A Manual of the Malay language, Sir Maxwell William Edward [life changing books to read txt] 📗

The groups of words remaining to be noticed are those connected with the Hindu religion, and with the demon-worship or spirit-worship, which was the earliest form which the religious sentiment took among the Malay tribes.35 After the conversion of the Malays to the faith of Muhammad, the traditions of Hinduism were gradually confused with the aboriginal superstitions, and neither have been entirely obliterated by the cult which superseded them. The belief in the power of malignant spirits to cause misfortune, sickness, and death is still strong among the Malays, whose pawangs or medicine-men claim to be able to propitiate demons by spells, prayers, and offerings. These men frequently invoke benevolent spirits by the names of Rama, Vishnu, and other Hindu deities, in complete ignorance that they are Hindu,36 to counteract the evil influences of malevolent demons. Practices of this sort prevail most generally in places remote from Arab influence.

The Malays did not altogether discard the theological terms of Hinduism when they adopted a new religion. For instance, puâsa,37 abstinence, fasting (Sansk. upavâsa), is used to express the annual fast of the Muhammadans during the month Ramzan. Heaven and hell also retain their Sanskrit names.

The following are some of the principal theological terms which have passed from Sanskrit into Malay:—

âgama (sacred science)38

J., S. Mak., Bu., and D. agama.

Spiritual guide

J., S. Mak., Bu., and D. guru.

Praise, adoration

puji, puja

pûj (to honour)

pûjâ (worshipping)

J. and S. puji, puja; Bat. and Mak. puji; D. mampuji; to invoke.

Religious penance

J., S., Mak., D., and Bu. tapa.

nâraka, patâla

naraka, pâtâla

J., S., Mak., and D. naraka; S. patala.

Fast, abstinence

J., S., Mak., D., and Bis. puasa; Bat. puaso.

Supernatural power

çakti (strength, power)

Meritorious service, merit

bhakti (worship, devotion)

Sacred formula, charm, spell

J., S., Mak., Bu., and D. dupa; Bat. daupa; Tag. dupa-an, censer.

Incense (made of eight ingredients)

ashṭaka (a collection of eight things)

S. istanggi; Mak. satanggi.

Censer (a bamboo split at one end, and opened out so as to form a receptacle)

çaṅkha (conchshell used for libations)

çaṅkha (conchshell used for blowing as a horn), kala (time)

Protection, blessing, or invocation to secure protection

Sati, self-sacrifice on the tomb of a lord or husband

velâ (sudden death?)

J. and Bat. bela.

Recluse, devotee

bhikshu (a religious mendicant)

Kw. wiku; Siam. phiku, a devotee, beggar.

Mystic words prefixed to prayers and invocations

Om, hong39

om (a mystic word prefacing all prayers); hum (a mystic syllable used in incantations)

Sacrifice, burnt-offering

homa (sacrifice)

DEITIES, &c.

avatâra (descent)

J., S., Bat., and Mak. batara; Bis. batala, idol.

Minor deity

dêwa, dêwâta

deva, devatâ

J. and S. dewa, dewata; Mak. dewa, rewata; D. dewa; Bis. dia, idol; Bat. debata; Bu. dewata.

Do. (female)

J., S., and Mak. dewi.

Names supposed by Malays to belong to powerful spirits or demons

Brahma (one of the three principal Hindu deities)

Vishnu (one of the three principal Hindu deities)

Srî Râma

Râma (the hero of the Râmâyana)

Arjuna (the third son of Pandu)

Varuṇa (the deity of the waters)

Hanumant (the monkey chief in the Râmâyana)

Maharshi (a sage of a pre-eminent class)

Supernatural beings

Indra (king of heaven)

Kw. Endra; S. Indra.

Chandra (the moon)

J. and S. Chandra.

Nymph, goddess

Vidyâdharî (a female demi-god)

J. Widadari; Mak. Bidadari.

DEMONS, &c.

jana, janu

jana (creature, demon)

Malignant spirit

J. and S. buta; Mak. bota.

Name of a particular demon

pancha-maha-bôta

panchan (five); bhûta (element); the five elements according to the Hindus are earth, fire, water, air, and æther

A kind of demon

bhoga (a snake)

Name of a particular demon

bhujaṃga (a snake)

An evil spirit

Ghost, goblin

hantu (death)

J. antu; Bat. and S. hantu; D. hantu, corpse.

Spectre (which haunts the scene of a murder or sudden death)

vadha (killing, murder)

A female who chants incantations

bîdû, bidûan

vidhavâ (a widow)

Bat. biduwan.

Spell to cause death

pramaya (death)

A daitya or demon

A supernatural monster

karkaça (cruel), or perhaps, from ugra, very strong, terrible, cruel

J. gargasi, a large bird

çâstra (science, learning)

Magician, sorcerer

çâstravant (skilled in the holy writings)

A remarkable instance of the extent to which the Malay language has been enriched by Aryan terms is to be found in their national or racial name. The origin of the word Malayu (the native word from which we obtain our “Malay”) has been made the subject of some discussion by several authors. Some are disposed to trace it to the Sanskrit word malaya, while others prefer to regard it as a purely native word. These views are summarised in the following extract from the introduction to the Malay Grammar of the Abbé Favre:—

“Some authors, and particularly Dr. Leyden, whose authority in this matter is of great weight, derive the word malayu from the Tamil malé, which means ‘mountain,’ whence malaya, ‘chain of mountains,’ a word applied in Sanskrit to the Western Ghauts.

“Marsden asserts that this opinion, being founded upon a mere resemblance of sound between the Sanskrit word malaya and the name of the Malay people, is not sufficient to justify this derivation.40

“Nevertheless the opinion of Dr. Leyden has continued to command belief, and has been regarded as not altogether unfounded by M. Louis de Backer, who has recently published a work on the Indian Archipelago.41

“Another theory, which has the support of Werndly,42 is so far simple and rational that it seeks the etymology of this word in the traditions of the Malays and in books written by themselves. Thus, in a work which has the greatest authority among them, and which is entitled Sulālates-salātin, or Sejārat malāyu, the following passage occurs:—

“‘There is in the island of Sumatra an ancient kingdom called Palembang, opposite to the island of Banka; a river flows there which is still called Tatang, into the upper portion of which another river falls, after having watered the spurs of the mountain Maha Meru (which Malay princes claim as the cradle of their origin); the tributary is called Melayu, or Malayu.’ The meaning of this word is ‘to flow quickly’ or ‘rapidly,’ from layu, which in Javanese as well as in the dialect of Palembang signifies ‘swift, rapid;’ it has become laju, melaju, in Malay by the conversion of ي into ج, a change which is by no means rare in Malay, as it may be seen in يهوري and جهوري,43 from the Sanskrit ayuta and yodi, and in جوري jehudi, from the Arabic جوت yehudi, &c.

“Now the Malays, an essentially nautical people, are in the habit of settling along the banks of rivers and streams, whence it comes that a great number of their towns have taken the names of the rivers on or near which they are situated, such as Johor, Pahang, &c. In this way ‘the country situated near the river of which the current is rapid,’ Sungei Malayu, would take the name of Tanah Malayu, and the inhabitants of this country (governed in those times by a chief named Demang Lebar Daun) that of Orang Malayu, just as the inhabitants of Johor and Pahang are called Orang Johor, Orang Pahang; and their language is called Bahasa Orang Malayu or Bahasa Malayu.

“The name of Malayu thus applied to the people and to the language spread with the descendants of Demang Lebar Daun, whose son-in-law, Sang Sapurba, became king of Menangkabau or Pagar Ruwang, a powerful empire in the interior of Sumatra. A grandson of Demang Lebar Daun, named Sang Mutiaga, became king of Tanjong Pura. A second, Sang Nila Utama, married the daughter of the queen of Bentan, and immediately founded the kingdom of Singapore, a place previously known as Tamassak. It was a descendant of his, Iskander Shah, who founded the empire of Malacca, which extended over a great part of the peninsula; and, after the capture of Malacca by the Portuguese, became the empire of Johor. It is thus that a portion of the Indian Archipelago has taken the name of Tanah Malayu, ‘Malay country.’

“One of the granddaughters of Demang Lebar Daun was married to the Batara or king of Majapahit, a kingdom which extended over the island of Java and beyond it; and another was married to the Emperor of China, a circumstance which contributed not a little to render the name of Malayu or Malay known in distant parts.”44

This theory requires that we should suppose that a word of wide application, which is known wherever Malays have established themselves, is, in fact, a Malay word disguised in a form found only in Javanese and the dialect of Palembang. If the arguments adduced in support of it are to apply, we must first of all admit the very doubtful historical accuracy of the Sejarah Malayu, from which they are drawn.

There is a Malay word, layu, which means “faded,” “withered,” and it is only the exigency of finding a word applicable to a river that makes it necessary to look for a derivation in laju, swift. In this or some kindred sense the word laju is found in