Reference: Maxwell "Mythology"

One of the most striking coincidences in the traditions of different Malay states is the constant recurrence of three persons as the founders of kingdoms, the authors of government and order, or the progenitors of a line of rulers. In Menangkabau, the most ancient state of Sumatra, it is related how Iskandar Z'ul Karnayn ("lord of the two horns," or the East and the West ; generally identified with Alexander the Great) begot three sons named respectively  Maharaja Alif,  Maharaja Dipang, and  Maharaja Diraja. When the three brothers had reached maturity, they proceeded on a voyage together and arrived at Ceylon, where they agreed to separate. 

-:: Then the eldest, Maharaja Alif, claimed the crown, Makota Singhatahana, And Maharaja Dipang said, "I too want it." Maharaja Diraja said, "It is mine, because I am the youngest." Then an angel descended and said, "Which of you is Raja ? Why are ye disputing ?" And they replied, "It is about the crown which was our father's." Then said the angel, "Are ye willing to give it up to me ?" And they surrendered it to the angel, who forthwith let it fall into the sea, and then instantly vanished. Then said Maharaja Alif, "How now, my brethren, will ye sail towards the setting of the sun ?" Maharaja Dipang replied, "I intend to sail for a land between the rising and setting of the sun." And Maharaja Diraja said, "As my two elder brothers have thus decided, I shall sail for the rising sun, and we will take our chance of what fortune may befall us." Then Maharaja Alif set sail for the setting sun, namely, Roum ; and Maharaja Dipang sailed to the dark land, the country of China ; and Maharaja Diraja sailed away to the land of the rising sun, and after a long time reached the top of the burning mountain (Menangkabau in Sumatra). ::- ¹

The main features of the foregoing legend are preserved in the story communicated to Marsden, "as the belief of the people of Johor," and published by him in his History of Sumatra in 1811. It is as follows : 

-:: It is related that Iskander dived into the sea, and there married a daughter of the king of the ocean, by whom he had three sons, who, when they arrived at manhood, were sent by their mother to the residence of their father. He gave them a makuta or crown, and ordered them to find kingdoms where they should establish themselves. Arriving in the Straits of Singa-pura, they determined to try whose head the crown fitted. The eldest trying first could not lift it to his head. The second the same. The third had nearly effected it, when it fell from his hand into the sea. After this the eldest turned to the west and became king of Rome. The second to the east and became king of China. The third remained at Johor. ::-

Johor is the southernmost state of the Malay Peninsula. It was to this state that the Raja of Malacca removed after the conquest of his country by the Portuguese under Albuquerque in 1511, and here the royal line of Malacca was continued for several generations. The legend preserved by Marsden appears to be a localized version of the Menangkabau tradition, with the introduction of the changes necessary to give Johor due prominence.² 

Malacca, however, had her own traditional account of the origin of her kings, who were said to be descended from one of three princes, descendants of Iskandar Z'ul Karnayn, who came down from the heaven of Indra and appeared on earth at a place called Palembang in Sumatra. 

This is related in detail in the Sajarah Malayu. The following translation is from a manuscript, which formerly belonged to the Rajas of Perak, a Malay state whose royal house is an off-shoot of the Malacca line: — 

-:: There was a kingdom in the land of Andalas called Palembang, the ruler of which was named Demang Lebar Daun. His descent was from the stock of Raja Cholan. MuaraTatang was the name of his river, and beyond it was another river called Malayu. Now on this river Malayu there was a hill called Bukit Sagantang Maha Miru. Two widow women lived on this hill ; one was called Wan Pak and the other Wan Malini.¹ They grew upland rice (padi) on Bukit Sagantang Maha Miru, and their fields were of great extent. Their crops were so abundant that the quantity of grain could not be calculated. One night, when the padi was nearly ripe, Wan Pak and Wan Malini noticed from their house on the hill Sagantang Maha Miru that their fields were blazing with light, as if they were on fire. Then said Wan Pak to Wan Malini, "What brilliancy is this ? It frightens me to look at it." Said Wan Malini, "Let us make no noise. Mayhap it is the lustre of some large dragon's jewel." And Wan Pak replied, "It is very likely as you say." Then they both held their peace from fear and went to sleep. As soon as it was light, they arose from their slumbers and washed their faces. Then said Wan Pak to Wan Malini, "Come, let us see what it was that was shining so brilliantly last night." And the other assented. Then they both went up the hill Sagantang, and found that their padi had produced grains of gold and leaves of silver and stalks of brass. When they perceived the nature of their crop, Wan Pak said, "It is this padi that we saw shining so brilliantly last night." Then they walked to the top of the hill Sagantang Maha Miru, and saw that the ground on the top of the hill had also become gold. (By some it is said that even up to the present time the soil of that hill is of the colour of gold.) 

On the top of this golden hill Wan Pak and Wan Malini saw three young men of exceeding beauty. They were seated on a white elephant,¹ and each of them had girded on by his side a sword named "Chora Samandang Kini." This is the royal sword of state of all Malay rajas. Each of them also held in his left hand a wand (kayu gamit), that is to say, the chap halilintar ("the seal of the thunderbolt"). 

Great was the amazement and wonder of Wan Pak and Wan Malini at the appearance of three young men of such surpassing beauty of feature and person and richness of apparel. They thought, "Perchance it is because of these three young men that our padi has borne grains of gold and leaves of silver and stalks of brass, and that the soil on the top of the hill has also become gold."

Then Wan Pak and Wan Malini inquired of the three men, "What may be the names of my lords, and whence do ray lords come? Are ye of the sons of the Jin or of the Peri? We have lived long here, and have never yet seen any human creature come to this spot until to-day." The three young men answered, "We are not of the race of the Jin or of the Peri. We are men, and our descent is from the children and grandchildren of Kaja Iskandar Z'ul Karnayn ; our stock is that of Raja Nashirwan, and our origin from Raja Soliman, on whom be peace. Our names are  Najitram, and  Paldutani, and  Nila Asnam."²  Wan Pak and Wan Malini then said, "If my lords are descended from Raja Iskandar Z'ul Karnayn, why do my lords come here?" Then were related by the three young men all the adventures of Raja Iskandar Zu'l Karnayn ; and Wan Pak and Wan Malini believed their words; 

and being exceedingly joyful, they brought back the three princes to their house. And they plucked their padi and became rich.¹

Now it is said that the Palembang of that time is the same Palembang that exists to the present day. When the Raja of Palembang, Demang Lebar Daun, heard it reported that Wan Pak and Wan Malini had met the sons of a raja who had descended from the abode of Indra, he went to their house to see these princes. He conducted them to his own capital, and the fame of these doings was published abroad in all lands. And kings from all quarters and countries presented themselves before the king. The eldest prince was sought out by the people of Andalas and made by them king of Menangkabau. And he took the royal title of Sang Purba.² Afterwards the people of Tanjong Pura came and fetched away the second prince. His royal title was Sang Manika. The youngest remained at Palembang with Raja Demang Lebar Daun, and was made king at Palembang, and invested with the royal title of Sang Nila Utama. To him Demang Lebar Daun resigned his throne, and became Mangko-bumi or chief minister. ::-

Here once more we have the myth of the three high-born personages with whom a new order of things commences. The Perak version of the legend comprised in the foregoing translation differs in many respects from that contained in better-known copies of the Sajarah Malayu, as a reference to the English and French translations will show. In the translated versions the chief of the three princes is described as seated upon a bull, white as silver, while the other two stand one on each side of him, one of them holding a sword and the other a spear. 

The names introduced into the narrative are very instructive. The titles of the supernatural visitors are of Sanskrit origin, while the name of the chieftain of Palembang is pure Malay. Demang Lebar Daun means "Chieftain Broad-leaf," and is thoroughly characteristic of the aboriginal Malay tribes. To this day the latter name a child from some peculiarity about the place in which it happens to be born or the natural phenomena noticed about the time of its birth. "Earth," "Mud," "Leaf," "Flower," "Thunder," and "Lightning," are some of the names which the Sakai of Perak give their offspring. Again, the method of cultivation in which the women are described as being engaged is the most primitive known to the Malays, who in most populous districts have long abandoned upland cultivation, with its scanty returns, for wet cultivation on the plains. The latter requires an advanced degree of agricultural skill, the use of buffaloes in ploughing, and some ingenuity in devising means of irrigation ; but the crops are far more abundant than those obtained from the hill-clearings. 

The hill-clearing system of agriculture is the primitive mode of cultivation common to Indo-Chinese races from the Himalayas to Borneo.¹ 

The connexion of the sword, lance and seal with Hindu Gods is not obvious, but it is a matter of general knowledge that Hindu deities are generally portrayed with particular objects connected with events in their mythical histories or with the various powers and attributes assigned to them. Thus Çiva is represented as bearing in his hands the holy shell, the radiated weapon, the mace for war and the lotus. 

The name of the sword is perhaps capable of satisfactory explanation. The sacred river Ganga (the Ganges), according to Hindu mythology, is called in heaven Manda-Kini. When Ganga fell from heaven to the earth, Çiva caught her in his bunch of matted hair, and idols represent him with the sacred river springing from his head. It appears, therefore, that the name of the river whose source is Çiva's head has in Malay legend become the name of the sword which Sang Purba holds in his hand. The transition is not a very startling one ; the word remains, though its original signification has been lost. 

Chora is not a Malay word, and is probably identical with the Sanskrit kshura "a razor." 

Taking into consideration the Sanskrit names and the mention of Maha Miru,¹ the Hindu Olympus, it is not difficult to see that the story of the three princes owes its origin to accounts of the three deities of the Hindu Triad,  Brahma,  Vishnu, and  Rudra (Çiva). The "white bull," the "vahan " of Çiva, on which the centre character is generally described as seated, takes the matter beyond the region of conjecture altogether. The three persons who descend from the abode of Indra to the sacred mountain Maha Miru, one of them riding on a white bull, and at whose approach the earth becomes gold, and the very com is transformed into stalks, leaves, and grains of precious metals, cannot but be divine. 

The legend may therefore be viewed in two aspects ; first, as an instance of the occurrence of the widely-spread myth which connects the commencement of history with three persons, be they deities, princes, or rulers; second, as an independent tradition of the introduction of Aryan civilization in Sumatra, already occupied by an aboriginal people. 

It is with the first aspect of the legend that we now have to deal. The tradition shown to exist in independent forms among the Malays of Menangkabau, Johor, and Palembang, appears again in the belief entertained by one of the wild tribes of the Peninsula respecting the origin of their Batins or rulers.

The Mantra of Johor are an aboriginal tribe with a Sanskrit name, a combination which may be explained perhaps by the circumstances of their being skilled in all kind of spells and incantations. Mantra being Sanskrit for a charm. In this tribe a chief is called a Batin and they say that "the first of all Batins rulers was Batin Changei Besi," whose nails as his name imports, were made of iron. He lived in Gunong Penyarong (Pagaruyung?) in Menangkabau, a Bandahara over Pahang, and at a later period a Punghulu over Ulu Pahang.¹

In Marsden's History of Sumatra there is an interesting account of the religions belief of the Battaks of Sumatra, which affords another illustration of the myth under consideration. According to it the whole human race descended from the three sons and three daughters of a female deity, who was herself the daughter of the chief of the three gods who are the objects of Battak veneration : ² - 

-:: They acknowledge three deities as rulers of the world, who are respectively named  Batara-guru,  Sori-pada, and  Mangalla-bulang. The first, say they, bears role in heaven, is the father of all mankind, and partly, under the following circumstances, creator of the earth, which from the beginning of time had been supported on the head of Naga-padoha, but growing weary at length, he shook his head, which occasioned the earth to sink, and nothing remained in the world excepting water. They do not pretend to a knowledge of the creation of this original earth and water, but say that at the period when the latter covered everything, the chief deity, Batara-guru, had a daughter named Puti-orla-bulan, who requested permission to descend to these lower regions, and accordingly came down on a white owl, accompanied by a dog;

Odin gave them spirit (breath), Hœnir sense, Lodur blood and fair colour... From this pair the whole human race is descended. ¹ ::-

Nor is this the only passage in the Eddas which bears upon the legends which I have quoted. A striking parallel with the Battak legend of Naga-padoha, on whose three horns the earth is supported, and whose occasional movements cause earthquakes, will be found in the account of the punishment of Loki : - 

-:: When the gods had captured Loki, they brought him to a cave, raised up three fragments of rock, and bored holes through them. They then took his sons,  Vali (Ali) and  Narfi (Nari). Vali they transformed into a wolf, and he tore his brother Narfi in pieces. With his entrails they bound Loki over the three stones, one being under his shoulders, another under his loins, the third under his hams ; and the bands became iron. Skadi then hung a venomous snake above his head, so that the poison might drip on his face; but his wife Sigyu stands by him and holds a cup under the dripping venom. When the cup is full, the poison falls on his face while she empties it ; and he shrinks from it, so that the whole earth trembles. Thence come earthquakes. There will he lie bound until Ragnarock. ² ::-

Surely there is more than chance coincidence between the three horns of Naga-padoha, on which the earth of the Battaks is supported, and the three rocks to which Loki (fire) is bound. Though bound hand and foot, Naga-padoha sometimes shakes his head, even as Loki shudders in spite of the iron bands which bind him, and in either case the whole earth trembles, and men say that there is an earthquake. 

If it has been satisfactorily shown that the history of the arrival of Sang Purba and his companions at Palembang is, in common with certain other legends, mythical and not historical, being in fact only a local development of a primitive Aryan belief, it only remains to demonstrate the danger of attempting to fix dates for events of this kind. 

It will probably be conceded that sufficient ground has been furnished for the reconsideration of the arguments by which the foundation of Singhapura by a son of Sang Purba has been attributed to the twelfth century A.D. ! 

In everything Malayan, the language, the literature, and the folk-lore of the people, the three stages,  1. Aboriginal,  2. Hindu,  3. Muhammadan,  can be plainly detected. It is not uncommon to find three synonymous terms for some common object, one of which will be pure Malay, one Sanskrit, and one Arabic. Thus the human body is  tuboh, (Malay),  salira (Sanskrit), and  badan (Arabic). The Aboriginal list of demons, already sufficiently large, has been successively enriched by the addition of the Sanskrit bhut (Malay bota) and the Arabic jin and sheitan. In the historical legends preserved in the Sarajah Malayu there may be found, in one place, aboriginal traditions which are traceable also among tribes in Sumatra and the Philippines ; and, in another place, stories and allusions which belong to the continent of India, while over all there is a varnish of Arabic nomenclature and embellishment which the Muhammadan chroniclers have permitted themselves to bestow, undeterred by any consideration for truth or sense of fitness. Destitute of the critical faculty, they accepted as history the legends which had been handed down from time immemorial in the kingdoms of which they wrote, and knew no more than the Malay peasant of to-day that the traditions of their forefathers related to anything more than events in the lives of their Rajas. 

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. 

Owing to their geographical position, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula have always been peculiarly open to Indian influences, and they would naturally be early affected by any religious or political movement working from India eastward. Muhammadan civilization, therefore, in those countries dates from an earlier period than in regions further east. The Malays adopted the alphabet of Indian or Persian Muhammadans (a modification in some respects of the genuine Arabic alphabet), and a fairly copious Malay literature exists written in this character.

Translations of Javanese romances, with accounts of the marvellous adventures of the heroes of the Ramayana and Mahabharata, are of little interest. Still less attractive are modern translations of Hindi and Tamil stories, and of Arabic works on law and religion. Purely Malayan literature consists of a few short historical works, some codes of native laws, and a certain amount of anonymous poetry. 

Malay historical works are valuable chiefly because they preserve some of the early legends which are current orally all over the Archipelago from Sumatra to the Philippines. They are the works of Muhammadan Malays, who, at the time they wrote, collected all the traditions current about the particular state or kingdom they were describing. They relate as historical facts, which they no doubt believed to belong to the history of their early kings, incidents and adventures purely mythical, the origin of which it is not difficult to trace in aboriginal traditions common to most Malay tribes. In this paper I propose to collect, for the purpose of comparison, a number of different versions of a myth which is very widely spread. The identity of the ideas underlying the rude legends of heathen islanders and the more ornate narratives of Muhammadan chroniclers will not, I think, be questioned. 

Starting first with the more civilized Malay States of the north, I take the following narrative from a history of Kedah : ¹

Kedah. — The early history of Kedah is found in a Malay chronicle called Hakayat Marong Mahawangsa, or Hakayat Raja Ber-seong, which has been translated into English.² Though evidently the work of a Muhammadan, it abounds with supernatural details, many of these being palpably of Hindu origin. The incident to which I wish to call attention occurs in the account of the reign of the sixth Kafir Raja of Kedah, Raja Pra-ong Maha Potisat

“ The Raja set out with his four ministers (mantri), and hunted as he travelled, securing an immense quantity of game. One day at noon they all stopped to rest themselves after the fatigue of hunting, and the King rested for a while on the elephant on which he was mounted. While thus seated he happened to see a house, which was inhabited by an old man and his wife, and he noticed that one bamboo¹ out of a number which were growing there was leaning against the side of the house. This bamboo was slender both at the bottom and at the top, but in the middle it was as thick as the body of a deer. The King ordered it to be cut down, and he took it back with him to his fort, greatly pleased with his acquisition.

“ The bamboo which has already been mentioned had been placed by the King near his own bed, for his affection for it was so great he could not bear to be parted from it. With every successive month its bulk increased, until at length one day, at an auspicious moment, it burst, and there came forth from it a male child of most beautiful form and features. Every one was struck with wonder and amazement at seeing a human child issue from the bamboo. Raja Pra-ong Maha Potisat at once took the child and ordered him to be carefully nourished and brought up, and treated him as his own son, assigning to him nurses and attendants. And he called him Raja Bentangan Betong. ² 

“ One day a very heavy flood swept down the Kwala Muda river, and the Queen-consort of Raja Ber-seong,³ on going down to the bank, saw a small hillock drifting down the stream from the upper reaches. It looked exceedingly beautiful as it approached, for it was quite white; but, when it came close, it was apparent it was not a hill, but a mass of sea foam.

Then the Queen went down into the water and looked closely at it, and took hold of it with her hands. On doing this she found a female child in the midst of the foam, which she carried home to the palace. The child was named by the Queen "Putri Bahana Kirana,"¹ and she was brought up by the Queen as her own daughter, and nurses and attendants were assigned to her. Raja Pra-ong Maha Potisat was greatly pleased with the beauty of the child, which resembled that of Indra and of the dewa-dewa ; and, when she was dressed by the Queen in apparel suitable for the children of kings, her loveliness was enhanced more and more.”...²

The chronicler afterwards, in describing the various events of the reign of Pra-ong Maha Potisat (who was the last pagan ruler of Kedah, his successor being converted to the faith of Islam), relates the marriage of these two supernatural persons, whose subsequent histories are by no means in keeping with the commencement of their lives. The princess is unfaithful to her husband, and disappears from the story after giving birth to an illegitimate son. Raja Bentangan Betong dies of wounds received in battle, leaving no children. 

Perak. — The chief incidents in the foregoing narrative are found, mutatis mutandis, in the traditionary account of the founding of the kingdom of Perak.³ The following is a translation of the local legend current among the people of that state. It is not found in a written form : 

“ Baginda Dai reigned in Johor Lama.* He despatched a trusted counsellor, one Nakhodah Kasim, to sail forth and look for a suitable place for a settlement, for there were plenty of willing emigrants. Nakhodah Kasim got ready a fleet of prahus and sailed up the Straits of Malacca, hugging the coast, till he reached Bruas (a district and river in Perak). 

" While there, he saw that a brisk trade was being carried on between the coast and the interior, imported goods being despatched up the country and native produce brought down from the inland districts. He made inquiries and was told that there was a big river in the interior. His curiosity was now aroused and he penetrated on foot into the interior and discovered the Perak river. Here he traded, like the natives of the country, making trips up and down the river, and selling salt and tobacco¹ at the villages by the river-side. On one of these trips he reached Tumung in the north of Perak, and made fast his boat to the bank. After a few days the Semangs (Perak was not yet populated by Malays) came down from their hills to buy salt. They came loaded with the produce of their gardens, sugar-canes, plantains and edible roots and brought their wives and families with them. 

“ A Semang girl, while her father was bargaining at the boat, took up a sugar-cane and commenced to strip off the rind with a knife ; in doing so she accidentally cut her hand. Blood issued from the wound, but what was the astonishment of all around her when they saw that its colour was not red but pure white ! A report of this prodigy quickly spread from mouth to mouth, and Nakhodah Kasim landed from his boat to see it with his own eyes. It occurred to him that this was a family not to be lost sight of, he loaded the father with presents and, in a month’s time, by dint of constant attentions, he had so far won the confidence of the shy Semangs that he was able to ask for the girl in marriage. The father agreed and Nakhodah Kasim and his wife settled at Kwala Tumung, where they built a house and planted fruit-trees. 

“ Now, the Perak river overflows its banks once a year, and sometimes there are very great floods. Soon after the marriage of Nakhodah Kasim with the white Semang, an unprecedented flood occurred and quantities of foam came down the river. Round the piles of the bathing-house, which, in accordance with Malay custom, stood in the bed of the river close to the bank in front of the house, the floating volumes of foam collected in a mass the size of an elephant. Nakhodah Kasim’s wife went to bathe, and finding this island of froth in her way she attempted to move it away with a stick ; she removed the upper portion of it and disclosed a female infant sitting in the midst of it enveloped all round with cloud-like foam. The child showed no fear and the white Semang, carefully lifting her, carried her up to the house, heralding her discovery by loud shouts to her husband. The couple adopted the child willingly, for they had no children, and they treated her thenceforward as their own. They assembled the villagers and gave them a feast, solemnly announcing their adoption of the daughter of the river and their intention of leaving to her everything that they possessed. 

“ The child was called Tan Puteh, but her father gave her the name of Teh Purba.¹ As she grew up the wealth of her foster-parents increased ; the village grew in extent and population, and gradually became an important place. 

“ One day some Semangs were hunting at a hill near the river Plus, called Bukit Pasir Puteh, or Bukit Pelandok. They heard their dogs barking furiously, but, on following them up, found no quarry, only a large bamboo (buluh betong), small at the top and bottom, and having one large thick joint, which seemed to be attracting the attention of the dogs. They split open the thick part of the stem and found in it a male child, whom they forthwith took to Nakhodah Kasim. The latter adopted him as his son, and when the two children were grown up they were betrothed, and in due time were married.

... The marriage was, however, merely nominal, for Tan Puteh Purba  preserved her virginity, and Toh Changkat Pelandok, her husband,  returned to his native district. Plus. Nakhodah Kasim at length died, leaving Tan Puteh mistress of the whole of Perak. As he lay dying he told her his history, how he had come from the land of Johor, of the Raja of which he was an attendant, and how he had been despatched to find a suitable place for a settlement. He declared the name of his master to be Sultan Mahmud of Johor, and with his dying breath directed that a Raja for Perak should be asked for from that country.¹

“ Tan Puteh now called one of her ministers, Tan Saban, whom she had adopted in his childhood. He came of a noble family, and belonged to the district called Tanah Merah (Red Earth). A wife had been found for him by Tan Puteh, and he had two children, both girls. Tan Saban was commanded by his mistress to open negotiations with Johor, and this having been done, a prince of the royal house of that kingdom, who traced his descent from the old line of Menangkaban, sailed for Perak to assume the sovereignty. He brought with him the insignia of royalty, namely,  the royal drums (gandang nobat),  the pipes (nafiri),  the flutes (sarunei and bangsi),  the betel-box (puan naga taru),  the sword (chora mandakini),  the sword (perbujang),  the sceptre (kaya gamit),  the jewel (kamala),  the "surat chiri,"  the seal of state (chap halilintar), and  the umbrella (ubar-ubar). All these were inclosed in a box called Baninan. 

“ On his way up the Perak river the new Raja stopped at Selat Lembajayan for amusement. One of his attendants happened to point out some fish in the water, and, in leaning over the boat’s side to look at them, the Raja lost his crown, which fell from his head and immediately sank. His people dived in vain for it, and from that day to this no Sultan of Perak has had a crown. Near Kota Setia the Raja was received by Tan Puteh, Tan Saban and all the chief men of the country, who escorted him to Kota Lumut. Here he was formally installed as Sultan of Perak under the title of Ahamad Taj-uddin Shah, and one of the daughters of Tan Saban was given to him in marriage. 

... It is this Raja to whom the Perak Malays popularly ascribe the political organization of the country under the control of chiefs of various ranks, each having definite duties to perform. After a short reign Ahamad Tajuddin Shah died, leaving one son about two years old. 

“As soon as the Sultan’s death was known in Johor, a nephew of his (who was afterwards known as Sultan Malik Shah) started at once for Perak. Having reached his late uncle’s cistana (palace) at Tanah Abang, to which place the capital had been removed from Kota Lumut, he called for the nurses and attendants of the infant Raja and demanded permission to visit his young cousin. He was accordingly introduced into the prince’s apartment, and seizing the child by violence broke his neck and killed him. He then seized the royal sword and other insignia and established himself as Raja under the title of Sultan Malik Shah. By degrees all the chiefs and people came in and accepted the usurper as their sovereign, with the single exception of Tan Saban, the grandfather of the murdered boy. His obstinate refusal to recognize Malik Shah led to a sanguinary war, which lasted for three years. Tan Saban was gradually driven further and further up the Perak river. He fortified numerous places on its banks, but his forts were taken one after another, and on each occasion he retreated to another strong-hold. His most determined stand was made at Kota Lama, where he fortified a strong position. This was closely invested by the Sultan’s forces, and a long siege ensued. 

During the siege an unknown warrior joined the Sultan’s army. He came from Pagaruyong in Menangkaban and was the illegitimate son of the Great Sultan of that country, by a concubine. In consequence of his illegitimate birth he was driven forth from his native country, having for his sole fortune a matchlock (istinggarda)¹ and four bullets, on each of which was inscribed the words,

..."This is the son of the concubine of the Raja of Pagaruyong ; his name is Magat Terawis ; ¹ wherever this bullet falls he will become a chief." Magat Terawis did not declare his name or origin to the Perak men, but served with them as an obscure soldier. At length, having selected an auspicious day, he asked one of the Sultan’s followers to point out Tan Saban to him. This the man had no difficulty in doing, for Tan Saban was frequently to be seen on the outworks of his fort across the river dressed in garments of conspicuous colours. In the morning he wore red, at midday yellow and in the evening his clothes were green.² When he was pointed out to Magat Terawis, it was the morning, and he was dressed in red. Magat Terawis levelled his matchlock and fired, and his bullet struck Tan Saban’s leg. The skin was hardly broken and the bullet fell to the ground at the chief’s feet ; but, on taking it up and reading the inscription, he knew that he had received his death-wound. He retired to his house, and, after ordering his flag to be hauled down, despatched a messenger to the  opposite camp to call the warrior whose name he had read on the bullet. Inquiries for Magat 

Terawis were fruitless at first, for no one knew the name. At length he declared himself and went across the river with Tan Saban’s messenger, who brought him into the presence of the dying man. The latter said to him, "Magat Terawis, though art my son in this world and the next, and my property is thine. I likewise give thee my daughter in marriage, and do thou serve the Raja faithfully in my place, and not be rebellious as I have been." 

Tan Saban then sued for the Sultan’s pardon, which was granted to him, and the marriage of his daughter with Magat Terawis was permitted to take place. Then Tan Saban died, and he was buried with all the honours due to a Malay chief.¹ Magat Terawis was raised to the rank of a chief, and one account says that he became Bandahara.² 

“ Not long after this, the Sultan, taking Magat Terawis with him, ascended the Perak river to its source, in order to fix the boundary between Perak and Patani. At the foot of the  mountain Titi Wangsa they found a great rock in the middle of the stream, from beneath which the water issued, and there was a wild cotton-tree upon the mountain, which bore both red and white flowers, the white flowers being on the side facing Perak, and the red ones on the side turned towards Patani. Then the Sultan climbed up upon the big rock in the middle of the river, and drawing forth his sword Perbujang, he smote the rock and clove it in two, so that the water ran down in one direction to Perak and in the other to Patani. This was declared to be the boundary between the two countries. 

“ On their return down-stream the Raja and his followers halted at Chigar Galah, where a small stream runs into the river Perak. They were struck with astonishment at finding the water of this stream as white as santan (the grated pulp of the cocoanut mixed with water). Magat Terawis, who was despatched to the source of the stream to discover the cause of this phenomenon, found there a large fish of the kind called harnan engaged in suckling her young one. She had large white breasts from which milk issued.³

“ He returned and told the Raja, who called the river "Perak" ("silver"), in allusion to its exceeding whiteness. Then he returned to Kota Lama.” 

Palembang, Sumatra. — The “Sajarah Malayu” a Malay history of the Kings of Malacca, places the scene of the incident in Palembang, a district in the south of Sumatra. The following passage is translated from Dulaurier’s edition of the Malay text : ¹

“ One day there drifted down the Palembang river from up-stream a mass of foam of great size, in which people observed a female child of exceeding beauty. News of the event was at once taken to the King, Sang Sa-purba, who directed his people to take her. She was named hy the King "Putri Tunjung Buih,"² and was adopted as his daughter and much beloved by him.” 

The princess mentioned here only appears once again in the narrative, when she is given in marriage by Sang Sa- purba to “a young Chinese of noble birth.” 

The same native work contains the bamboo myth, but it is introduced at a much later part of the narrative, and is localized on this occasion in Champa, an ancient Malay kingdom which once embraced the greater part of Cochin-China, the chief settlement being in the south-east corner. 

Champa . — “ There was a betel-nut tree near the palace of the Champa Raja, which blossomed and exhibited a large receptacle for fruit, but the fruit never seemed to ripen. The Raja then ordered one of his servants to climb up and see what was in the pod. He ascended accordingly, and brought down the pod, which the Raja caused to be opened, and saw in it a male child extremely handsome and beautiful. Of this pod’s envelope was formed the gong named jubang ; while a sword was made of its sharp ridge. The Champa Raja was greatly pleased at the circumstance, and named the child Raja Pogalang, and ordered him to be suckled by all the wives of the rajas and paramantris, but the child would not suck. The Champa Raja had a cow whose hair was of the five colours, and which had lately calved, and they suckled the child with the milk of this cow. This is the reason that Champa never eats the cow nor kills it. 

Raja Pogalang grew up, and the Raja of Champa gave him his daughter Pobea to wife. After a short time, the Champa Raja died, and Pogalang succeeded to the throne. After he had reigned for a considerable time, he founded a great city, which included seven hills within its bounds. The extent of the fort was a day’s sail in each of its four sides with sails full distended with the breeze. The name of this city was Bal, which in a certain cheritra is named Metakah, the city of Raja Subal, the son of Raja Kedail.”¹ 

West Coast of Borneo. — In Western Borneo kindred legends are current. The following extract is from a recent work,² the author of which quotes the authority of Vette, “Borneo’s Wester Afdeling” : 

“ Brawidjaja,³ of the royal house of Majapahit, suffered from an infectious disease, and to prevent contagion was domiciled in a floating house or raft. A violent tempest tore the raft loose from its moorings, and carried the prince far out to sea, where he was exposed to great danger. The current drifted him to the mouth of the Pawan river (called Katapan) on the west coast of Borneo. The prince benefited greatly by the sea-voyage, bathed daily in the river, a small fish, with the head of a cat, called "adong" or "blanguting" aiding materially his speedy return to convalescence by repeatedly licking his feet, while an alligator, called Sarasa, provided for his daily wants. 

“ When convalescent the prince went hunting with two dogs he had brought with him. One day the dogs, barking furiously, stopped before a thick bamboo stem, into which the prince, after a long scrutiny, stuck his spear. This being withdrawn, there sprang to view from the opening a beautiful princess, who, throwing herself at the feet of Brawidjaja, besought him to spare her and the bamboo. 

“ The prince bore Putri Butan (Betong ?), as she was called, to his raft, imploring her to share his lot with him, and it may be inferred he had not long to sigh in vain. Brawidjaja had found no other sign of the presence of human beings, except that here and there wood had been cut. He therefore again ascended the river some days journey further up, but with the like result, till, at last, as he returned at a rapid pace, a water-flower shot up suddenly above the stream, from whence a whisper issued asking, "Brawidjaja, what news bring you from the upper country?"

“ Dropping his paddle the prince seized the flower with both hands ; it opened, and the princess Lindong Buah (Buih?) stood before him. The same scene was now enacted as with Putri Butan ; the prince obtained two wives, who appear to have lived together in peace without jealousy, sharing between them the proofs of his affection.” 

Banjarmasin, South-east of Borneo. — With certain changes in the names of persons and places, the same story is related in other parts of Borneo. According to a Malay manuscript belonging to the Academy of Batavia, the first prince of Banjarmasin was one Maharaja Surya Nata, who married Putri Jungjung (Tunjung?) Buih, a princess who had miraculously sprung from the waves. He obtained this nymph at the prayer of Limbong Mengkurat, whose father, Ampu Jat Maka, had established a Hindu colony on the river Negara or Bahan.¹ 

Current in a legendary form long before the days of written records, these traditions have kept their places in the minds of the Malays, ready, like most uncivilized races, to associate with the history of their earliest rulers all kinds of supernatural incidents. Comparison clearly proves their mythical character, and, as we examine their details, the film of history which thinly disguises them gradually disappears, and we recognize myths which have a larger application than simple incidents in the history of an obscure Malay State could pretend to. The river-born damsel first demands attention. 

Greek mythology, as well as that of India, has made us familiar with the myth of the goddess whose birth-place is the foam of the sea. If a faint reflex of the conception which originated Aphrodite and Lakshmi is before us in this Malay story, it must be admitted that it comes shorn of all poetical associations. The laughter-loving goddess of the Greeks and the beloved of Çiva, who gives prosperity to her worshippers, have nothing in common with the child of the Malay river except the place of their birth, the foam. The days when the ancestors of the modern Malays may possibly have worshipped Lakshmi, the favourite goddess of a sea-faring people, belong to a remote past, of which we have no records. In legends like these, however, it is not unreasonable to hope to find vestiges of a former faith and worship. 

Two of the stories above quoted connect the lotus with the river-born princess ; in the Palembang legend her name is Tunjung-buih,¹ “Lotus of the foam,” and in the West Borneo legend she is described as springing from a “water- flower.” These circumstances are strongly suggestive of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, “who dwells in the water-lily.” 

The myth of the Princess of the river is altogether separate and distinct from that of the Raja of the bamboo, though the two are often found connected or confused one with the other. The Aryan origin of the former is supported by the fact that it is current only in the more civilized Malay States, which have undoubtedly been largely influenced by Brahmanism. The latter is much more widely extended, and is found among wild tribes who have been wholly unaffected by Hindu influences. It has originated from an ancient (Turanian) belief as to the mode of the creation of mankind. 

The mythological account of the birth of Lakshmi presented to the Malays of Sumatra - who were probably the first to come in contact with Aryans - certain points of resemblance to their own legendary explanation of the origin of man ; and, as the former gradually took its place among their beliefs, they confused it with the latter, and (as in the Kedah and Perak legends) often made the two personages man and wife. Borneo, as well as the Straits of Malacca, possesses the Aryan legend, the Sanskrit word vijaya in the name of the hero of the story sufficiently showing to what quarter it must be ascribed. 

In the traditions to be hereafter quoted the bamboo myth alone appears. This conception, as above stated, originally explained the manner of the peopling of the earth by the human race¹ ; in a later stage of development it became associated with the advent of particular Rajas, It appears in beliefs held by the wild tribes of the Malay Peninsula, who are known in different localities by different names, — Benua, Semang, Sakei, Jakun, Udai, Mantra, Besisi, Alas, Akei, etc. It may be traced also in the traditionary accounts of the creation handed down by tribes in Sumatra and in islands as far east as the Philippines. 

The Orang Benua of the Malay Peninsula. — A writer who made the wild tribes of the Peninsula the subject of scientific observation and study ² gives the following abstract of the traditions of the Benua : 

“ The ground on which we stand is not solid. It is merely the skin of the earth (“kulit bumi”), In ancient times Pirman* broke up this skin, so that the world was destroyed and overwhelmed with water. Afterwards he caused Gunong, Lulumut, with Chimundang and Bechuak,³ to rise, and this low land which we inhabit was formed later.

... After Lulumut had emerged, a prahu of pulai wood, covered over and without any opening, floated on the waters. In this Pirman had inclosed a man and a woman whom he had made. After the lapse of some time the prahu was neither directed with nor against the current, nor driven to 

and fro. The man and woman, feeling it to rest motionless, nibbled their way through it, stood on the dry ground, and beheld this our world. At first, however, everything was obscure. There was neither morning nor evening, because the sun had not yet been made. When it became light they saw seven sindudo trees and seven plants of rumput samban. They then said to each other, "In what condition are we without children or grandchildren ?" Some time afterwards the woman became pregnant, not however in her womb, but in the calves of her legs. From the right leg was brought forth a male and from the left a female child. Hence it is that the issue of the same womb cannot intermarry. All mankind are the descendants of the two children of the first pair. When men had much increased, Pirman looked down upon them with pleasure, and reckoned their numbers.” 

Further on the supernatural origin of the ancient line of kings of the Benua is related : 

“ When Pirman saw that the land abounded in men, he considered it necessary to send a king to rule over them. One day the sound of a human voice was heard to proceed from a bamboo. It was split open, and the "Rajah Benua" stepped out.” 

The author adds, “The kind of invention or imagination displayed in the traditions respecting the origin of man and the advent of the Raja Benua is similar to that exhibited in traditions found in different parts of Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, and other islands of the Archipelago. The incidents are different, but the character of the inventions is the same.” 

Turning now to a locality sufficiently distant from the land of the Benua, a group of islands off the west coast of Sumatra, we find again the prominent characteristic of the same tradition, namely, the generation of human life from the interior of a closed receptacle. 

... A Dutch official, who visited the Mantawe Islands in 1817 and 1849, gives the following account of the belief of the inhabitants respecting their origin¹ : 

Mantawe Islands. — “ When these islands were still waste and unoccupied by man, and served only as the haunts of evil spirits, it happened once that a sinetu (or malevolent spirit) went out to fish. Having cast his net into the water, he brought up from the deep, in one of his first hauls, a bamboo case closed on all sides. Curious to see the contents, he opened it, and to his amazement there emerged from it four small human forms, which exposed to the light of day immediately grew to the ordinary stature of mankind. Delighted with this unlooked-for acquisition, the spirit would have taken the four men with him, considering them as his lawful property. They, however, not relishing this, ran away from him, and so effectually hid themselves that he lost all trace of them. Tired with his fruitless search he fell asleep, his head still filled with his wonderful draught, no wonder then that he dreamt of it. He beheld, amongst other things, his four men busy at a certain place cleaning the high forest and turning up the ground, on which he presently saw all kinds of fruit-bearing trees and plants planted and flourishing. The four fugitives had dreamt the same dream, and on awaking were astonished to find all the fruits and plants of their dream-land lying beside them. For the spirit, who had soon awoke, by following the indications of the place given in his dream, had succeeded in tracing his runaways, and, while they were still asleep, had gathered and placed beside them all the fruits. The four wanderers, acting on the suggestions which had thus been made to them, set to work, and after they had planted and sowed, all the plants immediately became full grown and bore blossoms and fruit. 

... To protect these from vermin the spirit changed himself into an iguana, without the four men being aware of it, and placed himself in one of the surrounding trees to keep his watch. It had not lasted long when a very large monkey came out of the jungle, who, in spite of the presence of the iguana, eat up the greater portion of the fruit. The men on their return, finding their loss and seeing the iguana on a tree, asked him if he had done the mischief, when he told how it had happened. Two of the men, however, discrediting his story, seized, slew, and eat him. They had hardly finished their repast when they fell lifeless as a punishment for their disbelief and cruelty. Their corpses sank into the ground, and from the spot there sprang up the Ipu tree, from the leaves of which the Mantaweans afterwards learned to prepare the poison for their arrows. The two survivors, husband and wife, lived long and happily, and were the progenitors of the Mantaweans.” 

It is not necessary to dwell now on the details of this singular growth of fable ; it is sufficient to show by the presence of the bamboo-myth in the Mantawe tradition a probable community of origin between the inhabitants of those islands and those of other Malay countries. 

Lampung, S. Sumatra. — Further south, the people of Lampung, at the southernmost extremity of Sumatra, explain their origin in a similar way. They say that their first law-giver was a fugitive prince of the royal family of Majapahit, named Naga Bisang. Some declare themselves to be the descendants of this Naga Bisang and a bidyadari or nymph ; others carry back their origin to an egg which was divided into compartments, each compartment containing a couple of each race known to them. ¹

Among other points of similarity between the nations of the Philippine Islands and those of the inland parts of Sumatra (especially where they differ most from the Malays) noticed by Marsden,² the appearance of this same myth receives a share of attention. It is impossible not to agree with the author that “no doubt can be entertained, if not of a sameness of origin, at least of an intercourse and connexion in former times, which now no longer exists.” 

Philippine Islands. - “The Tagalas,” writes Marsden,¹ “say that the first man and woman were produced from a bamboo, which burst in the island of Sumatra; and they quarrelled about their marriage.” 

Another authority quoted by Marsden ² gives a more detailed account of the Tagala belief just noticed: 

“ Their notions of the creation of the world, and formation of mankind, had something ridiculously extravagant. They believed that the world at first consisted only of sky and water, and between these two a glede ; which, weary with flying about, and finding no place to rest, set the water at variance with the sky, which, in order to keep it in bounds, and that it should not get uppermost, loaded the water with a number of islands, in which the glede might settle and leave them at peace. Mankind, they said, sprang out of a large cave with two joints, that, floating about in the water, was at length thrown by the waves against the feet of the glede as it stood on shore, which opened it with its bill, and the man came out of one joint and the woman out of the other. These were soon after married by consent of their god, Bathala Meycapal, which caused the first trembling of the earth ; and from thence are descended the different nations of the world.” 

Celebes. — The island of Celebes furnishes a parallel story. The following extract from a native history (the Galigas of the Bugis) is taken from Raffles’ History of Java: -

“ Bitara Guru was the eldest son of Dewata Pitutu by Dewa Paleng'i, and inhabited the seventh heaven. Dewata Pitutu had a brother called Guru Reslang, who held the rule of the region under the earth. Dewata Pitutu had nine children in all. 

“ When Bitara Guru was sent down upon earth by his father, Dewata Pitutu, he was provided with the following articles, viz. Telating peba, Siri ataka, Jelarasa, Wampung, Wanu, Chachu-bana. 

... The elder, a daughter named Salamatiti, dreamed five times successively that she was about to become a mother, and truly enough one day she was delivered of a magnificent egg, in which were reflected all the colours of the rainbow. This egg was concealed close to a clear and transparent stream, and there issued forth from it one morning a young man skilled in the manufacture of weapons, and of the most enlightened intellect. He was called Mokododoudout. 

“ About the same time an old man heard a singular noise in the interior of a buluh-kuning (yellow bamboo) ; he split it open, and the beautiful Putri Bonia came forth from it. Mokododoudout met this lovely damsel in a wood, and took her as his wife. From this union sprang the race of the Orang Bolaang, a name which signifies "men of beyond the seas."¹

Nusa-lant, Amboyna. — In a note appended to a vocabulary of peculiar words met with in the Malay dialect of Amboyna,² the author gives in Malay the history of the early settlement of Nusa-lant, an island of the Amboyna group, from the recital of a native chief. Here, again, the incident which seems to be inseparable from all aboriginal Malay traditions appears in a somewhat altered form. The following is a translated extract from Van Hoevell’s account : 

“ It happened once that the chief Latoemanoe descended from the mountain and went to the beach at Amahoetai to net fish. When he threw his casting-net into the salt water, he brought up no fish, but merely a cocoanut. This Latoemanoe took, intending to carry it back with him to his settlement, but he forgot it, and left it on the beach. On a subsequent occasion he again went down to the sea-shore to get some salt water, and he then found the cocoanut had become a tree on which were some green fruit. On looking up into the tree he saw a young male child sucking from one of the cocoanuts. He returned at once to the mountain Ama-oena, and having collected all his followers, he went down to the shore and took the child from the cocoanut tree, and carried him back to the settlement on the mountain. When the child grew up the people made him their Raja, 

and called him Latoe Moetihoe.” 

The Kayans of Borneo. — The only remaining kindred legends which I shall quote belong to the wild tribes of Borneo. At Bulugan, bounded on the east by the sea and on the south by the river Karan-Tigu, near the cape Jarum, a tradition states the god of thunder, Belaniyap, once created a man, Alang-Bilung, and caused to issue forth from a tree an egg which inclosed a woman, Suri-Lemloi. These two persons begot the race of Dayak-Kayan, whom the Segais attacked and brought under the sway of the chiefs of Bulangan.¹ 

The Dayaks of Borneo. — In the cosmogony of the Dayaks the earth is supported on tlie head of a snake called Naga-pusai. Batu-Jumpa, son of the supreme deity Hatalla, saw upon the snake two eggs. He descended from heaven and broke 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 the air are descended.’²

Here, then, in the rude traditional beliefs common to the races of the Eastern Archipelago, a geographical expression including twenty-five degrees of latitude, we have the conception from which sprung the legends preserved to us by the Muhammadan historians of Malay States. In the latter, metaphysical ideas have altogether disappeared, and the main incident survives, incorporated in the history of human adventures. No longer accepted as a superstitious belief, it has been unconsciously retained as an historical episode. 

It is interesting to notice that in Borneo, as in the Peninsula, the more civilized communities have both myths, while the purely savage tribes have only that relating to the bamboo or egg. The Malays have their foam-born princess as well as their Raja of the buluh bӗtong, but the wild Benua of the interior of the Peninsula own the latter only. So in Borneo, in ancient settlements on the coast, legends like that of Bra-vijaya are current, whereas the uncivilized Dayak and Kayan tribes (though the bamboo myth has a place in their traditions) know nothing of the more poetical legend of the princess who emerged from the foam or lotus. The limited diffusion of the latter conception tends to confirm and establish the theory which ascribes to it an Aryan origin. Its presence invariably denotes that Hindu civilization has penetrated to the locality in which it is found. 

The sudden production of completely developed life from the interior of a closed cylindrical object is a conception very similar to, though quite distinct from, the ancient theory of the creation of the world from the divided portions of an egg. Both are found among Malay races, but the first is Turanian, and the second of Aryan importation. I have found in Perak in the writings of Pawangs, or medicine-men who practise a regular system of Shamanism, a legend approaching very nearly to that contained in the Manek Maya of Java. This work, which contains much of  the ancient mythology of the Javanese, describes how Sang Yang Wisesa (the all-powerful) existed before the heavens and earth were created. He saw a ball suspended over him, and on his laying hold of it, it separated into three parts ; one part became the heavens and earth, another became the sun and moon, and the third was man.¹

The archetype of this fable is found in Hindu mythology, the resemblance of which in this particular respect to certain beliefs of Grecian and Egyptian antiquity has been long since pointed out.² 

I will conclude this paper with a translation of the tradition of the Perak pawangs, or Shamans, regarding the creation of the world. As may be supposed, it is inconsistent with the teachings of orthodox Muhammadanism, the secret science of these men, though firmly believed in by the Malays, being acknowledged to be heretical and sinful : ¹

“ It is said that in the days of the earliest pawang, in ancient times, GOD was not yet called ALLAH, the Prophet was not yet called Muhammad, the sky, earth, light, darkness, the throne of God, the sun, the moon, the stars, the clouds, heaven, hell, the world, and the firmament had not vet taken visible form ; spirits and mankind, the devil and the angels had not yet appeared ; but the first and greatest was Pawang Sadia,² who was wrapped in contemplation of all within himself and without himself. (From him has descended the practice of tilik, divination.) In his abstraction were revealed to him all those things which have been enumerated (the sky, the earth, etc.), even as they are at the present day. 

“ And Pawang Sadia was exceedingly desirous of seeing these things in a visible form. Pawang Asal ³ was then created and he went into the presence of Pawang Sadia in the form of an unggas.* And Pawang Sadia spake to the unggas, using a sign which is called Kata awal pawang (the word of the earliest pawang), and said, "0 ! unggas, who am I ? ’"And the unggas said, "I do not know." 

... Then said Pawang Sadia, "I am Pawang Sadia, thou art Pawang Asal, from thee is the origin of all pawangs, and from thee is the origin of the earth and its contents, and from thee proceeds the creation of spirits (jin) and mankind, and from thee originates the creation of the demons (sheitan) and the Devil (Iblis), and from thee proceed all evils and remedies, and from thee is the source of the candle and the incense, the rice and the bertih, the tepong tawar and pemolih, the ambar-ambar and the gagawar.¹ 

“ Now at that time there was a Baluh Zat,² which, after a time, burst asunder in the middle, and Pawangs say that it was not until after the Baluh Zat had broken that there were heaven and earth, land, fire, water, and air, and that the world then first took substance. 

“ After the breaking of the Baluh Zat the sky was formed and the vault of heaven was set up, and the earth and the mountains of Kaf became solid...

“ Then Pawang Sadia ordered the unggas to go and watch the progress of the world, and to see what there now was. So the unggas flew from the north to the south, and from the east to the west, and returned immediately and came before Pawang Sadia. Then said Pawang Sadia, "0 ! Pawang Asal, what have you seen ?" And the unggas replied, "There is nothing except a thickening in the midst of the sea, but when I stepped upon it behold it was fluid as water. Its name I do not know." And Pawang Sadia said, "That is the solidification of the earth."

... The unggas continued, "One other thing I saw, and that was a border encircling it." And Pawang Sadia said, "That border is Bukit Kaf; go thou and sprinkle it with tepong tawar, and thence go on and do the same where the solid earth is forming, and apply ambar-ambar to all that is in the water, and after that, wherever thou findest solid matter on the surface of the water hang up gagawar." 

“And the unggas went away and did as was directed by Pawang Sadia, and after six periods returned. Then Pawang Sadia asked, "What has been accomplished ?" And the unggas said, "The border has become like a wall of a bright green colour, and the solid formation was spread out smooth and clean, but, when the ambar-ambar touched it, it took a variety of colours. There is an opening in one place, for the border does not extend all the way round. At this place I have suspended gagawar." 

“ Now the use of the gagawar was to restrain the wind and the moving water from entering for seven days, so that the earth might consolidate. And after six days had passed, and the seventh day had arrived, the whole earth was solid.”