Batara Guru

In the Malay charms and romances described by Skeat, Batara Guru is identified with Shiva and credited with restoring life. The Hikayat Sang Samba gives him life-restoring water. His identifications with the sea spirit Si Raya, the Spectre Huntsman, Kala and the Black Genie belong to particular accounts, with different families and functions.

Names and tradition associations

• Toh Batara Guru Malay · same recordWalter W. Skeat, Malay Magic (1900), pp.85–96: greater gods, sea-spirit family and black/white genii (secondary)
• Restorer-to-life Malay · same recordWalter W. Skeat, Malay Magic (1900), pp.85–96: greater gods, sea-spirit family and black/white genii (secondary)
• Shiva Hindu · resolvedWalter W. Skeat, Malay Magic (1900), pp.85–96: greater gods, sea-spirit family and black/white genii (secondary)
• Si Raya Malay · resolvedWalter W. Skeat, Malay Magic (1900), pp.85–96: greater gods, sea-spirit family and black/white genii (secondary)
• Kala (Malay charms) Malay · resolvedWalter W. Skeat, Malay Magic (1900), pp.85–96: greater gods, sea-spirit family and black/white genii (secondary)
• Spectre Huntsman Malay · resolvedWalter W. Skeat, Malay Magic (1900), pp.85–96: greater gods, sea-spirit family and black/white genii (secondary)
• Sang Gala Raja Malay · resolvedWalter W. Skeat, Malay Magic (1900), pp.85–96: greater gods, sea-spirit family and black/white genii (secondary)

Variant accounts

• Romance genealogySkeat reports Wilkinson’s Guru genealogy with a Hindu triad, Sambu and Sri, but the passage does not identify each named figure with a particular independent registry record. It is not used to alter Hindu parentage.Walter W. Skeat, Malay Magic (1900), pp.85–96: greater gods, sea-spirit family and black/white genii (secondary)
• source review correctionAdd the object and ability specifically attested in the cited romance discussion.Walter W. Skeat, Malay Magic (1900), pp.85–96: greater gods, sea-spirit family and black/white genii (secondary)

Domains

• sky upperworld
• sacred knowledge magic

Powers

• preside over the heavens
• grant magical knowledge
• Restore life in the Hikayat Sang Samba

Epithets

• Dewata Mulia Raya — The Exalted Great DeityW.W. Skeat, Malay Magic (1900), p. 87. (secondary)

Relations

• identified in account: ShivaSkeat’s interpretation of Malay ritual and romance; independent Malay portrayals retain their own families.Walter W. Skeat, Malay Magic (1900), pp.85–96: greater gods, sea-spirit family and black/white genii (secondary)
• identified in account: Si RayaReported local or interpretive identification, not a transfer of family.Walter W. Skeat, Malay Magic (1900), pp.85–96: greater gods, sea-spirit family and black/white genii (secondary)
• identified in account: Kala (Malay charms)Reported local or interpretive identification, not a transfer of family.Walter W. Skeat, Malay Magic (1900), pp.85–96: greater gods, sea-spirit family and black/white genii (secondary)
• identified in account: Spectre HuntsmanReported local or interpretive identification, not a transfer of family.Walter W. Skeat, Malay Magic (1900), pp.85–96: greater gods, sea-spirit family and black/white genii (secondary)
• identified in account: Sang Gala RajaReported local or interpretive identification, not a transfer of family.Walter W. Skeat, Malay Magic (1900), pp.85–96: greater gods, sea-spirit family and black/white genii (secondary)

Sources

• Batara Guru is the supreme sky-god of Malay folk cosmology, a Malay reflex of Shiva retained beneath an Islamic surface and invoked in shamanic liturgy.: R.O. Winstedt, The Malay Magician: Being Shaman, Saiva and Sufi (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1951). (secondary); W.W. Skeat, Malay Magic (London: Macmillan, 1900), pp. 84-90. (secondary)
• In the Malay charms and romances described by Skeat, Batara Guru is identified with Shiva and credited with restoring life. The Hikayat Sang Samba gives him life-restoring water. His identifications with the sea spirit Si Raya, the Spectre Huntsman, Kala and the Black Genie belong to particular accounts, with different families and functions.: Walter W. Skeat, Malay Magic (1900), pp.85–96: greater gods, sea-spirit family and black/white genii (secondary)