Note 27 — Chapter II · Man and his Place in the Universe

The following recital of the titles of a Sumatran Raja will show at least the extraordinary pretensions to sanctity which to this day (with, in some parts, no great diminution) hedge about the person of the Malay king:—

“The Sultan of Menangcabow, whose residence is at Pagarooyoong (after pardon asked for presuming to mention his name), who is king of kings, son of Raja Iscunder-zulcarnainny, ... master of the third of the wood maccummat, one of whose properties is to enable matter to fly; of the lance ornamented with the beard of Jangee, of the palace of the city of Rome; ... of the gold of twelve grains named coodarat coodarattee, resembling a man; ... who is possessed of the sword named Chooree-se-mendong-geree, which has an hundred and ninety gaps, made in the conflict with the arch-devil, Se Cattee-moono, whom it slew; who is master of fresh water in the ocean, to the extent of a day’s sailing; possessed of a lance formed of a twig of ejoo (the gomuti, or sugar-palm); of a calewang (scimitar) wrapped in an unmade chinday (cloth); of a creese (dagger) formed of the soul of steel, which, by a noise, expresses an unwillingness at being sheathed, and shows itself pleased when drawn; of a date coeval with the creation; possessed of a gun brought from heaven, named soubahana hou ouatanalla; of a horse of the race of sorimbor-ahnee, superior to all others; Sultan of the Burning Mountain, and of the mountains goontang-goontang, which divide Palembang and Jambee; who may slay at pleasure without being guilty of a crime; who is possessed of the elephant named settee dewa; who is Vicegerent of Heaven; Sultan of the Golden River; Lord of the Air and Clouds; master of a balli (Audience-Hall), whose pillars are of the shrub jelattang; of gandangs (drums) made of hollowed branches of the minute shrubs pooloot and seelosooree; of the gong that resounds to the skies; of the buffalo named Se Binnooang Sattee, whose horns are ten feet asunder; of the unconquered cock, Sengonannee; of the cocoa-nut tree whose amazing height, and being infested with serpents and other noxious reptiles, render it impossible to be climbed; of the flower named seeree menjeree, of ambrosial scent; who, when he goes to sleep, wakes not till the gandang nobat (state drum) sounds; one of whose eyes is as the sun and the other as the moon.”—Marsden, Hist. of Sum. p. 270.

On the foregoing list I should like to remark (1) that the necessity of asking pardon for mentioning the king’s name is considered by the Peninsular Malays to be as imperative as ever. (2) The expression “who is master of fresh water in the ocean” is explained by a passage in Leyden’s Malay Annals (p. 37), where, all the fresh water being exhausted, “Raja Sang Sapurba directed them to bring rotans and tie them in circles and throw them in the water; then having himself descended into a small boat, he inserted his feet into the water, within the circles of bamboo (sic), and by the Power of God Almighty and the virtue of a descendant of Raja Secander Zulkarneini, the water within these circles became fresh, and all the crews supplied themselves with it, and unto this day the fresh water is mixed with the salt at this place.” (3) The horse, which is usually called “Sĕmbrani,” is a magic steed, “which could fly through the air as well as swim through the water” (Leyd., Mal. Ann. p. 17). (4) For the mountains Goontang-goontang (or Saguntang Mahamiru), cp. Leyden’s Mal. Ann. p. 20 seqq. (5) The privilege of “slaying at pleasure without being guilty of a crime” is a privilege which still belongs to Malay sovereigns of the first rank.

Similar sacred objects, belonging to another Sultan of “Menangcabow” named “Gaggar Allum”(GegarʿAlam), “were a sacred crown from God”; “the cloth sansistah kallah, which weaves itself, and adds one thread yearly of fine pearls, and when that cloth shall be finished the world will be no more”; “the dagger Hangin Cinga (Singa?) which will, at his command, fight of itself”; “the blue champaka flower, which is to be found in no country but his (being yellow elsewhere),” and many others worthy of the Sultan “whose presence bringeth death to all who attempt to approach him without permission,” and of the “Sultan of Indrapore, who has four breasts.”—Marsden, Hist. of Sum. p. 272. ↑