two malay myths

7/27/2019 two malay myths

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ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETYOF

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

TWO MALAY MYTHS:THE PRINCESS OFTHE FOAM, AND THE RAJA OF THE BAMBOO

BY

W. E. MAXWELL, ESQ., M.R.A.S.

OCTOBER, 1 8 8 1 .All Rights Reserved, National Library Board, Singapore


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the Unive rsi ty of Geifswald. 8vo. pp . xxx.and 340, sd. 12s.A L A B A S T E R . T h e W h e e l o f th e L a w :Buddhism i l lus t ra ted f rom Siamese Sourcesby the M ode rn Buddhis t , a Li fe o f Bu ddh a ,an d an acco unt o f the Ph ra Bra t . By He nryAlab as te r , Esq . Dem y 8vo . pp . lv i ii . an d

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T W O M A L A Y M Y T H S .THE PRINCESS OF THE FOAM, AND THE RAJA OF THE BAMBOO

By W. E. MAXWELL, Esq., M.R.A.S.

I N the th i r teenth century A.D. the Muhammadan re l ig ionspread from Ind ia to the M alay Archipelago. M any cen-turies before, the commerce which was carried on betweenIndia and the Eastern Is lands had been the means offamiliar iz ing the inhabitants of the lat ter with the tenets ofBrah m anism . These had tak en root amon g them , at al levents, wh erever m onarchies were established on the H in dupattern, and had, to some extent, modified the nature ordem on-worship wh ich had previously been th e sole religionof the Malay tr ibes . W h en the rel igion of M uham mad wasestablished in the w estern regions, from wh ich comm ercialintercourse was carried on with the Eastern Archipelago, itmade i ts way gradu ally eastward. The Hin du ru lers of pettyM alay States in Sum atra and in the P enin sula of M alaccabecame converts, and the movement spread thenceforwardun interru pted ly. A t the present day al l the Malay com-munities in reasonably accessible localities have embracedthe M uha m m adan religion. Some hav e been Muslims forcenturies; among others, the adoption of this faith has beena com paratively recent event. Some M alay races, l ike theDayaks of Borneo and the Battaks of Sumatra, still cling totheir primitive beliefs and customs.

Owing to their geographical posi t ion, Sumatra and theMalay Peninsula have always been peculiar ly open to Indianinfluences, and they would naturally be early affected by anyreligious or political movement working from India eastward.Muhammadan civilization, therefore, in those countries datesfrom an earlier period th an in regions further east. Th eMalays adopted the alphabe t of Ind ian or Pers ian M uham -

l



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2 T R A D I T I O N S I N T H E M A LA Y A R C H I P E L A G O .

madans (a modification in some respects of the genuineArabic alphabet) , and a fair ly copious Malay l i terature exis tswrit ten in this character .

Translat ions of Javanese romances, with accounts of themarvellous adventures of the heroes of the Ramayana andM aha bha rata, are of l i t t le interest . St i l l less at tra ct iv e aremodern translat ions of Hindi and Tamil s tor ies , and ofArabic works on law and re l ig ion . Pu rely Malayan l i tera tureconsists of a few short historical works, some codes of nativelaws, and a cer tain amount of anonymous poetry.

M alay historica l wor ks are valuab le chiefly because t he ypreserve some of the ear ly legends which are current oral lyal l over the Archipelago from Sum atra to the Ph i l ippin es .They are the works of Muhammadan Malays , who, a t thet ime they wrote, collected al l the tradit ions current aboutthe par t icu lar s ta te or k ingdo m they were descr ib ing . Th eyrelate as historica l facts, wh ich the y no do ubt believed tobelong to the h is tory of their ear ly kin gs, inciden ts an dadv enture s pure ly myth ical , the o r igin of which i t is no tdifficult to trace in aboriginal traditions common to mostM alay tribes . I n th is pap er I propose to collect, for th epurpose of comparison, a number of different versions of am yt h which is very widely spread. Th e ide nti ty of theideas un de rlyi ng t he ru de legends of hea then is landers a ndth e more orna te narra t ives of M uha m m ada n chroniclers wil lnot , I think, be quest ioned.

St art in g first w ith th e m ore civilized M alay State s of t heno rth, I take th e fol lowing na rra t ive from a his tory ofK e d a h : 1

Ke dah. The early his tory of K ed ah is found in a M alaychronicle cal led Hakayat Marong Mahawangsa, or HakayatRa ja Ber-seong, wh ich has been translate d into En glish .2Tho ugh evident ly the work of a Muha mm adan, i t aboundswith supernatural detai ls , many of these being palpably ofH in d u origin. Th e incid ent to which I wish to cal l at ten -

1 Sometimes (following the Portuguese orthography) spelt Queda and Quedah.The most northerly of the Malay States on the western side of the Peninsula ofMalacca.2 Journ. Ind. Arch. vol. iii. p. 1.



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T R A D I T I O N S I N T H E M A LA Y A R C H I P E L A G O . 3

t ion occurs in the account of the reign of the sixth KafirRaja of Ke dah, Raja Pra -on g Maha Pot isa t .

"The Raja set out with his four ministers (mantri) , andhunted as he travelled, securing an immense quanti ty ofgam e. One day at noon the y all stopped to rest them selvesafter the fat igue of hunting, and the King rested for a whileon th e e leph ant on wh ich he was m oun ted. "While thu sseated he happened to see a house, which was inhabited byan old m an and his wife, and he noticed th at one ba m boo 1out of a number which were growing there was leaningaga inst th e side of th e house. Th is bamboo was slenderboth at the bottom an d at the top, bu t in th e m iddle it wasas thic k as the body of a deer. Th e K in g o rdered it tobe cut down, and he took it back w ith him to his fort,greatly pleased with his acquisition

"The bamboo which has already been mentioned hadbeen placed by the King near his own bed, for his affectionfor it was so great he could not bear to be parted from it.W i t h every successive mo nth its bulk increased, un til atlength one day, at an auspicious moment, i t burst, andth er e came forth from it a m ale child of most beau tiful formand features. Ev ery one was struck w ith wonder and amaze-m en t at seeing a hu m an child issue from the bamboo. RajaPra-ong Maha Potisat at once took the child and orderedhim to be carefully nourished and bro ug ht up , and treatedhim as his own son, assigning to him nurses and attendants.And he cal led h im Raja Bentangan Betong.2 . . . .

" O n e day a very heavy f lood swept down the Kw alaM uda river, and the Queen-consort of Raja Ber-seo ng, 3 ongo ing down to the b ank , saw a sm all hillock d rifting dow nth e stream from th e upp er reaches. I t looked excee dinglybeautiful as it approached, for it was quite w h it e ; bu t, wh enit cam e close, it was app are nt it was no t a hil l, bu t a

1 Buluh betong, a particular kind of bamboo.2 According to Col. Low's version, Raja Buluh Betong, Jou rn. Ind. Arch. vol.iii. p. 468.3 " T h e tusked Ra ja," a nickname of Raja Pra-o ng Maha Potisat. TheKedah capital, according to this narrative, was then at Bukit Mariam on thenorth bank of the Kwala Muda river.



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4 T R A D I T I O N S I N T H E M A L AY A R C H I P E L A G O .

mass of sea-foam. Th en th e Q ueen we nt dow n into th ew ate r and looked closely at it , an d took hold of it w ith h erhands . On doing this she found a female child in the midstof the foam, w hich she carr ied hom e to th e palace. T hech ild was named by the Queen 'P u t r i Bahana K i ran a , ' 1 an dshe was bro ug ht up by the Q ueen as her own dau ghte r , andnurses and a t ten dan ts were ass igned to her . Raja Pr a-o ngMaha Pot isa t was great ly p leased wi th the beauty of thechild, w hich resem bled th at of In d ra an d of the dewa-dewa;and, wh en she was dressed by th e Queen in app arel sui tablefor the children of kings, her loveliness was enhanced morean d m o r e . " 2 . . . .

The chronicler af terwards, in describing the various eventsof the re ign of Pra-ong Maha Pot isa t (who was the las tpa ga n rule r of K eda h, his successor being conv erted to th efai th of Is la m ), relates the m arr ia ge of these two super-natural persons, whose subsequent his tor ies are by no meansin ke ep ing with the commen ceme nt of their l ives . Th eprincess is unfai thful to her husband, and disappears fromthe s tory af ter giv in g bi r th to an i l legit im ate son. Ra jaBentangan Betong dies of wounds received in batt le , leavingno chi ldren .

Perak .The chief incidents in the foregoing nar ra t ive arefound, mutat is mutandis , in the tradit ionary account of thefounding of the k ing dom of Pe rak . 3 The following is atranslat io n of th e local legen d cu rren t am ong th e people ofth at s tate. I t is not found in a w rit te n f or m :

" B ag in d a Da i r e ig n ed i n J o h o r L am a .4 He despatcheda trusted counsellor , one Nakhodah Kasim, to sai l for th andlook for a suitable place for a settlement, for there wereplenty of wi l l ing emigra nts . N akh oda h K as im got ready af leet of prahus and sai led up the Strai ts of Malacca, hugging

1 In Col. Low 's translation, P u tr i Saloang. K ira na as a proper name is bor-rowed from Javane se roman ces; see Van der Tu uk, Short Account of the Malay-Manuscripts of the Royal Asiatic Society, p. 15.2 Translated from a MS. in my possession.3 Perak is the second Malay State on the western side of the Peninsula countingfrom the north.4 Johor Lama was the old capital of the State of Johor, which is the southern-most of the Malay States of the Peninsula.



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T R A D I T I O N S I N T H E M A L AY A R C H I P E L A G O . 5

the coast, t i l l he reached Bruas (a district and river inP e r a k ) . W hi le the re, he saw th at a br isk trad e was be ingcarried on between the coast and the interior, imported goodsbeing despatched up the country and nat ive produce broughtdown from th e inlan d dis tr icts . H e ma de inquir ies andwas told th at there was a big r iver in the inter ior . H iscuriosity was now aroused and he penetrated on foot intothe inter ior a nd discovered the Pe ra k r iver . H er e hetraded, l ike the natives of the country, making tr ips up anddown th e river , and sel l ing sal t an d tobacco1 at the vi l lagesby the r iver-s ide. On one of these tr ip s he reached T um un gin th e n ort h of Pera k, and mad e fast his boat to the bank.After a few day s the Sem angs (Perak was not yet pop ulatedb y M alays) came down from t he ir hills to bu y salt . T he ycame loaded with the produce of their garde ns, sugar-canes,plantains and edible roots and brought their wives andfamilies with them." A Se man g gi r l , whi le her fa ther was barg ain in g a t theboat, took up a suga r-can e and comm enced to str ip off th er in d w ith a kn ife ; in doing so she accidental ly cut her h an d.Blood issued from the wound, but what was the as tonishmentof all aro und he r wh en the y saw th at its colour was no t redbu t pure wh i te ! A repor t of th is prodigy quickly spreadfrom mouth to mouth, and Nakhodah Kasim landed fromhis boat to see it w ith his own eyes. I t occurred to h imth a t th is was a family not to b e lost sig ht of, he loaded thefather with presents and, in a month 's t ime, by dint ofconstant attentions, he had so far won the confidence of theshy Seman gs tha t he was able to ask for the g ir l in m arr ia ge .The father agreed and Nakhodah Kasim and his wife set t ledat Kwala Tumung, where they bui l t a house and p lantedfruit-trees."Now, the Perak r iver overf lows i ts banks once a year ,an d sometimes th er e are ve ry gre at floods. Soon after th em arr iag e of Na kho dah Ka s im with the whi te Sem ang, an

1 Tobacco was first introduced into the Eastern Archipelago by the Portugueseat Malacca in the sixteenth cen tury. Anachronisms of this kind are common innative h istories.



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6 T R A D I T I O N S I N T H E M A LA Y A R C H I P E L A G O

unprecedented flood occurred and quantities of foam camedown the r iver . Ro un d the pi les of the bath ing-h ous e,which, in accordance with Malay custom, stood in the bedof the river close to the bank in front of the house, thefloating volum es of foam collected in a m ass th e size of a nelepha nt. N ak ho da h Ka sim 's wife went to bath e, and f indin g th is is land of froth in h er way she at tem pte d to moveit away w ith a s t ic k; she removed th e upp er p ort ion of i tand disclosed a female infant sitting in the midst of itenveloped all rou nd w ith cloud -like foam. Th e child showedno fear and the white Semang, carefully lif ting her, carriedher up to the house, heralding her discovery by loud shoutsto he r husb and . Th e couple adopted th e child w il l ingly,for the y had no children, and they treated h er thenceforw ardas the ir own. Th ey assembled the vi l lagers and gave the ma feast , solemnly announcing their adoption of the daughterof the r iver and the ir intention of leaving to he r ev ery thi ngthat they possessed.

" T h e chi ld was called Tan Pu teh , bu t her fa ther g ave herthe name of Teh Purba. 1 As she grew up the wealth of herfos ter-parents inc reased; the v il lage grew in e xten t andpopulat ion, and gradually became an important place.

" O n e day some Semangs were hu nt in g a t a h i l l near ther iver Plu s , ca lled B uk i t Pa s i r P ute h , or Bu ki t Pelan dok.Th ey hea rd their dogs bar ki ng furiously, b ut , on followingthem up, found no quarry, only a large bamboo (buluhbetong), small at the top and bottom, and h av ing one la rgethick joint , which seemed to be at tract ing the at tention ofthe dogs. Th ey spli t open th e thick pa rt of th e stem a ndfound in it a male child, whom they forthwith took toN akh od ah Ka sim. Th e lat te r adopted him as his son, andwh en the two children were grow n up th ey were betro thed ,and in due t ime were m arr ied. Th e m arr iag e was, however,merely nominal , for Tan Puteh Purba preserved her v i rg in i ty ,and Toh C han gk at P elandok , her husband, re turn ed to h isnat ive d is t ric t , Plu s . N akh oda h Kas im at leng th d ied ,

1 Teh, short for Puteh, wh ite; Purb a, or pur va, Sanskrit "f irs t ." Thisname is also given to the first Malay raja in the Sajarah M alayu .



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T R A D I T I O N S I X T H E M A L A Y A R C H I P E L A G O .

leav ing Tan Pu te h mistress of the whole of Pe rak . As helay dying he told her his his tory, how he had come from theland of Johor, of the Raja of which he was an at tendant, andhow he had been despatched to find a suitable place for aset t leme nt. H e declared the name of his m aster to beSul tan Mahmud of Johor , and wi th h is dying breath d i rectedthat a Raja for Perak should be asked for from that country. 1

" T a n P u te h now called one of her m inisters, Tan Saban,whom she ha d adopted in his childhood. H e came of anoble family, and belonged to the district called TanahMerah (R ed E a rt h ) . A wife had been found for him byTa n Pu teh , and he had two chi ldren , both g i r ls . Tan Sabanwas comm anded by his mistress to open n egotiat ions w ithJohor, and this having been done, a pr ince of the royal houseof th at kin gd om , who trac ed his de scent from th e old line ofMenangkaban, sai led for Perak to assume the sovereignty.He brought wi th h im the ins ignia of royal ty , namely , theroyal drums {gandang nobat), the pipes (nafiri), the flutes(sarunei an d bangsi), th e betel-box (pu an naga tarn ), th esword (chora m andakini), th e sword (perbujang), th e sc eptre(kaya gam it), th e jew el (kamala), th e ' s u ra t chiri, ' th e sealof state {chap halilin tar), and th e u m bre lla (ubar-nb ar). A llthese were inclosed in a box called Baninan.

" O n his way up the Pe rak r iver the new Raja s topped a tSelat Lem bajayan for am usem ent. One of his at te nd an tshappened to point out some f ish in the water , and, in leaningover th e boat 's side to look at them , the Ra ja lost his crown,w hich fell from his hea d an d im m edia tely sank . H is peopledived in va in for it , an d from t h at day to th is n o Su ltan ofPe rak has had a crown. Ne ar K ota Set ia the Raja wasreceived by Tan Puteh, Tan Saban and al l the chief menof the country , who escor ted h im to Ko ta Lu m ut . H ere hewas formally instal led as S ultan of Pe ra k und er the t i t le ofA ha m ad Taj-uddin Shah, and one of the da ugh ters of TanSaba n was given to him in m arr ia ge . I t is this Raja towhom the Perak Malays popular ly ascr ibe the pol i t ica l

1 The portion of the legend with w hic h we are chiefly concerned h ere , hu t Igive the legend in extenso, as it has never before been published.



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8 T R A D I T I O N S I N T H E M A LA Y A R C H I P E L A G O .

orga nizatio n of th e co un try un de r th e co ntrol of chiefs ofvarious ra nk s, each ha vi ng definite duties to perform . Aftera short reig n A ham ad Tajudd in Sh ah died, leav ing one sonabout two years old.

" A s soon as the Su l tan 's death was kno wn in Joh or , anephew of his (who was af terwards know n as Sultan M alikSh ah) s tar ted at once for Pe rak . H av in g reached his lateuncle's cistana (palace) at Tanah Abang, to which place thecapital had been removed from Kota Lumut, he cal led forth e nurses an d a t ten dan ts of the infant Raja and dem andedperm ission to visit his yo un g cousin. H e was accord inglyintroduced into the pr ince 's apartment, and seizing the childby violence broke his neck an d kil led him. H e the n seizedthe royal sword and other insignia and established himself asRaja un der th e t i t le of Su ltan Malik Shah. B y degrees allth e chiefs an d people came in and accepted th e usurp er astheir sovereign, with the s ingle exception of Tan Saban, thegran dfath er of the m urde red boy. H is obst inate refusal torecognize M alik Sh ah led to a san gu inary war, which las tedfor thre e years . Ta n Saban was grad ually dr iven furtherand further u p the P er ak r iver . H e fortified n um erousplaces on its ba nk s, bu t his forts were ta ke n one afteranother , and on each occasion he retreated to another s trong-hold . H is most determined s tand was made a t Ko ta Lam a,w here he fortified a stro ng position. Th is was closelyinvested by the Sultan's forces, and a long siege ensued.Dur ing the s iege an unknown warr ior jo ined the Sul tan 'sa rm y. H e came from Pag aruy ong in M enangk aban andwas the i l legit imate son of the Great Sultan of that country,by a concubine. I n consequence of his i l legit ima te bi r thhe was driven forth from his native co untry, ha vin g for hissole fortune a ma tchlock (istingga rda) 1 and four bullets, oneach of which was inscribed the words, i This is the son of the

1 Ano ther anachronism. So, cannons are mentioned in several places in theThousand and One N ights . See La ne's translation, v ol. ii. p . 329, note 100. Th eistinggarda (Portuguese espingarda) is the old-fashioned matchlock, specimensof which may still be found in use among the M alays. In former times a bowand four a rrows m ay probably have occupied the place given to th e m atchlockand bullets in this narrative.



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T R A D I T I O N S I N T H E M A L AY A R C H I P E L A G O . 9

concubine of the R a ja o f Pagaruyong ; h i s name i s Maga tT e r a w i s ; 1 wh erev er th is bu llet falls h e will become a chief.'Magat Terawis did not declare his name or or igin to theP er a k me n, bu t served w ith them as an obscure soldier .At length, having selected an auspicious day, he asked one ofthe Sultan's followers to point out Tan Saban to him.Th is th e m an had no difficulty in do ing , for T an Saba n wasfrequently to be seen on the outworks of his fort across ther ive r dressed in gar m en ts of conspicuous colours. I n th em or ni ng h e wore red, at mid day yellow and in the eve ninghis clothes were green.2 When he was poin ted out toM ag at Terawis , i t was th e m orn ing , and he was dressed inred . M ag at Terawis levelled his ma tchlock and fired, andhis bul le t s t ruck Tan Saban 's leg . Th e sk in was ha rdlybro ken and the bu llet fel l to the g roun d at the c hi ef s fee t ;but , on taking i t up and reading the inscr ip t ion , he knew thathe had received his death -wo und . H e ret ired to his house,and, after ordering his flag to be hauled down, despatcheda me sseng er to th e opposite camp to call th e wa rrior whosenam e he had read on the bul le t. Inqu ir ies for M aga tTerawis were fruitless at f irst, for no one knew the name.At length he declared himself and went across the r iverw i th T an S aban 's messenger , who bro ug ht h im in to th epresence of th e dy ing m an. The lat te r said to him , ' M ag atTerawis , though ar t my son in this world and the next , andm y pro perty is thin e. I l ikewise give thee my da ug hte rin marr iage, and do thou serve the Raja fai thfully in myplace, an d not be rebell ious as I have been . ' Ta n Sabanthen sued for the Sultan 's pardon, which was granted to himand the m arr iage of h is daugh ter wi th M aga t Terawis

1 M agat, a Malay title of Sanskrit origin. Md gadha (Sansk.) = th e son of aV aic ja by a Ksha triya wom an. In Malay magat is applied to a chief who isnoble on one side only.2 A superstitious observance found among more than one Indo-Chinese nation ." L e g ene ral en chef doit se conformer a plusieurs coutumes et observancessuperstitieuses ; pa r exemple, il faut qu 'il me tte une robe de couleur diffe'rentepou r chaque jou r de la semaine ; le dimanch e il s'hab ille en bla nc, le lundi enjaune, 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 andArabs, see Lane's Thousand and One Nights, vol. ii. p. 326, note 78.



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1 0 T R A D I T I O N S IN THE M A L A Y A R C H I P E L A G O .

was permit ted to take place. Th en Tan Saban died, and hewas buried with all the honours due to a Malay chief.1Magat Terawis was raised to the r an k of a chief, and oneaccount says that he became Bandahara .2

"Not long af ter th is , the Sul tan , t ak ing Maga t Terawiswi th him, ascended the Perak r ive r to its source, in order tofix the boundary be tween Perak and P a t a n i . At the foot ofthe mo untain Ti t i W an gsa the y found a great rock in themiddle of the stream, from beneath which the water issued,and there was a wild cotton-tree upon the mountain , whichbore both red and white flowers, the white flowers being onthe s ide facing Perak, and the red ones on the s ide turnedtowards Pa tan i . The n the Sul tan c l imbed up upon the bigrock in the middle of the r iver , and drawing for th his swordPerbujang, he smote the rock and clove it in two, so t h a t thewater ran down in one direct ion to P e r a k and in the o ther toPatan i . Th is was declared to be the boundary between thetwo countr ies .

" O n the i r r e tu r n down-s tr eam the Raja and his followershal ted at Chigar Gralah, where a small s tream runs into ther iver Pe rak . Th ey were s t ruck wi th as tonishmen t at findingthe water of this s tream as whi te as santan (the grated pulpof the cocoanut mixed with w ate r) . M ag at Terawis , whowas despatched to the source of the s tream to discover thecause of this phenomenon, found there a large fish of thekind cal led harnan engaged in suckl ing her y o u n g one. Shehad large white breasts f rom which milk issued. 3

" H e re tu rn e d and told the Raja , who called the r iver' P e r a k ' ( ' s i l v e r ' ) , in allusion to its exceeding whi teness .T h en he r e tu rned to Ko ta L am a . "

1 This legendary war of Tan Saban with the second king of Perak owes itsorigin probably to mythological accounts of the wars of Salivahana and Vikra-ma ditya, which H ind u se ttlers, not improbably, brought to Malay countries.Saban is a natural corruption of Salivahana.2 Ban daha ra, treasurer (Sansk. bhandagara, treasure), the highest title givento a subject in a Malay State.3 This recalls the account in Northern mythology of the four rivers which aresaid to flow from the teats of the cow Audhumla.In a great many Malay myths the colour white is an all-important feature. Inthis legend we have the white Semang and the white river. In others whiteanimals and white birds are introduced.



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T R A D I T I O N S I N T H E M A L A Y A R C H I P E L A G O . 1 1Pa lembang , Sumat ra .The "Sa ja rah Halayu" a Malay-

history of the Kings of Malacca, places the scene of the inci-de nt in Pa lem ba ng , a dis tr ict in the south of S um atra. Th efollowing passage is translated from Dulaurier 's edition ofth e M a lay t ex t : 1

" O n e day there dr if ted down the Palem ban g r iver fromup -stre am a mass of foam of gre at size, in w hich p eopleobserved a female child of exce eding be au ty. N ew s of theevent was at once taken to the King, Sang Sa-purba, whodirected his people to tak e her . She was nam ed by theKin g 'Pu t r i T u n ju n g B u ih , ' 2 and was adopted as his daughterand much beloved by h im."

The princess mentioned here only appears once again inthe nar ra t ive , when she is g iven in marr ia ge by Sa ng Sa-purb a to " a you ng Chinese of noble b i r t h . "

The same native work contains the bamboo myth, but i t isintroduced at a much later part of the narrat ive, and islocalized on this occasion in Champa, an ancient Malaykin gd om which once embraced th e greate r pa rt of Cochin-China, the chief set t lement being in the south-east corner .

Ch am pa . "T he re was a bete l -nut tree near the palace ofthe Champa Raja, which blossomed and exhibited a largereceptacle for fruit, but the fruit never seemed to ripen.Th e Raja the n ordered one of his servants to cl imb u p andsee w ha t was in th e pod. H e ascended accordingly, andbrought down the pod, which the Raja caused to be opened,and saw in it a male child extremely handsome and beautiful.Of th is pod 's envelope was formed the gong named j u b a n g ;while a sword was mad e of its sha rp r idg e. Th e Cham paRaja was greatly pleased at the circumstance, and namedthe child Raja Pogalang, and ordered him to be suckled byall th e wives of th e rajas an d para m antr is , but th e childwould not suck. Th e Cham pa Raja h ad a cow whose ha irwas of the five colours, and which had lately calved, andth ey suckled th e child with the m ilk of thi s cow. Th is isthe reason th at Cham pa never eats th e cow nor ki l ls i t .

1 Collection des Principales Chroniques Malayes ; Paris, 1849.a " Princess Lotus-of-the-Foam."



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1 2 T R A D I T I O N S I N T H E M A LA Y A R C H I P E L A G O

Raja Poga lang grew up, and the Raja of C hampa gave h imhis da ug hte r Pob ea to wife. After a short t im e, th e Cham paRaja died, and Po ga lan g succeeded to th e thro ne . After hehad reigned for a considerable t ime, he founded a great ci ty,wh ich included seven hil ls w ithin i ts boun ds. The ex ten t ofth e fort was a d ay 's sail in each of its four sides w ith sailsful l dis tended w ith th e breeze. Th e nam e of this ci ty wasB al, wh ich in a cer ta in cheri tra is nam ed M etak ah, the ci tyof Raja Subal , the son of Raja Kedail ." 1West Coast of Borneo.In Western Borneo kindredlegends are cu rren t . Th e following extra ct is f rom a recentwork,2 the author of which quotes the authori ty of Yette," B o r n e o ' s W e s t e r A f d e l i n g " :

"Brawid ja ja , 3 of th e ro ya l house of Ma jap ah it, sufferedfrom an infectious disease, and to prevent contagion wasdom iciled in a floating hou se or raft. A violent te m pe sttore the raft loose from its moorings, and carried the princefar out to sea, w he re he was exposed to g rea t d an ge r. T hecu rren t dr ifted him to th e m outh of the Pa w an r iver (calledK ata pa n) on th e west coast of Bo rneo . Th e prin ce benefitedgreatly by the sea-voyage, bathed daily in the r iver , a smallfish, w ith th e he ad of a cat, called 'ad on g, ' o r 'bla ng utin g, 'aiding mater ial ly his speedy return to convalescence byrepeated ly l ickin g his feet, wh ile an al l igator , cal led Sara sa rprovided for his daily wants .

" W h e n conva lescent the p r ince wen t hu n t in g wi th twodogs he had bro ugh t wi th h im. One day the dogs , ba rkin gfuriously, stopped before a th ick bam boo stem, into whichth e prince, af ter a long scrutiny , s tuck his spear . Th is beingwithd raw n, there spran g to v iew f rom th e op ening a

1 Malay Annals, Leyden, p. 208.2 Jottin gs am ongst the Land Dyaks of Upper Sarawa k, Denison, Singapore,1879.3 Braicidjaja is the Dutc h spelling. Bra -vijay a would be more correctaccording to our ideas. Th is is perh aps a corruption of B rah m a-v ijaya {vijayaSan sk. victo ry). I t is notew orthy th at th e 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 be found in S inhalese chron icles.Unfortunately, no copy of Tumour's Mahawanso is at hand for reference in theremote State in the Malay Peninsula in which these lines are penned . Rafflesmentions five sovereigns of M ajapah it in Java named Browijaya (Histo ry ofJava, vol. ii. p. 85, 2nd ed.).



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TRADITIONS IN TH E MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 1 3beautiful pr incess , who, throwing herself at the feet ofBrawidjaja, besought him to spare her and the bamboo." T h e p r ince bore P u t r i Bu tan (Be ton g?) , as she wascalled, to his raf t, implo ring he r to sha re h is lot with him ,and i t may be inferred he had not long to s igh in vain.Braw idjaja had found no othe r s ign of the presence of hu m anbeing s, except th at he re and th ere wood ha d been cut . H etherefore aga in ascended the r iver some day s jou rne y furthe ru p , but with the l ike result , t i l l , a t las t , as he returned at arapid pace, a water-f lower shot up suddenly above the s tream,from whence a whisper issued asking , 'Bra w idja ja, w hatnews b r in g you from the upper co un t ry ? '

"Dropping h is paddle the pr ince se ized the f lower wi thboth hands ; i t opened, and the pr incess Lindong Buah(B u ih ?) s tood before him . Th e same scene was now enactedas wi th Putr i Butan; the pr ince obta ined two wives , whoappear to have l ived together in peace without jealousy,sh ar in g between t he m th e proofs of his affection. ''

Banjarma sin, South-east of Born eo . W ith cer tain change sin the names of persons and places , the same s tory is relatedin o ther par ts of Borneo. Acco rding to a M alay ma nuscr ip tbelonging to the Academy of Batavia, the f irs t pr ince ofBan jarmas in was one Mah araja Surya N ata , who ma rr iedP u t r i Ju ng jun g (Tu n ju ng ?) Bu ih , a p r incess who hadmiraculou sly sp ru ng from th e waves. H e obtained thisny m ph at the pra ye r of Limb ong M en gk ura t , whose fa ther,A m pu Ja t M aka, had es tablished a H in du colony on th er iver Negara or Bahan. 1

Current in a legendary form long before the days ofwrit ten records, these tradit ions have kept their places in them ind s of th e M alays, re ady , l ike m ost uncivilized races , toassociate with the history of their earliest rulers all kinds ofsup ern atu ral incide nts . Com parison clear ly proves the irmythical character , and, as we examine their detai ls , the f i lmof his to ry which thi nly disguises them gra du ally disappears ,and we recognize myths which have a larger applicat ion

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



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1 4 TRADITIONS IN TH E MALAY ARCHIPELAGO.than simple incidents in the history of an obscure Malay-Sta te could pre ten d to. Th e river-b orn dam sel first dem and sat tent ion .

Greek m ytholog y, as well as tha t of India, has mad e usfamiliar w ith th e myth of the goddess whose birth -pla ce isth e foam of th e sea. If a faint reflex of th e con cep tionwhich originated Aphrodite and Lakshmi is before us in thisM alay story, it mu st b e adm itted th at it comes shorn of allpoetical associations. Th e lau gh ter-lo vin g goddess of th eGreeks and the beloved of Qiva, who gives prosperity to herworshippers , have no thin g in common with the child of theMa lay rive r except th e place of the ir bi rth , th e foam. Th edays when the ancestors of the modern Malays may possiblyhav e w orshipped La ksh m i, th e favourite goddess of a sea-faring people, belong to a remote past, of which we have norecords. I n legen ds like these, howev er, i t is not un-reasonable to hope to find vestiges of a former faith andworship .

Two of the stories above quoted connect the lotus with ther iver -born pr in ce ss ; in the P alem bang legend her name isTunjung-buih,1 "Lotus of the foam, ' ' and in the WestBorneo legend she is described as springing from a "water-flower." These circum stances are stron gly sugge stive ofthe Hindu goddess Lakshmi, "who dwel ls in the water - l i ly . "Th e m yth of the Princess of the r iver is al togeth er separateand distinct from t ha t of th e Raja of th e bamboo, th ou gh th etwo are often found connected or confused one with the other.The Aryan origin of the former is supported by the fact thatit is cu rre nt only in t he mo re civilized M alay States, wh ichhave undoubtedly been largely inf luenced by Brahmanism.The lat ter is much more widely extended, and is found am ongwild tribes who have been wholly unaffected by Hinduinfluences. I t has origin ated from an anc ient (Tu rania n)belief as to th e mode of t h e creation of m an kin d.

The mythological account of the bir th of Lakshmi pre-sented to the Malays of Sumatrawho were probably

1 Tunjung^ lotus, is found both in Malay and Javanese.



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T R A D I T I O N S I N T H E M A L A Y A R CH I P E L A G O 1 5

th e f irst to come in contact with A rya ns certa in points ofresemblance to their own legendary explanation of the or iginof m a n ; and, as the former grad ually took i ts place am ongtheir beliefs, they confused it with the latter, and (as in theKe dah and Pe ra k legends) often made the two personagesm an an d wife. Bo rneo, as well as th e Strai ts of Malacca,possesses the Aryan legend, the Sanskrit word vijaya in thename of the hero of the story sufficiently showing to whatquarter i t must be ascr ibed.I n the t radi t ions to be hereaf ter quoted the bamboo m yt halone app ears. Th is conception, as above stated, o rigin allyexplained the manner of the peopling of the ear th by theh u m a n r a c e ; 1 in a later stage of development it becameassociated w ith the advent of pa rt icu lar Rajas . I t ap pearsin beliefs held by the wild tribes of the Malay Peninsula,who are known in different localities by different names,Ben ua, Sem ang, Sakei, Ja ku n, Udai , M antra , Bes is i, Alas ,A kei, etc. I t may be traced also in the tradit ion ary accountsof the creat ion handed down by tr ibes in Sumatra and inis lands as far east as the Phil ippines .

The Orang Benua of the Malay Peninsula. A w riter whom ade the wild tribe s of th e Pe nin sula th e subject of scien-tific observation and study 2 gives the following abstract ofthe tradit ions of the Benua :

" T h e g rou nd on which we s tand is not solid. I t ismere ly the sk in of the ea r th ( "k u l i t b u m i" ) . I n anc ien tt imes Pi rm an broke up this skin, so th at th e world wasdestroyed and overwhelm ed w ith wa ter . Afterw ards h ecaused Gunong, Lulumut, with Chimundang and Bechuak,3 tor ise, and this low land which we inhabit was formed later .. . . . Af te r L u lu m u t had em erg ed, a p r ah u of p u l a i w ood ,covered over and without any opening, floated on the waters.In th is P i rm an 4 had inclosed a m an and a woman whom he

1 " T h e idea of deducing the origin of animals and men from eggs or seeds isan obvious conceit, and so well suited to the infant state of philosophy th at wecan account for its origin and extension."Prichard, Egyptian Mythology, p. 169.2 Logan, Journal of the Indian Archipelago, vol. i. p. 278.3 Mountains in Johor.4 The Deity of the Benua.



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1 6 TRADITIONS IN THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGOhad m ade . After th e lapse of some tim e th e pr ah u wasneith er directed with nor against the curre nt , nor dr iven toand fro. Th e ma n and wom an, feeling it to rest motionless,nibbled their way thr ou gh i t , s tood on th e dr y grou nd, andbeheld this our wo rld. A t first, how ever, ev ery th ing wasobscure. Th ere was neith er morn ing nor evenin g, becauseth e sun had not yet been made. W h e n i t became l igh t the ysaw seven sindudo tree s an d seven pl an ts of rum pu t samban.They then said to each other , ' In what condit ion are wewithout chi ldren or gr an dc hi ld re n? ' Some t ime af terwardsthe woman became pre gn ant, not however in he r womb, butin the calves of her legs . Fr om the r ig ht leg was bro ug htforth a ma le and from th e left a female child. H en ce itis th at the issue of the same womb cannot inter m arry .All mankind are the descendants of the two children of thef irst pair . W h e n men had much increased, P in n d n lookeddown upon the m w ith pleasure, an d reckoned the irnumbers . ' '

F u rth er on the supe rnatu ral o r igin of the a ncient l ine ofkings of the Benua is related :

" W h e n P i rm an saw tha t the l and abounded in men , heconsidered it necessary to send a k in g to ru le ove r th em .One day the sound of a hu m an voice was hea rd to proceedfrom a bamboo. I t was split open, and the 'R a ja h B e n u a 's tepped out ."

The author adds , " T h e k ind of invent ion or imaginat iondisplayed in the tradit ions respecting the or igin of man andthe advent of the Raja Benua is s imilar to that exhibitedin traditions found in different parts of Sumatra, Borneo,Celebes, and other islands of th e Arc hipe lago . Th e incide ntsare different, but the character of the inventions is thesame."Turning now to a locality sufficiently distant from thelan d of th e B en ua , a g rou p of island s off th e west coast ofSum atra, we find again th e prom inent character is t ic of th esame trad ition , nam ely, the g ene ration of hu m an life fromth e int erio r of a closed rece ptac le. A Du tc h official, w hovis i ted the Mantawe Is lands in 1847 and 1849, gives the



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T R A D I T I O N S I X T H E M A LA Y A R C H I P E L A G O 1 7

following account of the belief of the inhabitants respectingthe i r o r ig in : 1Mantaive Is lands."When these is lands were s t i l l wasteand unoccupied by man, and served only as the haunts ofevil spirits , i t hap pen ed once th at a sinetu (or malevo lentspirit) w ent out to fish. H av in g cast his ne t into the water,he brought up from the deep, in one of his first hauls, abam boo case closed on all sides. Curio us to see th e co nte nts ,he opened it , and to his am azem ent the re em erged from itfour small hu m an forms, wh ich exposed to th e lig ht of dayimm ediately grew to the ordin ary s tature of m ank ind .Delighted with this unlooked-for acquisition, the spirit wouldhave taken the four men with him, considering them as hislawful prope rty. They , however, not rel ishing this , ranaway from him, and so effectually hid themselves that helost all trace of the m . Tire d with h is fruitless search hefell asleep, his he ad still filled w ith h is wo nderful d ra u gh t,no wonder th en th at he dre am t of i t . H e beheld, amo ngstoth er thi ng s, his four m en b usy at a certa in place clean ingthe high forest and turning up the ground, on which hepresently saw all kinds of fruit-bearing trees and plantspla nte d and flourishing. Th e four fugitives ha d dre am t thesame dream, and on awaking were astonished to find all thefruits and plants of their dream-land lying beside them.F or th e spirit , who had soon awoke, by following the indi-cations of th e place given in his drea m , ha d succeeded intracing his runaways, and, while they were s t i l l as leep, hadgath ered and placed beside the m all th e fruits . Th e fourwanderers , act ing on the suggestions which had thus beenma de to the m , set to work, and after the y had plan ted andsowed, all the plants immediately became full grown andbore blossoms and fruit. To prote ct these from verm in thespirit changed himself into an iguana, without the four menbeing aware of it , and placed himself in one of the surround-in g trees to keep his wa tch. I t had not lasted lon g wh en a

1 Rosenberg, " D e Man tawei-eilanden en hunne Be wo ner s" (Tijdschrift voorIndische Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, uitgegeven door hel Bataviaasch Genoot-schap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, Jaa rg . 1, Aflev. vi. vii. 18 53 ); L oga n,Journal of the Indian Archipelago, vol. ix. p. 289.o



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1 8 T R A D I T I O N S I X T H E M A LA Y A R C H I P E L A G O

very large m onke y came out of the ju ng le , who , in spite ofthe presence of the iguana, eat up the greater portion of thefruit. Th e me n on the ir retu rn , finding thei r loss and seeingthe iguana on a tree, asked him if he had done the mischief,when he told how it had hap pen ed. Two of th e m en, how-ever, discre diting his story, seized, slew, and eat him . Th eyhad hardly finished their repast when they fell lifeless as apu nish m en t for the ir disbelief and crue lty. Th eir corpsessank into the ground, and from the spot there sprang up theIpu tree, from the leaves of which the Mantaweans after-ward s learned to prep are th e poison for the ir arrow s. T hetwo survivors, husband and wife, l ived long and happily,and were the progenitors of the Mantaweans."

I t is not necessary to dwe ll now on th e deta ils of th issingular growth of fable; it is sufficient to show by thepresence of the bamboo-myth in the Mantawe tradit iona probable com mu nity of or igin between th e inhab itants ofthose islands and those of other Malay countries.

Lampung, S. Sum atra, F u rt he r south, t he people ofLampung, a t the southernmost ext remity of Sumatra , expla inthe ir origin in a similar way. Th ey say th at the ir first law-giver was a fugitive princ e of t he roya l family of M ajapa hit,named N ag a Bisa ng . Some declare themselves to be th edescendants of this Naga Bisang and a bidyadari or nymph;othe rs car ry back the ir origin to an eg g wh ich was dividedinto compartments , each compartment containing a coupleof each race known to them. 1

A m on g oth er po ints of similarity between th e nation s ofthe Ph il ipp ine Is lands and those of the inlan d par ts ofSumatra (especially where they differ most from the Malays)noticed by Marsden,2 the appearance of this same mythreceives a share of atten tion. I t is impossible no t to ag reewith the author that "no doubt can be enter tained, i f not ofa sameness of origin, at least of an intercourse and con-nexion in former times, which now no longer exists."

1 De Backer, L'A rchipel Indien , p. 3 9 ; Tijdschrift, etc ., 1856, t. ii. pp .353, 358.2 History of Sumatra, p. 302.



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T R A D I T I O N S I X T H E M A LA Y A R C H I P EL A G O 1 9Phil ipp ine I s lands . "Th e Ta ga las" wr ites Marsden,1 "say-

th a t the first m an and w oman were produ ced from a bamboo,which burs t in the is land of Su m atr a ; and they quarre l ledabou t the i r mar r iage . "

Another au thor i ty quo ted by Marsden 2 gives a moredetai led account of the Tagala belief just noticed:

" T h e i r notions of the creat ion of the w orld, and forma-t ion of m ank ind, had som ething r idiculously ex trav ag ant.Th ey believed th at th e world at first consisted only of skyand water , and between these two a glede ; wh ich, wearywith flying about, and finding no place to rest, set the waterat var iance w ith the sky, which, in order to keep i t inbound s, and th at i t should no t get upperm ost , loaded thewa ter w ith a num ber of is lands, in which th e glede m igh tset t le and leave them at peace. M ank ind, the y said, spra ngout of a lar ge cave w ith two joi nts , th at , f loating about inth e water , was at leng th thro w n by the waves against th efeet of the glede as it stood on shore, which opened it with itsbi l l , and the man came out of one joi nt and the wom an outof th e oth er. These were soon after m arrie d by consent oftheir god, Bathala Meycapal, which caused the first tremblingof th e e a rt h ; an d from then ce a re descended th e differentnations of the world. ' '

Celebes Th e island of Celebes furnishes a pa ralle l sto ry.Th e following ex trac t from a nativ e histo ry (the G aligas ofthe Bugis) is taken from Raff les ' His tory of Java:

"Bitara Guru was the eldest son of Dewata Pitutu byDewa Palen g' i , and inhab ited the seventh heaven . DewataPitutu had a brother cal led Guru Reslang, who held the ruleof the region un der th e ear th . Dewata Pi tu tu had ninechildren in al l .

" W h e n Bi ta ra G uru was sent down upon ear th by h isfather, Deivata Pitutu, he was provided with the followingarticles, viz. Telating peba, Si ri ataka, Je lara sa, W ampung,Wanu, Chachu-bana.

1 Qu oting an essay preserved by Thevenot, entitled R elation des Philip pine s p a run religieux ; trad uite d'un m anuscrit Espagn ol du cabinet de Mons. Dom. Carlodel Pezzo.2 A. Dalrymple, author of the "Oriental Repertory."



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2 0 TRADITIONS IN THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO"From these , which were scat tered about , everyth ing

living and dead, in the animal, vegetable, and mineralkin gdo m s, wh ich a re to be found in the cou ntry of Laicat,or ig inated . Pre para tory to th is , Dewata Pi tu tu , havin gcompounded a me dicine, of which th e juice of chewed betelwas an ingredient , rubbed Bitara Guru al l over with i t ,wh ich imm ediate ly occasioned him to swoon. Dewata P it u tuthen put his son into a hollow bamboo, and having rolledthi s up in a piece of cloth and caused th e gates of th e skyto be opened, he h u rli ng sent dow n his son to earth am idsta tremendous s torm of thunder , l ightning, wind, and rain,wh ich arose on th at occasion. H av in g reached about half-way between the ear th and sky, Bitara Guru (dreadfullyalarmed at the situation he was in) threw abroad all theart icles which had been given to him, agreeably to theinstruc tions of his sire. After his arri va l on th e ea rth ,B ita ra Guru remained for three d ays and three nig hts shutup in th e bamboo w ithout food or dr ink . B y his e xertio ns,however, the bamboo at last burst, when getting out hew and ered th ro ug h th e woods till he came to the side of ariver, where he met with a king of the gods dressed inyellow. One n ig h t the re arose a violent storm of th un de r,l ig htn ing , wind an d rain. On i ts clear ing up there wasseen a fine country, with a superb palace and forts, andhouses, etc. , of th e most beautiful struc ture . I n th isbeautiful country Bitara Guru sat himself down as sovereignand gave i t the name of Lawat"

Th e following leg en d comes also from a di stric t inCelebes:

"Between the province of Makassar and that of Mina-hassa l ies the s tate of Bolaang-Mongondoun.1 I ts populat ionnumbers about thirty thousand souls, and is composed offive races who ackno wledg e as thei r founder one B oudoLa ng in, supposed to have been of H in du origin. Localtradit ion relates that he marr ied a beautiful young gir lnamed Sand ilang, and had by her two children. The elder,

1 The Dutch mode of spelling is preserved.



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a daughter named Salamati t i , dreamed f ive t imes succes-sively th at she was about to become a m oth er, and truly-eno ug h one day she was delivered of a m agnificent eg g, inw hich were reflected all th e colours of th e rainbo w . Th iseg g was concealed close to a clear and t ra ns pa ren t strea m ,and there issued forth from it one morning a young manskilled in the manufacture of weapons, and of the mostenligh tened intel lect . H e was called Mokododoudout.

" A b o u t the same t ime an old ma n heard a s in gular noisein th e inte rior of a buluh-kuning (yellow b am bo o); he splitit open, and the beautiful P u tr i Bonia cam e forth from it.Mokododoudout met this lovely damsel in a wood, and tookhe r as his wife. Fr om this union spra ng th e race of theO ran g Bolaa ng, a nam e which s ignif ies 'men of beyond thes e a s ' " 1

Nu sa-lant , Amboyna In a note append ed to a vocabu-lary of peculiar words met with in the Malay dialect ofAmboyna ,2 the author gives in Malay the his tory of theearly set t lemen t of Nusa -lant , an is land of the Am boy nagroup, from the recital of a native chief. Here, again , theincident which seems to be inseparable from all aboriginalM alay tradit ions appea rs in a somewhat al tered form. Th efollowing is a t ranslated extract f rom Van Hoevell 'saccount :

" I t happen ed once th at th e chief Latoemanoe descendedfrom the mountain and went to the beach at Amahoetai tonet f ish. When he threw his cast ing-net into the sal t water ,he br ou gh t up no fish, bu t mere ly a cocoanut. Th is Latoe-manoe took, intending to carry it back with him to hissettlem ent, bu t he forgot it , and left i t on th e beac h. On asubsequent occasion he again went down to the sea-shoreto get some salt water, and h e the n found th e cocoanut ha dbecome a tree on wh ich were some green fruit. On look ingup into the tree he saw a young male child sucking from oneof the cocoanuts . H e return ed at once to the mo unta in

1 De Backer, L'Arch ipel In dien, p. 88 ; Tijdschrift voor Ind. T aal, p. 267.2 Vocabularium van vreemde woorden voorkomende in het Ambonsch-Maleisch,door Van H oev ell ; Dordrecht, 1876.



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Ama-oena, and having collected all his followers, he wentdown to the shore and took the child from the cocoanut tree,and carried him back to the set t lem ent on the m oun tain.W h e n the child grew up th e people made him their Raja,and cal led him Latoe Moctihoe"

The K ayans of Borneo. The only rem ainin g kin dredlegends which I shall quote belong to the wild tribes ofBo rneo. A t B ulu ga n, bounded on th e east by the sea andon the south by the r iver Karan-Tigu, near the cape Jarum,a tradition states the god of thunder, Belaniyap, once createda m an, A la ng -B ilu ng , an d caused to issue forth from a treean eg g wh ich inclosed a wom an, Su ri-Lem loi. These twopersons begot the race of Dayak-Kayan, whom the Segaisattac ke d and bro ug ht und er the sway of th e chiefs ofB u lan g an .1

The Dayaks of Bo rneo. In th e cosmogony of th e D ay ak sth e ea rth is supp orted on the head of a snake called N ag a-pusai . B atu -Ju m pa , son of the supreme deity H atal la , sawupo n the snake two egg s. H e descended from heav en a ndbroke them, and a man and a woman issued forth from them.These married, and had seven sons and seven daughters,from whom the inhabitants of the world, the sea, and theair are descended.2

H ere , the n, in the rude tradit iona l beliefs common to th eraces of the Eastern Archipelago, a geographical expressioninc lud ing twenty-five degrees of latitu de , we ha ve th e conception from which sprung the legends preserved to us bythe M uham m adan his tor ians of Ma lay States . I n the lat ter ,metap hysical ideas have al togethe r disappeared, and themain incident survives , incorporated in the his tory of humanadv entu res. N o long er accepted as a superstitious belief, i thas been unconsciously retained as an historical episode.I t is interest in g to notice th at in Born eo, as in the Pe nin sula, the more civilized communities have both myths, while

1 De Backer, L'Arc hipel Indien , p . 4 4 ; Tijdschrift voor Ind . Taa l, 18 55, t. i .p . 75.2 De Backer, L'Archipel Indien, p. 280; Tijdschrift voor In d. T aal, 1846,t. iii. p . 133 . This Da yak trad ition resembles closely the belief of the Ba ttaks ofSumatra.



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the purely savage tr ibes have only that relat ing to thebamboo or eg g. Th e M alays have the ir foam-born princessas well as th eir R aja of th e buluh betong, bu t th e wild B en uaof th e inte rior of th e Pe nin sula own th e latte r o nly. So inBo rneo , in ancien t settlem ents on the coast, legen ds likethat of Bra-vijaya are current, whereas the uncivilized Dayakand K ay an tr ibes ( tho ugh the bamboo m yt h h as a place inthe ir t radit ions) know n oth ing of the more poetical legend ofth e princess who em erged from the foam or lotus. T helimited diffusion of the latter conception tends to confirm andestablish the theory which ascr ibes to i t an Aryan origin.I t s presence invariably denotes that H in du civil izat ion haspenetrated to the locality in which it is found.

The sudden production of completely developed life fromthe interior of a closed cylindrical object is a conceptionve ry s imilar to , tho ug h quite dis t inct f rom, the ancientthe ory of the creation of th e world from th e divided portio nsof an egg . Bo th are found am ong Malay races , bu t thef irs t is Turanian, and the second of Aryan importat ion.I have found in Perak in the writ ings of Pawangs, ormedicine-men who practise a reg ular system of S ham anism,a legend appro aching very nea rly to th at co ntained in th eManek M aya of Ja va . Th is work, wh ich contain s m uch ofthe ancient mythology of the Javanese, describes how SangY a n g W isesa (the all-powerful) existed before the he ave nsan d ea rth were created. H e saw a ba ll suspended over him ,and on his lay ing hold of i t , i t separated into th ree p a rt s ;one pa rt became the heavens and earth, ano ther became thesun and moon, and the third was man.1

Th e arche type of th is fable is found in H in du my thology,the resemblance of which in this particular respect to certainbeliefs of Grecian and Egyptian antiquity has been longsince pointed out.2

1 Raffles, Hist, of Java, vol. ii. Appendix H." I n the egg the g reat power sat inactive a whole year of the Creator, atthe 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 earthbeneath; in the midst he placed the subtle ether, the eight regions and theperm anent receptacle of wa ters." Sir W . Jone s, Institutes of Men u." T h e p roduction of the organized world was compared by some to th e



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I will conclude this paper with a translation of thetradit ion of the P er ak pawangs, or Sham ans, reg ard ing th ecreation of th e world. A s ma y be supposed, it is inconsisten twith the teaching s of or thodox M uham ma danism , the secretscience of these men, though firmly believed in by theMalays, being acknowledged to be heret ical and s inful: l

" I t is said tha t in the days of the ear l ies t pawang, inancient t imes, GOD was no t y et called ALLAH, t h e P r o p h e twas not yet called M uham m ad, th e sky, ear th , l igh t , da rk-ness, the throne of GOD, the sun, the moon, the s tars , theclouds, heav en, hell, th e w orld, and th e firmament ha d no tyet tak en visible form ; spir i ts and m ank ind, th e devil a ndth e ange ls ha d not yet appeared ; bu t th e first and gre ate stwas Pawang Sadia ,2 who was wrapped in contemplation ofall within himself and without himself. (From h im hasdescended th e practice of til ik, divina tion.) I n h is abs trac-tion were revealed to him all those t hi ng s wh ich hav e beenenumerated (the sky, the earth, etc.) , even as they are atthe present day .

" A n d P aw an g Sadia was exceedingly desirous of seeingthese thin gs in a vis ible form. Pa w an g A s a l 3 was thencreated and he went into the presence of Pawang Sadia inthe form of an unggas.4 And Pawang Sadia spake to theunggas, usi ng a sign which is called K at a awal pawang (thewo rd of th e earliest paivang), and said, ' 0 ! unggas, who amI ? ' A n d the unggas said, ' I do not know . ' Th en saidP aw an g Sadia, 'I am Pa w an g Sadia, thou ar t Pa w an g Asal ,from the e is th e origin of all pawangs, an d from the e is th egermination of seeds, an idea which occurs in the Institutes of Menu and insome of the representations of the Grecian schools. He nce also the celebratedfiction of the M undane Eg g, or th e egg produced spontaneously in the womb ofErebus, containing in itself the elements which were afterwards distributed intothe various departments of the world."Prichard, Egyptian Mythology, p. 297.1 The Teyp, or Manual, from which this extract is translated, belonged toRaja H aji Yah ya, of Blanja in Pera k. I t contains all kinds of ma ntra , formsof spells or incantations for the propitiation of various classes of evil spirits, andinstructions and explanations as to their use. I t opens with th e tradition herequoted, which is introduced in order to show the antiquity of the pawang'sprofession. I t is a curious jum ble of aboriginal superstition and Hindumysticism, with a veneer of Muhammadan nomenclature.2 Sanskrit sadhya, " accomplishment, ' ' " perfection."3 Arabic asl , " origin," " extraction."4 Malay unggas and ungkas, a bird.



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T R A D I T I O N S I N T H E M A LA Y A R C H I P E L A G O 2 5

origin of the earth and its contents, and from thee proceedsth e creation of spirits (Jin) and m an kin d, an d from theeorigin ates the creation of th e demon s (sheitan) and th e D evil(Iblis) , and from thee proceed all evils and remedies, andfrom thee is the source of the candle and the incense, the ricean d t h e bertih, th e tepong tawar an d pemolih, th e am bar-am barand the gagawar}

"Now at that t ime there was a Baluh Zat 2 which, after at ime , burst asunder in th e m iddle, and Pawangs say tha t i twas not un ti l after the Baluh Zat had broken t ha t therewere heaven an d e arth , land, f ire, water , and air , and th atthe world then first took substance.

"After the breaking of the Baluh Zat the sky was formedand th e vault of heaven was set up , and th e ear th and themountains of Kaf became solid

"Then Pawang Sadia ordered the unggas to go and watchth e prog ress of th e world, and to see w hat th ere now w as.So the unggas flew from the north to the south, and from theeast to th e west, an d retu rne d imm ediately and came beforePa w an g Sadia . Then said Pa w ang Sadia , 'O! P aw an gAsal , wh at hav e you s e e n ? ' A nd the unggas replied,'The re is no thin g except a thick enin g in the midst of thesea, but when I stepped upon it behold it was fluid as water.I t s nam e I do not know.' A nd Pa w an g Sadia said, 'T h a t

1 " B e ll , book and can dle," The articles mentioned in the text are indis-pensable to the paw ang's trade . By means of them he divines secrets, prophesiesfuture events, combats evil spirits, and wards off misfortune.Bertih is rice parched in the husk till it bursts forth from it with a slightrep ort. I t is scattered abou t during all magic ceremonies. In Ceylon preciselyth e same article is used by the professors of dem on-wo rship, there called " de vil-dance rs." I t is called in Ceylon po rri , which is identical with p u ri , the Malayname of a cake made of bertih.Be rtih, perhaps from Sanskrit var ti, a magic ball ?Tepong ta w ar is the nam e of the liquid and the bunch of leaves (often of sevenselected kinds) which are used in sprinkling places or objects which it is desiredto disenchant or disinfect.Pemolih (from polih), a remedy, any kind of vegetable medicine.Am bar-am bar, a term which includes all the elements used by pawa ngs tocounterac t and render inefficacious, or harmless (amb ar, or taw ar) , the spells ormachinations of demons, such as rice, incense, bertih, etc.Gaw ar-gaw ar, or gagawar, ) eavessuspended to a horizontal cord stretchedacross a path or doorway as a token that passage is forbidden.2 Baluh Z at, "Cy lin de r of the Essence." Baluh is the hollow woodencylinder of a native drum. Zat means " nature," "e sse nc e," "su bs tan ce ." .



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is the solidification of the earth ' The unggas continued,'One other thing I saw, and that was a border encircl ing i t . 'An d Paw ang Sadia sa id , 'T h a t border is Bu ki t K af ; gothou and sprinkle it with tepong tawar, and thence go onand do the same where the solid earth is forming, and applyambar-ambar to all th at is in the wa ter, an d after th at ,wherever thou findest solid matter on the surface of thewater hang up gagawar. '

" A n d the unggas wen t away and did as was directed byPa w an g Sadia, and after s ix periods return ed. Th en P aw an gSadia asked, 'W h a t has been accom pl i shed? ' A nd theunggas said, 'The border h as become like a wa ll of a b ri g h tgreen colour, and the solid formation was spread out smoothand clean, bu t, when th e amb ar-ambar touched it , i t took avar iety of colours. Th ere is an o pen ing i n one place, forth e border does not exte nd all the way roun d. A t thi s placeI have suspended gagawar.9

"Now the use of the gagawar was to res train the windand the moving water f rom enter ing for seven days, so thatth e ea rth m ig ht consolidate. A nd after six days had passed,and the seventh day had arrived, the whole earth was solid."

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two malay myths