defective pronunciation and defective alphabets of the Archipelago. Some, also, are altered or
varied in sense. Tapas, ‘ascetic devotion,’ is deprived of its last consonant and becomes tapa.
Avatar, ‘a descent,’ is converted into batara; and instead of implying the descent or incarnation
of a deity, is used as an appellative for any of the principal Hindu deities. Combined with guru,
also Sanskrit, it is the most current name of the chief god of the Hindus, worshipped by the
Indian islanders, supposed to have been Vishnu, or the preserving power. It may be translated
“the spiritual guide god,” or, perhaps, literally “the god of the spiritual guides,” that is, of the
Brahmins. Agama in Sanskrit is “authority for religious doctrine”; in Malay and Javanese it is
religion itself, and is at present applied both to the Mahomedan and the Christian religions.
With nearly the same orthography, and in the same sense, Sanskrit words, as far as they extend,
are used throughout the Archipelago, and even as far as the Philippines.”—Crawfurd, Mal.
Grammar, pp. cxcvii.–cxcviii. ↑
10
Supra, p. 86. ↑
11
Some confirmation of this view may be found if we admit the explanation given me by a
medicine-man, who identified the Spectre Huntsman with ’Toh Panjang-Kuku, and both with
Batara Guru. ↑
12
The supreme god in the State Chamber (balei) is Batara Guru, on the edge of the primeval
forest (di-gigi rimba) it is Batara Kala, and in the heart of the forest (di hati rimba) it is ’Toh
Panjang Kuku, or “Grandsire Long-Claws.” Similarly “Grandsire Long-Claws” is lord of the
shore down to high-water mark; between that and low-water mark Raja Kala is supreme, and
Batara Guru di Laut (Shiva of the Ocean) from low-water mark out to the open sea. ↑
13
It is very difficult to ascertain the exact relation that ’Toh Mambang Tali Harus (God of Mid-
currents) bears to Batara Guru di Laut. Most probably, however, the God of Mid-currents,
whose powers are less extensive than those of the “Shiva of the Sea,” is an old sea-deity, native
to the Malay (pre-Hindu) religion, and that “Shiva of the Sea” was merely the local Malay
adaptation of the Hindu deity afterwards imported. ↑
14
Vide supra, p. 88, note. Yang bĕrulang ka pusat tasek is the expression applied to Mambang
Tali Harus. ↑
15
Vide supra, pp. 6, 7. ↑