PETARA, OR SEA DYAK GODS. 135 



" another man another" — Jai orang jai Petara. " A wretched 

 man, a wretched Petara," is a common expression which pro- 

 fesses to give the reason wiry any particular Dyak is poor and 

 miserable — " He is a miserable man, because his Petara is misera- 

 ble." The rich and poor are credited with rich and poor Petaras 

 respectively, hence the state of Dyak gods may be inferred from 

 the varying outward circumstances of men below. At the begin- 

 ning of the yearly farming operations, the Dyak will address the 

 unseen powers thus: hita Petara hita Ini Inda — "0 ye gods, 

 u ye Ini Inda." Of Ini Inda I have not been able to get 

 any special account ; but from the use of Ini, grandmother, it 

 evidently refers to female deities ; or it may be only another 

 appellation of Kit a Petara. Now. little as this is, it is unmis- 

 takeable evidence that polytheism must be regarded as the 

 foundation of Sea Dyak religion. But the whole subject is one 

 upon which the generality of Dyaks are very hazy, and not one of 

 them, it may be, could give a connected and lucid account of their 

 belief. They are not given to reasoning upon their traditions, and 

 when an European brings the subject before them, they show a 

 very decided unpreparedness. 



The use of the term Petara is sufficiently elastic to be applied 

 to men. Not imfrequently have I heard them say of us white men : 

 " They are Petara." Our superior knowledge and civilization are 

 so far above their own level, that we appear to them to partake of 

 the supernatural. It is possible, however, that this is merely a bit 

 of flattery to white men. When I have remonstrated with them 

 on this application of the term, they have explained that they only 

 mean that we appear to manifest more of the power of Petara, 

 that to themselves, in what we can do and teach, we are as gods. 

 Mr. Low, in his paper on the Sultans of Bruni, ( 2 ) tells us that it 

 was the title of the rulers of the ancient kingdoms of Menjapahit 

 and Sulok. It is not uninteresting to compare with this the appli- 

 cation of the Hebrew Eloliim to judges, as vice-gerents of Grod. 

 (Psalm lxxxii. 6.) 



But some of the pengap will tell us more about Petara than can 

 be got from the conversation of the natives, and the first 



( 2 ) Straits Asiatic Journal. No. 5, pp. 1-16. 



