A Malay nautch
F.A. Swettenham’s 1878 account, read before the JSBRAS on 5 August 1878, provides one of the earliest European ethnographic descriptions of a Malay nautch—a classical court dance performance witnessed in early 1875 at the Bandahara of Pahang’s residence. The article’s central contribution is its detailed observation of a performance form that Swettenham considered rare, seldom witnessed by Europeans, and hitherto undescribed in the Malay Peninsula (p. 163).
Summary
Swettenham, then on a diplomatic mission to the Bandahara of Pahang, was invited at 2 a.m. to attend a nautch already in progress at the Bandahara’s balei (p. 163–164). The performance featured four female dancers—two approximately eighteen and two approximately eleven years old—dressed in elaborate silk and cloth-of-gold costumes with gold head ornaments, diamond rings, and gold bangles (p. 164). The orchestra, which Swettenham identified as Javanese in origin and seldom seen in the Malay Peninsula, comprised a wooden-keyed percussion instrument, inverted metal bowls struck with wooden sticks, a large gong, a drum, and triangle-like instruments (p. 165).
The performance ran from 10 p.m. to after 5 a.m. and consisted of five or six dances, each lasting approximately half an hour, with materially different figures and musical tempos (p. 166). Swettenham notes that the dances were symbolical in content: one depicted agriculture (tilling, sowing, reaping, winnowing), while the final dance represented war, in which the dancers wielded wands bound with three rings of burnished gold to represent swords (p. 166–167). The performance culminated in a state of “hantu menari”—possession by the Spirit of Dancing—during which the two eldest dancers became so agitated that they had to be forcibly removed from the hall by four or five women (p. 167).
The dancers were part of the Bandahara’s own household, and Swettenham was permitted to leave a present for the performers in accordance with custom (p. 167). The Bandahara, who appeared around 4 a.m., told Swettenham that one of the girls, when “properly” possessed, ate nothing but flowers for months—a detail Swettenham records as “a pretty and poetic conceit” (p. 167).
Key Findings
- The nautch was performed by four girls (two aged ~18, two aged ~11) who were members of the Bandahara’s household, not professional performers (p. 164, 167).
- The accompanying orchestra used Javanese instruments—a wooden-keyed percussion instrument and inverted metal bowls—rarely encountered in the Malay Peninsula at the time (p. 165).
- The performance comprised five or six distinct dances, each lasting approximately thirty minutes, with symbolical narratives including agriculture and war (p. 166).
- The dance technique was characterized by slow, graceful movements of the arms, hands, and body, with the feet “scarcely noticed and for half the time not visible” (p. 166).
- The performance concluded with a state of “hantu menari” (dancing spirit possession), during which the two eldest dancers attempted to strike each other with their wands and had to be physically restrained and removed (p. 167).
- The entire performance lasted from 10 p.m. to after 5 a.m., with approximately 200 spectators, nearly all male, seated on the floor in order of rank (p. 164, 167).
Conclusion
Swettenham’s account stands as a valuable early ethnographic record of a court nautch in Pahang, documenting both the performative structure (symbolical dances, Javanese musical accompaniment, the hantu menari climax) and the social context (a private court performance for a male audience of ranked spectators). His observation that the form was “seldom witnessed by Europeans, and so far undescribed” (p. 163) underscores its documentary value for the history of Malay performing arts in the late nineteenth century.
Context
- The article was read at a JSBRAS meeting on 5 August 1878 and published in Volume 2 of the Journal, reflecting the Society’s early interest in documenting Malay cultural practices during the colonial period.
- Swettenham, who would later become Chief Secretary of the Straits Settlements and High Commissioner for the Federated Malay States, was already engaged in diplomatic work in Pahang at the time of the observation, placing this account within the broader context of British administrative penetration into the Malay interior.