“The successful practice of (Malay) medicine must be based on the fundamental principle of ‘preserving the balance of power’ among the four elements. This is chiefly to be effected by constant attention to, and moderation in, diet. To enforce these golden precepts, passages from the Korān are plentifully quoted against excess in eating or drinking. Air, they say, is the cause of heat and moisture, and earth of cold and dryness. They assimilate the constitution and passions of man to the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and the seven planets, etc.”
“The mysterious sympathy between man and external nature ... was the basis of that system of supernatural magic which prevailed in Europe during the Middle Ages.”116
The foregoing quotation shows that the distinctive features of the Aristotelian hygienic theory, as borrowed by the Arabs, did eventually filter through (in some cases) until they reached the Malays. Such direct references, however, to Greek theories are of the rarest character, and can hardly be considered typical.
Most of the more important rites practised by the Malay medicine-men (Bomor117) may be divided into two well-defined parts. Commencing with a ceremonial “inspection” (the counterpart of our modern “diagnosis”), the Bomor proceeds to carry out a therapeutic ceremony, the nature of which is decided by the results of the “inspection.” For the purposes of the diagnosis he resorts to divination, by means of omens taken from the smoke of the burning censer, from the position of coins thrown into water-jars (batu buyong), and parched rice floating upon the water’s surface.
The therapeutic rites, on the other hand, may be roughly classified as follows according to their types:118—
Plate 16.—Bomor at work.
Model, showing a medicine-man (bomor or pawang) at work, the patient lying in bed with his child at his side. The “three jars” (buyong tiga) used by the medicine-man are standing in a row at the side of the room. They are a little too large in proportion.
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I shall take each of the types in order.
For the water-jar ceremony three jars (buyong) containing water are brought to the sick man’s room and decorated with the fringe or necklace of plaited cocoa-nut leaves, which is called “Centipedes’ Feet” (jari ’lipan). A fourth jar should contain a sort of bouquet of artificial flowers to serve as an attraction to the sick man’s soul (sĕmangat). You will also require a tray filled with the usual accessories of Malay magic ceremonies (incense, three sorts of rice, etc.), besides three wax tapers, one of which you will plant upon the brim of each of the three jars.
When all is ready, drop the incense upon the embers, and as the smoke rises repeat this charm:—
“If you are at one with me, rise towards me, O smoke;
If you are not at one with me, rise athwart me, O smoke,
Either to right or left.”120
As you say this, “catch” the first puff of smoke and inhale it (tangkap-lah puchok asap, chium), as it rises towards you. If the smell is pleasant (sĕdap) it is a good sign; if it has a scorched smell (hangit) it is bad; but if it smells offensive (busok) no medicine can save the patient.
Next, before you look into the jars, take handfuls of “parched,” “washed,” and “saffron” rice, and after fumigating them over the incense, strew them all round the row of jars, saying as you do so:—
“Cluck, cluck! souls of So-and-so, all seven of you!121
Come, and let all of us here together
See (about the) medicine for (you) O souls of So-and-so.”
Here strew (tabor) the rice first to the right, then to the left, and then to the right again.
Before removing the calladium-leaves from the jar-mouths, repeat the following:—
“Peace be with you, Prophet ’Tap, in whose charge is the earth,
Suawam, in whose charge are the heavens,
Prophet Noah, in whose charge are the Trees,
Prophet Elias, Planter of Trees,
And Prophet Khailir (Khizr), in whose charge is the water,
I crave permission to see the remedies for So-and-so.”
Here remove the calladium-leaves from the jar-mouths, and taking one of the wax tapers, wave it in the smoke of the censer seven times towards the right, and say:—
“Peace be with you, O Tanju, I adopt you to be a guardian for my brother,
You who are sprung from the original elements,
From the former time unto the present,
You who sprang from the gum of the eyes of Muhammad,
I ask to see the disease of So-and-so.”
Here plant the taper firmly upon the edge of the jar, and “gaze” into the water “to see the signs” (ʿalamat-nya).
Thus if there is an oily scum on the water (ayer bĕrk’rak lĕmak) it is a bad sign; and to this may be added that if the calladium-leaf covering has acquired a faded look (layu) in the interim, it is a sign of severe sickness.
Fumigate the outside of the jars with the smoke of the incense (the medicine-man does this by “washing” his hands in the smoke and then rubbing over the outside of the jars as if he were “shampooing” them); and anoint them with “oil of Celebes” (minyak Bugis). Then take a “closed fistful” (sa-gĕnggam) of parched rice, and holding it over the smoke of the censer (ganggang di asap kĕm’nyan), repeat this charm:—
“Peace be with you, Mustia Kĕmbang,
I adopt you as a guardian for my brother,
If in truth you are sprung from the primordial elements,
From the former time unto the present,
I know the origin from which you sprang,
For you sprang from our Lady Eve (Siti Hawa),
You I order, your co-operation I invoke,
That whatsoever shape you assume
Within this your garden of splendour,
You break neither plighted faith nor solemn promise.”
Here throw the parched rice into the jars, and say:—
“Peace be unto you, O Prophet ’Tap, in whose charge is the Earth,
O Prophet Noah in whose charge are the Trees,
And Prophet Khailir in whose charge is the Water,
I crave this water (lit. ‘exudation’) as a boon,
For the healing of So-and-so.”
And observe these signs:—
Next, see what patterns are formed by the rice-grains as they lie on the water:—
Now take all kinds of fragrant flowers and shred them (buat bunga rampai), add the shredded blossoms of four which are scentless (for instance, blossoms of the sĕlaguri, pulut-pulut, bali-adap, and kĕdudok), mix them and throw them into the jars, then plant in each jar the flower-spathe of an areca-palm (mayang pinang). Throw into each a “jar-stone” (i.e. a dollar), and the jars will be ready. You should then read the foregoing charms over each of them.
The extra jar which is filled with a sort of big nosegay (gumba) represents a pleasure-garden (taman bunga), and is intended to attract the soul (sĕmangat) of the sick man.
Now take parched rice and hold it over the incense (di-ganggang) saying:—
“Peace be with you, O Wheat,
You I wish to command, your co-operation I invoke
In ‘inspecting’ the sickness of So-and-so.
Break neither plighted faith nor solemn promise,
But inspect the sickness of this grandson of Adam,
This follower of the Prophet Muhammad, of the race of the sons of men, So-and-so;
If anything should supervene,
Do you ‘stir’ within this pure heart (of mine).”
Plate 17.—Anchak.
Model of the sacrificial tray (anchak) used by the medicine-man, showing the kind of fringe round the tray called “centipedes’ feet,” and the rice receptacles of plaited palm-fronds (kĕtupat and lĕpat) which are attached to the “suspenders” of the tray.
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Now scatter the parched rice upon the surface of the water in the jars, and watch for the signs:—
The most popular method of propitiating evil spirits consists in the use of the sacrificial tray called Anchak.
This is “a small frame of bamboo or wood,”122 usually from two to three feet square and turned up at the sides, which are decorated with a long fringe (jari’lipan) of plaited cocoa-nut leaf. Four rattan “suspenders” of equal length (tali pĕnggantong) are fastened to the four corners, and are thence carried up to meet at a point which may be from two to three feet above the tray.
These trays appear to be divisible into two classes, according to the objects which they are intended to serve. In the one case certain offerings (to be described presently) are laid upon the tray, which is carried out of the house to a suitable spot and there suspended to enable the spirits for whom it is designed to feed upon its contents.123 In the other case certain objects are deposited upon it, into which the evil spirits are ceremoniously invited to enter, in which case it must obviously be got rid of after the ceremony, and is therefore hung up in the jungle, or set adrift in the sea or the nearest river; in the latter case it is called the “keeled sacrifice-tray” (anchak pĕlunas), and falls into line with other objects which are occasionally set adrift for the same purpose.
The offerings placed on the sacrificial tray vary considerably, according to the object of the ceremony, the means of the person for whose benefit they are offered, the caprice of the medicine-man who carries out the ceremony, and so on.124
I shall therefore, in the present place, merely describe the contents of a more or less typical tray, with the main points of the accompanying ritual.
The bottom of the tray having been lined with banana-leaf, and thickly strewn with parched rice, there are deposited in the tray itself five “chews” of betel-leaf, five native “cigarettes” (rokok), five wax tapers, five small water-receptacles or limas (made of banana-leaf and skewered together at each end), and five copper cents (or dollars). The articles just enumerated are divided into five portions, one of which is deposited in the centre of the tray, and the remainder in its four corners. Besides this there are to be deposited in the tray fourteen portions of meat (of fowl, goat, or buffalo, as the case may be), and fourteen portions of Malay “cakes,” care being taken in each case to see that there are seven portions of cooked and seven portions of uncooked food provided. The rattan “suspenders,” again, are hung with two sets of ornamental rice-receptacles made of plaited cocoa-nut leaf (fourteen of the long-shaped kind, or lĕpat, and fourteen of the diamond-shaped kind, or kĕtupat). Besides this, two sets of (cooked and uncooked) packets of rice (each stained a different colour) are sometimes deposited in the tray, the colours used being white, yellow, red, black, blue, green, and purple. The only other articles required for the tray are a couple of eggs, of which one must, of course, be cooked and the other raw.
Of the water-receptacles, those in alternate corners are filled with water and cane-juice, the central receptacle being filled with the blood of the fowl (or other animal slain for the sacrifice).
Upon the ground, exactly underneath the tray, should be deposited the feathers, feet, entrails, etc., of the fowl, portions of whose flesh have been used for the tray, together with the refuse of the parched rice and a censer. Strictly speaking, a white and a black fowl should be killed, but only half of each cooked, the remainder being left raw. The “portions” of fowl are as small as they can possibly be, a mere symbol (ʿisharat) of each kind of food being all that the spirits are supposed to require. Sometimes funnel-shaped rice-receptacles are used, which are skewered with a bamboo skewer and called kĕronchot. Occasionally a standard censer (sangga?) is used, the end of a piece of bamboo being split up and bent or opened outwards for several inches, and a piece of rattan (cane) being wound in and out among the split ends, so as to form a sort of funnel (about nine inches in diameter at the top), which is lined with banana leaf, filled with earth, and planted vertically in the ground, great care being taken to see that it does not lean out of the perpendicular. Live embers are placed upon it, incense crumbled over it (between the finger and thumb), and the appropriate charm recited. A specimen of a charm or formula used during the burning of incense will be found in the Appendix.125
The kĕtupats are called—(1) S’ri nĕg’ri (seven-cornered), or the “luck of the country”; (2) Buah k’ras (six-cornered), or the “candle-nut”; (3) Bawang puteh (six-cornered), or “garlic”; (4) Ulu pĕngayoh (four-cornered), or the “paddle-handle”; (5) Pasar (five-cornered), or the “market”; (6) Bawang merah (six-cornered), or the “onion”; (7) Pasar Pahang (six-cornered), or the “Pahang market”; (8) Tĕlor, or the “hen’s egg.”
The lĕpats are called—(1) Lĕpat daun niyor (5–6 inches long and made of cocoa-nut leaves); (2) Lĕpat tilam (of plantain leaves); (3) Lĕpat daun palas (of palas leaves, three-sided).
Diminutive models of various objects (also made of cocoa-nut leaves) are often added, e.g. burong ponggok, the owl; kĕr’bau, the buffalo; rusa, the stag; tĕkukur, the ground-dove; kĕtam, the crab; and (but very rarely) kuda, the horse.
The things deposited in the tray are intended for the spirits (Hantus) themselves; the refuse on the ground beneath it for their slaves (hamba).
Of the food in the tray, the cooked food is for the king of the spirits (Raja Hantu), who is sometimes said to be the Wild Huntsman (Hantu Pĕmburu) and sometimes Batara Guru, and the uncooked for his following. But of the two eggs, the uncooked one is alleged to be for the Land-spirit (i.e. the Wild Huntsman), and the cooked for the Sea-spirit; this assertion, however, requires some further investigation before it can be unreservedly accepted.