THE INFLUENCE OF HINDUISM ON MALAY CULTURE
by
SABRI ZAIN
( Sabri Zain was born in Singapore. His father was from Alor Star, Kedah.)
QUOTE:
"...HINDUISM exerted a profound
influence on MALAY CULTURE before the coming of Islam to Malaysia.
And this influence has survived, despite the strict monotheistic
restrictions of the Islamic faith, TO THE PRESENT DAY.
There are many other HINDU RELIGIOUS TERMS that have lost their original
meaning and are (still) being freely and unconsciously USED BY MUSLIM
MALAYS IN CONNECTION WITH THE RELIGION OF ISLAM....."
-SABRI ZAIN
Read here:http://www.sabrizain.org/malaya/hindu2.htm
HINDU influence in the Malay Peninsula was initially limited more or
less rigidly to the upper class of old Malay society - the ROYALTY.
MALAY
ROYALTY WAS ESSENTIALLY HINDU ROYALTY descended, according to the
Malay Annals, "Sejarah Melayu", from a legendary half-Indian and
half-Greek monarch, Raja Suran, whose sons all bearing INDIAN PROPER
NAMES,
-Sang Nila Utama,
- Krishna Pandita,
- Nila Pahlawan,
then descended on Bukit Siguntang in Sumatra from whence MALAY ROYALTY
spread.
The spread of HINDUISM was not the result of any organised missionary
movement. Indian merchants by virtue merely of their feconomic standing,
drew converts from the ruling and trading classes of the races with
which they traded.
If Hinduism was accepted, it was because of a desire for a better
standard of living rather than because of an understanding and
appreciation of a superior religious system.
Hinduism spread also through marriage. The small princes of the
Malaysian coastal trading centres were glad to marry off their sons and
daughters to the prosperous Indian merchants or their children.
For those who lived on the outskirts of the trading centre, the Hindu
influence was to come much later and in gradual stages.
While the common people often followed the religious faith of their
rulers, there was always an undercurrent of fear of evoking the wrath of
their earlier animistic deities.
Hinduism was assimilated only with a lot of local theological "spice"
retained.
EARLY MALAY LITERATURE is almost completely derived from HINDU epics,
from the Ramayana and the Mahabaratha.
Even today, a MAJOR portion MALAY VOCABULARY is made up of SANSKRIT
words.
Today, when a Malay speaks a sentence of ten words, probably five of
them will be Sanskrit words, three Arabic and the remaining either of
English, Chinese, Persian or of some other origin.
One expert even made the sweeping claim that there are only FOUR words
in the Malay vocabulary which are genuinely Malay - "api" or fire,
"besi" or iron. "padi" or rice, and "nasi" or cooked rice.
Words such as:
-putera, son;
-puteri, daughter;
-asmara, love;
-samudra, ocean;
- belantra, jungle;
- kenchana, gold;
- sukma, soul; and literally thousands of other words are all Sanscrit
words, either in original or in modified form.
What of the influence of INDIA on the RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENTS of the
Malaysian peoples?
MALAY folk-lore and MALAY literature show that during the period BEFORE
THE COMING OF ISLAM about the 14th century A.D., the greater gods of
the MALAY pantheon were really borrowed HINDU DIVINITIES.
They were, in some respect, modified by Malay ideas, but only the lesser
gods and spirits were actually native to the Malay religious system.
It is true these native gods and spirits can be identified with the
great powers of nature, such as the spirit of the Wind (Mambang Angin),
the spirit of the Waters (Hantu Ayer) and the spirit of the Sun (Mambang
Kuning).
But none of them appears to have the status of the chief gods of the
Hindu system.
Both by land and water, the terrible Shiva and Batara Guru or Kala, are
supreme.
In Malay folk-lore we find Vishnu, the preserver, Brahma the creator,
Batara Guru (Kala) and S'ri all invoked by Malays, especially by Malay
magicians.
Of all the greater deities of the Hindu system, Batara Guru is
unquestionably the greatest.
In Hikayat Sang Sembah , the tales of Sang Sembah, Batara Guru appears
as a supreme god with Brahma and Vishnu and some subordinate deities.
It is Batara Guru who alone has the "water of life", the elixir of life,
which can restore life to dead humans and animals.
To the Malays of old, then, and to the Malay bomohs even of the present
day in whom are preserved these notions, "tok Batara Guru" or any one of
the corruptions which his name now bears, was the all-powerful god who
held the place of Allah before the advent of Islam, and was a spirit so
powerful that he could restore the dead to life. All prayers were
addressed to him.
Of the lesser deities of Hinduism, the most notable who have remained in
Malay superstition and folklore are the "GERGASI", half-human forest
spirits of HINDU mythology represented in Malay folk-lore as tusked
orgres that feed on human flesh.
Then there is the RAKSAKSA, a race of cannibal giants ruled, according
to the Indian Puranas, by Ravana. A tribe of raksaksa is mentioned in
the Kedah annals, Hikayat Marong Mahawangsa, which tell of a giant king,
Maroung Maha Wangsa, who led a tribe of giants and founded the present
state of Kedah which they called Langkasuka.
All in all, that A FORM OF HINDUISM WAS THE ACCEPTED RELIGION OF THE
MALAYS prior to the advent of ISLAM is certain, and it is a fact amply
proved by Malay folk-lore and superstition, Malay literature, Malay
customs and various archaeological inscriptions.
Muslim religious teachers in Malaysia today still preach the Islamic
concept of heaven in a terminology which is NEITHER MALAY or ARABIC,
neither Malay nor Arab, but HINDU .
The sanskrit word "shurga" is always used in connection with the Islamic
concept of paradise.
The proper Arabic word for this is actually "al-jannah".
In the same way, the Hindu religious term "NERAKA" or hell is used by
Muslim Malays to explain the Islamic concept of hell.
The Arabic word for hell is "al-nar: or the place of fire.
Then the Muslim fast, the annual religious abstention from food and
drink, is known by the SANSKRIT term "puasa".
A Muslim religious teacher is often called "guru, another Hindu
religious term , in fact the name of a Hindu deity, Batara Guru.
The Muslim prayer is among the Malays, called "sembahyang". "Sembah" in
Sanskrit means to pray, and "yang" is a Sanskrit term meaning divinity
or conjuring respect, as in Sang Yang Tunggal", the most divine one, and
"Yang Dipertuan ".
There are many other HINDU RELIGIOUS TERMS that have lost their original
meaning and are being freely and unconsciously USED BY MUSLIM MALAYS IN
CONNECTION WITH THE RELIGION OF ISLAM.
This shows that Hinduism exerted a profound influence on Malay culture
before the coming of Islam to Malaysia.
And this influence has survived, despite the strict monotheistic
restrictions of the Islamic faith, to the present day.
So, in religion as well as in other aspects of Malaysian culture, we
cannot treat the influence of India as something belonging to the past.
The political influence of old India which was climaxed by the great
Empires of "Sri Vijaya" and "Majapahit" is today at an end, but the
cultural influence of India which began at the beginning of the
Christian era is still very much alive, and it will be alive for many,
many centuries to come because it has become part of the life of the
Malaysian peoples.
Reformis Tulin
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Sunday, December 1, 2013
DIMENSI SIFU-TUAH WHO IS THE LEADERS!!!!!!!!
DIMENSI SIFU-TUAH WHO IS THE LEADERS!!!!!!!!
Siapakah yg layak di panggil leader atau ketua. adakah semua ornag layak di panggil ketua atau yg ada 99% adalah sampah sarap yg mengaku diri mereka ketua. semua orang boleh mengaku diri ketua. tetapi kebanyakannya nk jadi ketua kerana boleh menjadi kaya dna berkuasa. tetapi adakah mereka ketua untuk rakyat .. jawabnya tidak. bullshittttttt
Seseornag yg layak di panggil ketua ialah orang yg hilang kredibialiti untuk memikir tentang dirinya sendiri. baik kita renung balik di negara kita malaysia adakah orang yg layak di panggil leader atau ketua. kalau tanya Sifu - Tuah dan aku sendiri jamilkucing di malaysia yg layak di panggil leader atau ketua hanya seorang iaitu Tok Guru Nik Aziz. yang lain sorry la jauh panggang dari api.
Yang lain mostly adalah manusia yg permalas nak berusaha dan berkerja dan menjadi ketua dia boleh mendapat segalanya dgn percuma , mostly bapak bapak syaitan dari umno terutamanya melayu bapak setan , syaitana dalah makhluk yg di ciptakan cerdik dan pandai.pimpinan umno mereka sangat cerdik dan pandai dalam bab menipu. sebab itu sekor seekor kaya raya.
So definasi seorang leaders ....
ARE LEADERS IS THE PERSON WHO LOST THE RIGHT TO THINK FOR HIMSELF...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)