Oceanic Mythology: Part III. Indonesia: Chapter I. Myths of Origins and the Deluge

PLATE XVI

Wooden mask representing a spirit or ghost. Worn in dances by the tribes of Sarawak and central Borneo. Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

15 Another version 16 varies somewhat in its details. In the beginning a spider descended from the sky 17 and spun a web, into which fell a tiny stone that grew and grew until it filled all the space under the horizon. A lichen fell from heaven upon this rock, to which it adhered, and then came a worm, from whose excrement the first soil was formed. This covering of earth gradually spread over all the rock; and next there fell upon the ground so made a tree, which at first was tiny in size, but which took root and grew great. A crab now dropped down to the earth and with its claws dug and scratched in the ground, thus forming the mountains and valleys. Plants grew upon the earth, and a vine, winding itself about the tree, mated with it. Finally, two beings, one male and one female, descended from heaven upon the tree, the male dropping a sword-handle and the female a spindle. Mating, these objects bore a child which had only head and body, but no arms or legs; and this monster in its turn produced two children, a boy and girl, who united and gave birth to offspring, which from generation to generation became more and more human in form until finally they were wholly so. These and their descendants then became deities of various sorts. 18

With them we may compare the origin-myths of several of the tribes of south-eastern Borneo. One version states 19 that in the beginning there were only the sky and sea, in which swam a great serpent upon whose head was a crown of gold set with a shining stone. 20 From the sky-world the deity threw earth upon the serpent's head, thus building an island in the

21 A slightly variant account 22 declares that the deity sent down a messenger or servant to report upon conditions, and that it was this servant who spread the earth on the serpent's head. Still another version from this same region is interesting in that it serves as a transition to those found in Sumatra. According to this tale, 23 in the world of the gods there were two trees, one of which bore a bud or sprout in the form of a ball. By the motions of a bird, which sat on this tree, the bud was shaken off and fell into the Spirit River, in which a great serpent dwelt; but though the latter tried to swallow the mysterious object, it escaped him, and drifting to the shore, was metamorphosed into a woman. Marrying a man who was developed from a tree-trunk floating in the sea, she gave birth, first, to six streams of blood from which all evil spirits came; and finally to two sons, one of whom, taking with him the seeds of all plants and animals, was lowered from the sky-world, where all these events occurred, to the earth (of whose origin nothing is said) that he might prepare it for men.

Deferring for the moment any discussion of these tales, we may turn to a third group of myths, i. e. those of the Battak of Sumatra. The Toba Battak (who of all the Battak tribes are probably the least influenced by Muhammadan or Indian culture) account for the origin of things as follows. 24 Mula Dyadi, the highest deity, dwelt in the uppermost of the seven heavens and had two birds as his servants. Having created three male beings, he caused a tree to exist in one of the lower heavens, its branches reaching to the sky; next he made a hen, which perched on the tree and later laid three eggs, from which came three maidens whom Mula Dyadi gave as wives to his three sons. 25 The daughter of one of these sons refused to marry a cousin of hers because he had a face like a lizard and a skin like a chameleon, and devoted her time to spinning. One day she dropped her spindle, which fell down from the sky-world. On the thread so unrolled she then descended to

26 which presents interesting differences. Batara Guru (Sanskrit Bhattara Guru), the highest of the gods, once sent a servant to get some venison, which was greatly desired by the deity's wife, who was about to give birth to a child. The hunt being unsuccessful, the divinity then sent the raven on the same quest, but he also could find no such food anywhere in the realms of the gods. In the course of his search, however, he discovered a cave, in which was a pit whose bottom he could not discern. The longest vine was too short to measure its depth, and a stick thrown down the opening disappeared

27 Batara Guru, the heaven deity, and his wife, who was the daughter of the divinity of the underworld, full of sorrow at their childlessness, determined to try the effect of penance in poverty and seclusion, and accordingly went to live in a little hut by the sea. Here they planted a small garden, which was destroyed by a great serpent that came out of the water, but when Batara Guru went to drive it away, the monster

28 The origin of the world, moreover, from a rock thrown down from the sky, or from materials brought or sent down from thence, appears not only in the portions of Indonesia from which the foregoing myths are derived, but also in the Philippines, 29 and is further characteristic of Samoa 30 and Tonga, 31 while it is likewise known from Micronesia. 32 The prominent part taken by birds, either as the original beings who flew over the primeval sea, or as the messengers and helpers of the deity in the task of creation, is also a feature

33 and Tonga. 34 Again, the idea that the first beings, whether gods; or men, were undeveloped, having merely bodies destitute of arms and legs, is found not only in Borneo, but also in the island of Nias, 35 and recurs in Samoa and the Society Group; 36 while the incident of the mating of tree and vine, characteristic of central Borneo, is known in Samoa as well. 37

From the foregoing it would seem, therefore, that we were justified in the conclusion that the cosmogonic myths of central and western Polynesia show similarity to the type of origin-myths just described in Indonesia--a similarity so striking, indeed, that a genetic relationship seems almost the only explanation. It has already been shown 38 that this type of myth is unknown elsewhere in Polynesia, and that there is reason to regard it as a comparatively late introduction into the Polynesian area.

In one of the Minahassa myths which has been given, an important incident is that of the incest of mother and son, the tale describing the two as separating, meeting without recognition after a lapse of time, 39 then marrying when a test had been applied which showed that the two were destined to become man and wife. The episode is known in practically the same form from the island of Lombok, 40 and also from Nias, 41 except that the staff is replaced by a ring as the test; and the essential element of mother-son incest is likewise found in the Philippines. 42 A modification of the original theme, by which the close relationship is discovered in time to prevent incest, is known among the Bantik of north Celebes 43 and also in west Borneo 44 though here the motif occurs in other than cosmogonic tales. Brother-sister incest is, moreover, a wide spread incident in Philippine myths 45 of the origin of mankind, as will be seen in more detail later. With this far-reaching element of incest in Indonesia it is interesting and perhaps significant to compare, on the one hand, the frequent appearance of father-daughter incest in Maori mythology, 46 where

47 As already pointed out, suggestions of this motif are found in the Society Group in Polynesia; and in the same connexion we may, perhaps, compare the incident of Lumimu-ut's fertilization by the wind 48 with the similar action of the sun's rays in Samoa 49 and Fiji. 50

The origin-legends of the north-west Borneo tribes are related to the type of cosmogonic myth which has just been considered in that they set forth belief in a primeval sea and in the important part played by birds, although they imply something more of a direct creation. According to one of these, 51 in the beginning there was nothing but a wide-spread sea, over which flew two birds, who, diving, brought up two objects like eggs in size and shape, from one of which one bird made the sky, while from the other his fellow created the earth. As the size of the latter exceeded that of the former, it was pressed together in order that it might fit, its resultant crumples and folds producing the mountains and valleys. Other versions 52 speak of an original deity without legs or arms, who seems to have been supported upon an animal, 53 and who by an act of will created two birds, which then formed heaven and earth.

The cosmogonic myths thus far discussed are derived from western and central Indonesia; and we may now turn to the eastern portion of this area, where another type appears, albeit the available material is exceedingly scanty. Indeed, of true myth-material we have only fragments from the small islands north-east of Timor (the Sermata and Leti Islands). 54 These seem to indicate a belief in a sky-world and a world below, of whose origins, however, nothing is said. 55 On the

56 In Ceram, Buru, and Amboina, the definiteness of this concept of the heaven father and earth mother becomes clearer; but we have no myths, not even fragments, regarding them. In view of the almost total lack of cosmogonic myth material from this region, as well as from Halmahera and the other islands of the Moluccas, it is premature to draw any conclusions from the resemblance of this concept to the similar, but much more highly developed, ideas in Polynesia; yet it is difficult to avoid the impression that the strength of the belief here in the extreme eastern portion of Indonesia, which is geographically nearest to the Polynesian area, and its apparent absence elsewhere farther west, are significant. Further material, however, alone can settle the question.

In the Polynesian area one of the most characteristic and interesting types of cosmogonic myths was that which explained the origin of the universe as due to a sort of evolutionary development from an original chaos or nothingness; and, at least in central Polynesia, this assumed a genealogical form. This evolutionary genealogical type of origin-myths seems, so far as available material goes, to be lacking in Indonesia, except in one very restricted region, the island of Nias, lying off the western coast of Sumatra. According to myths from this island, there was in the beginning only darkness and fog, which condensed and brought forth a being without speech or motion, without head, arms, or legs; 57 and in its turn this being gave existence to another, who died, and from whose heart sprang a tree which bore three sets of three buds. From the first two sets six beings were produced, two of whom

58 The several variants of the myth differ in details, but all agree in tracing the origin of things to a primeval chaos, from which after several generations was developed a tree that in turn gave rise to gods and men. Although lacking the details and development found in Polynesia, these Nias myths seem to show the same fundamental conception.

Thus far we have mainly been concerned with the myths concerning the origin of the world; but now we may devote some consideration to those accounting for the origin of mankind. Two main types may be distinguished: one comprising those in which man is not thought of as created or made, but as either (a) derived from a sky-world, (b) the offspring of the gods, or (c) of miraculous origin; and those characterized by a definite account of the actual making of the first man by some deity. The belief in a sky-world origin for mankind is in the main confined to the extreme eastern part of Indonesia--Ceram, 59 the Kei Islands, 60 and the Tenimber Group. 61 Only in the Kei Islands do we have a detailed myth; 62 in the other instances it is simply stated that the ancestors came down from the sky, which was formerly nearer to the earth, by means of a tree or vine. The idea of a heavenly origin also appears in the extreme west, for among the various conflicting myths from the island of Nias 63 one gives the sky-world as the ultimate origin of mankind, whereas others 64 describe this as a proximate source, the ultimate and earliest human ancestors being derived from trees. A direct divine ancestry appears comparatively seldom. Among the Toba Battak mankind is descended from the divine maiden who came down to earth, and from the heavenly hero who followed her; in the southern Celebes the Bugi of Macassar believe themselves to be derived from the son of the heaven deity and his six wives; while in Nias 65 and among the Ifugao in Luzon 66 we also find the belief in a direct descent from deities.

67 although in some instances the tales are more precise. Thus in the Ceram-laut and Gorrom Islands it is said 68 that in the beginning a woman of great beauty, called Winia, came out of a tree together with a white hog, the woman climbing into a tall tree, while the hog remained at its foot. After a time a raft floated ashore, on which was another woman, Kiliboban by name, who had drifted here from New Guinea and who became the comrade of the hog. Later a man (of whose origin nothing is said) came by and took off his clothing to go in fishing, but the two women saw him and laughed at him, whereupon, surprised that any one else was in the vicinity, the man sought for the source of the laughter and found Kiliboban, whom he straightway asked to be his wife. She, however, refused, but directed him to the tree in whose top Winia was concealed; so he climbed the tree forthwith, found the lovely damsel there, and taking her to be his wife, became by her the ancestor of mankind.

In Amboina 69 and Buru 70 the first human beings came from a tree after a bird had sat upon it and fructified it. In the latter island, according to one myth, the first to appear was a woman, who built a fire near the base of the tree, which it warmed, whereupon the tree split in two, and a man came forth who married the woman. A variant makes the man the first to appear. In Wetar 71 the first woman came from the fruit of a tree; and far to the north, among the Ami, one of the wild tribes of Formosa, 72 we find the same belief, for it is said that in the beginning a being planted in the ground a staff, which took root and became a bamboo on which two shoots developed, a man issuing from one of them and a woman from the other. Coming farther west to Celebes, traces of the idea

73 where, according to one myth, a tree-trunk floated ashore, and from it, when it was broken open by a deity, a man (in reality a god) came forth. A similar tale from the Tagalog, in the Philippines, is reported 74 in which two hollow bamboos floated ashore on the first land; these were pecked open by a bird, whereupon a man issued from the one and a woman from the other, the two thus becoming the ancestors of mankind. The belief appears again in Borneo in a tale from the Kayan 75 where the tree and vine of miraculous origin produce the ancestors of the different tribes; and a variant also occurs in south-east Borneo. 76 Lastly we find in Nias 77 that man originated from the fruit of the tree, tora'a, which grew, according to one account, upon the back of one of the first beings derived from original chaos; or according to another, from his heart after his death.

That the first men were derived from worms or came out of the ground as larvae is an idea apparently confined to the easterly islands 78 although little more is given than the mere statement of their origin. Perhaps related to this belief is that held in Watubela 79 and the Kei Islands, 80 that the first men arose out of the ground. 81 Among the Battak in Sumatra one myth 82 tells of the birth of the first man from a featherless bird, which was sent down from the sky.

Quite widely distributed, on the other hand, is the belief that mankind originated from eggs. In the Philippines 83 a bird laid two eggs, one at the source of a river and one at its mouth, a woman coming from the first and a man from the second. For long years the man lived alone, until one day when he was bathing, a long hair, floating in the water, entangled his legs so that he reached the bank with difficulty. Examining the hair, he at once determined to find its owner, and so travelled up-stream until he met the woman, whom he then married. From south-eastern Borneo 84 comes a different tale. After the world had been made by spreading earth on the head of the great serpent which swam in the primeval sea,

85 In Celebes we have already seen 86 how the first divine being was born miraculously from the rock or from the sweat which formed upon it; and an actual origin of mankind from a rock, which split open of itself, appears in Formosa. 87

In the consideration of the cosmogonic myths the frequency of the incest incident has already been pointed out. In most of these cases the offspring of the incestuous union are divine or semi-divine beings, who may or may not be the ultimate ancestors of mankind; but the belief in a direct origin of man from such brother-sister or mother-son marriages seems especially characteristic of the Philippine area, where it follows the flood-episode. As an example of these myths we may take the version given by the central Ifugao. 88 As the waters rose, people sought refuge on the mountains, until at last only two survived, a brother and sister, Wigan and Bugan, one of them

PLATE XVII

Image of Bugan, the wife of Wigan. She appears prominently in the myths, and all prayers for women are said to her, though no petitions are addressed to her image. She is regarded as the perfect woman. Ifugao tribe, Luzon, Philippine Islands. Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"Having provided for the comfort of his sister, Wigan started out to find if there were not other people left alive in the Earth World. He travelled about all the day and returned to the house at night to sleep. He did this for three days, and then as he was coming back on the third evening he said to himself that there were no other people in the world but themselves, and if the world was to be re-populated it must be through them . . . At last Bugan realized that she was pregnant. She burst into violent weeping, and heaping reproaches on his head, ran blindly away. After travelling a long way, and being overcome with grief and fatigue, Bugan sank down upon the bank of the river and lay there trembling and sobbing. After having quieted herself somewhat, she arose and looked around her, and what was her surprise to see sitting on a rock near her an old man with a long white beard! He approached her and said: 'Do not be afraid, daughter! I am Maknongan, and I am aware of your trouble, and I have come to tell you that it is all right.' While he was speaking, Wigan, who had followed his sister, appeared on the scene. Then Maknongan placed the sanction and blessing of the gods upon their marriage, assuring them that they had done right, and that through them the world must be repeopled. He told them to return to their house, and whenever they were in trouble. to offer sacrifices to the gods. . . . In the course of time nine children were born to Wigan and Bugan, five sons and four daughters. The

89 and Mandaya, 90 although in another Ifugao version (from the Kiangan) 91 they are really divine. In Nias 92 we again see this distinctly human character emphasized. In these Philippine versions the unintentional character of the incest, as recorded in the cosmogonic tales and in those from Nias, does not appear, though it does come to the fore in stories from other Philippine tribes which do not relate to the origin of mankind, such as the Tagalog, 93 and in variants from western Borneo 94 and Celebes, 95 where the relationship is discovered in time and incest is avoided. Thus, in a legend from the first area, a man deserts his wife and son, the latter of whom, when he has grown up, goes in search of his father, returning only after many years. In the meanwhile his mother has kept her youthful appearance, and unrecognized by the son, who is captivated by her beauty, is wooed by him. She, in her turn, does not recognize her son, but just as they are about to marry, a scar on his head reveals his identity to her. At first dismayed, the pair finally resolve to carry out their plans, but are suddenly turned to stone.