Malay Magic And Divination

Malay Magic and Divination

The long awaited talk on Malay Magic and Divination by Dr Farouk Yahya from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), of the University of London and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University finally took place this afternoon (16 July 2017) at the Ilham Gallery, Kuala Lumpur. The hall was packed, and I recognised several friends from the writing community: Sharifah A. Osman, Ninot Aziz, RJ Es RJ Ibrahim, SquareMean Burhan, Lokman Hakim, Heidi Shamsudin and Amir Mohammad (publisher and film producer.)

Dr Farouk's talk was based on his research for his PhD. He studied over one hundred illustrated manuscripts from this region (all written by men for sure because most women were probably illiterate at that time.) Many of these manuscripts are found in the SOAS Library, the Ashmolean Museum and also thankfully, the National Library of Malaysia. 

He explained the differences between manuscripts - which were text written on loose leaf paper, and a codex, when they are bound in book form. There are also folding books and scrolls. Malay manuscripts were usually written in Arabic and most originated in the 18th and 19th Centuries.

Many of them were about magic. Farouk Yahya defined magic as an act that seeks to alter the course of events - usually by calling on supernatural forces. Magic usually involved incantations and spells. He mentioned the Hikayat Hang Tuah, found in Malacca in 1882 but thought to be composed in Johor between 1680 - 1710. According to Farouk Yahya, although the story did not contain any love spells, it  mentioned a spell used by Hang Tuah to make Tun Teja hate him!

He showed us a Divination Diagramme called a Rajamuka Diagramme, by Haji San Lundang which originated from Singapore in 1907. It explains divination through breathing - the right nostrils or the left nostrils. I failed to grasp this completely. 

There were also methods to bind and harm people by using effigies. E.g. one could draw an image on the ground and squat on the shoulders and defecate and urinate into what is the mouth! This should be done seven days in a row. Or one could draw an effigy and use the heel of the shoe to twist into the heart; this needs to be done three days in a row.   

I can't help feeling a tad disappointed though. Oddly enough because it was too 'high brow' - a study of hand written and illustrated manuscripts based on Indian and Arab knowledge available at that time.  No doubt the educated intelligentsia of that time regarded folk magic/knowledge as too low brow to be included in the manuscripts. Therefore, No rituals, no jampi (spells and incantations), no love potions (although there was a mention of a hate potion) and no descriptions of djins/demons. Most disappointing of all (Sharifah and I agreed on this), no mention of Nenek Kebayan, the healers and shamans/witches of the Malay world.

However we did learn a rather unpleasant curse and the ancient Indian and Malay divination method of choosing an auspicious house based on measurements of the width of the house and the land area, the right colours for the house (?) and the best time to see the king etc He also explained the significance of house number - 1 = Standard/naga, 2 = smoke/cloud/cat, 3 = tiger/lion, 4 = dog, 5 = bull/serpent/naga, 6 = rat/donkey, 7 = elephant/eagle and 8 = hare/crow. Basically, odd numbers are more auspicious than even numbers.

And there were some interesting information about Nagas. Dr Farouk showed a slide of a stone with inscriptions on it dating from the Sri Vijayan period with seven nagas surrounding it. The Naga stone originated from the 7th Century in Palembang, Sumatra. The inscriptions were written in an Indic language.

There was also the concept of the Rotating Naga. The naga guarding the land is thought to rotate every three months - North, East, South and West.

The Dragon of Lake Chini

Saffron Tree, a blog/website dedicated to children's and YA books, based in India and the United States, reviewed my book Eight Treasures of the Dragon recently. The reviewer, Sathish Ramakrishnan, and his two young sons actually seemed to enjoy the book! All, except for the one story from Malaysia, entitled the Dragon of Tasik Chini. I can't say I blame Sathish as I wasn't all that keen on the story either. Unfortunately, even after going through several old books and an extensive Internet search I could only uncover that one dragon story. Fortunately, Sathish seemed really taken by the story from India, Prince Mombathi (The Candlewax Prince), even more so because it was completely new to him. The story is based on The Wax Prince, by Shovona Devi from her book The Orient Pearls: Indian Folklore (1915). The fact that she was Rabindranath Tagore's niece added to the allure.

The link to the review is here:  Saffron Tree: Eight Treasures of the Dragon

The cover depicts Nyai Rara Kidul, the She-Dragon of the South Seas,
a legend from Java, Indonesia

Eight Treasures of the Dragon

MPH Group Publishing (2011)
160 pages
ISBN: 978-967-5997-29-7

RM24.90 | Buy from MPHOnline.com

I also did a Q&A for Saffron Tree, where Sathish posed this all important Question: Are Nagas in fact Dragons? The truth is, I asked myself the same question while researching the book and I'm quite sure they are... nagas are the precursors of the dragons. Dragonlore is prevalent all over East Asia - China, Japan and Korea; but in South Asia and Southeast Asia, it is the naga which takes the place of the dragon.

The link to the interview is below:
Interview with Tutu Dutta-Yean

In any case, how many countries can boast of a real lake associated with an authentic dragon (or naga) legend? The story of Naga Sri Gumum, for that is the name of the dragon, has been told in oral folklore for centuries in the Lake Chini area.

Tasik Cini or Lake Chini consists of 12 interlinked bodies
of water.

The lake is the second largest freshwater lake in Malaysia; the largest being Lake Bera. In fact, Chini is actually made up of 12 interlinked lakes and may also be connected to Bera through a subterranean waterway (the last info is based on folklore). The size of the lake depends on the season; during the monsoon rains from October to January, the water of the lake rises and the 12 lakes  may turn into a single body of water. Lake Chini is also a UNESCO Biosphere reserve with 100 species of fish and 200 species of birds and is a bird-watchers paradise. If you are interested, there are plenty of cheap but comfortable home-stay accommodations and small chalets around the lake.

Certain parts of the lake are covered with lotus plant.

But more important is the folklore associated with the lake - there is supposed to be an ancient Khmer city or more likely a citadel at the bottom of the lake. In fact, it has been suggested that the city dates back to the 5th Century and was intentionally flooded to keep it from enemy hands. Fascinating of course, except that the Khmer Empire (9th Century - 14th Century) did not yet exist in the 5th Century, what existed then was the kingdom of Chenla. If there is a Khmer citadel under Chini, perhaps it originated from the 11th Century. It was during this time that Harshavarman III is said to have abandoned Angkor to take refuge in the south when the throne of Angkor was usurped by the conqueror, Jayavarman VI. Harshvarman's followers and successors continued a long struggle against Jayavarman VI and may have sought refuge in the Lake Chini region.

The sacred lotus, Nelumbo nucifera, covers the lake from
June to September every year.

Or it could have happened in 1400 AD when the Thais sacked Angkor, twice, effectively causing the demise of the Khmer Empire. It's quite possible that when Angkor was attacked, a group of people may have sought refuge in a safe haven such as Lake Chini, which may have reminded them of Tonle Sap, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Photo by TK Chuan

Why does such a legend persist? There are some clues - for one thing the profusion of sacred lotus, Nelumbo nucifera, growing on the lake. This is a plant not normally found growing in the wild in Malaysia. Some scientists have speculated that the lotus seeds were brought by Hindu priests (if it happened in the 11th Century) or Buddhist monks (if it happened in 1400 AD) centuries ago and planted in the lake.

Can the lotus plant survive for so long? A group of scientists, led by J Shen-Miller in fact succeeded in germinating a 1,300 year old sacred lotus seed recovered from a dry lake bed in northeastern China in 1995. Located in Xipaozi Village, Liaoning Province, the dry lake bed used to be a large shallow lake used for lotus cultivation at least 1,300 years ago. Scientists speculated that a massive earthquake in 1484, may have drained Xipaozi Lake into the Bohai Gulf (the Bohai Gulf is connected to the Yellow Sea.)

 Shen-Miller's article cited the work of Japanese botanist Ichiro Ohga in the 1920s. Ohga was the first person to report the presence of old viable fruits in the lake bed. He also realised how old the fruits were and postulated that the lake was drained during the 1484 earthquake. Ohga was the Government Botanist of South Manchuria during the Japanese Occupation of northeastern Manchuria in the 1920s. He was helped in his field work by a local farmer, Liu Guay San. Farmer Liu collected most of the lotus fruits specimens Ohga used in his studies from the soil of his ancestral village. Unfortunately, farmer Liu was executed after the war for being a Japanese collaborator. Perhaps this goes to show that no good deed goes unpunished - however, I find the story fascinating. Who would have thought that one would find the plot for a novel in the American Journal of Botany?

According to Shen-Miller et al, the sacred lotus has been cultivated in China for 5,000 years. All parts of the plant - seeds, rhizome (roots), leaf, stalk, flowers and fruit receptacle can be used as food.

Note the fruit receptacle containing seeds to the left
Photo courtesy of www.facebook.com/tk.chuan.5

And not just any food - one of my favourite dessert is the lotus seed mooncake.

The golden paste inside the thin layer of pastry is made from
ground lotus seeds and sugar. This special dessert is only available
during the Mid-Autumn Festival also known as the Mooncake Festival.

Another culinary delight is the lotus root soup:

To return to Lake Chini - the other clue is the fact that the indigenous people living in the lake area, the Jakun and the Semelai, use languages which contain Khmer words.

So what has this to do with the dragon? There is a huge amount of dragon lore or naga lore in Cambodia. Not surprising, as the Khmer Empire was based on the mastery of water. Water is all around and Tonle Sap and the Mekong River dominate the landscape.

Although all the blogs about Naga Sri Gumum state that the Chini dragon legend has no connection with the Khmer lost city, I think there is a connection. I also feel that the legend of the dragon of Lake Chini is connected with the Lake Bera dragon. In fact, I connected the two in my retelling of the legend.

In the Lake Bera story, a grandmother and her grandson were foraging in the forest when they came across a large, leathery egg - an egg unlike anything they have seen before. The grandmother warns the boy not to touch the egg but he secretly hides it in his shoulder basket and brings it home. The boys father finds the egg and eats it all by himself which leads to his transformation to a naga. The father is abandoned by his family and he swims away down the river. This leads to the Chini story - some boys find a carcass of a leviathan by the side of a lake and start to eat pieces it. An old woman finds out about it and warns her grandson not to touch the carcass but she is too late, he has already eaten some of the fat. This unleashed a curse - it rained continuously until the entire valley is flooded. Everyone who ate the carcass is drowned. Read my book for the full story...

There is in fact a Khmer legend about a naga prince who is captured and sacrificed. Apparently, his body was also eaten by the people of that city. This of course unleashed a terrible curse - a deluge drowned the entire valley and killed all the people. This legend is however set in Cambodia, probably around the great lake of Tonle Sap, the largest and most extraordinary lake in Southeast Asia.

The Devas and the Asuras

Most of us who are familiar with Eastern religions would associate the word Deva with supernatural beings of light and therefore as 'gods' while the term Asura would be associated with beings of darkness and therefore 'demons'. Apparently this was not always so.

While researching the religion of the Zoroastrians on www.sacred-texts.com, imagine how surprised I was to come across this text in a translation of the Avesta:

Ahura Mazda spoke unto Spitama Zarathustra saying:
...The first of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda created, was the Airyana Vaego, by the good river Daitya.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created  by his withcraft the serpent in the river and winter, a work of the Daevas.

The Devas are evil? And that was not all, according to the Avesta, the Asuras are the beings of light while the Devas are the beings of darkness. It seemed impossible that two ancient religion had exactly opposite views  on something so fundamental as gods and demons!

The churning of the ocean, Samudra Mantan. Bas-relief sculpture from Ankgkor Wat, Cambodia.
 Image from Wikimedia

Further research showed that both the Avesta (ancient Persia) and the Vedas (ancient India) came from the same Indo-Iranian and an even older Indo-European source. According to a commentary on the Avesta in Sacred-texts.com, Asura meant 'the Lord' and Daeva meant 'the Shining One'. So in the begining, both Asura and Daeva were supernatural beings of light. Apparently, the two religions evolved along separate paths - in the religion of the Avesta, the Daevas were demonised. Among the Hindus, the Devas were the gods and the Asuras became the demons. (Ahura Mazda is also spelt as Asura Mazda and means 'the Lord of High Knowledge'.

But the Rig Veda holds both Devas and Asuras as august beings of light. (The Rig Veda is a collection of ancient vedic Sanscript hymns. It is the oldest of four sacred text of Hinduism known collectively as the Vedas and is thought to be composed between 1700 - 1100 BC). 

In the Rig Veda , the Devas were gods of nature (elemental beings) while the Asuras were gods of social/moral values. Among the original Devas were Indra - god of thunder and lightning, Soma - the sacred potion and the plant, Agni - god of fire, Ushas - the dawns etc. Among the Asuras were Mithra - god of the oath/covenant/contract, Varuna - god of law, Aryaman - god of marriage etc In fact, the original Asuras were also known as the Adityas; seven celestial dieties who were the sons of Adithi. Headed by Varuna and Mitra, they were described as 'bright and pure as streams of water..." Among the Hindus, the Adityas would later be regarded as Devas as well. Varuna, attended by the Nagas, became god of the sky and ruler of the celestial ocean (the Milky Way). In ancient times, there was no air and light pollution and the Milky Way in the clear night sky would have been an awesome spectacle!


The Devas and the Asuras churn the milky ocean for Amrita,
the divine nectar. The living rope around Mount Meru is Vasuki,
 the king of the nagas.
The turtle is Kurma, an incarnation of Vishnu.

In one of the ancient myths, the Devas and Asuras agreed to work together to obtain Amrita, the divine nectar of immortality from the ocean. Using Mount Mandhara/Mount Meru as a churner, the king of the nagas, Vasuki agreed to be the living rope they would use to churn the ocean. The Devas, who pulled the tail end of Vasuki had an easier time compared to the Asuras who pulled the head end. The long-suffering Vasuki  belched out fire and smoke, which singed the Asuras (Vasuki belching fire and smoke indicates that nagas are in fact dragons). The mountain itself was supported on the back of a gaint turtle, Kurma, who was an incarnation of Vishnu himself. The milky ocean threw up fourteen divine treasures, including Lakshmi- goddess of wealth and fortune (she became the consort of Vishnu), Chandra - the moon, Parijata - the flowering tree and last of all, Amrita the nectar of immortality. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), the Devas ultimately obtained Amrita while the Asuras were denied this prize.




The Devas pull the tail end (left)
while the Asuras pull
the head end (right) of Vasuki.

In later Hindu texts, the rivalry between the Devas and the Asuras broke into all-out war. They battled for dominion over the three worlds: Svarga, Bhumi and Patala or Heaven, Earth and the Netherworld. Patala is not actually 'hell', in fact it is the watery domain of the nagas (who were also Asuras). In this epic war, the Devas created Devi (who in turn created Kali as mentioned in a previous post - 'The Pontianak, the Vampire...) in order to defeat the mighty Asuras. So who won this War of the Worlds?

Initially, it was the Gods of Civilisation, the Asuras. For over a millenium, the Avesta was the supreme religion in the world. The preisthood of the Avesta, known as the Magi (the Three Wise Men from the East of the Nativity), were known and respected throughout the ancient world while Hinduism evolved in relative isolation. However, an examination of popular culture and numerous entries on Wikipedia would indicate that the Gods of Nature, the Devas are the winners of this cosmic struggle at the present moment. Anand Neelakantan takes a more sympathetic look at the Asura in his book, Asura: Tale of the Vanquished. This is a retelling of the Ramayana, from the point of view of the Asura antoganist, Ravana. For those unfamiliar with the original Hindu epic, the Ramayana is the story of Rama, prince of Ayodhya, who is exiled into the wilderness with his beautiful wife Sita and his faithful brother, Lakhsmana. While Rama is out hunting with his brother one day, Sita is abducted by Ravana, the ruler of Lanka (Sri Lanka). Rama and Lakhsmana set out to rescue Sita, with the help of Hanuman, the monkey god. Neelakantan tells the story from the point to view of the people of Lanka.

RAVANA, performed by the Petronas Philharmonic Theatre

However as my interest is in plants, the question arises, what is Soma - the sacred potion and the plant? Soma was a ritual drink of great importance in Vedic culture and was frequently mentioned in the Rig Veda. Soma was not only offered to the Devas in ritual sacrifice but also consumed by the priests themselves. It is known as Haoma among the Persians and was also used in rituals in the Avestan/ Zoroastrian tradition. The plant was described as having long stalks and as being yellow in colour. The juice of the plant was extracted by pounding the stalks with stone mortar and pistil and straining the juice with a cloth.
Unfortunately the exact identity of the plant, Soma is derived from, is lost in the mist of time! How can this happen to this most  important sacrificial offering in Vedic rituals? In fact, Hindu priests offer prayers apologising to the gods for their inability to offer Soma in their rituals now. In South India, Somalatha, a substitute derived from the plant Sarcostemma acidum, is offered as a substitute during Somayajna.


Some experts think that Soma could have been made from hallucigenic mushrooms/ or even cannabis/marijuana type of plants. However, the physical description of the Soma plant does not match mushrooms or cannabis. Hallucinogens are also unlikely as a priest needs to concentrate during ritauls - a mistake in the recitation of vedic hymns to invoke the gods would result in failure. Recent opinion seem to favour a species of Ephedra, most probably Ephedra sinica, mainly because the Zoroastrians still use this plant. Ephedra sinica, known as Ma Huang in Chinese, has been used in traditional Chinses medicine for centuries. Ma Huang is a decongestion i.e. it improves breathing and elevates symptoms of asthma and bronchitis (very useful for Hindu priests since smoke inhalation is an occupational hazard); it also improves concentration, increases blood pressure and reduces hunger and fatigue. Exactly what a priest needs during long exhausting rituals which involves the recitation of hundreds of hymns!



The Dragon, the Phoenix and the Qilin - 1



Four-clawed Korean Dragon

The Dragon of the East is a legendary animal associated with fluid energy. It is said to influence weather and moving bodies of water. In old China, the Dragon, known as Lung, was a symbol of Imperial power and the emblem of the Emperor. The Imperial Throne was known as the Dragon Throne. The Chinese Imperial Dragon has five claws (toes), the Korean four and the Japanese, only three.
The Dragon is also one of the four celestial guardians. They are: Azure Dragon of the East, Vermilion Bird of the South, White Tiger of the West and Black Tortoise of the North. These four guradians also represent the four meridians and are associated with the four elements: Wind (Dragon), Fire (Phoenix), Water (Tiger) and Earth (Tortoise).
In India and Southeast Asia, the Dragon is known as the Naga. The supreme Naga is Anantha-Sesha, the symbol of time and eternity, and brother to Manasha, goddess of snakes and fertility. Nagas live in Patala, the seventh and lowest of the nether realms.
The are four types of Naga or Lung: the Heavenly Naga guards the celestial palaces; the Divine Naga brings rain to the earth; the Earthly Naga guards the mineral resources under the earth, and the Hidden Naga, is the naga spirit. Female naga are called Nagini and can shape-shift into beautiful women who seduce men into the watery depths. In the Harry Potter books, Lord Voldemort's familiar (called Nagini) is probably a Nagini.
Nagas are fierce enemies of the Garuda, a race of bird-men.
The Dragon is a symbol of auspicious power and success. However, it also has a dark and destructive side and can cause catastrophic floods and tsunamis.

In the second TV series of Lost Girl, Lachlan the Ash (king of the Fae) turns out to be a Naga. The Fae world is divided into Light Fae and Dark Fae, two factions who are constantly battling for dominance. It eventually emerges that the Ash is a Light Fae, despite his manipulative and ruthless nature. Not surprisingly, he had to battle the Garuda, an extremely powerful Dark Fae. As the battle with the Garuda draws closer, Lachlan must convince Bo, the beautiful and fiesty but non-aligned succubus, to help him against this formidable foe (the succubus mostly side with the Dark Fae). Although the Garuda actually kills Lachlan in their final battle, Bo and her allies manage to kill the Garuda with the venom obtained from Lachlan, in his Naga incarnation.

In the series, Lachlan, a character I love to hate, is played by Vincent Walsh; Anna Silk plays the gorgeous but surprisingly vulnerable Bo (Beau). Her best friend is a human called Kenzi played by the gothic Ksenia Solo. The love of Bo's life is Dyson, the shapeshifting werewolf who is also a Light Fae, played by Kris Holden-Ried. You might remember seeing Holden-Ried as the monstrous Lycan (what else?), Quint Lane in  Underworld: Awakening.

The Singing Phoenix

The Phoenix is a magnificent bird with feathers of vermilion and gold. It is a creature of fire and is sometimes depicted surrounded in an aura of flames. In Eastern culture, it is more likely to be surrounded by verdant plants and flowers.

According to legend, a Phoenix will build itself a nest of cinnamon twigs when its life is about to end. The dying Phoenix will rest in the middle of the nest and ignite it; both the nest and bird will burn into ashes. Then the ashes will burst into flame again and a new Phoenix will be reborn from its ashes!

This fabulous bird is called Feng Huang in China; it is the second most important legendary animal, after the Dragon. It is also one of the four Celestial Guardians in East Asian culture: The Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West and the Yellow Tortoise of the North.

In ancient South-East Asia and India, two races of bird-like creatures were said to exist; they are the gentle Kinaree and the fierce Garuda. A similar bird-human hybrid called the Tengu exists in Japanese folklore. The Garuda and the Tengu are bitter enemies of the Naga and the Dragon as they feed on serpents.

The Phoenix is the emblem of ancient Lebanon which used to be called Phoenicia. Its people were the Phoenicians, the people of the Phoenix.

This legendary bird is also the emblem of the Empress of China.

The Phoenix represents the element of fire and symbolises immortality

The Qilin is a chimera

The Qilin is a chimera. This fabulous creature is an omen of great good fortune and blesses all who are lucky enough to gaze upon it. The Qilin has two forms - an ancient form of a fierce feline with dragon-like attributes and a more recent dragon-deer hybrid.
The Qilin is said to walk on earth and on water. It is a fierce guardian of the earth but does not harm any other living creature. It is said that the Qilin does not disturb even a single blade of grass when it walks on land.
According to legend, a Qilin appeared before the birth of Confucius, and the sighting of a Qilin is supposed to herald the birth of a great sage or a wise and benevolent ruler.
In Chinese culture, it is the third most important legendary animal, after the Dragon and the Phoenix. However, in Japan and Korea, where the Qilin is known as the Kirin, it is revered above all others.
The Qilin represents longevity, grandeur, compassion and wisdom.











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