Malay Magic

Note 95 — Chapter V · Magic Rites connected with the Several Departments of Nature

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The Deer95

Anthropomorphic ideas are held by the Malays almost as strongly in the case of the Deer as of any other animal.

The Deer is, by all Malays, believed to have sprung from a man who suffered from a severe ulcer or abscess (chabuk) on the leg, (which is supposed to have left its trace on the deer’s legs to this day). Of the Perak form of this legend Sir William Maxwell writes as follows:—

“The deer (rusa) is sometimes believed to be the metamorphosed body of a man who has died of an abscess in the leg (chabuk), because it has marks on the legs which are supposed to resemble those caused by the disease mentioned. Of course there are not wanting men ready to declare that the body of a man who has died of chabuk has been seen to rise from the grave and to go away into the forest in the shape of a deer.”96

The Selangor legend is practically identical with that current in Perak.

The deer are frequently addressed, in the charms used by the hunters, exactly as if they were human beings, e.g.—

“If you wish to wear bracelets and rings

Stretch out your two fore-feet.”

These rings and bracelets are of course the nooses which depend from the toils.

In a charm of similar import we find:—

“Ho, Crown Prince (Raja Muda) with your Speckled Princess (Pŭtri Dandi),

Rouse you quickly (from your slumbers)

And clasp (round your neck) King Solomon’s necklace.”

I may add that in some places the Pawang (magician) will himself first enter the toils, probably with the object of deceiving the stag as to their nature and purpose.

The ceremonies for hunting deer are somewhat intricate, and it will perhaps be best to commence by giving a general description of deer-catching as practised by the Malays.

“This pastime”97 (deer-catching) “is one the Malay delights in. After a rainy night, deer may be easily traced to their lair by their footprints, and as they remain stationary by day the hunters have ample time to arrange their apparatus. When the hiding-place is discovered all the young men of the kampong98 assemble, and the following ceremony is performed before they sally out on the expedition: Six or eight coils of rattan rope, about an inch in diameter, are placed on a triangle formed with three rice-pounders, and the oldest of the company, usually an experienced sportsman, places a cocoa-nut shell filled with burning incense in the centre, and taking sprigs of three bushes, viz. the jellatang, sapunie, and sambon99 plants (these, it is supposed, possess extraordinary virtues), he walks mysteriously round the coils, beating them with the sprigs, and erewhile muttering some gibberish, which, if possessing any meaning, the sage keeps wisely to himself. During the ceremony the youths of the village look on with becoming gravity and admiration. It is believed that the absence of this ceremony would render the expedition unsuccessful, the deer would prove too strong for the ropes, and the wood demons frustrate their sport by placing insurmountable obstacles in their way. Much faith appears to be placed in the ceremony. Each coil referred to above is sixty to seventy fathoms long, and to the rope running nooses, made also of rattan rope, are attached about three feet apart from each other. On reaching the thicket wherein the deer are concealed, stakes are driven into the ground a few feet apart in a straight line, the coils are then opened out, and the rope attached to the stakes, two or three feet above the ground, with the nooses hanging down, and two of the party conceal themselves near the stakes armed with knives for the purpose of despatching the deer when entangled in the nooses. The remainder of the hunters arrange themselves on the opposite side of the thicket and advance towards it, shouting and yelling at the top of their voices. The deer, startled from their rest, spring to their feet and naturally flee from the noise towards the nooses, and in a short time are entangled in them. As they struggle to escape, the concealed hunters rush out and despatch them. Occasionally the flight is prolonged till the major party arrives, and then the noble creatures soon fall beneath the spears and knives of their assailants. The animal is divided between the sportsmen.”100

The “gibberish” employed by the deer Pawangs when the latter enter the jungle is intended to induce the wood demons and earth demons to recede, or at least to dissuade them from active interference with the proceedings. Charms are also employed by the Pawang, as he proceeds, from time to time, to “ask for” a tree (to which the toils may be fastened); to “ask for” a deer; to unroll and suspend the toils; to call upon the spirits (who are the herdsmen of the deer) to drive the latter down to meet the dogs; to turn back the deer when they have got away; to “prick” or urge on the dogs, or make them bark; to stop wild dogs from barking in the jungle, or those of the pack from barking at the wrong moment; to deceive the deer as to the reality of the toils used by the hunters; to deceive the spirits as to the identity of the hunting-party; and, finally, to drive out the “mischief” (badi) from the carcase of the slain animal; examples of all of which will be found in the course of the next few pages.

The first charm which I give is one used in “asking for deer”:—

“Ho! master of me your slave, Sidi the Dim-eyed,

Si Lailanang and Si Laigan his brother,

Si Dĕripan, Si Baung, Si Bakar,

Si Songsang (Sir Topsy Turvy), Si Bĕrhanyut (Sir Floater),

Si Pongking, Si Tĕmungking!

I demand Deer, a male and a female,

Blunt-hoofed, hard-browed,

Long-eared, tight-waisted,

Shut-eyed, shaggy-maned, spotted;

If not the shut-eyed, the shaggy-maned and the spotted,

The “rascal,” the starveling, the mere skeleton.

Most fervently we beg this boon, by the light of this very same day,

By virtue of the ‘kiraman katibin.’101

And here is the token of my petition.”102

The directions proceed:—

“On first entering the jungle, say—

“Ho, Hantu Bakar, Jĕmbalang Bakar,

Turn a little aside,

That I may let loose my body-guard.”

(By which the “pack” is no doubt intended.)

“When you meet the slot, examine the slot. If it is a little shortened on one side, the quarry is in some danger; if it has gone lame of one hoof, it is a sign that it will be killed within seven days.

“After entering the jungle, and finding the dogs, wait for the dogs to bark, and then give out this ‘cooee’—

“Ho! Si Lanang, Si Lambaun,

Si Kĕtor, Si Becheh!

Ye Four Herdsmen of the Deer,

Come ye down to meet the dogs.

And refuse not to come down

Or ye shall be rebels unto God, etc.

It is not I who am huntsman,

It is Pawang Sidi (wizard Sidi) that is huntsman;

It is not I whose dogs these are,

It is Pawang Sakti (the ‘magic wizard’) whose dogs these are;

Let Dang Durai cross the water,

It is only a civet-cat that is left for me.

Grant this by virtue of my teacher, ’Toh Raja—

May his art be yet more powerful in my hands.103

By virtue of ‘There is no god but God,’” etc.

A deer Pawang (’Che Indut) also gave me this charm for recital when the support (lit. “shoulder”) of the noose is being cut (for which purpose it would appear that a young tree of the kind called “Delik” is usually taken).

“The Delik’s branches spread out horizontally (at the top),104

Chop at it, and it will produce roots.

Though its bark is destroyed, a cudgel is still left for people’s bones,

Even though it be worked on by the charm Kalinting Bakar.”105

From the same source I obtained this charm, addressed to the Deer, but intended for fixing the scent (mĕnĕtapkan bau), and for suspending the toils (mĕmasang jĕrat):—

“Teng106 [stands for] the satengteng flower,

Ascend ye the twin stream.

If you delight in bracelets and rings

Push forward your two fore-feet.

“When setting the nooses (bubohkan pĕrindu jĕrat) say, addressing the deer as before:—

“Be filled with yearning, be filled with longing,

As the Holy Basil grows even to a rock,

Be filled with yearning as you sit, be filled with yearning as you go,

Fast-bound by love of this noose of mine.”

The directions given me by another Pawang commenced with a charm for emboldening the dogs, after which the account proceeds:—

“When you have finished (the charm referred to), take seven steps forward, leaving the toils behind you, and standing erect, look forward and call as follows:—

“O all ye Saids (lawful descendants of the Prophet),

Unto you, my Lords, belong the Deer,

Si Lambaun was the origin of the Deer,

Si Lanang is their Herdsman,

Drive ye the Deer into our toils.

This causeway of rock (titian batu) is your high road and market-square,

The resort of innumerable people.

Follow, follow in long procession,

And let the “Assembly”-Flower unfold its petals.

Come in procession, come in succession,

Our toils have come to summon you to the spot.

Ho, Deer that are unfortunate, Deer that are curst,

Enter this path of mine which is empty of men.

On the left stand spearmen,

On the right stand spearmen,

And whichever of (those two) ways you go,

By that self-same way will you be turned back.

“Now proceed till you meet the stag, and as he rouses himself from slumber, say:—

“Ho, Crown Prince with your Speckled Princess,

Rouse you in haste and slip on King Solomon’s royal breast ornament.

Receive it, receive it in your turn,

And do ye (huntsmen) shout ‘Bi’ again and again.

“[Here the spearmen right and left shout in concert.]

“So, too, when spearing the deer, say—

“It is not I who spear you,

It is Pawang Sidi who spears you.

“When you have secured a deer, flick (kĕbaskan) the carcase thrice in a downward direction with a black cloth or with a leafy spray (if you will), such as the deer feed upon, for instance with the sĕndayan (or sĕndĕreian, a kind of sedge), or with fern-shoots, and call out:—

“O Si Lanang, Si Lambaun,

Si Kĕtor, Si Becheh, who are Four Persons,

Take back your own share (of the carcase).107

“Here ‘take the representative parts, pierce them with a rattan line, and suspend them from a tree.’”

But the fullest account of this ceremony (of driving out the mischief from the carcase) runs as follows:—

“When you have caught the deer, cast out the mischief from it (buang dia-punya badi). To effect this, take a black jacket such as can cast out this mischief (if no black jacket is obtainable, take the branch of any tree), and stroke (the carcase) from the head downwards to the feet and the rump, saying as you do so:—

“Ho Badi Serang, Badi Mak Buta,

Si Panchor Mak Tuli,