[Sidenote: Superstitious fear of contact with kings in Africa and the
Malay region.] In like manner the Cazembes, in the interior of
Angola, regarded their king as so holy that no one could touch him
without being killed by the magical power which emanated from his
sacred person; however, any one who had accidentally or necessarily
come into personal contact with his Majesty could escape death by
touching the king’s hands in a special manner.[11.2] Similar beliefs
are current in the Malay region, where the theory of the king as the
Divine Man is said to be held perhaps as strongly as in any other part
of the world. “Not only is the king’s person considered sacred, but
the sanctity of his body is believed to communicate itself to his
regalia, and to slay those who break the royal taboos. Thus it is
firmly believed that any one who seriously offends the royal person,
who touches (even for a moment) or who imitates (even with the king’s
permission) the chief objects of the regalia, or who wrongfully makes
use of any of the insignia or privileges of royalty, will be _kĕna
daulat_, _i.e._ struck dead, by a quasi-electric discharge of that
Divine Power which the Malays suppose to reside in the king’s person,
and which is called _daulat_ or Royal Sanctity.”[11.3] [Sidenote:
Marvellous powers attributed to rajahs by Malays and Dyaks.] Further,
the Malays firmly believe that the king possesses a personal influence
over the works of nature, such as the growth of the crops and the
bearing of fruit-trees.[11.4] Some of the Hill Dyaks of Sarawak {12}
used to bring their seed-rice to Rajah Brooke to be fertilized by him;
and once when the rice-crops of a tribe were thin, the chief remarked
that it could not be otherwise, since they had not been visited by the
Rajah.[12.1] [Sidenote: Superstitious veneration for the rajah of
Loowoo.] Among the Toradjas of Central Celebes “the power of the
rajah of Loowoo rested for the most part on superstition and on
tradition. The ancestors had served the rajah in their day, and should
the descendants fail to do so they would have to fear the wrath of the
ancestors. Often Toradjas said to us, ‘The rajah of Loowoo is our
god.’ They saw in him the complete embodiment of the old institutions.
It used to be said that he had white blood, and the mysterious power
that went forth from him was thought to be so great that a common
Toradja could not see him without suffering from a swollen belly and
dying.”[12.2]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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