Mantra Gajah. 



By W. George Maxwell. 



" The book of mantras* used in connexion with elephants ; 

 "taken from the mantras of Tunku Mantri Ibrahim bin Jaffar, 

 " which are in the possession of Che Pandak Abdullah and 

 " committed to writing by Toh Sarif Aman ; mantras which 

 " have come down from the Datohs Sri Adika Raja of Ulu 

 " Perak, Toh Kalaung and Toh Kalalang, to Toh Muda Abdul- 

 " rauf and from him to the present day." 



With these words ends a small Malay manuscript in my 

 possession of which I have made the translation that follows. 



Of the persons mentioned I have not been able to dis- 

 cover much that throws any light on the original source of the 

 mantras. Tunku Mantri Ibrahim is the well-known Mantri of 

 Larut, who was banished to the Seychelles after the Perak War 

 and who, in the days of his greatness, owned a large number of 

 elephants. The present Tunku Mantri Muhammad Isa, the 

 Magistrate in charge of Selama, is his son. Orang Kaya Kaya 

 Sri Adika Raja is the title of the principal chief of the district 

 lying in the upper reaches of the Perak river on the northern 

 boundary between the Malay States under Siamese protection 

 and Perak. 



To the present Datoh Sri Adika Raja, Wan Muhammad 

 Salleh, i.s.o., I am indebted for much assistance in the enqui- 

 ries which I have made regarding these mantras. 



The first glance at the mantras shows that, while a few 

 are purely Malay, the majority of them are in a language 

 which is not Malay, and that some are partly in one language 

 and partly in the other. The two languages appear even to have 



* The Malays have borrowed the Sanskrit word mantra, which 

 denotes a charm or magical formula. I must apologise for its cons- 

 tant use in this article, but it is a word which cannot be adequately 

 translated. 



Jour. S. B. R. A. Soc, No. 45, 1905. • 



