term indicative of the superstitious dread associated with this particular
period.”^31
1
Newbold, British Settlements in the Straits of Malacca, vol. ii. pp. 360, 361. ↑
2
Vide Vishnu Purana, vol. ii. p. 109; trans. by Wilson. ↑
3
The full Malay text of this introduction will be found in the Appendix. ↑
4
Lit. “A cube.” The cube-like building in the centre of the Mosque at Makkah (Mecca), which
contains the Hajaru ’l-Aswad, or black stone.—Hughes, Dict. of Islam, s.v. Kaʿbah. ↑
5
Sakatimuna (or “Sicatimuna”) is the name of an enormous serpent, said to have ravaged the
country of Menangkabau in Sumatra about the beginning of the 12th century.—Newbold, op.
cit. vol. ii. p. 199 n. It is also given as “Icktimani” by Leyden in his trans. of the Malay
Annals. ↑
6
For the parting asunder of the snake, vide the note on page 11 infra, which gives what may be
the origin of this myth as it is known to the Malays. ↑
7
The Nagas are generally represented in old sculptures as bearing the human form, but with a
snake attached to their backs, and the hooded head rising behind their necks.—Nagananda,
translated by Palmer Boyd, p. 61; vide also ib. p. 84. This may be the explanation of the Malay
k’ris hilt, or dagger hilt, which represents a seated human form with folded arms and a hood at
the back of its neck rising over its head. These hilts are called hulu Malayu (the “Malay hilt”),
or Jawa dĕmam (lit. the “Fever-stricken Javanese”), in allusion to the attitude of the figure with
its folded arms. The pattern of these hilts, which are universally used for the national Malay
k’ris or dagger, varies from an accurate representation of the human figure to forms in which
nothing but the hood (which is occasionally much exaggerated) is recognisable. Europeans
seeing these hilts for the first time sometimes take them for snakes’ heads, sometimes for the
heads of birds. ↑
8
Payah probably stands for supaya, perhaps with the meaning “so also.” Kun in Arabic means