A heavenly nymph married to an Arab sayyid

ABSTRACT

This article examines the multiple foundation myths of North Maluku and reveals that they contain Austronesian concepts of origin structures within which diarchic divisions between a stranger-king and autochthonous groups are important. In Ternate, the Jafar Sadek and Nursafa myth, which emphasises stranger-king ancestors, has been adopted by the royal court and serves as a charter of revived rituals and symbols. The late Sultan Mudaffar Sjah, in particular, used the mythic narratives to disseminate a sense of his power, which helped his ascendancy in local politics. While the Tidore royal family has adopted the same myth, it is the autochthonous clan that controls rituals and spiritual matters. Rather than focusing on the sacredness of stranger-kings, the Tidore rituals reflect an interesting array of stranger-kings and autochthons, established in the pre-colonial era.

KEYWORDS:

• Foundation myths
• Jafar Sadek
• North Maluku
• Nursafa

Acknowledgements

My thanks to the many in in Tidore and Ternate who helped in my fieldwork. I would also like to thank IMW’s anonymous reviewers for their perceptive comments. All shortcomings are mine.

Note on contributor

Seung-Won Song is Associate Professor at the Department of Malay-Indonesian Interpretation and Translation, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Korea. Email: [email protected]

Notes

1 There are various versions on the identity of Nursafa. One claims that she was a local princess, others that she was a jin or a local princess, who became a jin after her death.

2 The current structure of the court in Ternate includes the position of sowohi, whose role is to control the royal regalia; however, he does not have as much authority as the sowohi in Tidore. Andaya (1993b: 73) deduced that the traditional role of sowohi (sowohi kië) as the Lord of the Land had been lost with the decrease of power on the part of the jogugu.

3 Tidore has an almost identical crown with growing hair. I asked the Sultan about its relatedness with the JSN-1. He said that it was certainly related, as the stones were inherited from Jafar, but added that it was forbidden (foso) to give more information. Another important court officer later said that it was unrelated to the myth.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Research Grant of 2019.