Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

CHAi'. VI GENERAL REMARKS 179
the Sakai cosmogony as is occupied by Kari and
Pie in that of the Semang.
(1) He is of supernatural size and invisible (?).
(2) He is immortal (?).
(3) He is not definitely mentioned as the creator, but presides over the
existing universe, having the power of life and death over the human
race and the spiritual world alike ; ' he appears as the champion of man
against both demons and wild beasts.'^
(4) No statement is made as to his omniscience, except that he invariably
knows when man does wrong.
(5) He is angered at the commission of certain acts ("the Sakai think they
must have done wrong before he lets the demons attack them "), but
may also show mercy.
(6) He is the supreme and final judge of souls (Granny Long-breasts applying
the preliminary test by washing the souls in hot water).'* He alone
has power either to grant life or refuse it both to man and demon.
(7) His punishments are inflicted by means of his agents, the demons.'- Man
is described as appealing to Tuhan for help in difficulties.
HI. TUHAN DI-BAWAH.''
The more advanced in civihsation the tribes with
whom we have to deal, and the closer their connection
in particular with the Malays, the harder becomes the
task of eliciting from them any definite statements
with regard to their own belief in a deity. For by
far the most part of the Jakun tribes when questioned
upon this subject are accustomed to reply that there is
a God whose name they give as " Tuhan " or " Tuhan
Allah," the God of their Mohammedan neighbours
the Malays. Among the Mantra, however, and
doubtless among other Jakun tribes, if the matter were
more thoroughly investigated, there does undoubtedly
exist a belief, shadowy though it be, in a deity, and
this independently of Arabic sources. There are in
fact, as among the Semang, traces of a dualistic
system, wherein two great mythological powers are
1 Vaughan-Stevens, ii. 131. This precludes the drawing of a hard-and-
account and the name "Gendui Lanjut "'
fast line between the races in his case,
are Malayan (Jakun) in character, but the - Ifiid. ^. \6t,.
general lack of precision and the mixed •* Jl/id. pp. 130, 131. * Jbid.
nature of Vaughan-Stevens' material, ^ Ibid. p. 131.
which in more than one case is admitted, ^ I.e. "Lord of the Lower World."