362 OCCASIONIAL NOTES, 



CEREMONIES AT SEED TIME. 



In common with the Burmese and Siamese, the Malays have 

 a superstitious belief in the power exerted by the spirits of 

 the earth and air and of the sun and moon in furthering the 

 growth of padi. This is especially evinced in the propitiatory 

 invocations which they resort to, and the offerings which they 

 lay upon the ground or scatter in the air at seed time. Of the 

 invocations given below, the first two, with their renderings, 

 are taken from a work * by Captain Low, Superintendent of 

 Province Wellesley under the East India Company in 1836, 

 and the remainder, which I have obtained from Malays in 

 Penang, are in common use up to the present time in the 

 Straits Settlements and throughout the Malay Peninsula. 

 They are known as " Fuji pad/" or " propitiation oithepadiV 

 The first is to Dangomala and Dangomali, spirits of the sun 

 and moon : — 



Sri Dangomala , Sri Dangomali ! 



Handak kirim anak sambilan bulan ; 



Saga I a inang, saga la pengasoh ; 



Jangan bri sakit, jangan bri demam ; 



Jangan bri ngilu dan pening 



Kechil menjadi besar ; 



Tuah jadi mud a ; 



Yang ta'kejap di per kejap ; 



Yang ta'sa?na di per sama ; 



Yang t a' hijau di per hijau ; 



Yang t a' tinggi di per tinggi ; 



Hijau seperti aver la at ; 



Tinggi seperti Bukit Kaf. 



O illustrious spirits of the sun and moon ! 



Let there be fruit (offspring) nine months hence. 



* " A Dissertation on the Soil and Agriculture of the British Settlement 

 of Penang, &c. " by Captain James Low of the Madras Army, in civil 

 charge of Province Wellesley and Corresponding Member of the Asiatic 

 Society of Great Britain and Ireland, &c. — Printed at the Singapore Free 

 Press Office, 1836. 



