SULU HISTORICAL NOTES

INTRODUCTION

These notes were copied by the author from a book in the possession of Hadji Butu, prime minister to the Sultan of Sulu. Pages 1, 2, and 3 form a separate article. They appear to be a supplement to the Genealogy of Sulu, but they were undoubtedly derived from a different source. Their contents are well known to the public and are probably an attempt on the part of Hadji Butu to register what seemed to him a true and interesting tradition of his people.

Page 4 was copied by the author from an old, dilapidated document which was torn in many places. It no doubt formed part of an authentic genealogy of Sulu, older and more reliable than that of the manuscripts on pages 148 and 149. It is written in Malay.

Page 5 is a copy of a Sulu document issued by Sultan Jamalul-Kiram I in the year 1251 A. H., or about seventy-three years ago. It confers the title of Khatib or Katib [102] on a Sulu pandita [103] named Adak. In conferring a title of this sort it is customary among the Sulus to give the person so honored a new name, generally an Arabic one, such as Abdur Razzak. [104] The same custom is observed in the case of accession to the sultanate and other high offices.

The writing at the top of the page is the seal of Jamalul Kiram. The date given in the seal is the date of his sultanate. The flourish at the end of the signature below is the mark of the writer.

SULU NOTES

Translation of page 1 of the original manuscript.--The first person who lived on the Island of Sulu is Jamiyun Kulisa. [105] His wife was Indira [106] Suga. [107] They were sent here by Alexander the Great. [108] Jamiyun Kulisa begot Tuan Masha'ika. [109] Masha'ika begot Mawmin. [110] Mawmin's descendants multiplied greatly. They are the original inhabitants of Sulu and chief ancestors of the present generation.

Translation of page 2 of the original manuscript.--In the days of the Timway [111] Orangkaya Su'il the Sulus received from Manila four Bisayan captives, one silver agong, [112] one gold hat, one gold cane, and one silver vase, as a sign of friendship between the two countries. One of the captives had red eyes, one had black eyes; one, blue eyes; and one, white eyes.

Translation of page 3 of the original manuscript.--The red-eyed man was stationed at Parang, [113] and is the forefather of all the people of Parang. The white-eyed man was stationed at Lati, [114]

and is the forefather of all the people of Lati. The black-eyed man was stationed at Gi'tung, [115] and is the forefather of the people of Gi'tung. The blue-eyed man was stationed at Lu'uk, [116] and is the forefather of the people of Lu'uk. At that time the religion of Mohammed had not come to Sulu.

Translation of page 4 of the original manuscript.--The first inhabitants of the Island of Sulu were the people of Maymbung. [117]

They were followed by the Tagimaha [118] and the Baklaya. [119] Later came the Bajaw (Samals) from Juhur. Some Bajaws were taken by the Sulus and were distributed among the three divisions of the island, while others drifted to Bruney and Magindanao. Some time after that there came Karimul [120] Makdum. [121] He sailed in a pot of iron and the ancients called him Sharif [122] Awliya. [123] The Sulus adopted the Mohammedan religion and brought Makdum to Bwansa. [124] There the Tagimaha chiefs built a mosque. Ten years later there arrived Raja Baginda, who emigrated from Menangkabaw. [125] Baginda came to Zamboanga first. From there he moved to Basilan and Sulu. The natives met him on the sea for the purpose of fighting him. He asked them, "Why do you wish to fight a Mohammedan who is coming to live with you?" He married there.

The commission of Khatib Abdur Razzak.

The Conqueror. By the order of the Omniscient King, The Sultan Mohammed Jamalul Kiram. The year 1239.

Translation of page 5 of the original manuscript.--Dated Wednesday, the tenth of Ramadan, in the year "D," the first, which corresponds to the year 1251 of the Hegirah of the Prophet Mohammed, may the best of God's mercy and blessing be his. This day his majesty our master, the Sultan Jamalul [126] Kiram [127] has granted Adak an official title by virtue of which he will be known as Khatib [128] Abdur [129]

Razzak. [130] This is done in conference and consultation and with the consent of all the people, without dissent.

By the will of God the most High.

(Signed) The Sultan Jamaul Kiram.

[The End.]

CHAPTER III

RISE AND PROSPERITY OF SULU

SULU BEFORE ISLAM

The Genealogy of Sulu is a succinct analysis of the tribes or elements which constituted the bulk of the early inhabitants of the island and is the most reliable record we have of the historical events which antedated Islam.

The original inhabitants of the island are commonly referred to as Buranun or Budanun, which means "mountaineers" or "hill people." This term is occasionally used synonymously with Gimbahanun, which means "people of the interior," and with Manubus in the sense of "savage hill people" or "aborigines." Some of the old foreign residents of Sulu maintain that they recognize considerable similarity between the Buranun and the Dayaks of Borneo, and say that the home utensils and clothes of the Sulus in the earlier days closely resembled those of the Dayaks.

The capital of the Buranun was Maymbung. The earliest known ruler of Maymbung was Raja Sipad the Older, of whom nothing is related except that he was the ancestor of Raja Sipad the Younger. In the days of the latter there appeared Tuan Masha'ika, about whose ancestry there seems to be considerable ambiguity and difference of opinion. According to the Genealogy of Sulu he was supposed to have issued out of a stalk of bamboo, and was held by the people as a prophet. The traditions state that Tuan Masha'ika was the son of Jamiyun Kulisa and Indira Suga, who came to Sulu with Alexander the Great.

Jamiyun Kulisa and Indira Suga are mythological names [131] and in all probability represent male and female gods related to the thunderbolt and the sun, respectively. The former religion of the Sulus was of Hindu origin. It deified the various phenomena of nature and assigned the highest places in its pantheon to Indra, the sky; Agni, the fire; Vayu, the wind; Surya, the sun. The ancient Sulus no doubt had many myths relating to the marriages and heroic deeds of their gods by which natural phenomena were explained, and it is not unlikely that the above story of Jamiyun Kulisa was one of those myths. Taken in this light, the above legend may express the belief of the ancient Sulus that, by the marriage of the gods, Jamiyun Kulisa and Indira, rain fell and life was so imparted to the soil that plants grew.

The word Masha'ika is so written in the Malay text as to suggest its probable formation from two words Masha and ika. The Sanskrit word Masha means "pulse" or "plant." Ika or eka means "one." On the other hand masha-ika may represent the two parts of the Sanskrit mashika which means "five mashas." It may not therefore be improbable that masha-ika refers to the subordinate deity which assumes the form of a plant or signifies the first man, whom the deity created from a plant. It is not an uncommon feature of Malay legends to ascribe a supernatural origin to the ancestor of the tribe, and Tuan Masha'ika probably represents the admission into the Buranun stock of foreign blood and the rise of a chief not descended from Rajah Sipad the Older. The tarsila [132] adds that he married the daughter of Raja Sipad the Younger, Iddha, [133] and became the forefather of the principal people of Sulu.

The common belief among the Sulus that Alexander the Great invaded their island is one of many indications which lead one to think that most of their knowledge and traditions came by the way of Malacca or Juhur, and possibly Tuan Masha'ika came from the same direction. It does seem therefore as if the dynasty of Sipad was supplanted by a foreign element represented by Tuan Masha'ika.

These two elements were later augmented by the Tagimaha who settled at Bwansa and along the coast west of that point, and by the Baklaya who settled on the same coast east of the present site of Jolo. The four tribes thus brought so closely together mixed very intimately and later lost their identity in the development of a single nation, which reached its maturity under the guiding hand of a Mohammedan master. In spite of later immigrations to the island and in spite of conquest and defeat, the national character thus formed has remained unchanged throughout history and the Sulu of to-day still maintains that same individuality which he acquired in his earlier days.

The noted emigration of the Bajaws or Samals of Juhur must have begun in the earlier parts of the fourteenth century, if not earlier. These sea nomads came in such large numbers and in such quick succession as to people the whole Tawi-tawi Group, the Pangutaran and Siasi Groups, all available space on the coast of Sulu proper, the Balangingi Group, and the coasts of Basilan and Zamboanga, before the close of the century and before the arrival of the first Mohammedan pioneers.

The Samals exceeded the Sulus in number, and the effect of such overwhelming immigration must have been considerable; but, nevertheless, the Sulu maintained his nationality and rose to the occasion in a most remarkable manner. The newcomers were taken into his fold and were given his protection, for which they rendered noteworthy service; but their relation was never allowed to exceed that of a slave to his master or that of a subject to his ruler, and the Samals thus remained like strangers or guests in the land until a late date.

Besides the Samals, some Bugis [134] and Ilanun emigrants gained a foothold on the northern and northeastern coast of Sulu. The Bugis appear to have lost their identity, but the Ilanun are still recognizable in many localities, and some of the principal datus of Sulu still trace their origin to Mindanao.

The numerous and extensive piratical expeditions undertaken by the Sulus from time immemorial must have been a great source of further influx of foreign blood. The earliest traditions say that, in the days of the Timway, [135] Orangkaya Su'il, slaves or hostages were sent by the raja of Manila to secure the friendship of the Sulus. These slaves were, according to some accounts, of six colors, but the written records give them as four--red-eyed, white-eyed, blue-eyed, and black-eyed. The people do not entertain any doubt relative to the truth of these statements, and the custom is current even among the Samals of referring to the origin of some person as descended from the red-eyed slave, in making distinction as to whether he comes from a noble or is of low birth and as to the part of the country to which he belongs. According to general opinion the red-eyed slaves lived at Parang, the western section of the island; the white-eyed at Lati, the northern section lying to the east of Jolo; the black-eyed at Gi'tung, the middle and southern section; the blue-eyed at Lu'uk, the eastern section.

This color distinction is difficult to explain, but it must have arisen out of the established custom of dividing slaves and captives, after returning from a piratical expedition, among the great chiefs of the various parties which composed the expedition. These parties as a rule belonged to four sections representing the four great districts of the island, over each of which one chief formerly was in authority. [136]

The number of elements which have thus entered into the constitution of the Sulu people must be great, for there was not a single island in the Philippine Archipelago which was spared by these marauders. Indeed, the nation owes its origin and its chief characters to piracy. As pirates these people took refuge in this island and lived in it, and as pirates they have stamped their reputation on the annals of history.

However, the Sulus do not differ in this particular point from the Malays of other countries. All Malays were equally addicted to piracy. "It is in the Malay's nature," says an intelligent Dutch writer, "to rove on the seas in his prau, as it is in that of the Arab to wander with his steed on the sands of the desert. It is as impossible to limit the adventurous life of a Malay to fishing and trading as to retain a Bedouin in a village or in a habitation. * * *

This is not merely their habit; it may be termed their instinct." [137]

"As surely as spiders abound where there are nooks and corners,"

says another, "so have pirates sprung up wherever there is a nest of islands offering creeks and shallows, headlands, rocks, and reefs--facilities, in short, for lurking, for surprise, for attack, and for escape. The semibarbarous inhabitant of the Archipelago, born and bred in this position, naturally becomes a pirate. It is as natural to him to consider any well-freighted, ill-protected boat his property as it is to the fishing eagle above his head to sweep down upon the weaker but more hardworking bird and swallow what he has not had the trouble of catching."

So we are told that before the days of Makdum and Raja Baginda, Sulu had long been an emporium not only of regular traders from most nations, but the headquarters of those piratical marauders who there found a ready market for enslaved victims.

INTRODUCTION OF ISLAM AND THE RISE OF A MOHAMMEDAN DYNASTY IN SULU, 1380-1450

To this period belongs the Mohammedan invasion of the Archipelago. If the Buranun [138] were Dayaks in origin, they certainly did not keep their Dayak characteristics very long. For in all probability Tuan Masha'ika, the Tagimahas, and the Baklayas were Malays [139]