India and Malay Beliefs. 
By R. 0. Winstedt, D. Litt., (Oxon). 
By the kindness of Dr. 0. Schrieke, Assistant Adviser for 
Native Affairs to the Government of the Dutch Indies, I have had 
my attention drawn to an article by M. Wmternitz — “ Bemer- 
kungen znr mal'aischen Volksreligion ” — being a review of Mr. 
Skeat’s “ Malay Beliefs,” in Wiener Zeitsclirift fuer die Kunde des 
Morgenlandes, XIV Band, pages 243-264: Wien 1900. I am 
further indebted to the Batavian Society for a loan of the journal, 
since no library in the Peninsula possesses it. I propose here to 
summarize the conclusions of the reviewer, author also of “ Altin- 
disches Hochzeitsrituell ” ( Denkscriften der leads. Akademie d. 
Wiss., AVien 1892, page 68) as contributing further evidence on a 
subject I handled in a paper on “ Hindu Survivals in Malay 
Custom” ( Journal of the Federated Malay States Museums, 
A r olume IX, part I). And I add some additional matter. 
In a Javanese version of “ the churning of the ocean ” Wiseso 
(= Visvesa) or Brahman is still the highest of the Gods and sup- 
plies Batara Guru or Siva with the water of life wherewith to 
sprinkle the Gods and restore them to life (E. Metzger, Globus 
Bd. 44 (1883), p. 171 ff.). But in another Javanese legend Brah- 
man and Visnu are sons of Batara Guru (ib. page 184). And in 
the Ht. Sang Samba-, the Malay version of the Bhaumakavya, 
Batara Guru is the supreme God and as such is accepted by Malay 
magicians (Skeat pages 86-87). Now, Skeat says, “I was re- 
peatedly told that the Spectre Huntsman was a God, Batara Guru.” 
In Malay legend the Spectre Huntsman is not only a God, Batara 
Guru, but known by other appellations of that God, such as “ King 
of the Land-folk” (ib., page 120) (= To’ Panjang Kuku, page 
90), and identified at times with the Raja Hantu (page 418) who 
is sometimes said to be Batara Guru. Skeat compared the Malay 
legend with the English legend of the wild huntsman and his dogs 
or Gabriel’s hounds (page 113) : Sir William Maxwell opined it 
was of Aryan origin. In European folklore the wild huntsman is 
identified with historical or half -historical personages and a con- 
nection between him and the old German God AA r odan can be traced 
(Grimm, Deutsche Mytliologie 4. Anfl., page 766 foil.) Now 
Batara Guru or Siva is Rudra of A r edic times, Rudra “ the roarer, 
the terrible,” the God of storms ( Dowson’s “ Classical Dictionary 
of Hindu Mythology”). And it has been pointed out that in 
Rudra we find the same characteristics which are found in the 
German Wodan or Odin (and in the classical myths of Dionysus 
and Mars) namely those of a storm-god followed by hosts of spirits, 
a leader of lost souls, identified both in Malay and German legend 
Jour. Straits Branch 
