ISHAM (TT), THE LAST BIDUANDA

Isham (Hishamudin Rais aka tukar tiub) proudly claimed that he is a Biduanda.

"… The Penghulu Dagang of the Biduanda or Mantra of Ulu Kenaboi tribe described the history of his people. Pa Galang was the first Batin, he descended from heaven. His son who succeeded him was also called Galang and his grandson, Chan Galam. The latter went south and settled at Larong and Pianggu (both these places being near Kuala Jelebu). Chan Galam's son, Pa Asah went back to Kenaboi and made his clearings on Bukit Kundek, while his grandson, Tapak, went to Ulu Glimau. Then there appears to have been a general disruption of the tribe. A Batin Dudun opened up the country beyond Meranti Sembilan in Pahang, while a Bitin Bulu ruled in the Kenaboi hills so far as Karak and Telemong (in Pahang). Batin Timpo opened up Glami and Batin Ranggong the Ulu Triang, including Lebah Bergoyang and Bangkong Chondong. Langkap was in charge of a certain Batin Pekong, whose peculiarly repulsive name suggests that he may have been the forefather of the present leprous Besisi colony at Sebaring. The Malays first confronted the Biduanda in the time Batin Galang II. There was a meeting of the two peoples at Bukit Gelenggang. Here there were displayed on one side a bunch of plantains and a sarong, on the other setawar leaves and the bark of a terap tree (used by the Sakai for cloth). The rising generation of Biduanda were then asked to choose between them. The girls all choose the pisang and sarong and became Malays, but the youths stood by their setawar and terap and return to their native hills. Galang's daughter was betrothed to a Malay prince and an greement between the two peoples was inscribed on the skin of a jawak (monitor lizard). Later, however, the skin was devoured by a dog while the prince disagreed with the Batin's daughter, who ran back to her father and became the ancestress of the present Mantra population…"

There are at present time five settlements of this Mantra or Biduanda tribe in the Jelebu district: at Ulu Kenaboi, Ulu Jerang, Lakai, Serdai and Putus Rejang. The Ulu Jerang colony is connected with that Ulu Kenaboi, but the others form separate communities and have no association with each other. The total population of these five colonies is almost exactly 200.

Takek kayu Batin Jenang,

Putus tebus pada Undang

(The Sakai chief and his minister blaze the trees to mark the boundaries of forest for alienation: the Malay chief fixes the purchase money).

According to their belief every man has two souls: his body-soul and the soul of that in him which speaks and thinks. At death the two souls (still in conjunction) proceed to Bukit Sendong where is a huge cooking pot with fire beneath it, and across its mouth a sharp sword laid edge upwards. Over this sword the combined soul has to walk. If a man's life has been good this is an easy performance, but the bad man totters and falls, and both his souls perish in the boiling pot.

(slightly adapted after R.J. Wilkinson (ed). 1971. Papers on Malay Subjects. Oxford Univ Press)