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
There are many stories about ghost tigers (rimau kramat), which are
generally supposed to have one foot a little smaller than the others
(kaki tengkis). During my stay in the Langat district I was shown
on more than one occasion the spoor of a ghost tiger. This happened
once near Sepang village, on a wet and clayey bridle-track, where
the unnatural smallness of one of the feet was very conspicuous. Such
tigers are considered invulnerable, but harmless to man, and are looked
upon generally as the guardian spirits of some sacred spot. One of
these sacred spots was the shrine (kramat) of 'Toh Kamarong, about
two miles north of Sepang village. This shrine, it was alleged, was
guarded by a white ghost elephant and ghost tiger, who ranged the
country round but never harmed anybody. One day, however, a Chinaman
from the neighbouring pepper plantations offered at this shrine a
piece of pork, which, however acceptable it might have been to a
Chinese saint, so incensed the orthodox guardians of this Muhammadan
shrine that one of them (the ghost tiger) fell upon the Chinaman and
slew him before he could return to his house.
By far the most celebrated of these ghost tigers, however, were the
guardians of the shrine at the foot of Jugra Hill, which were formerly
the pets of the Princess of Malacca (Tuan Putri Gunong Ledang). Local
report says that this princess left her country when it was taken
by the Portuguese, and established herself on Jugra Hill, a solitary
hill on the southern portion of the Selangor coast, which is marked
on old charts as the "False Parcelar" hill.
The legend which connects the name of this princess with Jugra Hill
was thus told [294] by Mr. G. C. Bellamy (formerly of the Selangor
Civil Service).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account