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Art. XXI.—Two Malay Myths: the Princess of the Foam, and the Raja of the Bamboo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

W. E. Maxwell
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Extract

In the thirteenth century A.D. the Muhammadan religion spread from India to the Malay Archipelago. Many centuries before, the commerce which was carried on between India and the Eastern Islands had been the means of familiarizing the inhabitants of the latter with the tenets of Brahmanism. These had taken root among them, at all events, wherever monarchies were established on the Hindu pattern, and had, to some extent, modified the nature or demon-worship which had previously been the sole religion of the Malay tribes. When the religion of Muhammad was established in the western regions, from which commercial intercourse was carried on with the Eastern Archipelago, it made its way gradually eastward. The Hindu rulers of petty Malay States in Sumatra and in the Peninsula of Malacca became converts, and the movement spread thenceforward uninterruptedly. At the present day all the Malay communities in reasonably accessible localities have embraced the Muhammadan religion. Some have been Muslims for centuries; among others, the adoption of this faith has been a comparatively recent event. Some Malay races, like the Dayaks of Borneo and the Battaks of Sumatra, still cling to their primitive beliefs and customs.

Type
Original Communications
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , October 1881 , pp. 498 - 523
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1881

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References

page 499 note 1 Sometimes (following the Portuguese orthography) spelt Queda and Quedah. The most northerly of the Malay States on the western side of the Peninsula of Malacca.

page 499 note 2 Journ. Ind. Arch. vol. iii. p. 1.Google Scholar

page 500 note 1 Buluh betong, a particular kind of bamboo.

page 500 note 2 According to Col. Low's version, Raja Buluh Betong, Journ. Ind. Arch. vol. iii. p. 468.Google Scholar

page 500 note 3 “The tusked Raja,” a nickname of Raja Pra-ong Maha Potisat. The Kedah capital, according to this narrative, was then at Bukit Mariam on the north bank of the Kwala Muda river.

page 501 note 1 In Col. Low's translation, Putri Saloang. Kirana as a proper name is borrowed from Javanese romances; see Van der Tuuk, Short Account of the Malay Manuscripts of the Royal Asiatic Society, p. 15.

page 501 note 2 Translated from a MS. in my possession.

page 501 note 3 Perak is the second Malay State on the western side of the Peninsula counting from the north.

page 501 note 4 Johor Lama was the old capital of the State of Johor, which is the southernmost of the Malay States of the Peninsula.

page 502 note 1 Tobacco was first introduced into the Eastern Archipelago by the Portuguese at Malacca in the sixteenth century. Anachronisms of this kind are common in native histories.

page 503 note 1 Teh, short for Puteh, white; Pûrba, or pûrva, Sanskrit “first.” This name is also given to the first Malay raja in the Sajarah Malayu.

page 504 note 1 The portion of the legend with which we are chiefly concerned here, but I give the legend in extenso, as it has never before been published.

page 505 note 1 Another anachronism. So, cannons are mentioned in several places in the Thousand and One Nights. See Lane, 's translation, vol. ii. p. 329Google Scholar, note 100. The istinggarda (Portuguese espingarda) is the old-fashioned matchlock, specimens of which may still be found in use among the Malays. In former times a bow and four arrows may probably have occupied the place given to the matchlock and bullets in this narrative.

page 506 note 1 Magat, a Malay title of Sanskrit origin. Mûgadha (Sansk.)=the son of a Vaiçya by a Kshatriya woman. In Malay magat is applied to a chief who is noble on one side only.

page 506 note 2 A superstitious observance found among more than one Indo- Chinese nation. “Le général en chef doit se conformer à, plusieurs coutumes et observances superstitieuses; par exemple, il faut qu'il mette une robe de couleur difféente pour chaque jour de la semaine; le dimanche il s'habille en blanc, le lundi en jaune, le mardi en vert, le mercredi en rouge, le jeudi en bleu, le vendredi en noir, et le samedi en violet.”—Pallegoix, Description de Siam, vol. i. p. 319.

Regarding the signification attached to various colours by the Turks and Arabs, see Lane, 's Thousand and One Nights, vol. ii. p, 326, note 78.Google Scholar

page 507 note 1 This legendary war of Tan Saban with the second king of Perak owes its origin probably to mythological accounts of the wars of Salivahana and Vikramaditya, which Hindu settlers, not improbably, brought to Malay countries. Saban is a natural corruption of Salivahana.

page 507 note 2 Bandahara, treasurer (Sansk. bhandagara, treasure), the highest title given to a subject in a Malay State.

page 507 note 3 This recalls the account in Northern mythology of the four rivers which are said to flow from the teats of the cow Audhumla.

In a great many Malay myths the colour white is an all-important feature. In this legend we have the white Semang and the white river. In others white animals and white birds are introduced.

page 508 note 1 Collection des Principales Chroniques Malayes; Paris, 1849.

page 508 note 1 “Princess Lotus-of-the-Foam.”

page 509 note 1 Malay Annals, Leyden, p. 208.

page 509 note 2 Jottings amongst the Land Dyaks of Upper Sarawak, Denison, Singapore, 1879.

page 509 note 3 Brawidjaja is the Dutch spelling. Bra-vijaya would be more correct according to our ideas. This is perhaps a corruption of Brahma-vijaya (vijaya Sansk. victory). It is noteworthy that the first sovereign in Ceylon history is Wijayo or Vijaya, and it would be interesting to ascertain if anything corresponding in any degree to this legend is to he found in Sinhalese chronicles. Unfortunately, no copy of Tumour's Mahawanso is at hand for reference in the remote State in the Malay Peninsula in which these lines are penned. Raffles mentions five sovereigns of Majapahit in Java named Browijaya (History of Java, vol. ii. p. 85, 2nd ed.).Google Scholar

page 510 note 1 De Backer, , L'Archipel Indien, p. 98Google Scholar; Tijdschrift voor Ind. Taal, 1860, p. 93, and 1863, p. 501.Google Scholar

page 511 note 1 Tunjung, lotus, is found both in Malay and Javanese.

page 512 note 1 “The idea of deducing the origin of animals and men from eggs or seeds is an obvious conceit, and so well suited to the infant state of philosophy that we can account for its origin and extension.”—Prichard, Egyptian Mythology, p. 169.

page 512 note 2 Logan, Journal of the Indian Archipelago, vol. i. p. 278.Google Scholar

page 512 note 3 Mountains in Johor.

page 512 note 4 The Deity of the Benua.

page 514 note 1 Rosenberg, , “De Mantawei-eilanden en hunne Bewoners”Google Scholar (Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, uitgegeven door hel Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, Jaarg. 1, Aflev. vi. vii. 1853Google Scholar); Logan, Journal of the Indian Archipelago, vol. ix. p. 289.Google Scholar

page 515 note 1 De Backer, , L'Archipel Indien, p. 39Google Scholar; Tijdschrift, etc., 1856, t. ii. pp. 353, 358.

page 515 note 2 History of Sumatra, p. 302.Google Scholar

page 516 note 1 Quoting an essay preserved by Thevenot, entitled Relation des Philippines par un religieux; traduite d'un manuscrit Espagnol du cabinet de Mons. Dom. Carlo del Pezzo.

page 516 note 2 A. Dalrymple, author of the “Oriental Repertory.”

page 517 note 1 The Dutch mode of spelling is preserved.

page 518 note 1 De Backer, , L'Archipel Indien, p. 88Google Scholar; Tijdschrift voor Ind. Taal, p. 267.Google Scholar

page 518 note 2 Vocabularium van vreemde woorden voorkomende in het Ambonsch-Maleisch, door Van Hoëvell; Dordrecht, 1876.

page 519 note 1 De Backer, , L'Archipel Indien, p. 44Google Scholar; Tijdschrift voor Ind. Taal, 1855, t. i. p. 75.Google Scholar

page 519 note 2 De Backer, , L'Archipel Indien, p. 280Google Scholar; Tijdschrift Toor Ind. Taal, 1846, t. Hi. p. 133Google Scholar. This Dayak tradition resembles closely the belief of the Battaks of Sumatra.

page 520 note 1 Raffles, Hist, of Java, vol. ii. Appendix H.

“In the egg the great power sat inactive a whole year of the Creator, at the close of which by his thought alone he caused the egg to divide itself.

“And from its two divisions he framed the heavens above and the earth beneath; in the midst he placed the subtle ether, the eight regions and the permanent receptacle of waters.”—Sir W. Jones, Institutes of Menu.

“The production of the organized world was compared by some to the germination of seeds, an idea which occurs in the Institutes of Menu and in some of the representations of the Grecian schools. Hence also the celebrated fiction of the Mundane Egg, or the egg produced spontaneously in the womb of Erebus, containing in itself the elements which were afterwards distributed into the various departments of the world.” — Prichard, Egyptian Mythology, p. 297.

page 521 note 1 The Teyp, or Manual, from which this extract is translated, belonged to Raja Haji Yahya, of Blanja in Perak. It contains all kinds of mantra, forms of spells or incantations for the propitiation of various classes of evil spirits, and instructions and explanations as to their use. It opens with the tradition here quoted, which is introduced in order to show the antiquity of the pawang's profession. It is a curious jumble of aboriginal superstition and Hindu mysticism, with a veneer of Muhammadan nomenclature.

page 521 note 2 Sanskrit sâdhya, “accomplishment,” “perfection.”

page 521 note 3 Arabic aṣl, “origin,” “extraction.”

page 521 note 4 Malay unggas and ungkas, a bird.

page 522 note 1 “Bell, book and candle.” The articles mentioned in the text are indispensable to the pawang's trade. By means of them he divines secrets, prophesies future events, combats evil spirits, and wards off misfortune.

Bertik is rice parched in the husk till it bursts forth from it with a slight report. It is scattered about during all magic ceremonies. In Ceylon precisely the same article is used by the professors of demon-worship, there called “devildancers.” It is called in Ceylon porri, which is identical with puri, the Malay name of a cake made of bertih.

Bertih, perhaps from Sanskrit varti, a magic ball ?

Tepong tawar is the name of the liquid and the bunch of leaves (often of seven selected kinds) which are used in sprinkling places or objects which it is desired to disenchant or disinfect.

Pemolih (from polih), a remedy, any kind of vegetable medicine.

Ambar-ambar, a term which includes all the elements used by pawanqs to counteract and render inefficacious, or harmless (ambar, or tawar), the spells or machinations of demons, such as rice, incense, bertih, etc.

Gawar-gawar, or gagawar, leaves suspended to a horizontal cord stretched across a path or doorway as a token that passage is forbidden.

page 522 note 2 Baluh Zat, “Cylinder of the Essence.” Baluh is the hollow wooden cylinder of a native drum. Zat means “nature,” “essence,” “substance.”