(b) Spirits, Demons, and Ghosts
The “Jins” or “Genii,” generally speaking, form a very extensive class of quite
subordinate divinities, godlings, or spirits, whose place in Malay mythology is
clearly due, whether directly or indirectly, to Muhammadan influences, but who
may be most conveniently treated here as affording a sort of connecting link
between gods and ghosts. There has, it would appear, been a strong tendency on
the part of the Malays to identify these imported spirits with the spirits of their
older (Hindu) religion, but the only Genie who really rises to the level of one of
the great Hindu divinities is the Black King of the Genii (Sang Gala^16 Raja, or
Sa-Raja Jin), who appears at times a manifestation of Shiva Batara Guru, who is
confounded with the destructive side of Shiva, i.e. Kala. This at least would
appear to be the only theory on which we could explain the use of many of the
epithets or attributes assigned to the King of the Genii, who is at one time called
“the one and only God”; at another, “Bĕntara (i.e. Batara), Guru, the Genie that
was from the beginning,” and at another, “the Land Demon, the Black Batara
Guru,” etc.
The following is a description of this, the mightiest of the Genii:—
Peace be with you!
Ho, Black Genie with the Black Liver,
Black Heart and Black Lungs,
Black Spleen and tusk-like Teeth,
Scarlet Breast and body-hairs inverted,
And with only a single bone.^17So far as can be made out from the meagre evidence obtainable, the spirit thus
described is identifiable with the Black King of Genii, who dwells in the Heart
of the Earth, and whose bride, Sang Gadin (or Gading), presented him with
seven strapping Black Genii as children.^18