Malay Magic: Being an introduction to the folklore and popular religion of the Malay PeninsulaSkeat, Walter William
Religion
Malay Magic: Being an introduction to the folklore and popular religion of the Malay Peninsula
Skeat, Walter William
Magic -- Malay Peninsula; Malays (Asian people) -- Folklore; Malays (Asian people) -- Social life and customs
"Sultan Muhammed Shah again established in order the throne of
his sovereignty. He was the first who prohibited the wearing of
yellow clothes in public, not even a handkerchief of that colour,
nor curtains, nor hangings, nor large pillow-cases, nor coverlets,
nor any envelope of any bundle, nor the cloth lining of a house,
excepting only the waist cloth, the coat, and the turban. He also
prohibited the constructing of houses with abutments, or smaller houses
connected with them; also suspended pillars or timbers (tiang gantong);
nor timbers the tops of which project above the roofs, and also summer
houses. [65] He also prohibited the ornamenting of creeses with gold,
and the wearing anklets of gold, and the wearing the koronchong, or
hollow bracelets (anklets?) of gold, ornamented with silver. None of
these prohibited articles did he permit to be worn by a person, however
rich he might be, unless by his particular licence, a privilege which
the raja has ever since possessed. He also forbade any one to enter the
palace unless wearing a cloth petticoat [66] of decent length, with his
creese in front; [67] and a shoulder-cloth; and no person was permitted
to enter unless in this array, and if any one wore his creese behind
him, it was incumbent on the porter of the gate to seize it. Such is
the order of former time respecting prohibition by the Malayu rajas,
and whatever is contrary to this is a transgression against the
raja, and ought to incur a fine of five cati. The white umbrella,
which is superior to the yellow one, because it is seen conspicuous
at a greater distance, was also confined to the raja's person, [68]
while the yellow umbrella was confined to his family." [69]
A number of other particulars bearing on this subject will be found
in other parts of the text, and in the Appendix references are given
to other works for additional details, which are too numerous to be
recorded here.
"At funerals, whether the deceased has been a great or insignificant
person, if he be a subject, the use of the Payong (umbrella) and
the Puwadi is interdicted, as also the distribution of alms, unless
by royal permission; otherwise the articles thus forbidden will be
confiscated." "Puwadi is the ceremony of spreading a cloth, generally
a white one, for funeral and other processions to walk upon. Should
the deceased be of high rank, the cloth extends from the house where
the corpse is deposited, to the burial-ground." [70]
Similar prohibitions are still in force at the courts of the Malay
Sultans in the Peninsula, though a yellow umbrella is now generally
substituted for the white, at least in Selangor.
A distinction is also now drawn between manufactured yellow cloth and
cloth which has been dyed yellow with saffron, the wrongful use of
the latter (the genuine article) being regarded as the more especially
heinous act.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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