Part Two of a series on the Origin of the Malays
OUT OF THE DARK INTO THE
FOREST OF THE NIGHT
The Jakun was a well-organized tribe of Malays – a community based on shared genesis, a single destiny and the same set of values. To Itak all the Orang Asli in Malaysia belonged to a single tribe, even if some like the Jehai and the Temiar were Melanesian, Negritos with the natural curly Afro hairstyle. Itak’s perception reflected the new nationalism of the Orang Asli in Malaysia, a shared sentiment rising from the neglect, positive discrimination and the fact they were and are managed by the same government department, the JHEOA (pronounced Jehova). It is time for an Orang Asli to head the department.
But the Aslis, though they were tribally differentiated, they were deemed to have been equally members of the Malay nation. In Palembang where I was in 2007 seeking for clues to enrich this story of the Malays, many believed the warrior-princess, Puteri Rambut Selako (Princess Curly Hair), enshrined on Bukit Siguntang, was Parameswara’s wife he left behind when he fled Palembang on his way to Temasik (Singapore). The beautiful warrior-princess was a Negrito.
Batin Talib would have agreed the Aslis of Malaysia were all Malays. The Orang Asli have been fighting together in the Senoi Praak, the regimental contingent set up during the Emergency to help quell the Communist Insurrection that raged from 1948 to 1960 and then again in the 1980s. The Aslis have come to terms with pluralism in a new guise, a nationalism that is slowly being mobilized and leading towards self-realization with a clear political motive.
Batin Talib’s narrative began from after Adityawarman who became the king of Malayu (now Jambi) in 1339 and subsequently founded Pagar Ruyung. He extended his empire inland. He ruled over Minangkabau and much of Sumatra, leaving around Pagar Ruyung eight of his stone inscriptions. [see Hall, D.G.E., 1955, p. 79]
It was Jambi that was the capital city of southeastern Sumatra since the 11th century, after Srivijaya was sacked by Rajendra Chola, and it was black pepper, not gold, which was Jambi’s mainstay, the spice going mainly to China, India and Arabia. It was highly valued as an aphrodisiac. In the 15th century Chinese soldiers were partially paid in black pepper. [see Andaya, Barbara Watson, 1993, p. 44]
Adityawarman was from Majapahit. His mother, Dara Jingga, was from Jambi. He was a tantric Hindu-Buddhist, deified as a bhairawa†, immortalized in a statue now in the Jakarta Museum. [see Rusli Amran, 1981, pp.22-3] But the beginning of Jambi was believed to have been Persian connected.
In the legends of Jambi the first queen, Puteri Pinang Masak, had taken for her spouse a Turkic prince, Raja Berhala. The Kubu tribe of Jambi believed they were the issues of the sword-bearer of Alexander the Great. (see Andaya, Barbara Watson, 1993, p.9] The beginning of Jambi was hence cast under the same shade as Funan where Kaudinya, the Brahmin of Turkic extraction, married the queen, Soma, and became a Sailendra king of Funan centered in Kampucea, clinching the Persian connection through the Turkic tribes in Khorasan and Central Asia. [see Khalid Hussain 1967, p. xxvi]
Jakuns had their own Teromba (Legends). Batin Talib’s account of the Jah-Het legend was based on one version of those.
Batin Talib’s story began with the unresolved mystery of what happened after Adityawarman. Did his heir become a Muslim?
We know of Adityawarman from the numerous inscriptions he left, the last mentioning his son, Ananggavarman, dated 1374. He was the crown prince. [see Soewardi Idris, 2004, p. 192]. Adityawarman was assumed dead the following year and the dynasty appeared to have died with him. Did his son embrace Islam and ushered in a new period of history, ending the old in an abrupt cliff-drop?
History in a world of legends is at best a fleeting shadow in time and like an elemental, the same primitive substance can take many shapes. Here, in Batin Talib’s story, the elemental popped out in a surprise, like a jack-in-the-box.
His narrative began with this: ‘Long after Sang Sapurba had killed the great snake, Saktimuna†, when he was the Raja of Minangkabau, the Maharaja Diraja of Pagar Ruyung embraced Islam.’
Sang Sapurba signaled the last dynasty of Srivijaya. According to Tun Sri Lanang, this dynasty, or epoch, ended when it was ‘razed’ with the palace of Sultan Mansur of Malacca, admitting to the sinful extravagance of the final few sultans of Malacca. ‘And all the king’s treasures in the palace were saved. Not much was destroyed in the blaze. But the sovereignty derived from Sang Nila Utama was burnt along with the palace.’† [Shellabear, W.G., 1981, p.103]
Tun Sri Lanang had begun his narrative of the Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals) with Raja Suran (Rajendra Chola) who conquered Srivijaya in the 11th century. Sang Nila Utama and his two brothers were the “sons” of this Raja Suran, becoming the new Alexandrian triad that appeared on Bukit Siguntang-Mahameru in Palembang to rule over the Malay world. [Shellabear, W.G., 1981, pp.16-19]
Batin Talib continued. ‘The Maharaja Diraja had three sons, the eldest was Kenaton, the middle, Koreh, and the youngest, Tuen. Kenaton was born with the water-bag intact. He was born invulnerable and could not be circumcised. After his brothers had been circumcised and they had learned the basic rites of Islam, Kenaton could fulfill all but this one rite of passage. However he tried, nothing could damage any part of him.’
It would seem like Pagar Ruyung had been moved from the Hindu Lingam (Phallus) to the Muslim Zakar (Mickey Mouse). Kenaton was clearly trapped in that great movement of history that brought Islam to stay and exert the most powerful influence in the Malay Archipelago. He would lose the kingship this time, and the next.
‘He would have been a great Maharaja Diraja (Emperor) if Islam had not arrived in Andalas (Sumatra). But no matter the knowledge he had acquired, ‘the Ketika (the Pleiades) were to be seen above the Bull’s Horn’ (the Horns of Taurus). His life had been set for a long stretch of despair.
‘From the time he was a little boy he would sleep leaning against the Tiang Jelatang in Pagar Ruyung. Nobody who was not divinely ordained a raja of Minangkabau could do that.’
The Jelatang is the large nettle. It contained silica in the cells of its hairs and once the skin is pierced by these the silica crystals would act on the nerve heads causing lasting and dreadful itch. Pagar Ruyung used the Jelatang to test whether or not a claimant to the throne was divinely ordained. All three children of the Maharaja Diraja passed this test.
Bunda Kandung
‘Tears would trickle down the cheeks of the Bunda Kandung, the Matriarch, when she would see Kenaton sleeping against the Tiang Jelatang. He was well-built, handsome, and a sagacious leader better than all she knew. She also knew it would be the youngest of the trio who she would finally crown. Tuen would be king of Minangkabau, in Pagar Ruyung.
‘The times have changed and it was opportune for the Malay World (Alam Melayu) to ally itself with the Muslims, and especially the Muslims in Rum.’ Rum was centered in Constantinople.
‘The Raja of Rum had been the eldest of the three sons of Iskandar Zulkarnain who had come. They arrived with their retinue at Gunung Merapi and from there they split, the eldest returning to Rum to rule as the emperor, the younger riding a golden Pegasus to China and become ruler there, while the youngest became the ruler of the Malays.’
In one version the Maharaja Diraja of Rum arrived with his retainers when the great volcano, Gunung Merapi, was the size of an egg. [see Soewardi Idris, 2004, p. 92]
The motif is familiar. It would be Tuen, the youngest of the Jakun trio, who would become Maharaja Diraja of Minangkabau, a way that had been established from when the world began. It was a means for the reigning queen to continue ruling as the dowager.
‘Kenaton knew he had to leave Pagar Ruyung and shape his destiny himself. He would cherish the Bunda Kandung all his life. She taught him all he needed to know to be king. She appointed as his tutors the Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa, who was the greatest warrior in Minangkabau, Pendita Sulong, the senior scholar, and Cati Bilang Pandai, the wisest man and master of statecraft to become vizier. He was given a Pawang Handal, a great shaman, and to serve him in his later years, a Tukang Pandai, a skilled craftsman. She also gave him a beautiful handwritten copy of the Holy Qur’an.
‘But alas, the hunched matron (Moyang Bungkuk) failed to stand by Kenaton. Nothing disqualified Kenaton from being selected but the matter of his uncircumcised member. The Adat would not have at all bothered about that. All he required to become king was to be married to the Puti Reno, the daughter of the Bunda Kandung. Her spouse would be king.’
It was a matrilineal set-up. The Puti Reno was heir to the throne and would be Queen. Her husband would be as king only her shadow.
‘Kenaton would have to leave Pagar Ruyung and found his own kingdom. She had it all planned. It would be across the Straits, in the neighborhood of Johor where his uncle was the Yam Tuan.’
Still he was a very special son of the nation, an extraordinary man. In a final bid to qualify him for the kingship at Pagar Ruyung an axe was used to cut the prepuce so he would fulfill the Sunnah (tradition). It was to no avail. Not even an axe could alter his member. But as the eldest, he resigned himself to his fate and refused to play the game of intrigue. Intrigue secured the spaces between Koreh and Tuen as the kingship hung between them.
Kenaton, who had gathered around him a large group, must be appeased. A daughter of the Cati Bilang Pandai had stood out of the crowded corridors of Pagar Ruyung. She was a fair-skinned beauty, well-endowed, and skilled in the art of war. She was an Amazon. Her father also trained her in statecraft. In short, the perfect match was selected for Kenaton. She was Saheena.
‘We were Muslims. The problem was with Kenaton’s natural condition. He could become a Muslim but not become king. It was about wishing for a Raja who must be physically perfect according to Islam as it was understood among the Malays.’
But what could the word Cati mean? Some suggested it meant Satria (Kshatriya), the caste of warrior-statesmen and kings of the Indian varnasrama, the caste system. [see Soewardi Idris, 2004, pp. 49-53]
To Batin Talib Cati Bilang Pandai was ‘a fair-skinned person from a distant land in the land of Rum. He was to be Kenaton’s vizier (Perdana Menteri)’.
In other Minangkabau Teromba he was variously the person who resolved the most critical problems the state or the king had had to face. It was the Cati Bilang Pandai who gave his sword of gold to be used to make a replica of the crown that was lost in the sea. It was Cati Bilang Pandai who resolved disputes between the Datuk Tamanggunan and Datuk Perpatih Nan Sebatang, the founders of the two schools of Adat, viz. Adat Temenggong for the town-folks and Adat Perpatih for the rural- and jungle-dwellers. It was also the Cati Bilang Pandai who planned to use a suckling calf in the buffalo contest with Majapahit and the small suckling fellow won the uneven contest.† He was certainly the perfect vizier, a preserver and guide of the nation, which would make him an avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism.
Cati was probably the Tamil for the Sanskrit Jati, here meaning belonging to and expressing the nature of the community, Minangkabau that is. He represented the Minangkabauness, the soul of the nation. In a Teromba Adityawarman married Puti Endah Juliah and when he died she married the Cati Bilang Pandai. [Dt. Sangguno Dirajo, 1988, p. 53] Was he a Muslim?
We were not told if he was indeed a Muslim, but we were told Kenaton had been a Muslim and was meant to found a strong kingdom on the Malay Peninsula between Pagar Ruyung and Siam. When his father the Maharaja Diraja lay dying, the Bunda Kandung took aside him and his brother, Koreh, to tell. The time had come. They must leave before their father breathed his last.
It was Tuen who had been chosen to be king in Pagar Ruyung. Koreh she directed to Bentan, in Riau. For Kenaton there would be no place she could specify. The Muslims would spread in the Malay world like a wildfire and he would have to use his wits and his learning to secure for himself his own kingdom, and he must defend the borders of Minangkabau.
Kenaton accepted his fate. But the younger brother had other things in his mind. There was no reason for his disqualification. He had done nothing wrong. What did Tuen do right that he did not do as well? ‘Where is the sense of Justice (Keadilan) to be found if we have no part in deciding our own destinies?’ he argued. Koreh persuaded Kenaton to leave with him for Bentan, with the king’s crown.
Notes
†1. Bhairawa is a manifestation of Siva as “the terrible”
2. Saktimuna, a great snake that destroyed the crops of the Minangkabau; see Shellabear W.G., Sejarah Melayu, Fajar Bakti, ed. 3, Kuala Lumpur, 1981, p. 26
3. Maka segala harta raja di dalam mahligai itupun habis lepas, tiada berapa yang tinggal terbakar, tetapi kerajaan daripada Sang Nila Utama itu terbakar. Maka mahligai itupun habislah hangus. – Shellabear, W.G., Sejarah Melayu, Fajar Bakti, ed. 3, Kuala Lumpur, 1981, p. 103
4. Constantinople. The term also referred to Sassanian Persia, which included Ionia and the Indus Valley
5. Minangkabau is from menang kerbau, which means winning the buffalo contest. The Javanese kingdom of Majapahit had planned to invade Minangkabau after she had successfully taken Pasai. Minangkabau would have stood no chance against the Javanese might. But for sport the Majapahit king offered to settle the matter by pitching buffaloes instead, on the understanding the stake would be all of Minangkabau territory. He had a huge prize-bull. The Cati Bilang Pandai of the time planned using a small suckling buffalo, with a sharp knife mounted above its nose. This young buffalo he starved for a couple of days and when the buffaloes were pitched, the little fellow rushed towards the mighty bull “udders”, wishing to suckle. The mighty one, not feeling threatened, let it go in between his hind legs and the knife mounted on the nose of the little chap did the rest. Hence, Minangkabau.
References
1.A. Samad Idris et al., Luak Jelebu, Muzium Negeri dan Kerajaan Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus, 1994
2.Burkill, I.H., A Dictionary of the Ecnomic Products of the Malay Peninsula, Vol.II, Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, 1966
3.Buyers, Christopher, Rembau, http://4dw.net/royalark/Malaysia/rembau.htm , 2007
4.Cave, Jonathan, Naning in Melaka, monograph No. 16, JMBRAS, 2nd impression, ed. Dr. Mubin Sheppard, 1996
5. Dt. Sangguno Dirajo, Mustika Adat Alam Minangkabau, C.V. Pustaka Indonesia, Bukittinggi, 1988
6. Harun Mat Piah, 1989, Puisi Melayu Tradisional: Satu Perbicaraan Genre dan
Fungsi, Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur
7. Khalid Hussain, ed., Hikayat Iskandar Zulkarnain, Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur, 1967
8. Raja Iskandar, http://themalaynobat.blogspot.com/
9. Ratos, Anthony, Origins of The World According to the Jah Hut (as narrated by
Batin Hitam), Kuala Lumpur, Private Circulation, 1960]
10. Rusli Amran, Sumatra Barat hingga Plakat Panjang, Jakarta, 1981
11. Shellabear, W.G., Sejarah Melayu, Fajar Bakti, ed. 3, Kuala Lumpur, 1981
12. Soewardi Idris (Dt. Bandaro Panjang), Sekitar Adat Minangkabau, Pustaka Dian Jakarta, 2004
13. UU. Hamidy, Dukun Melayu Rantau Kuantan, Riau, Departmen Pendidikan Dan Kebudayaan R.I., Pekanbaru, 1985
14. Wilkinson, R. J. ed.,Papers On Malay Subjects, OUP, London, 1907-1916, reprint,1971
15. Wolters, Q.W., The Fall of Srivijaya in Malay History, London, 1970
0 comments:
Post a Comment