(b)Spirits, Demons, and Ghosts
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Skeat, Walter William
Killed by the Impact of the Thirty Sections of the Korān,
Killed by the Impact of the Saying, “There is no god but God,”
etc.
Giants are called Bota (Bhuta), Raksasa, and Gargasi (gasi-gasi or gĕgasi), or sometimes Hantu Tinggi (“Tall Demons”), the first two of these names being clearly derivable from a Sanskrit origin.
In addition to those enumerated we may add the various classes of “good people,” such as the Bidadari (or Bĕdiadari) or Pĕri (fairies and elves), which are of foreign origin, and the “Orang Bunyian,” a class of Malay spirits about whom very little seems known. The latter appear to be a race of good fairies, who are so simple-minded that they can be very easily cheated. Thus it is always said of them, that whenever they come into a hamlet, as they may occasionally do, to buy anything, they always pay without bargaining whatever price is asked, however exorbitant it may be. I have been told of their existence at Kapar village (near Klang in Selangor), at Jugra, where it was said they might formerly be heard paddling their boats upon the river when no boat was visible, and elsewhere.
Besides these there are several kinds of bloodsucking (vampire) demons, which are mostly Birth-spirits; and also certain incubi, such as the Hantu Kopek, which is the Malay equivalent of our own “night-mare.”
Source notes
1Journal of the Indian Archipelago, vol. iv. p. 573. ↑
2J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, pp. 11, 12. ↑
3 Swettenham, Malay Sketches, p. 192. ↑
4 Mr. R. J. Wilkinson in J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 30, p. 308. ↑
5 The following are the deities most usually inscribed in the “magic square” of five: 1. Kala (black), which is an epithet of Shiva; 2. Maheswara, which means Great Lord, an epithet of Shiva; 3. Vishnu; 4. Brahma; 5. S’ri (the wife of Vishnu); or else the names are mentioned in this order: 1. Brahma; 2. Vishnu; 3. Maheswara (Shiva); 4. S’ri; 5. Kala. Kali, Durga, or Gauri, is the wife of Shiva; Sarasvati is the wife of Brahma. See inf. p. 545, seqq. In the magic word Aum (OM): A = Vishnu, U = Shiva, M = Brahma. ↑
6J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 30, p. 309. This is the water of life called Amrita, to obtain which, by churning the ocean, Vishnu assumed one of his avatars—that of the tortoise. ↑
7 Cp. Crawfurd, Hist. of the Ind. Archipelago, vol. ii. p. 219. “From some of the usual epithets bestowed upon Siwa by the pagan Javanese, and still familiar to their posterity, the pre-eminence of this deity is clearly demonstrated.... He is the same personage who acts so distinguished a part in the machinery of Malayan and Javanese romances, under the appellation of Guru, or the instructor, prefixing to it the word Batara, a corruption of Avatara, both in sense and orthography, for with the Indian islanders that word is not used as with the genuine Hindus, to express the incarnation of a god, but as an appellation expressing any deity; nay, as if conferring an apotheosis upon their princes, it has been sometimes prefixed to the names of some of the most celebrated of their ancient kings. When Siwa appears in this character, in the romances of the Indian islanders, he is painted as a powerful, mischievous, and malignant tyrant—a description sufficiently consonant to his character of Destroyer in the Hindu triad”; and, again, “ywang is a Javanese word used in the same sense as batara.... Usually the obsolete relative pronoun sang, which has the sense, in this case, of a definite article, is placed before it. Thus sangywang guru is the same as batara guru.... It is probably the same word also which forms the last part of a word in extensive use, sâmbahayang, ‘worship or adoration.’”—Crawfurd, Mal. Grammar, p. cxcviii. To this I may add that the form ywang, when used by the Peninsular Malays, becomes “yang,” sangyang being also found.
Another (and probably better) etymology of batara is given by Favre and Wilken, viz. Sanskr. bhattara, “lord.” ↑
8 To these should perhaps be added dewa, mambang (?), and sa-raja (or sang raja), if Mr. Wilkinson’s explanation of this last expression be taken as correct. And in any case its use in combination with guru appears to warrant its classification with the titles applied to the greater deities. It is also, however, used, like sang, of inferior deities and even of animals (e.g. in a “Spectre Huntsman” charm) we find “Lansat, sa-raja anjing, etc.” Dewa is used indiscriminately (occasionally in conjunction with mambang) both of the greater and lesser divinities. Thus we not unfrequently find such expressions as Dewa Bisnu (i.e. Vishnu), dewa mambang, dewa dan mambang, etc.; and we are expressly told that they (the Dewas) “are so called because they are immortal.” Mambang (per se) is said to be similarly used, not only of greater (vide App. xvii.), but of lesser divinities, and “Mambang Tali Harus,” god of mid-currents, has even been explained as referring to Batara Guru (Shiva). This, however, is no doubt an instance of confusion, as it generally appears to be used with the “colour” attributes (e.g. M. puteh, White; M. hitam, Black;
M. kuning, Yellow) usually assigned to the inferior divinities; and, moreover, in an invocation addressed to the sea-spirit, the “god of mid-currents” is requested to forward a message to Dato’ Rimpun ʿAlam, which appears to be merely another name for Batara Guru, the reason given for the preferment of this request being that he is in the habit of “visiting the Heart of the Seas” in which ’Toh Rimpun ʿAlam dwells (the title of the latter being perhaps taken from the tree, Pauh Janggi). ↑
9 Footnote supra. Sambu (Sambhu, the Auspicious One) is merely another name for Shiva (rarely of Brahma), and its application to the crocodile-spirit would appear to indicate that this latter was, formerly, at least, regarded as an embodiment of that supreme god’s manifestation as a water-god. It is worth while to compare this with the expression “’Toh Panjang Kuku,” which is applied to the corresponding manifestation of the supreme god on land, and which strongly suggests the tiger.
“Most of the theological words of this list [printed in App. xiv.] are Sanskrit, and afford proof sufficient, if any were needed, of the former prevalence of the Hindu religion among the Malays and Javanese. Many of them are more or less corrupted in orthography, owing to the defective pronunciation and defective alphabets of the Archipelago. Some, also, are altered or varied in sense. Tapas, ‘ascetic devotion,’ is deprived of its last consonant and becomes tapa. Avatar, ‘a descent,’ is converted into batara; and instead of implying the descent or incarnation of a deity, is used as an appellative for any of the principal Hindu deities. Combined with guru, also Sanskrit, it is the most current name of the chief god of the Hindus, worshipped by the Indian islanders, supposed to have been Vishnu, or the preserving power. It may be translated “the spiritual guide god,” or, perhaps, literally “the god of the spiritual guides,” that is, of the Brahmins. Agama in Sanskrit is “authority for religious doctrine”; in Malay and Javanese it is religion itself, and is at present applied both to the Mahomedan and the Christian religions. With nearly the same orthography, and in the same sense, Sanskrit words, as far as they extend, are used throughout the Archipelago, and even as far as the Philippines.”—Crawfurd, Mal. Grammar, pp. cxcvii.–cxcviii. ↑
10Supra, p. 86. ↑
11 Some confirmation of this view may be found if we admit the explanation given me by a medicine-man, who identified the Spectre Huntsman with ’Toh Panjang-Kuku, and both with Batara Guru. ↑
12 The supreme god in the State Chamber (balei) is Batara Guru, on the edge of the primeval forest (di-gigi rimba) it is Batara Kala, and in the heart of the forest (di hati rimba) it is ’Toh Panjang Kuku, or “Grandsire Long-Claws.” Similarly “Grandsire Long-Claws” is lord of the shore down to high-water mark; between that and low-water mark Raja Kala is supreme, and Batara Guru di Laut (Shiva of the Ocean) from low-water mark out to the open sea. ↑
13 It is very difficult to ascertain the exact relation that ’Toh Mambang Tali Harus (God of Mid-currents) bears to Batara Guru di Laut. Most probably, however, the God of Mid-currents, whose powers are less extensive than those of the “Shiva of the Sea,” is an old sea-deity, native to the Malay (pre-Hindu) religion, and that “Shiva of the Sea” was merely the local Malay adaptation of the Hindu deity afterwards imported. ↑
14Vide supra, p. 88, note. Yang bĕrulang ka pusat tasek is the expression applied to Mambang Tali Harus. ↑
15Vide supra, pp. 6, 7. ↑
16 It would appear not impossible that Sang Gala may be a corruption of Sangkara, one of the names of Shiva, which would account at once for the higher rank of this particular spirit, and for his possession of the titles enumerated above. ↑
17Vide App. ccxxviii. Another account adds (with) “Black Throat and White Blood,” white blood being a royal attribute. ↑
18 Their names were (1) Sa-lakun darah (“He of the Blood-pool(?))”; (2) Sa-halilintar (“He of the Thunderbolt”); (3) Sa-rukup (= rungkup) Rang Bumi (“World-coverer”); (4) Sa-gĕrtak Rang Bumi (“World-pricker”); (5) Sa-gunchang Rang Bumi (“World-shaker”); (6) Sa-tumbok Rang Bumi (“World-beater”) and (?) (7) Sa-gĕmpar ʿAlam (“Universe-terrifier”). ↑
19 The magician appears to have interpreted it as Bĕnua ʿajam; but it may be conjectured that this is a mistaken inference from some expression like Jin ibnu Jan, “Jan,” according to some Arabic authorities, being the Father of the Genii, or, according to others, a particular class of them who are capable of being transformed into “Jin.” Vide Hughes, Dict. of Islam, s.v. Genii. ↑
20 Perhaps a corruption of Sartan, the Crab (Cancer) in the Zodiac. ↑
21 The following account of Genii (printed in the Selangor Journal, vol. i. No. 7, p. 102) was given me by a Mecca pilgrim or “Haji.” This man was a native of Java who had spent several years in the Malay Peninsula, and as Mecca is the goal of the pilgrimage to all good Muhammadans alike, it is important to know something of the ideas which are there disseminated, and with which the Malay pilgrim would be likely to come in contact. “In the unseen world the place of first importance must be accorded, on account of their immense numbers, to the ‘Jins’ (the ‘Genii’ of the Arabian Nights).”
“The Javanese, drawing a slightly stronger line of distinction (than that of good and bad genii in the Arabian Nights), call these two (separate) classes the Jin Islam and the Jin Kafir, or the Faithful and the Infidel. Of these two classes, the former shrink from whatever is unclean, and the latter only will approach the Chinese, to whom the Jin Islam manifests the strongest repugnance. The good genii are perfectly formed in the fashion of a man, but are, of course, impalpable as air, though they have a voice like mortals. They live in a mosque of their own, which they never leave, and where they offer up unceasing prayers. This mosque is built of stone, and stands beside a lake called ‘Kolam Yamani’; into this lake the whole of the waters from the neighbouring country drain, and the overflow runs down to the sea. In this lake the good genii bathe, and if any wicked or childless mortals bathe in it they carry them off and detain them in the mosque until they (the mortals) have shown proof of their reformed character by continuing for a long while without committing a wrong action, when they are sent back in safety to their native land. I should add that the Jin Islam exact tribute from the unfaithful—e.g. Chinamen—and if they do not receive their due, they will steal it and give it to a son of Islam. [They may be bought from the “Sheikh Jin” at Mecca for prices varying from $90 to $100 each.]
“The Jin Kafir, or bad genii, are invariably deformed, their heads being always out of their proper position; in short, they are Othello’s
Men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders.
Their commonest name, ‘Jin isi-isi didalam Dunia’ (the Genii who Fill the World), is owing to the fact that their enormous numbers fill the whole atmosphere from earth to sky. Like the good Genii, they cannot die before the great day of judgment, but (unlike them) they are dumb.
“Great as their numbers are they are continually increasing, as they are suffered by God to get children after their kind. They are imps of mischief, and their whole time is spent in works of malice. Sometimes when there has been a long drought and a heavy shower of rain is poured down upon the earth by the angels at the bidding of God to cool the parched verdure, they will assemble their legions, bringing with them invisible cocoa-nut shells, one for each drop of rain. In these they catch each rain-drop as it falls, and herbs and trees alike wither for lack of moisture. Then the angels being wroth, cast thunderbolts upon them out of heaven, and these malicious elves take shelter in tall trees, which the thunderbolts blast in their fall. At another time they will climb one upon the other’s shoulders until they reach the sky, when the topmost elf kicks a neighbouring angel, and then they all fall together with a crash like thunder.” ↑
22 It is probable that the Arabic spirits here mentioned have, as in other cases, taken the place of native (Malay) spirits to whom similar functions were assigned, but whose names are now lost. ↑
23 There are, besides, one or two partly Arabic expressions which are occasionally used, e.g. Sidang (or Sĕdang) Saleh, Sidang (or Sĕdang) Mumin. It is probable that “Sidang” in these cases is a Malay word implying respectability (v. v. d. W. s.v.), so that Sidang Saleh may be translated “Sir Devout,” and Sidang Mumin, “Sir Faithful.” ↑
24Hantu and sheitan are generic terms for evil spirits, the former being the Malay term, the latter Arabic. ↑
25 The Polong is a familiar spirit. ↑