(c) Water
1. PURIFICATION BY WATER
The following description (by Sir W. E. Maxwell) of the bathing ceremony, as
practised by the Perak Malays, may be taken as typical of this subject:—
“Limes are used in Perak, as we use soap, when a Malay has resolved on having
a really good “scrub.” They are cut in two and squeezed (ramas) in the hand. In
Penang a root called sintok is usually preferred to limes. When the body is
deemed sufficiently cleansed the performer, taking his stand facing the East,
spits seven times, and then counts up seven aloud. After the word tujoh (seven)
he throws away the remains of the limes or sintok to the West, saying aloud,
Pergi-lah samua sial jambalang deripada badan aku ka pusat tasek Paujangi,
‘Misfortune and spirits of evil begone from my body to the whirlpool of the lake
Paujangi!’ Then he throws (jurus) a few buckets of water over himself, and the
operation is complete.
“The lake Paujangi is situated in mid-ocean, and its whirlpool most likely causes
the tides. All the waters of the sea and rivers are finally received there. It is
probably as eligible an abode for exorcised spirits as the Red Sea was once
considered to be by our forefathers.” ^277
The ceremony just described is evidently a form of purification by water. Similar
purificatory ceremonies form an integral part of Malay customs at birth,
adolescence, marriage, sickness, death, and in fact at every critical period of the