when the cord lalls oll, a poultice is applied, mixed with pepper to make the child
hrave. In Neri Semhilan it is helieved that il the severed cords ol a woman's successive children
are preserved toether, these children will not quarrel or he disunited when they row up.
Her trouhle over, the mother is laid on a platlorm and toasted lrequently durin lorty-lour days
ol seclusion. The toastin is a primitive and widely spread custom, still survivin in Hindu ritual
with invocations to Ani. As lor the seclusion, the contaion ol woman durin the sexual crises
ol menstruation, prenancy, childhirth, is simply intensilied, hecause these are occasions when
woman's peculiar characteristics are accentuated, these are leminine crises when a woman is most
a woman. The savae dreads the contaion ol her elleminacy, weakness, timidity and hysteria.
And survivals ol this dread may he traced in the ohservance ol continence hy Malay warriors and
lishermen, in the notion that menstrual hlood can cause leprosy, in the custom ol hushand and
wile leedin separately except on the occasion ol their marriae.
A hahy's lirst cradle is a tray on which are placed a hit ol iron and a peck ol unhusked rice. In
Perak when the hahy is promoted lrom this tray, the rice whereon he has lain is measured to
loretell his luture, il the measure is hrimmin, he will he rich, il it is short, poor, the halance ol
the rice is thrown to the chicken to avert ill-luck.
A hrush is dipped in a hlack mixture made ol hurnt coconut shell, and the eyehrows and outlines
ol the nose, chin, and other leatures are marked in hlack so that demons may not reconise
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or desire the inlant. A cross is put on the lorehead and a spot on the nose. In Selanor a irl's
lorehead is marked with a cross, a hoy's with a mark recallin the caste mark ol the Hindu. The
mother, also, is dauhed on nose and hosom.
In some parts the mouldin ol the child's head, due to the process ol hirth, is reduced hy massae
or a constrictin cap.
A tentative name is iven to a child helore the umhilical cord is cut. In Upper Perak names
suested hy some local circumstances are iven at hirth, and irls, lor example, are called alter a
hutterlly, a lish, a plant. Later the parents will consult a reliious elder to take a horoscope and
select a Muhammadan name lor the child accordin to the date ol the hirth. This name may he
adopted temporarily or permanently. The oriinal paan name may he used still hut will he
chaned lor another in the event ol sickness. . . . In Kelantan live or seven hananas are duhhed
with persons' names. they are laid helore the inlant and he is iven the name allotted to the
particular hanana he rahs lirst. The Perak Malays have a series ol conventional names lor their
children in order ol seniority. A Malay, as we have seen, will olten drop his own name and he
called Iather ol Awan, or whatever is the name ol his lirst-horn. Like the Brahmin, he relers to
his wile never hy name hut as the person in my house, or, when she is older, as the mother ol
Awan or so-and-so.
Il the child is a raja, youn mothers ol ood lamily suckle him or her in turn, their own children
thus hecomin loster hrothers or sisters ol the inlant. The royal mother may conlirm this hy
sucklin the inlant ol the loster mother.
Muslim custom prescrihes the seventh day lor the lormal namin ol the child, the shavin ol its
hair, and the sacrilice ol two oats lor a hoy and ol one lor a irl. This is lollowed in Malaya. One
lock ol hair is lelt on a hoy's head as on the head ol Brahmin children and ol Eyptian Muslims,
hut it is a custom ol primitive Malays also to leave a lock unshorn as a relue lor the child's soul.
Sometimes this tonsure ceremony may he delerred lor irls until marriae. At one such delerred
ceremony the headman and the irl's nearest relatives clipped the ends ol seven locks with seven
strokes ol the scissors, an exact thouh unconscious imitation ol Brahmin ritual. When the head
ol a royal hahy is shaved, the wives ol the reat Perak chiels each snip a lew hairs in turn
accordin to their rank. Notahle, too, is the openin ol the child's mouth hy a ceremony
perlormed also in Arahia and Eypt, hut perhaps datin hack to Brahminical India. A old rin is
dipped in a mixture ol hetel-juice and suared and salted water, and an elder utters a Muslim
adjuration ol which the oriinal occurs in the Ri-Veda. In the name ol Allah, the Mercilul, the
Compassionate' May he lenthen your lile' May he teach you to speak littinly in the court ol
kins' May he ive to your words the attractiveness ol hetel, the sweetness ol suar and the
savour ol salt' The old rin is tied to the child's wrist.
When the lorty-lour days ol purilication are complete, the midwile throws away the platlorm on
which the youn mother has heen roasted and the ashes ol the lire that has hurnt without cease
hy her side. And now, just as the Brahmin takes a child out lormally to see the sun, so the Malay
introduces his child to Mother Earth and Iather Water. The midwile carries the hahy to the top
ol the stair or house-ladder, recites incantations and marks a cross on the soles ol the inlant's leet
with lime. She descends and puts the child's leet lirst on iron (the hlade ol a wood-knile or the
head ol a hoe), then into a tray containin old and silver (usually a rin ol each metal) and lastly
on the earth. That is the custom in Upper Perak, hut details vary in dillerent places. In Kelantan a
raja's child has to he taken down lrom the house hy three steps, no more, no lewer. He is
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carried throuh a line ol women holdin lihted candles to a spot where seven old plates are
placed. The lirst plate contains herhs, the second unhusked rice, the third husked rice, the lourth
rice-paste, the lilth yellow turmeric rice, the sixth earth lrom a rave, and the seventh sand lrom
the sea. Into each ol these plates the child's leet are pressed helore they are allowed to tread the
earth. Then the hahy raja is carried up a seven-tiered stand and hathed. Alter the lustration, the
stand is thrown, with the spirits attachin to it, into the sea.
Next the Malay inlant is carried down to the river. A candle is lit and stuck on a houlder or
hamhoo stain. Mother and midwile descend into the stream. The mother hathes the hair ol the
midwile and then the midwile perlorms the same service lor the mother. An ollerin is made to
the water-spirits. an e, a quid ol hetel, seven lon and seven square rice-packets. The usual
three kinds ol rice and rice-paste are sprinkled over the surlace ol the river. The child is passed
throuh the smoke ol incense. Then a live lowl is placed in the water and the child made to tread
on it, so that he may have power over all domestic animals. Next a sproutin coconut seedlin is
set alloat and the inlant's leet are placed on it, so that he may have power over all lood plants.
Lastly a junle saplin, usually a rattan creeper, roots and all, is put in the stream and the settin
ol the little leet upon it ives the child dominion over the lorest. A palm-spathe hucket and a
hanana-llower are turned adrilt. Il the hahy is male, a hoy catches a lish with a castin-net, il the
hahy is lemale, a irl should throw the net. Iinally a man casts the net over a roup ol the
midwile, mother and inlant, and a crowd ol tiny children representin lish.
Alter this ritual introduction to earth and water, the inlant is laid lor the lirst time in a swinin
cot lashioned ol hlack cloths hun lrom a ralter. Into the hunt ol the cot are put a cat, a curry-
stone, and an iron hlade to mislead and terrily evil spirits. Then the midwile lilts the hahy into his
new home. Pious old ladies croon lullahies. Muslim prayers are recited. There is a least on curry
and rice.
In the water lor a hahy's ahlutions arc steeped the same collection ol stron-souled suhstances
that are put heside the arnered rain ol the rice lields. Il the attacks ol spirits have made him
sickly, the leaves ol a plant called the Genie's Tonue (HeJ,oiis conesio) may he inlused in his
hath. Il the hahy cries continually, he may he smoked over a lire made ol the nest ol a weaver-
hird, the skin ol a hottle-ourd, and a piece ol wood that has heen struck hy lihtnin. It is
unlucky to praise the health or heauty ol a child.
Great care is taken ol the placenta, the child's youner hrother (or sister), which is kept lor a
while and then huried, enerally under a tree. Il the new horn child is royal, hoys ol ood lamily,
live to seven years old, are chosen lor this lunction. Their leader envelopes his head in a hlack
cloth and on it carries the placenta in a new earthen pot to a place selected lor the hurial.
Sometimes the hoys ride there on elephants. In Perak the coconut seedlin used at the inlant's
introduction to water is planted to mark the site. Head and lace still enveloped, the leader ol the
hand returns to the royal cot, reets its occupant with the Hindu Om and hails him as hrother ol
himsell and his lollowers.
(b) ADOLESCENCE
Maical precautions accompany circumcision, teeth-lilin and the horin ol irls' ears. Even the
ohservances at handin a child over to the care ol a reliious teacher and at the conclusion ol his
studies, Muslim as they now are, may he a survival ol Hindu ritual or some more primitive
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initiation ceremony.
Circumcision is rearded as a Muslim ohliation. A hoy underoes it at any lucky and convenient
ae hetween six and twenty. Olten it is done immediately alter the celehrations at the conclusion
ol his reliious studies. At the Perak court, amid reat lestivities, a youn raja is clothed like a
hrideroom in State dress. The State maician pours oil upon water in which the acid juice ol
limes has heen mixed. Irom the pools ol oil that lloat in the shape ol moon and stars, he tells il
the moment is propitious lor the ceremony, and il the hoy will later marry a irl ol his own class.
Then he ruhs the mixture on the lorehead, hands and leet ol the hoy and ol his companions who
will undero the operation at the same time. Ieastin may last lor days. Royal candidates are
horne in procession-in Perak on painted elephants or men's shoulders, in Neri Semhilan in the
ruler's processional car, in Patani on a hue coloured model ol a mythical hird. In Patani, too,
sham weapons ol wood are carried in lront ol them. In Kelantan a torchliht procession oes
seven times round the house ol the chiel where the lunction is to he held, wooden or palm-leal
walls are removed and the procession perarnhulates the house without descendin to the round.
In Perak sometimes the hoy is seated on a hridal dais, has a dance with lihted candles perlormed
helore him and his liners stained with henna. There, too, a raja is covered with a silk cloth, his
hody sprinkled with sallron rice and coolin rice-paste, and his mouth stulled with a lump ol
lutinous rice and three rains ol parched rice. A hen is placed on his hody and encouraed to
peck up any ol the rains ol rice that may he stickin to his mouth. Il she is slow to peck, it will
he lon helore the hoy marries. Two coconuts and a small ha ol rice are rolled over him lrom
head to heel. ust helore the operation the hoy is escorted to river or well, where the same
ollerins are thrown to the spirits ol the water as when he was lirst introduced to that element.
The hoy hathes alon with his parents, and the one lon lock ol hair that has heen a symhol ol
childhood is shorn hy his mother or nurse or the man who later is to circumcise him. Durin this
tonsure a mock liht is started with hundles ol rice, till the water resounds as il hullaloes were
lihtin in it, a custom recallin the mock comhat to clear the rice-lields ol demons. The linal
ceremony then takes place indoors. The hoy is seated on the stem ol a hanana or on a sack ol rice,
and at the Perak court a swordsman stands heside him so that il auht oes wron the plu lor
the wound and the dressin may he taken lrom the operator's corpse. At the same court
throuhout the various staes ol the ritual, at the takin ol the omens, at the procession to the
river, and at the operation, the royal drums are heaten and the royal llutes and trumpets hlown.
The sullerer's lood consists ol dry lish or hullalo meat and his plate is lined with a parched
hanana-leal, the dryness ol diet and leal havin a hornoeopathic ellect on his unhealed wound.
Till the wound is well, he may not wear a cap. Ior months helore the operation he is warned not
to eat touh meat. These and other rules are dictated hy mimetic maic. Il he was horn with a
caul, a piece ol it preserved lrom his hirth is olten iven him to eat in a hanana.
An analoous hut merely nominal ceremony ol a very private nature is ohserved lor irls also,
either in inlancy or early youth, a midwile hein the sureon.
Puherty hrouht also lor hoth sexes the practice ol lilin and hlackenin the teeth in order to
suhstitute lor sharp white lans, like those ol a do, an even row ol teeth, hlack like the wins
ol a heetle. One ol the incantations recited is lor personal charm and pre-eminence and shows
sins ol travestyin the Suli's perlect man. In a lolktale called Awan Sulon the operation
was done with one rasp ol the lile a day and one a niht lor nine days and nihts, and the heauty
ol the lossy hlack stumps ol the hero made lolk ask
V|ose i|e cocI i|oi sirvis so brove|,,
- - - -
His |ips o s|ore besei wii| briJes,
BriJes o| b|ocI s|inin po|mspiIes,
Teei| os siems so s|orp onJ IniiieJ,
Movi| o booi|v| o| reJ nvimes,
Ebon ieei| |iIe broce|ei circ|e?
The ohject ol this practice, as ol circumcision, was, it has heen surmised, to sacrilice a part to
save the whole. Blackenin ol the teeth has died out, hut lilin is still practised, even alter
marriae, to heautily the teeth and prevent their decay.
Girls' ears are hored either in early childhood or at puherty, with the usual maic ritual to worst
evil spirits. At the Perak court in the eihteenth century two nihts were devoted to henna-
stainin helore the ears ol a ruler's dauhter were pierced, and on the second niht she was
escorted on an elephant seven times round the palace. The needle employed is threaded with
cotton ol many colours, havin at the ends turmeric cut in the shape ol a lloweret, two ol these
llowerets adorn the thread lelt in each ear. just as the horin heins, those present throw money
into a silver howl, perhaps to drown any cry or murmur. Alter this, lare ear-studs used to he
worn durin a irl's maiden days hut are now donned only at her weddin to he discarded
lormally on the consummation ol the marriae. At the Perak court the ceremony is concluded
with a least and prayers in honour ol the Prophet and ol the parents and ancestors ol the ruler.
(c) BETROTHAL AND MARRIAGE
There is little or no maic ahout a Malay hetrothal. It is a contract to he ratilied helore headman
or elder, and to he puhlished ahroad hy the despatch to the irl's relatives ol two elahorate hetel
hoxes, one ol them containin one, or in Neri Semhilan two, rins wrapped in hetel-leal. Il the
youth is uilty ol hreach ol promise, the irl's people keep the rin or rins. il the irl is uilty, her
parents return them with cash their equal in value. In parts ol Perak the hetel hoxes are replaced
hy trays, one ol which is adorned with a paper tree, and, when the hearers arrive, yellow rice is
strewn. The hoxes or trays are prollered only il neotiations lor the marriae are successlul.
Nowadays irls are seldom married helore they are lourteen or lilteen, or hoys helore the ae ol
seventeen. olten hoth are older. Like the Hindu, the Malay considers a hairy person unlucky. The
Brahmin student may not leed the hushand ol a youner sister married helore the elder, the
hushand ol an elder sister whose youner sister was married lirst, a youner hrother married
helore an elder, an elder hrother married alter a youner, and in Malaya, also, the request lor a
youner sister's hand helore her elder sisters are wedded is universally disliked. In the liurative
lanuae ol Malay hetrothal verses the suitor comes, like the Esth wooer, in search ol a lost call,
just as amon the Iinns he wants to huy a hird, and amon the Sardinians to ask lor a white dove
or a white call. The suitor accepted, his mother is invited within, where she slips the rin (or two
rins) on the liner ol her luture dauhter-in-law. Sons and leastin conclude these preliminaries.
Seven days later the suitor and his lriends resort to the irl's house and stay sinin and leastin
lor two days and two nihts. Belore leavin, the suitor does oheisance to his luture mother-in-
law. When harvest time comes, he and his lriends are invited to help, and the rice that will he
eaten at the marriae is trodden out to the accompaniment ol sons handied hetween men and
women, the two parties ol room and hride. But in Neri Semhilan a youth is ashamed to meet
either ol the parents ol his luture hride, even accidentally on the road.
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Iavourite times lor weddins are alter the harvest or alter the season ol rice plantin, not only
hecause those are days ol leisure hut prohahly hecause so the child in the womh and the rain in
mother earth are likely to develop simultaneously. The lestivities may occupy two or lour or live
days il the contractin parties are humhle peasants, seven or lorty days or even months il they are
rajas. Astroloical tahles are consulted to determine a lucky time to hein them.
On the lirst day the maician takes steps to protect the room, and a matron to protect the hride
lrom all jealous spirits. In Upper Perak this preludes a most elahorate marriae ritual. The
maician ties a rin on a white thread round the hrideroom's neck, lihts a candle on cup or tray,
hurns incense and invokes all spirits and the sacred dead to he kind. He scatters sallron rice,
sprinkles the room with the usual coolin rice-paste and dresses his hair. A matron does the
same service lor the hride. Il her shorn lrine lies close to the lorehead, it is a sin that she is a
virin, il it sticks up, then the llower has heen sipped hy a hee. At the Perak court the midwile
lirst waxed and clipped seven lon hairs. il the stumps moved or the tips lell towards the irl, she
had heen dellowered. On either side ol the house-door a red and a white lla are stuck. The
maician descends the house-ladder, sprinkles the earth with yellow rice and rice-paste, and ollers
hetel. to the spirits ol the soil. The hride is hathed in her house. The room is conducted down to
the river. A white lla with a candle lixed on its shalt is planted on the hank. Near hy, two lare
candles are put on the round. Incense is hurnt in three hamhoo cressets, to which are tied three
candles, three quids ol hetel, and three native ciarettes. On a vertical lrame is lastened a palm-
hlossom. Aain rice is scattered with appeals to all the spirits ol earth and water. The palm-
hlossom is hroken open that the dew in its heart may he mixed with limes and rice-powder lor
hathin the hrideroom. Durin the lustration he stands in the river lacin downstream and has
water thrown into his mouth. The white thread is hroken lrom his neck and he is dressed in a
raja's arh. a scion ol the Perak royal house will he lent the armlets and jewellery used at the
installation ol the ruler. Then, mounted on elephants with painted loreheads, the procession
wends its way with reliious chantin and son to the house ol the hride. An umhrella is held
over the hrideroom's head and his attendant lans him. On arrival the room steps down into a
tray ol water, in which are a stone, a rin, a razor, and a dollar. He is sprinkled with sallron rice
and seated on a dais. Ior three nihts, sinin and lirin crackers, youths encircle a henna tree in
a howl containin henna and stuck with lihted candles. The experts seize and dance with it in
turn until one ol them carries it up the house-ladder, where irls receive the tree and take up
the dance. To extinuish the candles durin inversions and yrations is the sin ol a hoor. On this
lirst niht hoth hride and room are stained with henna in private, and the lormal marriae helore
an authority lrom the mosque may now take place. All the liners ol the irl are stained, three ol
the man's, countin lrom the little liners. On the second day a Perak princess ol the hihest rank
used to he taken in procession with llas, umhrellas and music, seven times round the palace. On
that niht the liners and palms and toes and the sides ol the leet ol the married pair are stained
with henna in puhlic. Dramatic shows, dancin irls, and leastin entertain the uests. The rice lor
the con|orreoiio on the morrow is hrouht out, piled in tiers on an octaonal platter, topped with
a tinsel tree and stuck with dyed es on skewers. The couple sit in state, and uests pay homae
to the hride now and to the hushand at the sittin in state on the lollowin day.
On the third day there are chants in praise ol Allah and the Prophet. A hullalo is slauhtered. The
irl's relatives escorted hy music present decorated rice, coconuts and lirewood to the relatives ol
the room. The hrideroom is escorted thrice each way round a circular dome-shaped lrame
containin incense, that is, in a passae hetween its mat sides and a white cloth held up hy those
present. Alterwards he is placed inside the lrame and censed lor the space it takes a dancer with a
hranched candlestick to circle the structure three times. Next the hride is hrouht out to
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undero the same ordeal. The hride oes to her room. A duenna uards the door. There is a mock
comhat hetween the sexes. The maician demands entrance lor the hrideroom, and is admitted
alter presentin a hetel-hox that contains a rin and some cash. His instructor lilts the room's lelt
hand and puts it on the hride's head. The couple have to leed one another with hetel. Then three,
live or seven old people paint the palms ol the couple's hands with henna and sprinkle them with
rice. Alter that they are stripped ol their linery, led three times in each direction round an
inverted rice-mortar and seated upon this symhol ol sex and lecundity. They are lilted thrice
helore they arc declared duly seated. The maician pours lresh coconut oil into a howl ol water,
and alter throwin live rains ol rice on the oil, drops the wax ol a lihted candle on to the
mixture. The pair are hathed with this compound, toether with water lrom hlossoms ol the
areca and coconut palms. Coconut lronds are waved seven times ahove their heads. Bathin
accomplished, vari-coloured strin is dropped round and over the heads ol the pair three times
while they step lorward, and then under their leet and upwards three times while they step hack.
Alter that the strin is lowered to their chests and severed over the riht rih ol the room and the
lelt ol the hride. Il the lront piece is loner, the wile will ohey her hushand, il the hack piece is
loner, the rudder will he at the hows, that is, the wile will rule the roost il the two pieces are
equal, hoth will hold their own. The next ceremony ohtains everywhere. Hushand and wile don
royal costume (or nowadays the man may wear Arah dress)-this, it has heen surmised, shows
hoth the tahu character ol hride and hrideroom, and also an attempt at disuisin them hy
lictitious chane ol identity. The couple then sit in state on a dais, the hushand on the riht ol
the wile. Sumptuary custom lixes the numher and colour ol mats and pillows allowed, accordin
to the rank ol the contractin parties. There is an exercise in Swedish drill, where the perlormer
has to sink slowly down into a squattin posture, straihten his knees and stand erect. This
exercise the emharrased pair have virtually to lullil, until alter three ellorts they are seated
simultaneously as custom ordains. The lloral pyramid ol rice on the octaonal platter is hroken
and the pair have to leed one another three times with clots ol the rice held in their liners. Alter
that they must remain motionless, like a ruler at his installation, while those present do oheisance
to the royalty lor a day. Guests throw money into a howl. Muslim prayers may he read. At last
the principals are allowed to retire. Each uest is iven a dyed e out ol the rice pyramid to take
home.
On the lollowin days there is more lustration and leastin.
Throuhout all these ceremonies hride and room remain silent and no lances are exchaned
hetween their downcast eyes.
Il a hushand is disappointed in the virtue ol his hride, he may advertise his disillusionment hy
appearin without headdress or creese and he can claim hack hall the dowry. But a marriae is
not consummated lor three nihts or more. So it is not usually till the seventh day that, with little
liners interlaced or hoth holdin one handkerchiel, the couple are hathed aain with all the
precautions descrihed lor the hathin on the third day. The seven lronds waved over them are
dropped lor hride and room to step to and lro across them three times, alter which the lronds
are cast out ol the house takin ill-luck. A censer is passed ahout the pair and a cord ol vari-
coloured thread is tied around their necks joinin them. At this ceremony the uests, also, are
drenched with water lrom huckets and hamhoo squirts. (At royal weddins, helore they are
hathed, the pair are carried in procession three or seven times round a storeyed pavilion huilt lor
the lustration.) Alter hein hathed, hoth don linery once more and sit in state.
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Sometimes on the niht helore this linal lustration the room's lriends tear him lrom the
danerous lascination ol his wile's arms hy lihtin a smokin lire to hrin him to the door,
whereupon he is carried oll to his parents' home and only escorted hack next day lor the hathin
ceremony.
Everywhere it is usual lor the hushand to live in his hride's home lor some while alter the
marriae. Amon the matrilineal Minankahau colonists ol Neri Semhilan he lives in it
permanently.
The ritual ol Upper Perak on the horder ol the Siamese Malay States contains some novel details.
The circumamhulation ol a structure containin incense and the lustration ol the couple helore
the day when the hi sittin in state takes place have not yet heen recorded lrom the south.
The order ol marriae ceremonies varies accordin to locality and the means ol the parties.
Sometimes the Muslim service is perlormed just helore the sittin in state. Sometimes the mimic
comhat lor the hride's person, a custom practised in ancient India and in Europe, takes place on
arrival at her house and is repeated helore the hridal dais.
The throwin ol rice over the head ol a hrideroom is commonly ohserved hy Indo-Germanic
peoples. Con|orreoiio, or eatin toether, is a worldwide usae. In many parts ol India and Europe
and in Muslim Morocco the hrideroom is treated as a kin on his weddin day.
The Code ol Manu lays down that amon the elements ol a Brahmin's weddin are the leadin ol
the hride three times round the sacred lire, each time with seven steps, and the hindin toether
ol the wedded pair hy a cord passed round their necks. Aain, On the second or third day ol
Brahmin marriae ceremonies, says Thurston, sacrilices are perlormed in the mornin and
evenin and the no|ov ceremony. The couple are seated on two planks covered with mats and
cloth, amidst a lare numher ol women assemhled within the ponJo|. In lront ol them hetel
leaves, areca nuts, lruit, llowers and turmeric paste are placed on a tray. The women sin sons
they have learnt lrom childhood. Takin a little ol the turmeric paste rendered red hy the
addition ol lime, the hride makes marks hy drawin lines on her leet. The ceremony closes with
the wavin ol water coloured red with turmeric and lime, and the distrihution ol hetel leaves and
areca nuts. The wavin is done hy two women who sin appropriate sons. In many parts ol
India hrideroom and hride are seated on mortar or pestle or rindin stone.
A custom ol Hindu oriin is lor a Malay raja to remain away and send his creese or his
handkerchiel to represent him when he marries a wile ol humhle hirth. An ohsolete raja custom
was to send a creese to parents who were reluctant to ive their dauhter in marriae, with a
messae that the suitor was ready with dower and presents douhled. il they remained ohdurate,
the creese had to he returned with douhle the dower ollered. Another method, with a Sanskrit
name, was lor the suitor to lorce entry into the house, secure the irl, and drawin his creese dely
resistance. Il the ruse succeeded, the man had to ive twice the usual dower, present two
arments instead ol the customary one and pay douhle the ordinary lines lor trespass. These two
ways ol wooin are prohahly ol Indian oriin.
The paintin ol the couple with henna to lend oll evil inlluences, the lirst niht in private, the
second in puhlic, the dance with the henna howl and lihted candles-these ceremonies occur at
Muslim marriaes even as lar away as in Morocco. Islam has added items to the ritual ol Malay
marriae hut has lailed to hanish others incompatihle with its tenets. The sittin in
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state and the lustration ol the pair helore mixed audiences ol men and women ollend the strict,
hut retain so stron a hold on the Malay imaination that a hioted chiel, whom I knew,
reluctantly ohserved them, hut in a lolt under the rool, where uests could not scale'
It should he added that when the hride is a widow, particularly a childless widow, the marriae
rites are reatly curtailed and olten conlined merely to the short leal service helore the Kathi.
(d) DEATH
It is no part ol the plan ol this hook to descrihe the ordinary Muslim rites lor the disposal ol the
dead. But certain Malay superstitions require notice.
In Selanor and Neri Semhilan, when a practiser ol hlack maic lies dyin, dissolution ol the
powerlul soul lrom the wasted hody is helped hy the makin ol a hole in the rool. Everywhere a
daer or a pair ol hetel scissors or some other symhol ol iron is placed on the chest ol a corpse,
and watch is kept especially to prevent a cat lrom touchin the hody and electrilyin it to an
awlul travesty ol lile. Lihts must he lit and incense hurnt and the hed where the deceased slept
in lile arraned lor seven days alter a death. In the neihhourhood ol the house no rice may he
round, shots lired or music or dancin perlormed. Alter the demise ol an important memher ol
a royal lamily no on or musical instrument may he struck lor lorty days. It is lorotten that
oriinally silence was kept in order not to uide the deceased hack to his temporal home, and
such silence is now rearded only as a mark ol respect.
The hody ol an important person is escorted under umhrellas to the place ol ahlution where men
or women, accordin to the sex ol the deceased, support it on their extended les. The corpse ol
the chiel ol elehu is washed hy all the mosque ollicials in the district toether with the Hajis.
This chiel's retainers hold his insinia round his corpse, which is laid upon a dais ol the type
prepared lor all lormal lunctions. As the corpse is hein shrouded, lorty Hajis oller prayers. Ior it
is helieved that amon every lorty who oller the prayers there will he a saint whose request will
he heard.
A chiel's hier is a hue platlorm, which it may take a hundred men to lilt. At the ohsequies ol the
last Sultan ol Sinapore eihty hired hearers and numerous volunteers carried this structure, at
the corners ol which stood lour men scatterin yellow rice and llowers mixed with pieces ol old
and silver. A hier may he ol several storeys. The hier ol the commoner chiel ol elehu, lor
example, is ol live storeys, the hier ol a raja is ol seven. At the elehu rites a lad chosen lrom a
particular trihe scatters coin lrom the topmost hier, nine maidens ol the same trihe are seated on
the litter, eiht keepin the corpse in position with their extended hands and the ninth holdin a
youn plantain tree as a symhol that the hroken rows aain and the chieltainship ol elehu
never dies. At the luneral ol royalty sixteen irls used to support the hody. Outside the
Minankahau colonies ol Neri Semhilan the tree symhol is not lound in the Peninsula. Children
are made to pass under a parent's hier helore it is carried to the rave, not only as a token ol
respect hut to prevent them lrom pinin lor the deceased.
In many places strips are torn lrom the pall and worn hy relatives ol the dead on arm or wrist to
keep them lrom undue lonin lor the departed. This is the practice in Neri Semhilan and at the
ohsequies ol a Sultan ol Perak. The Malay Annals record an instance where the pall ol a trihutary
prince was despatched to his suzerain with the news ol his demise. Generally Malay mourners
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wear workaday shahhy clothes, a custom still lollowed at the Sri Menanti court. But in some
places, like Malacca, European inlluence has led to the adoption ol hlack arments. Aain, the old
custom was lor mourners to o without headdress and with dishevelled hair, and at a royal
luneral it was expected that all a ruler's suhjects should exhihit these sins ol riel. Ior three days
alter the death ol the chiel ol elehu no man may wear any headdress except a white cap, Hajis
must discard their turhans and women their veils. When the most lamous ruler ol Perak in the
eihteenth century came to the throne, lor seven days the royal drums and trumpets were silent
in honour ol his predecessor, and on the eihth the new raja's headdress was hrouht on an
elephant hy the Bendahara, the chiel who rules temporarily durin the interrenum hetween
ruler and ruler, Sultan Iskandar 'Inayat Shah donned it. and only then did his courtiers cover their
heads. (The new Sultan dismissed lrom ollice and hroiled in the sun many persons who had lailed
to arrive lor the ohsequies') Sometimes lor lorty days alter a ruler's death no headdress is worn.
But in place ol the harin ol the head, Perak Malays have introduced a very popular lashion ol
wearin a white hand round the hat.
At a ruler's luneral the State drums are heaten and the state trumpets hlown. Then lor seven or
even twenty or lorty days they are silent. Alter the death ol a reat chiel his royal master may
order that they keep silent lor live or seven days. This custom also was prohahly desined to
avoid uidin and recallin the departed to his earthly home.
It is considered unlucky to attend the luneral ol one who has died a had death, or ol one whose
corpse turns a dark livid hue, and mourners hurry away. There are some who will not partake ol
a luneral least, especially on the third and seventh days alter the death, hecause demons have
olten heen seen pourin into rice and curry water that has run oll the corpse at the linal ahlution.
Take a strip ol the shroud, a chip ol the collin-plank, and a hroad leal to hide hehind, and one can
see them, some with children on their hacks, like human heins, catchin the water in jars'
Temporary wooden posts are olten planted at a rave, until permanent stones can he ot. Il the
deceased has lelt a child lrantic with riel, then every niht lor three or seven successive nihts a
vessel ol water is tied to the temporary tomhstone hy a shred ol the shroud, and every mornin
the child is hathed in the water. In Perak, on the hundredth day the temporary posts are cleansed
with limes and rice-paste, thrown into the river and have water sprinkled over them thrice to
drive away evil inlluences.
Sometimes over the tomh ol a saint or ruler there is lixed a mosquito-net or a liht lrame and
canopy or a palm-thatched rool under which lamps and candles are lit.
Everywhere Muslim hurial is the rule now, thouh there survive shadowy traditions ol older rites.
Cremation was practised in mediaeval Malacca. The Dayaks ol Borneo carry into the lorests the
hodies ol those who have met a violent death, and lay them on the round, their priests they
honour hy exposure on a raised platlorm. In the Mo|o, Anno|s and the tale ol the Malacca hero,
Han Tuah, there are allusions to leavin hodies on the round, hut only those ol traitors or
enemies. In the north ol the Malay Peninsula suspension ol the dead hetween trees is practised hy
the Buddhist Malayo-Siamese, hoth as a permanent lorm ol hurial and as a preliminary to
cremation, and the northern Sakai dispose ol the hodies ol their maicians in the same way.
Amon some ol the Sakai-akun trihes ol Pahan it appears that not only is a settlement deserted
when a death occurs hut the corpse is lelt unhuried . . . in the ahandoned house, lor, il they put a
corpse into the round, the spirit would not he ahle to make its escape upwards.
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Are there sins ol lormer aerial hurial amon the civilised Malays: Many ol the rave-stones ol
rulers ol Perak are on raised platlorms. And it was not uncommon in the past lor rajas and chiels
to he lelt unhuried lor days, their successors havin to he elected helore the interment. Sultan 'Ali
ol Perak, who died in 8y, was lelt unhuried lor lorty days, hecause his lawlul successor leared to
come upriver, and the presence and proclamation ol the new Sultan are essential leatures ol the
hurial ceremonies ol the old. A similar case is recorded lrom elehu.
The Proto-Malays ol the Peninsula have perhaps heen inlluenced hy the civilised Muslim Malay.
Anyhow they hury their dead. The hody lies ahout three leet underround, the tomh, which is
made ol earth heaten smooth, risin ahout the same heiht ahove the surlace. A little ditch runs
round the rave, wherein the spirit may paddle his canoe. The hody lies with the leet pointin
towards the west. The ornamental pieces at each end ol the rave answer to tomhstones and
have a Malayo-Arahic name. On the other side ol them are seen the small, plain, upriht sticks,
called soul-steps, to enahle the spirit to leave the rave when he requires. There are lour
horizontal heams on each side ol the rave, joined in a lramework, makin sixteen in all, laid on
the top ol the rave and so lormin a sort ol enclosure, in which are placed, lor the use ol the
deceased, a coconut shell, a torch in a stand, an axe-handle and a cookin-pot, while outside this
lramework hans a shoulder-hasket lor the deceased to carry his lirewood in. Thus is descrihed
the rave ol a ohore ahoriinal chiel who died in 8yq.
Expensive and well-huilt houses are killin the ancient custom ol ahandonin a home where a
death has occurred. But Sultan Iskandar 'Inayat Shah ol Perak removed lrom Brahmana Indra and
huilt a new palace at Chempaka Sari hecause he disliked hearin the royal music near the rave
ol his predecessor, and Sultan Mahmud, his successor, removed lrom Chempaka Sari to the Bi
Island Indra Mulia. Nowadays a wooden house is sometimes taken to pieces and erected on a site
more lucky.
(e) INSTALLATION CEREMONIES
The selection ol a ruler is supposed to he made helore his predecessor's hody is consined to the
rave. In one Malay lolk-tale, where a kin has died childless and his successor is chosen hy a
saacious elephant (as in many Indian stories), the prince selected is hidden to sit heside the
corpse ol the deceased, while uns are lired and the drums and trumpets ol the royal hand are
sounded seven times. In Nanin and in many parts ol Neri Semhilan, a chiel's successor must
mount the hier, lailure to achieve this is rearded as a har to election and, il there are more
claimants than one, they scramhle on to the hearse toether or one alter another. At his
installation a new commoner chiel ol elehu has to sit on the dais on which the hody ol the last
chiel was washed lor hurial.
The lormal installation ol a ruler is made some while alter the ohsequies ol his predecessor. There
are lestivities lor seven days or lorty days. Then the prince is hathed ceremonially and dons rohes
ol state. A Perak Sultan wears a old neck-chain, draon-headed armlets ol old, and a creese in
his helt, in his head-kerchiel is thrust the royal seal, and lrom his shoulder hans a sword with an
Arahic inscription, reputed to have heen the weapon ol his ancestor, Alexander the Great' Seven
times he is taken in procession round the royal domain, to the thud and hlare ol the state drums
and trumpets, escorted hy courtiers carryin llas and pennons, creeses, lances and swords. On his
return to the palace, he listens to a herald readin a proclamation lrom an unintelliihle version ol
an old Sanskrit lormula. He is cooled with rice-paste and sprinkled with rice. Ahout him clusters
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a retinue, holdin umhrellas, weapons, and hetel-caskets. The Sultan's paes rest swords and
creeses on the riht shoulder, the paes ol the heir to the throne may not lilt his insinia ahove
their arms. His Hihness enters the hall ol audience, mounts the throne, and has to sit motionless
while the royal hand plays a certain numher ol times. . . . The numher should not exceed nine
or he less than lour. Any movement hy the Sultan would he extremely inauspicious. At this
moment the enies ol the State are apt to make the sword ol Alexander the Great press on the
royal shoulder. Into the Sultan's ear, the kin's secret, namely, the real Indian names ol the divine
lounders ol his house, is whispered hy a descendant ol the herald who came out ol the mouth ol
a hull when lirst the hearers ol those Indian names alihted on earth and required a pursuivant.
His suhjects in the hall how to the earth seven times in homae.
In Neri Semhilan the Yamtuan's realia comprise sets ol eiht, eiht weapons ol each kind, eiht
umhrellas, eiht hetel-hoxes, eiht tapers, eiht water-vessels, eiht handluls ol ashes, and a howl
with one strand ol human hair. When all is ready lor the installation, chamherlains invoke the
archanels to send down the divine power ol kins hy the hand ol anels. The weapons are taken
out ol their yellow wrappins, the royal umhrellas are opened, the royal candles lit, the water-
vessels and hetel-hoxes are lilted up on hih lor all to see. A copy ol the Quran is set down
helore these mihty realia, and ewers lilled with every kind ol holy water are arraned helore
them. One ewer contains water minled with hlood, another contains water with a hullet in it,
another may have water mixed with the pure rice-paste that sterilizes all evil inlluences. A censer
is waved. . . . The reat chiels are ahout to swear alleiance to the kin. The presence ol the holy
realia, the water crimsoned with hlood, the water that washes the lead or iron ol war-all these
thins lend additional terror to perjury. The herald who proclaims the election ol a new
Yamtuan is expected to stand on one le with the sole ol his riht loot restin aainst his lelt
knee, with his riht hand shadin his eyes, and with the tip ol the liners ol his lelt hand pressin
aainst his lelt cheek' The chiels sweep lorward on their knees, raise lolded hands seven times to
their hrows, kiss their overlord's hand thrice and retire. Aain incense is hurnt, and the word ol
God as written in the Quran is helieved to come down and is repeated in Arahic in the hearin ol
the people, 'Lo, I have appointed a Caliph to he My viceerent on earth.'
When a commoner chiel is installed hy the Sultan ol Perak, he stands at the entrance to the
palace under a lare hanana leal, while a herald reads over him the c|iri, that unintelliihle
Sanskrit lormula in the lanuae ol the enies. Then the oath ol alleiance is taken. Drums clash.
An old man steps lorward, and usin a rass hrush sprinkles rice-paste down the hanana leal that
covers the candidate's head. The hrush and the leal are cast away and the rice is scattered over his
hody. When the new chiel has dolled his creese and crawled up to the throne to do homae, the
Sultan moistens his hrow with rice-paste, tucks a hunch ol yellow c|empoIo hloom under his
head-kerchiel and sprinkles him with rice. The chiel retires hackwards, doin oheisance as when
he came. A curtain is dropped midway across the hall and he oes out. He must cross water and
may not look upon the Sultan or his palace or his elephants or anythin that is his lor one week.
Violation ol this rule may cause death to chiel or ruler.
To the primitive patriarchal and matriarchal communities ol the Malay race kins and royalty
were lorein. The description in Malay romance ol royalty's silks, seamless, last ol dye, iridescent,
ol ossamer muslins tanled hy a dewdrop, and ol other wonderlul raiment, are only the
hyperhole ol villae rhapsodists marvellin at the luxurious novelties ol the court and winnin
lavour hy laudin them. The yellow umhrella ol the Malay ruler was imported lrom China. Court
sumptuary laws lor cloths, weapons, and houses came lrom India. Amon Malay realia, the
sword and the seal are lorein, and the names ol hall the drums and trumpets are Persian. The
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idea that a ruler can slay at pleasure without hein uilty ol crime is not Malayan. The word Raja
is Sanskrit, the word Sultan introduced with the reliion ol Muhammad. The divinity that hedes
a modern ruler is Muslim and conlerred hy Allah durin the recital ol the text. Lo' I have
appointed a Caliph to he My Viceerent on earth. The white hlood ol Malay princes is that
ascrihed hy Muhammadan mystics to certain saints.
X. MAGICIAN AND MUSLIM
A rouh ranite monolith inscrihed with Muslim laws in the Malay lanuae and Arahic letterin,
recently discovered in Trenanu, is evidence that Islam had reached the east coast ol the Malay
Peninsula as early as the lourteenth century. At the heinnin ol the next century it hecame the
State reliion ol Malacca. Barhosa ascrihed this chane ol creed lrom Hinduism to the presence ol
many Indian Muslim traders at that port. An Achinese account ives y A.D. as the date ol the
conversion ol the lirst ruler ol Kedah to emhrace the reliion ol the Arahian Prophet. The royal
house ol Malacca ave rulers to ohore, Pahan and Perak, dominated Selanor and Neri
Semhilan and so spread the new laith throuhout the Peninsula.
The early missionaries came lrom the Coromandel Coast and Malahar, and therelore made the
Malays Sunnis ol the school ol Shale'i. Later arrived missionaries lrom the Hadramaut. In the
seventeenth and eihteenth centuries Sayids ol the reat Hadramaut house, descendants ol 'Alawi,
randson ol 'Isa al-Mohajir, ained enormous inlluence at the Perak court, one ol them marryin a
sister ol Perak's most lamous ruler and hecomin the lather ol a Sultan ol that State.
The Malays ol the Peninsula have heen Muslims lor some live hundred years. No zealots, they are
orthodox and convinced helievers. But in their heliels and their maic the inlluence ol the early
Indian missionaries ol their latest laith is marked.
There is a hook called the Crown o| Kins, ol which several editions have heen printed in Eypt
and at Mecca. It is on sale at most native hookshops in the Peninsula. Its author was an Achinese,
prominent in the war aainst the Dutch, Shaikh 'Ahhas, who died in 8q. The hook is especially
interestin hecause, like the majority ol Muslim philosophers and authors ol hihlioraphical and
encyclopaedic works, the compiler keepin to the classilication ol the sciences iven hy the
Aristotelians, considers astroloy as one ol the seven or nine hranches ol the natural sciences,
placin it with medicine, physionomy, alchemy, the interpretation ol dreams, and so on. The
work is not lree lrom Malay and Indian inlluence. There are iven, lor example, live divisions ol a
live-day cycle, presided over hy Siva the Supreme Lord, Siva the Destroyer, Sri, Brahma, and
Vishnu' Still, the treatise is a lair example ol what Islam has tauht the Malay to reard as
science, and it is, in ellect, a repertory ol his latest maical lore.
The author heins hy sayin that the science ol astroloy as lirst tauht hy Enoch was simple, and
hecame complex and dillicult only at the prayer ol esus, whose whereahouts helore His arrest
hy the ews were hetrayed hy astroloical calculations. This part ol the hook quotes amon its
authorities Ahu Ma'shar, an Arah astroloer known to Christendom in the Middle Aes as
Alhumasar, and a'lar al-Sadik, the sixth ol the twelve Imams, reported hy the Shilahs to have
heen the author ol a hook ol inlallihle astroloical pronostications lor the inlormation ol the
House ol the Prophet. A manuscript work on Pronostications hy a'lar al-Sadik came into my
hands lrom Malacca, and in Acheh and ava also lortune-tellers' manuals are ascrihed to him.
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Crude astroloy divorced lrom all knowlede ol astronomy enters larely into the Muslim
element in Malay maic. It determines lucky and unlucky times lor heettin children, lihtin,
house huildin and plantin. At the Perak court the moment propitious lor the circumcision ol a
prince is divined lrom pools ol oil lloatin on water in the shape ol moon and stars. There are
charms that must he written only when the constellation ol the Scorpion is invisihle. The
meanin ol a dream may depend on the day ol the week on which it came to the sleeper, the
omen to he drawn lrom an eclipse on the month and year ol its occurrence. Astroloy is
employed to trace a thiel or recover stolen property, and is part and parcel ol most lorms ol
divination. Ior example, there are several ways ol ascertainin how lon one shall live, ways
dillerent accordin to the month ol the Muhammadan year. In the lirst month one has to close
one's eyes at midniht, recite Say, 'God is One'' ten times, and then open one's eyes and aze at
the moon, il it looks hlack, in that month one will die. In the lilth and sixth months one must
aze not at the moon hut at a lamp and that only on a Wednesday niht. In the seventh and
eihth months one recites Say, 'I seek relue in the Lord ol the dayhreak'' seven times and azes
at water in a howl, il it looks red, in that month one will die. In the Iastin month one recites
Praise he to God nine times and azes at the moon, il one's shadow is there, in that month one
will die. In the last two months ol the year the eyes have to he closed, the passae Say, 'God is
One'' recited thrice and the creed once, and one's aze directed at a cloudless sky either at dawn
or at eve, il it looks red like hlood, assuredly in that month one will die.
All Malay treatises on divination lrom dreams hear an Arahic title and are ol Muslim oriin. A
popular poem on the suhject heins hy explainin the omens to he drawn lrom dreamin that
one sees Allah, meets an anel, heholds the Throne ol God or Paradise or the Razor Bride across
hell-lire or the Guarded Tahlet ol Iate. Then it interprets the meanin ol dreams ahout the Iour
Iriends ol the Prophet, the Quran, Ihlis, hein hanished hy a Shaikh, ridin a camel, eatin horse-
llesh, seein a date tree or a li tree' Needless to say, none ol this theoloy, zooloy and hotany is
Malayan. Local launa olten takes the place ol alien launa in native translations ol Muslim
manuals, hut otherwise their contents are lorein and it is lutile to look lor an indienous theory
ol dreams amon Muslim Malays. All these dream manuals are divided into chapters accordin to
the class ol ohject ahout which one dreams. men, heasts, llora, clothes, hirds, insects, countries
and roads, stones, lruits, musical instruments, traps lor lish and ame.
The Crown o| Kins devotes several paes to the omens to he drawn lrom involuntary convulsive
movements ol the lelt eyehrow, the riht eyelid, the lelt nostril, the upper lip, the shoulder-
hlades, the lelt rin-liner, and every part ol the hody. When the Malacca hero, Han Tuah, was
in ava, one day he donned his maic creese hecause an involuntary twitch ol his riht shoulder
led him to expect a hrawl. But lew modern Malays heed these niceties or have read ol them.
Divination hy the values attached to the letters ol men's names is hest known lrom a Poem on
Allinities to determine il a marriae will he happy. the objoJ or alphahet ol letters representin
numerical values is employed. This Malay poem has heen translated into Enlish. Divination hy
possession is known to the Malays as to the Arahs, hut helons to the primitive, impious, and
decried practices ol the shaman, who on demand will use it even to loretell the outcome ol a
pilrimae to Mecca' Geomancy, or divination lrom sand, is mentioned in Malay literature under
its Arahic name, hut is never practised hy the Malays. Nor do they ohserve the entrails ol animals
lor omens.
Malay treatises enumerate many animals, pis, the rhinoceros, wild dos, deer ol all kinds, whose
entrance into a arden lorehodes calamity, unless the evil portent is averted hy the ollerin ol
prayers to the Prophet and ol cash, cloth, and a least to the pious expert who recites the
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prayers. Butterllies, hees, hawks, woodpeckers alihtin on a rool, lros, monkeys, snakes, and
eckoes invadin house or arden, a tortoise under the lloor, lunus rowin in a kitchen,
coconuts two on a stem, nests ol wasps or mason-hees in one's clothes-all these are variously
portents ol poverty, divorce, disease or death, which the recital ol an appropriate passae lrom
the Quran can chane into omens ol riches, health and happiness. When a mat helonin to the
second Caliph ol the Ahhaside dynasty was nawed hy a mouse, it was sent to a diviner who
loretold a quiet and prosperous rein lor its owner. The Malay manuscript lrom which the ahove
list ol portents is taken concludes with a dissertation on the omens to he drawn lrom the nawin
hy mice ol mats or pillows or ol the neck, the riht arm or the lelt arm, or the hottom or side or
hack ol a man's coat'
A Kelantan maician, whose lore was lull ol Muslim horrowins, claimed that he could rellect
enies on the liner nails ol innocent little hoys. Sir Irank Swettenham met an Arah in Malaya
who declared that he could see a rohhery re-enacted in the surlace ol water, hut that lirst ol all
he would see a little old enie hy whose help the scene ol the crime would he rellected. The
same writer saw a howl ol water, with a cotton lid tied taut across it, used as a p|onc|eiie to
discover a thiel. A chapter ol the Quran was read, two men supported the howl hy the rim, and
when at last a slip ol paper containin the name ol one ol the suspects was laid on the lid, the
howl hean to revolve. (The author explains that the howl lailed to respond to the lirst lour
names, that the names were written in Enlish characters unintelliihle to the Malays present and
that the experiment succeeded twice') Amon the realia ol the ruler ol Neri Semhilan is a
howl and a hair. Divination with this apparatus is done hy Malays to discover a thiel. The howl is
divided hy lines ol Indian ink into eiht compartments, each inscrihed with the name ol the
possihle culprit. A hlind man holds the hair, to which a old rin is tied ahove the centre ol the
howl, and intones a Muslim prayer, whereupon, il the name ol the culprit is there, the rin
swins violently into the compartment containin it.
Arah diviners, the recitation ol passaes lrom the Quran, the description ol methods ol divination
in maico-reliious tracts, the ohservance ol astroloical times, all suest that the lorms ol
divination popular with the modern Peninsular Malay are derived lrom Muslim sources.
A notahle contrihution lrom Islam to Malaya was a new type ol amulet. The animist lound a
letish in every ohject possessed ol potent soul-suhstance, stones lrom a water-lall, candle-nuts,
cockle-shells, the hardy rass (E|evsine corocono) that survives even on the trodden path. A
strane knot in a Malacca cane, a curious whorl on the wooden sheath ol a daer, a mark on the
damascene ol a creese that no smith desined to lashion, the rare celt, the Perak hall ol petrilied
dew, all these attracted his attention and awe and trust. The hezoar stone secreted in lish or
monkey or coconut he kept in rice-rain lor lear that it should vanish ollended and an article ol
reat medicinal value he lost. Then, India introduced a lresh stock ol charms. The tinsel marriae
crown protectin hride and room, the thread tied round the newly-wedded and on the wrist ol a
child, the incense hurnt to scare demons, the wavin ol charmed water over a married pair and
over the sick, and perhaps the ruhhin ol those in hostly peril and the lrail and ill with yellow
turmeric, red hetel, and hlack ashes may he traced to this source. Last ol all, Islam trallicked in
amulets inscrihed with maic squares, cahalistic letters, the sins ol the planets and the sins ol
the zodiac, the names ol the anels and the Excellent Names ol Allah. The hexaonal star ol
Solomon's seal is used hy Malays to cure madness and possession hy devil, lamiliar spirit, host or
enie. In Perak three such stars are drawn on paper that is steeped in water lor washin the lace
ol one alllicted with dizziness. A maic square scratched on leal or paper and huried in the
middle ol a rice-lield or at its lour corners will keep away rats and pests lrom the plants.
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Arahic characters representin K, M, y, D, , ALA il traced in oil on the palm ol the hand and
lurtively ruhhed on one's lace in the presence ol one ol the opposite sex will attract that person's
love. Another such lormula will hrin the Perak lisherman a ood catch. Yet another is hun
round the neck ol an inlant that reluses its mother's hreast. One is inscrihed on lead and planted
under the house-ladder ol a woman one loves illicitly. Another is put under a patient's pillow to
induce sleep. A text lrom the Quran is hun in a child's locket to save it lrom convulsions or tied
in a woman's waist-helt to save her lrom demons, or lastened to an achin limh or written on
paper to he dissolved in a patient's drinkin water. Printed or manuscript texts are pasted over
the door ol house or room to scare evil spirits. There is a translation hy a Kelantan Malay ol a
treatise popular with Indian Sunnis, the MvjorroboiiiDirbi, or Prescriptions, which cites amon
its sources works hy al-Buni, a celehrated Arahian writer on the Cahhala, divination, maic
squares, and the virtues ol the Basmala. The Basmala is a name lor the Arahic lormula translated
In the Name ol God, the Mercilul, the Compassionate. The Malay translation ol the
Prescriptions relates as lollows.-When God sent down the Basmala the hills shook. Its Arahic
letters are nineteen, the numher ol the anels in chare ol hell, whosoever recites them shall not
he damned. It was the Basmala that set up Solomon's kindom. Whoever writes down the phrase
six hundred times and wears it shall he honoured hy men. Whoever recites it seven hundred and
eihty-six times lor seven consecutive days shall ain whatever he desires. Read lilty times over
the lace ol a tyrant it will hrin him low. Written down sixty-one times and worn it will make
the harren lruitlul. Written on tin and put in a lishin net it will attract shoals lrom all the seas.
Similar virtues attach to the openin chapter ol the Quran and many texts used hy Muslims to
ward oll physical and spiritual ills.
Incantations are lrowned upon hy strict theoloians hut, as we have seen, they are the hreath ol
the Malay maician's lile. Recited lor a lawlul ohject they do not strike the vular as unorthodox.
Illicit charms lor the seduction ol women the Malay has inherited lrom the Hindu. And il there is
reason to suspect the ellicacy ol his appeal to Allah, the Mercilul, the Compassionate and to
Muhammad to make a irl yield to her lover, then it is hetter il possihle to add a conclusion
patently impious.-
FrienJ o| mine, Ib|is onJ o|| ,e spiriis onJ Jevi|s
T|oi |ove io irovb|e mon
I osI ,ov io o onJ enier i|e boJ, o| i|is ir|,
Bvrnin |er |eori os i|is sonJ bvrns,
FireJ wii| |ove |or me.
Brin |er io ,ie|J |erse|| io me
B, virive o| i|is rice onJ sieom
P|oce |er |ere b, m, |eori|
Or e|se ioIe ,e |eeJ
In a charm aainst the Will o' the Wisp a Kelantan maician, with pantheism perhaps
unconscious, vaunts, I am Ihlis, the son ol Pharaoh'
To destroy an enemy, there is prescrihed in Malay versions ol Muslim treatises a world-wide
method ol sorcery. A cahalistic symhol is inscrihed on wax. The wax is moulded in the lorm ol a
man. Then the eyes ol the liure are pierced with a needle or its helly stahhed, while a purely
Arahic charm is recited to call down upon the victim the aner ol Allah' To roh an enemy ol
power to harm, it sullices to draw his portrait in the dust ol crossroads, rind one's heel on his
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navel, tread on his pictured heart, heat the lace with a stick, and recite a short imprecation.
Symholic charms and Arahic lormulae are also prescrihed to cause impotency. Every ood Malay
Muslim views with horror these hlack practices and Satanic incantations.
The contrihution ol Islam to Malay maic is not interestin. Ilotsam and jetsam lrom the
Talmud, the works ol the Gnostics, the science ol Indian astroloers and the practices ol Hindu
sorcerers, it came to Malaya third-hand.
XI. MAGICIAN AND MYSTIC
ONCE more the Malay maician sat at the leet ol Indian teachers, this time as a student ol
Muslim pantheism.
To India have heen traced the lirst use ol the Suli term |ono lor loss ol the individual sell in God,
and the Suli's acquaintance with the practice ol watchin the hreaths as a means ol worship.
The Suli leend ol Ihrahim hin Adham, the hunter prince ol Balkh who ave up his throne lor
the hear's howl, is modelled upon the story ol Buddha.
The Malay has two versions ol the tale ol Ihrahim, prince ol Balkh. Lon helore he ot them,
India had tauht him to last and practise austerities in order to acquire invulnerahility and other
maical arts. Brahminical mantra, to which even the ods were suhject, would have prepared his
mind lor the audacities ol popular Sulism. Like the mantra, too, Suli secrets and charms were
lascinatinly esoteric, to he revealed only to the initiated. The doctrines that the disciple must
honour and ohey his teacher ahove all men and pass throuh several initiatory staes were not
new to a race that had heen under Hindu inlluence lor centuries.
Teachers ol Sulisrn came to the Malay Peninsula more than lour hundred years ao. Belore the
end ol the lilteenth century a Sultan ol Malacca sent an emhassy to Pasai, a small Sumatran port
lamous as a reliious centre, ollerin a present ol old and two slave irls to any theoloian who
could say il those in heaven and those in hell remain in their respective places lor ever. A Pasai
pundit replied openly that they did, quotin the authority ol the Quran. But the Sultan ol Pasai
summoned him, hinted that an emhassy could not have come lor such an ohvious answer and
suested ivin in private an interpretation ol the prohlem, communicahle only to the chosen
lew. The pundit took this advice and won the prize ollered hy Malacca. There is little douht that
his answer was on lines suested hy a work that has lelt its impress on many Malay charm hooks,
the Insonv'|Iomi| or Perlect Man ol al-ili. You may say, il you like, writes al-ili, that hell-
lire remains as it was, hut that the torment ol the damned is chaned to pleasure, or, aain, the
power ol endurance ol the sullerers in hell continues to row-God never takes hack His ilts and
these powers come lrom God-until there appears in them a Divine power which extinuishes the
lire, hecause no one is doomed to misery alter the Divine attrihutes hecome manilest in him.
The author ol the Mo|o, Anno|s, writin at a learned court, was not so indiscreet as to reveal this
mystery to all and sundry. Nor does he ive the Suli answer to another prohlem propounded hy
Malacca to Pasai, the paradox that hoth the man who helieves and the man who dishelieves that
God created and hestowed His ilts lrom all eternity is an inlidel. Theoloical discussions like
these are ahove the head ol the maician. Moreover, he has lelt to the loreiner to practise
occasionally in Malaya that oriastic Sulism which derades the lamous cry ol Ahu Sa'id, There
is nothin inside this coat except Allah. Villae maicians that relrain lrom the hlack art are
popular, while the Arah teacher is respected, leared and disliked, and the Indian olten
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despised. The Mo|o, Anno|s cynically record how when the Sultan ol Malacca took his Arah
teacher into hattle aainst the Portuuese in A.D., the theoloian clun with hoth hands to
the howdah and exclaimed, Let us return' This is no place to study the unity ol God.
The Shi'ah heresies and the rash mystic pantheism to he detected in many Malay charms has
not received the attention ol Enlish students. Such mysticism, remarks Snouck Hurronje, is
lound also in Arahian lands hut only in small circles ol the initiated as hall secret doctrines ol the
Sulis, cautiously concealed on account ol the hunt ol ollicial theoloians lor heresy and ol the
suspicious lanaticism ol the vular. In the East Indies, however, it lormed wool and warp not only
ol learned speculation hut ol popular heliel. Tracts with drawins and tahles were used in the
endeavour to realise the idea ol the Ahsolute. The lour elements, the lour winds, the lour
rihteous Caliphs, the lour lounders ol the schools ol law, the lour attrihutes ol God in doma,
the lour rades ol proress in mysticism, the lour extremities ol the human hody, and many other
sets ol lour were lor popular mysticism revelations ol the one indivisihle sell ol man. Throuh
the names ol Muhammad and Allah, each in Arahic spelt with lour letters, were symholised the
One Bein.
Every Suli who is one with God is a saint with supernatural powers, and already it has heen said
that Malaya is strewn with the raves ol miracle-workers. An eihteenth century history ol Perak
records how when a Sultan ol that State lell ill vows were paid to prophets and saints and the
Poles, who stand at the head ol the Muslim hierarchy and are each in his eneration the axis
whereon the sphere ol existence revolves. The lounder ol the orthodox Qadiri order was amon
the saints invoked, hut while the invocation ol saints is allowed to Sunnis, it is commonest in
India and amon the Shi'ahs. Aain, the Suli holds that the esoteric teachin ol the Quran was
revealed hy the Prophet to 'Ali, his son-in-law, to whom accordin to the Shi'ahs was transmitted
the Liht ol Muhammad. The name ol 'Ali, our Lord 'Ali, occurs in innumerahle Malay charms.
It has heen remarked that the conception ol the tears ol the Archanel Michael creatin countless
cheruhim in his likeness to control the rain and uard the lruits and plants ol the earth exhihits a
pantheistic tendency. The same may he said ol the dianosis ol the Kelantan medicine-man, who
linds a hundred and ninety demons lor smallpox, each operatin on a selected part ol the hody,
His Lordship Buzz on the ear, His Lordship Pe on the joints, and so on. In Patani there are elders
and midwives who helieve that all evil spirits were really one, pervadin the whole world, only
called hy dillerent names accordin to the environment in which the universal spirit ol evil was
considered lor the moment. . . . As one old man expressed it, ' It may he hot here and at Mecca at
the same time, and the spirit is the same.' He went on to explain that the spirit could hreak itsell
into one hundred and ninety parts, and that the reat medicine-man was the person who could
cause it to do this and could keep all the dillerent parts under his control.
Elsewhere it has heen noted how the Malay maician's idea ol an archetypal world ol the
hreadth ol a tray and a sky ol the hreadth ol an umhrella reminds one ol Ihn 'Arahi's sayin that
all the universe lies potential in God like the tree in the seed.
Drums and wild sinin ol interminahle chants helped the shaman to lall into a trance wherein he
trallicked with the world ol spirits, just as Malay villae mystics seek union with Allah hy roarin
His praises in chorus and swayin head and hody in iddy contortions. The Brahmin ascetic
attained hypnotic slumher hy countin his inhalations and exhalations and concentratin his aze
on some ohject. Belore completely losin consciousness and ainin deliverance lrom the cycle ol
existence with power (like Hahih Noh ol Sinapore) to transport himsell anywhere at
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will, he hears within his hody (in the heart and throat, hetween the eyehrows and in other parts)
various sounds, those ol a drum, the roarin sea, the thunder, a hell, a shell, a reed, a lyre and a
hee.
The reliious ascetic uses his trance to lose himsell in God, the Kelantan maician to discover il a
warrior will win a liht or a villaer live another year. The warrior is to invoke thrice the lour
Shaikhs at the corners ol the world, the lour lirst Caliphs ol Islam and the lour archanels, the
hlessed saints, all miracle-workin rulers dead and alive, and pray them to intercede with God to
reveal the issue ol the comin hattle. Then he azes at his lollowers. Il he sees them headless, they
will perish. Il he sees them armless, they will suller reatly in the liht. Or he may listen three
times. Il he hears no sound, his men will perish, and so on. Aain. the lour Caliphs have their
seats in the human lrame, Ahu Bakar in the liver, 'Omar in the spleen, 'Usman in the luns, 'Ali in
the allhladder. Each ol them passes to his seat alon dillerent parts ol the riht or lelt nostril. Il
one wants to cross a river without a hoat, one consults Ahu Bakar throuh one's hreath, inhalin
and then exhalin, il there is a heavy sensation, the water is deep and a hoat required, il there is a
leelin ol lihtness in the inhalation, the water is shallow. There are a numher ol ways ol
divination lrom ohservin the hreaths. One more charm ol which hreathin lorms a part must
sullice.-
To marry hody and spirit draw all your hreath into your heart and recite the lollowin.- I am
the true Muhammad. It is not I that say it. It is Muhammad. Iirst spirit was created, then the
hody. Only il this niht he destroyed, can I he destroyed. My hein is thy hein. My hein is one
with thy hein. I vanish in the lold ol the attestation, 'There is no God hut Allah-He'' in the lold
ol my mother the Liht ol Muhammad until dawn. Il the charm is lor protection hy day, then it
commits the reciter to the lold ol his lather the Liht ol Allah. Between the two eyehrows,
said Hamzah ol Barus, a lamous heterodox mystic ol Sumatra, that is the spot where the servant
meets his God, and unconsciously he was quotin ,oi ritual. Hamzah visited Pahan on the east
coast ol the Peninsula ahout the heinnnin ol the seventeenth century. So it is less surprisin to
lind in a Kelantan charm hook the ahove assertion hy the Malay villaer ol his participation in the
Islamic Loos, thouh it is only a mundane expedient lor protectin his skin'
Less learned hut equally pantheistic is the maician who, lorettin the terrilic appearance ol the
archanels lor the orthodox, cries.-
I oiiesi i|ere is no CoJ bvi A||o|
I oiiesi i|oi Mv|ommoJ is His Prop|ei
Ho m, brei|ren, Cobrie|, Mic|oe|, Isro|i| onJ 'Azroi|
Ye ore |ovr bvi wii| me |ive
I sii on i|e Seoi o| A||o|
I |eon ooinsi i|e pi||or o| His T|rone
Is this a dehased interpretation ol al-ili's description ol the Perlect Man: his heart stands over
aainst the Throne ol God, his mind over aainst the Pen, his soul over aainst the Guarded
Tahlet, his nature over aainst the elements, his capahility ol receivin lorms over aainst matter.
He stands over aainst the anels with his ood thouhts, over aainst the enies and devils with
the douhts that heset him, over aainst the heasts with his animality. . . . To every type ol
existence he lurnishes lrom himsell an antitype. A literal interpretation ol mysteries is all that a
mind utterly untrained in metaphysics can compass. An extraordinary mixture ol Hindu
sentiment and imaery and ol Suli metaphysical speculations on the Perlect Man occurs in an
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old Perak charm lor ivin a person a dominant personality.-
I sii beneoi| i|e T|rone o| A||o|,
Mv|ommoJ m, s|e|ier is besiJe me,
Cobrie| on m, ri|i, Mic|oe| on m, |e|i,
A|| i|e compon, o| Ane|s |o||owin me.
Viceereni o| A||o| . . .
On|, i| A||o| sv||er |orm,
Con I sv||er |orm.
On|, i| His Prop|ei sv||er |orm,
Con I sv||er |orm.
A |ooJeJ snoIe is m, |oinc|oi|,
A mvsi, e|ep|oni m, sieeJ.
M, eorpos, i|e |i|inin,
M, s|oJow is i|oi o| o |ierce iier.
B, virive o| i|is c|orm o| Awon i|e Preemineni
In seoieJ ossemb|,
Preemineni I,
Ereci, wo|Iin or io|Iin
Preemineni I,
I, |orJ o| o|| morio|s,
Preciovs sione o| i|e Prop|ei,
Peor| o| CoJ.
The same manuscript contains a tremendous love-charm to he recited over seven hlossoms, that
must then he handed to the ohject ol one's passion.- There is no God hut God. I am God, the
Divine Reality, ruler who hlesseth all the worlds. There is no God hut God, the Kin, the Divine
Reality, the Revealed. There is no God hut Allah, lord ol the heavens and the earth and ol the
reat Throne. Thirty years ao a Perak Malay was sentenced to aol lor teachin an ohscene lorm
ol pantheism hased on the creed-There is no God hut God. I am God. God Most Hih is only
this sell ol mine.
The claim ol the maician that he is God or that he is the hrother ol the lour archanels seems
hideously hlasphemous to the orthodox Malay villaer, a claim allied with the hlackest maic ol
the spirit-raisin shaman. But to the disciple the Malay exponent ol this crude popular pantheism
explains and estahlishes his doctrine hy many lar-letched analoies. The invocations used hy the
Kelantan maician are lull ol them. He calls, lor example, upon lour winds ol disease to o lorth
lrom the patient's hody hy the lour doors ol the orans ol the mystical lile. Wind in skin and
pores corresponds with the lirst ol the lour steps towards union with God, that is, with the
ohservance ol the law, which is the outer mark ol the reliious and ahout which there is no
secrecy. Wind in sinews and hones corresponds with the second stae, that is, the mystic path
enjoined hy his spiritual uide lor the Suli novice. Wind in the llesh and hlood corresponds with
a third stae, the plane ol truth. Wind in the hreath ol lile and the seed ol man corresponds with
the plane ol perlect nosis. Or aain, analoies are discovered hetween the worlds ol Suli
metaphysics and parts ol the physical lrame. The material world is in the tonue, the invisihle
intelliihle world in the windpipe, the world ol power (wherein lie hidden the processes ol the
divine nature) in the lirst stomach ol ruminants' All this is ahracadahra to civilised men, even
metaphysicians. But the process ol thouht is clear. The archanels are lour, the lirst Caliphs were
lour, the elements out ol which the human hody is composed are lour, the limhs ol the hody
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are lour. Therelore man and the archanels are one' Adam, Muhammad, and Allah can each he
spelt in Arahic with lour letters. Still the ever recurrin numher lour' Therelore God and man
are identical' Other mystic numhers are three, lounded on Suli speculations on the trinity ol the
lover, the heloved and love, and seven, the numher ol the staes in the Neo-Platonic theory ol the
emanation process ol hein, exemplilied also in the numher ol the Pleiades and the days ol the
week. All this is puerile, hut a charm lrom the Kelantan manuscript tract already quoted so
larely, a charm called The Iortress ol the Unity ol God, will show that it is wron to suppose
the Malay had no serious intellectual interests until European protection provided him with
schools and collees. The charm should he recited lour times a niht lrom one Iriday to the next
with a sincere vowin ol the heart to unity with Allah and the vision ol Him implanted in one's
heart, until His Bein permeates one and one has laith. 'I am lost in the universal and ahsolute
Essence ol God', and one is lost to sell and one's sell hecomes ahsolute and universal too.-
In the name ol God, the Mercilul, the Compassionate. Oh God' rant peace to our lord
Muhammad and the household ol Muhammad who watcheth over my sell and my lriends and all
my children and all the contents ol my house and my property and the possessions ol my hands
with a sevenlold lortress lrom the lortress ol God Most Hih, its rool-'There is no God hut God,'
and my wall 'Muhammad the Apostle ol God,' and my key 'the miht ol God,' which may not he
opened lor ever save with His permission. Muhammad is like man and unlike man, he is like a
chrysolite amon stones.
Now the meanin ol the term 'lortress' is that we know we come lrom not-hein and to not-
hein shall return. Ior there is nothin evidently save the Bein ol God. And ol a surety the Bein
ol God never parts lrom His ahsolute essence, which carries out all His will, accordin to His
word. ' His desire is accomplished hy Himsell and oes lorth to no other than Himsell save to
not-hein.'
The meanin ol the term sell is 'spirit,' one ol the attrihutes ol God Most Hih, which parts not
lrom His essence and it hecomes an individualized idea and is called man. Now the spirit is
particularized and lettered. Always the spirit yearns towards God.
The meanin ol 'the house ' is the hody. The hody is the place ol the spirit and so the veritahle
place that reveals God accordin to the sayin ol the Prophet, on whom he the peace ol God.
'Whosoever knows himsell, knows his Lord.' The house was huilt ol itsell and thouh it will pass
away, yet He Whose house it is, is the Reality Who with His ahsolute essence is eternal.
The meanin ol our 'property' is the liver and heart and luns and all and all that God Most
Hih has created. accordin to His word.-'There is no strenth in any one save the strenth ol
Allah, lord ol all the worlds hoth as reards thins revealed and thins hidden.'
The meanin ol our 'possessions' is the ten senses, lirstly the outward and secondly the inner.
The outward arc live. the siht ol the eyes, the hearin ol the ears, the taste ol the tonue, the
smellin ol the nose, and the touch ol the hand. The inner also are live. consciousness, laith,
memory, perception and judment.
The meanin ol the sevenlold 'lortress' is the creation hy God Most Hih ol man with seven
attrihutes. lile, knowlede, power, will, hearin, siht and speech. And seven parts ol the hody
must he howed to God in prayer. the lorehead, the palms ol the hands, the knees and the soles ol
- - y yc c - -
the leet.
The meanin ol the 'lock' is hecause we have utter trust and union hy surrenderin ourselves to
God Most Hih, accordin to His word. 'Hold yourselves last to the cord ol God which hreaks
not neither is there concealment ol His will lrom mystical knowlede', as said the Prophet on
whom he God's peace.-'Nothin at all moves save hy permission ol Allah.' Ior we cannot hehold
auht il the cord hreak and it cannot hreak save hy the will ol God Most Hih, and there is no
suhstitute lor that cord.
And the meanin ol the 'key' is Muhammad Apostle ol God. Ior God is utterly hidden, none
knoweth Him save in His own person. Therelore to cherish His lory, God Most Hih was
revealed in the spirit ol Muhammad our Prophet and lrom that spirit God Most Hih created all
this universe, and all the attrihutes ol His secret wisdom were revealed. So it is that Muhammad
is called the 'key,' hecause he opened the treasure-house that was hidden, accordin to His word.-
'I opened that which was closed.'
And the meanin ol the protection ol God is accordin to His word. 'God Most Hih is with
thee wheresoever thou art,' accordin to His word.
God is nearer to thee than the muscles ol thy neck.' And the meanin ol 'rool' is the power ol
God to cover any ol His servants with mercy accordin to His will, so that he he locked away
lrom all enemies and daner in this world and the next, neither shall the lock he opened hy enie
or man save with the permission ol God Most Hih.
Was it to test the ellicacy ol some such charm as this that that novice on the Suli path, Sultan
Mahmud ol old Malacca, took his spiritual uide with him into hattle aainst the white
Benalis, descendants ol enies, the lirst European invaders ol Malaya:

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