(d)Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral Souls
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Skeat, Walter William
Hitherto I have treated of human souls only, but animal, mineral, and vegetable souls will now be briefly discussed. Speaking generally, I believe the soul to be, within certain limits, conceived as a diminutive but exact counterpart of its own embodiment, so that an Animal-soul would be like an animal, a Bird-soul like a bird; however, lower in the scale of creation it would appear that the Tree- or Ore-souls, for instance, are supposed, occasionally at least, to assume the shape of some animal or bird. Thus the soul of Eagle-wood is thought to take the shape of a bird, the soul of Tin-ore that of a buffalo, the Gold-soul that of a deer.80 It has, however, always been recognised that the soul may enter other bodies besides its own, or even bodies of a different kind to its own, and hence these may be only apparent exceptions to the rule that the soul should be the counterpart of its own embodiment.81
“Among races within the limits of savagery, the general doctrine of souls is found worked out with remarkable breadth and consistency. The souls of animals are recognised by a natural extension from the theory of human souls; the souls of trees and plants follow in some vague, partial way, and the souls of inanimate objects expand the general category to its extremest boundary.”82
To the Malay who has arrived at the idea of a generally animated Nature, but has not yet learned to draw scientific distinctions, there appears nothing remarkable or unnatural in the idea of vegetation-souls, or even in that of mineral-souls—rather would he consider us Europeans illogical and inconsistent were he told that we allowed the possession of souls to one half of the creation and denied it to the other.
Realising this, we are prepared to find that the Malay theory of Animism embraces, at least partially, the human race,83 animals84 and birds,85 vegetation86 (trees and plants), reptiles and fishes,87 until its extension to inert objects, such as minerals,88 and “stocks and stones, weapons, boats, food, clothes, ornaments, and other objects, which to us are not merely soulless, but lifeless,” brings us face to face with a conception with which “we are less likely to sympathise.”
Side by side with this general conception of an universally animate nature, we find abundant evidences of a special theory of Human Origin which is held to account not only for the larger mammals, but also for the existence of a large number of birds, and even for that of a few reptiles, fishes, trees and plants, but seems to lose its operative force in proportion to its descent in the scale of creation, until in the lowest scale of all, the theory of Human Origin disappears from sight, and nothing remains but the partial application of a few vague anthropomorphic attributes.89 It is, doubtless, to the prevalence of this theory that we owe the extraordinary persistence of anthropomorphic ideas about animals, birds, reptiles, trees, if not of minerals, in Malay magical ceremonies;90 and it is hard to say which of these two notions—the theory of Human Origin, or the other theory of Universal Animism—is to be considered the original form of Malay belief.
The following tale, which is entitled Charitra Mĕgat Sajobang, and is told by Selangor Malays, will serve as an illustration of the idea of Human Origin:—
“There was a married Sakai couple living at Ulu Klang, and they had a son called Mĕgat Sajobang. When he grew up he said to his mother, ‘Mother, get me a passage, I want to go and see other countries.’ She did so, and he left Ulu Klang; and ten or twelve years later, when he had grown rich enough to buy a splendid ship (p’rahu), he returned with his wife, who was with child, and seven midwives, who were watched over by one of his body-guard with a drawn sword. His mother heard the news of his return, and she made ready, roasting a chika (monkey) and lotong (monkey), and went with his father on board their bark canoe to meet their son.
“As they approached they hailed him by his name; but he was ashamed of their humble appearance, and forbade his men to let them on board. Though his wife advised him to acknowledge them, ‘even if they were pigs or dogs,’ the unfilial son persisted in turning them away. So they went back to the shore and sat down and wept; and the old mother, laying her hand upon her shrivelled breast, said, ‘If thou art really my son, reared at my breast, mayest thou be changed into stone.’ In response to her prayer, milk came forth from her breast, and as she walked away, the ship and all on board were turned into stone. The mother turned round once more to look at her son, but the father did not, and by the power of God they were both turned into trees of the species pauh (a kind of mango) one leaning seawards and the other towards the land. The fruit of the seaward one is sweet, but that of the landward one is bitter.
“The ship has now become a hill, and originally was complete with all its furniture, but the Malays used to borrow the plates and cups, etc., for feast days and did not return them, until at last there were none left.”
Source notes
1Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, N.S. vol. xiii. part iv. Cp. also the note to page 8 supra, in which the Golden Dragon is made to say, “I have neither father nor mother, but I was incarnated from the hollow part of a bamboo.” See also J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 9, p. 91. ↑
2Hikayat; i.e. “romance.” ↑
3Mantri; i.e. “Minister of State.” ↑
4Bĕtong; i.e. “big.” ↑
5Manuwangi; perhaps a mistake for manuwanggi, cp. bĕraduwanggi, infra. ↑
6J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 17. Notes and Queries, No. 4, sec. 94. ↑
7 Sĕmangs are aboriginal non-Muhammadan inhabitants of the interior of the Peninsula. Their type approximates to that of the Negritos of the Andaman Islands and the Philippines, but the one referred to in this legend had white blood, which is considered by Malays to be the royal colour. ↑
8Teh, short for Puteh, “white”; Pûrba, or Pûrva, Sanskrit “first.” This name is also given to the first Malay Raja in the Sajarah Malayu. ↑
9J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 9, pp. 90, 91. For a similar story vide Leyden’s Malay Annals, p. 29: “It happened on a certain day that the river of Palembang brought down a foam-bell of uncommon size, in which appeared a young girl of extreme beauty.” She was adopted by the Raja, and “named Putri Tunjong Bui, or the Princess Foam-bell.” ↑
10 It is Gabriel who performs this office in the account which follows. ↑
11 “Concerning the creation of Adam, here intimated, the Mohammedans have several peculiar traditions. They say the angels Gabriel, Michael, and Israfil were sent by God, one after another, to fetch for that purpose seven handfuls of earth from different depths, and of different colours (whence some account for the various complexions of mankind); but the Earth being apprehensive of the consequence, and desiring them to represent her fear to God that the creature He designed to form would rebel against Him, and draw down His curse upon her, they returned without performing God’s command; whereupon He sent Azrael on the same errand, who executed his commission without remorse, for which reason God appointed that angel to separate the souls from the bodies, being therefore called the angel of death. The earth he had taken was carried into Arabia, to a place between Mecca and Tayef, where, being first kneaded by the angels, it was afterwards fashioned by God himself into a human form, and left to dry for the space of forty days, or, as others say, as many years, the angels in the meantime often visiting it, and Eblis (then one of the angels who are nearest to God’s presence, afterwards the devil) among the rest; but he, not contented with looking on it, kicked it with his foot till it rung, and knowing God designed that creature to be his superior, took a secret resolution never to acknowledge him as such.
After this God animated the figure of clay and endued it with an intelligent soul, and when He had placed him in paradise, formed Eve out of his left side.”—Sale’s Korân, ch. ii. (of translation), p. 4 (note). ↑
12 “The Creator determined to make man, and for that purpose He took some clay from the earth and fashioned it into the figure of a man. Then He took the Spirit of Life to endue this body with vitality, and placed the spirit on the head of the figure. But the spirit was strong, and the body, being only clay, could not hold it, and was reft in pieces and scattered into the air. Those fragments of the first great Failure are the spirits of earth and sea and air.
“The Creator then formed another clay figure, but into this one He wrought some iron, so that when it received the vital spark it withstood the strain and became Man. That man was Adam, and the iron that is in the constitution of his descendants has stood them in good stead. When they lose it they become of little more account than their prototype the first failure.”—Swettenham, Malay Sketches, p. 199. ↑
13 Newbold, op. cit. vol. ii. pp. 351, 352. In Selangor, some of the greater bones, at least, have their own mystic nomenclature, e.g. the backbone, which is called tiang ʿarash, or the “Pillar of the Heavens.” ↑
14 Of the superstition which forbids the imitation of the royal insignia I can speak personally, as when a set of models of the Selangor regalia were being made for me, with the late Sultan’s full permission and knowledge, I found it impossible to get them made really like the originals either in shape or size, the makers alleging their fear of being struck dead in spite of this permission by this Divine Power or “Daulat” if they were to imitate them too accurately. In Perak the custom would appear to be less strict. Thus from Malay Sketches (p. 215) we may gather that in the “silver” state even the most sacred pieces of the regalia accompany the royal party upon their annual expedition to seek for turtles’ eggs. ↑
15 “The kabesaran or regalia of every petty state is supposed to be endowed with supernatural powers, for instance that of the ex-Panghulu of Naning.”—Newbold, op. cit. vol. ii. p. 193. ↑
16Ibid. ↑
17Ibid. p. 195. ↑
18 Leyden, Malay Annals, pp. 22–23. The words in brackets are mine.—W. S. ↑
19 Newbold, op. cit. vol. ii. p. 199; cp. Leyden, Mal. Annals, pp. 38, 39. Limbuara, limbuana, or sĕmbuana (= singhabuana) is the name given to the lance of the Spectre Huntsman, (vide Chap. V. p. 118), whose k’ris is called salĕngkisa. It has been suggested that singhabuana may be composed of two Sanskrit words meaning “lion” and “world,” but put in the Malay order, which is the opposite of Sanskrit. If this supposition is accepted, the name would mean “lion of the world,” vide App. xxviii.–xxx. ↑
20J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 9, pp. 91, 92. ↑
21 It would appear from Malay romances that the full complement of musical instruments forming part of a royal orchestra was, at all events sometimes, twelve. Thus when S’ri Rama is bidden by the astrologers to get up an expedition by water for the amusement of his Princess, “dresses of honour were given to the attendants, and musical instruments of the twelve kinds were got together.”—Maxw., in Sri Rama, J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 17, p. 93. ↑
22 This list was given me by H. H. Raja Bôt of Selangor. Besides the above there are several royal “properties” not usually included in any list of regalia. These are H. H.’s chain jacket (baju rantei); a species of shield or targe, said to be made of brass, and called otar-otar; H. H.’s seal, and possibly his mat and the dish he ate from. One of the tombak belonging to H. H. was a species of trident, and was called tombak bĕrchĕranggah or the “Branching Lance.” The ordinary lances might be borrowed by the people, and carried, for example, in the procession escorting a bridegroom (by virtue of his supposed “one day’s sovereignty,” Raja sa-hari) to the house of his bride, but the trident never. ↑
23 “All the insignia of royalty were hastily fashioned by the goldsmiths of Pĕnjum, and whenever To’ Râja or Wan Bong appeared in public they were accompanied by pages bearing betel-boxes, swords, and silken umbrellas, as in the manner of Malay kings.”—Cliff., In Court and Kampong, p. 115. ↑
24 Maxw. in Raja Donan, J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 18, p. 253. ↑
25
“Ta’ lapok de’ hujan,
Ta’ lĕkang de’ panas,
Pĕsaka di toras (? turis) di-tĕladan,
Pĕsaka di-lintas tumbang.”