Page:A dictionary of the Sunda language of Java.djvu/65

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44
A DICTIONARY SUNDANESE

the B for W and vicê versa” a final ang is also frequently added to words, by which the original Wata would become Batang. This appears to be the more probable as this Hari Batang is associated with Maung; the colloquial Sunda word for the Tiger Royal. Batang may also be a corruption of Déwata, with the initial dropped, and ng suffixed. Hari, C. 787 is derived from Hara to take, and is a name of Krishna or Vishnu, Yama or Indra, and the expression Hari batang tulung maung will thus mean — „Oh God Krishna, help me oh Tiger”. Batang Jala may mean the God of magic or delusion. Jala C. 210 magic, conjuring, illusion, supernatural deception. Throughout Java till this moment the natives have a superstitious reverence for the Tiger royal, and will not hurt or kill it, unless it first has dosa or sin, and has killed a human being, or some of his Cattle. Batang is the name of a place and districts on the north coast of Java in the residency of Pakalongan, where the Prahu mountains come down near the shore. In these same Prahu mountains are found many remnants and remains of temples from Hindu times, and the name of Batang may perhaps be in some way connected with the Divinities there formerly worshipped. Another name of a place in this locality which attracts attention as being of Hindu origin is Sraman near Simbang. Clough Page 778 gives Sramana, from Srama to perform acts of austere devotion- an Ascetic, one devoted to meditation for the purpose of obtaining final emancipation from existence; a Buddhist ascetic, a beggar, a religious mendicant, a Buddhist priest.
Batang may also be explained as derived from Bata C. 455 descent, going down, descent from a hight. To the Sanscrit Bata the Polynesian Ng may have been added as a termination, and Batang may mean the low land, the low country along the foot of the lofty and sacred Prahu mountains, see also Balibat.

Batara, The Hindu Godhead. The Sundanese apply the designation to all the divinities, as Batara Guru, the chief Hindu God worshipped on Java, Batara Bisnu, Batara Gana or Ganesa &c. Guru among the Hindus was a kind of spiritual guardian of youth, one of the names of Brihaspati, the preceptor of the Gods - Clough Page 178. Batara Guru, however, on Java appears to have been the chief Hindu Deity worshipped, But whether Siwa or Vishnu is not evident. Crawfurd dissertation on Malay grammer Page 238 says that, on the authority of Professor Wilson, no doubt the Hindu god intended was Vishnu.
Awatara, C. 5k awa, down, tara to cross or pass: a descent, this word is used by most of the oriental nations to express the incarnation of their deities, or their descent from heaven to Earth; and in Hindu history it particularly refers to the incarnation of Vishnu in ten principal forms, viz 1, the fish- 2, ihe tortoise- 3 the boar- 4 the man-lion- 5 the dwarf- G and 7 the two Ramas 8. Krishna- 9 Buddha, and 10 Kalkisee Bisnu. (Cf. Oesana Bali Tdsch. Ned. Ind. IX. 3.257. Fr.).

Batari, a female goddess; the female of Batara.