Page 208 - Malay sketches

XVII

MALAY SUPERSTITIONS

There are more things in heaven and
earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in
your philosophy
Hamlet
superstitions are the survival of a time
MALAY gospel of
antecedent to the advent of the
Islam, and their strong hold on the people is only
another proof of the conservative tendencies of the
race. What was the Faith of Malaya seven hundred
years ago it is hard to say, but there is a certain
amount of evidence to lead to the belief that it was
a form of Brahmanism and that no doubt had suc-
ceeded the original Spirit Worship.
I do not to to enumerate all the
propose attempt
various forms of superstition, their name is legion,
but only to describe a few that are both curious and
interesting.
I have already referred to what is known as ber-
hanlu, the practice of a kind of witchcraft for the
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