24 
FASCICULI MALATMNSES 
and meaning of which have been much disputed by Malay scholars. So far 
as its etymology is concerned, it will be sufficient for my purpose to state, as 
all authorities appear to agree, that it is derived from the Arabic, but its 
applied meaning in the Patani States cannot be dismissed so lightly. Generally 
speaking, it means 4 sacred,’ or, when used as a substantive, ‘ a sacred place,’ 
but sometimes can only be translated * lucky ’ or 1 accursed,’ for it has come 
to have the wide meaning * connected with a spirit or supernatural influence ’ 
of any kind. But the quality of being 4 sacred ’ falls naturally under two 
headings, and a place may be either 1 saint-sacred 1 ( kramat wali t or, in more 
correct Malay, kramat walir) or 1 spirit-sacred ’ ( kramat bantu ), though the 
qualifying word is usually omitted in conversation. 
So far as I know a kramat walir is always the grave of a Mahommedan 
saint, where miracles are wrought, or prognostications of the future given, in 
return for sacrifice and prayer. This system is one common to the Mahom¬ 
medan world and need not detain us, seeing that Mr. Skeat 1 has published 
the legend of the only 1 saint-sacred * shrine of any importance in the Patani 
States, namely the grave of ’Toh Panjang at Kampong Datoh, on Cape Patani. 
Two suggestive facts may, however, be noted in regard to this shrine : 
(i) since Mr. Skeat’s visit, in 1899, a Mahommedan Indian from Singapore 
has discovered what is believed to be the grave of a second follower of the 
saint, and this grave, situated beside those of ’Toh Panjang himself and 
another henchman, has already commenced to be the centre of a cultus ; 
while, (2) seeing that Cape Patani is difficult of access in bad weather, there 
exists at the mouth of the Patani River what may be described as a chapel-of- 
ease of’Tob Panjang, that is to say, a tree whereon offerings to the Saint 
may be hung by those who are too poor or too lazy to visit the shrine itself. 
Leaving Mahommedan saints and shrines, we find that the beliefs and 
practices connected with the word kramat are of a complicated nature. For 
the sake of lucidity, I propose to deal with them in the same order as that 
adopted when dealing with souls, viz., to talk first of persons who are kramat , 
then of animals, and finally of trees, places and inanimate objects generally. 
A kramat bidup , that is to say, a 4 living sacred place,’ a living shrine, is 
a person who is so intimate with the spiritual world that the spirits have 
become part of himself; he is able to materialize them when others can only 
ensure their presence in an incorporate condition, and when he offers them 
a sacrifice they devour it bodily, not merely consuming its savour {habit) or 
soul (semangat) as they do when an ordinary medicine-man makes them an 
offering. When a man or woman has gained such spiritual power, by study 
1. Fiilles and Foil-rales from an Eastern Fartst \ Cambridge, 1901, 
