Note on the word “selaseh”
H. Overbeck’s short note examines whether the frequent use of selaseh (basil) as a rhyme-equivalent for kekaseh (“beloved”) in Malay pantuns reflects a deeper cultural association with the plant, drawing on Hindu tulasi-rites and Malay literary sources.
Summary
Overbeck quotes at length from Frazer’s Golden Bough on the Hindu practice of marrying the holy basil (tulasi) to the Salagrama fossil or to Krishna, noting that the plant is regarded as an embodiment of a goddess and is worshipped as such. He then asks whether remnants of this belief persist in Malay culture, citing the Hikayat Malim Dewa, in which a magic parroquet plants white and black selaseh as life-indicators for the hero, and the Malay expression mabok bunga selaseh (“drunk on selaseh flowers”), which Klinkert attributes to the intoxicating smell of the plant (pp. 420–421).