Ritual and belief : $b Studies in the history of religionHartland, Edwin Sidney
Religion
Ritual and belief : $b Studies in the history of religion
Hartland, Edwin Sidney
Ethnopsychology; Magic; Religion; Rites and ceremonies
Similarly in the annals of Kedda, a portion of the Malay Peninsula,
there is a story of the rajah who was dethroned and fled. His nobles
and queen sent to the King of Siam for a new ruler. He, having
consulted his astrologers, was advised that the true heir to the
throne could only be discovered by a supernaturally intelligent
elephant, named Kamala Jauhari, which was wandering about on the
confines of Kedda and Patani. When the envoys brought back the message
to the Kedda chiefs, {312} they decked the palace for a fête. “Then
all the people held a fast for seven days and nights.… On the night
of the seventh day the _dupa_ and incense were burned, and all sorts
of perfumes were diffused around, and at the same time the name of the
super-intelligent elephant was invoked to attend upon the four
_mantris_ [ministers]. Immediately almost there was a sound, like the
rushing of a coming tempest, from the East, with earthquakes,
agitations and terrific sounds. In the midst of all this uproar the
terrified spectators were delighted to see Kamala Jauhari standing at
the hall, and thrusting up her trunk into it. The four mantris
instantly rubbed her with cosmetics and bathed her with lime-juice,
while others applied cosmetics and sweet-smelling oils, rubbing these
over its whole body. Then a meal was served up to it, and put into its
mouth. The state howdah was now placed on its back, along with all its
appurtenances, curtains and hangings. Then one of the mantris read the
King of Siam’s letter close to the ear of Kamala Jauhari, acquainting
her that she was expected to assist in finding out a rajah for Kedda
by all means. When Jauhari heard all this, she bowed her head and
played her trunk, and then set forth in the direction of the East,
followed and attended by from three to four hundred men, having
banners and flags streaming in the wind, and being supplied with all
necessaries, and armed with various kinds of spears, held in hand.” It
is needless to say that the expedition thus pompously described was
successful in discovering the boy. The elephant caught him up in her
trunk, and, placing him on her back in the howdah, carried him off in
triumph to the palace, where he was forthwith clad in royal robes and
crowned.[312.1]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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