VII. HINDU SURVIVALS IN MALAY CUSTOM. 
By R. O. WINSTEDT. 
There are twelve purificatory rites which cleanse a Brahman 
from the taint of sin endhten from his parents. (Monier Williams’ 
“Hinduism,’’ 1911, pp. 59, 60; and E. Thurston’s ‘‘ Castes 
and Tribes of Boaters India,” vol. I, seb Brahman.) They 
are not always apie pried performed and often several are 
performed together. Between these rites and the twelve main 
incidents of a Malay boy’s life there is such close coincidence, 
that it would appear we may detect in those incidents, as 
elsewhere, survivals of Brahmanism underlying the Malay’ s 
later faith. These survivals are corroborated by the many 
Sanskrit words employed in the Malay ceremonies :— pancha- 
érsada ‘a ceremonial bathing-place’; pancharona ‘ divers- 
coloured of thread’, and so on 
The twelve diss; are as follows :— 
(I) The ritual of consummation spoken, unless the bride 
is a child, on the last, i.e. the fourth or fifth day of the matriage 
ceremonies. After the consummation of a Malay marriage 
bride and groom are ceremonially bathed (mandi sampat Pk.; 
mandt tolak bala) on or before the seventh day of the matriage 
ceremonies, which thenconclude. Anyhow the consummation 
ritual would naturally be merged and lost in the marriage 
ceremonies. 
(2) & (3) Two ceremonies performed together in the seventh 
or ninth month, the first to ensure the birth of a male child and 
the second the parting of the hair of the pregnant woman. 
These correspond with the Malay ceremony of mélenggang perut. 
(4) Touching the infant’s tongue thrice at ‘birth with 
honey and ght, with recital of a verse from the Rig Veda 
wishing the child long life and happiness. Arab and Indian 
Moslems do this, omitting, of course, the verse from the Rig- 
Veda. Moreover on the Malay infant’s forehead is painted 
the caste-mark of the Hindu (Skeat’s ‘‘ Malay Magic,’’ p. 336). 
(5) The whispering of a name into the child’s ear by the 
parents on the tenth or twelfth day. 
(6) Taking out the child in the fourth month to see the 
sun. With this may be compared the Malay custom of 
turun ka-tanah which is everywhere observed (c/. Snouck Hur- 
gronje’ s ‘°The Achehnese,” vol. I, p. 389). In Kelantan a 
— s child has to be taken down from house by tl 
,»no more, no fewer. The child is carried through a line 
os women holding lighted candles to a spot where seven gold 
plates are placed. The first plate contains magic herbs; the 
second unhusked rice (padz); the third husked rice (béras), the 
