Al-salam ‘aleikum! Hei sahabat-ku Mambang Tali Harus, Yang berulang ka pusat tasek Pauh Janggi, Sampeikan-lah pesan-ku ini, Bangunkan Jambalang Ketam Gergasi!
Peace be upon you! Hey my friend the Spirit of the currents (water), Who tos-and-fros to the pusat tasek Pauh Janggi, Realize this request of mine, Raise the Giant Crab!
Sang Nabil Utama turns crab around to show color and pierces it into the banana stem.
This diagram can be seen as a representation of the metaphysics and the physics of the traditional Malay cosmos. The Pokok Pauh Janggi is the axis mundi of the 1 Dunia (world) connecting the depths of the 6 Dasar Laut (Underworld) to the heights if the 5. Kayangan (Skyworld). Its location at the 2 Pusat Tasik Pauh Janggi puts it directly above the ‘Underworld’. In the tale of Haji Batu, the drew 7 nails that the Haji drove into the tree to make his way up might be a reference to the 7 levels of Hell as understood in Islam. His passage to from the top of the Pokok Pauh Janggi to Mecca by clinging to the mythical Burong Roc (Garuda) might equally signify his ascent towards the Heavens.
If the Pokok Pauh Janggi anchors the metaphysical model of the Malay cosmos, the physics of this world is represented by Giant crab that lives at its base. This crab blocks the opening of the drain of the waters at the bottom of the Pusat Tasek (whirlpool or navel of the seas) and it is the daily movements of this crab, that cause the oceans to rise and fall cyclically, giving us both the currents and the tides. (see Walter William Skeat’s Malay Magic).
According to Malay folklore, in the far depths of the ocean, there is a great whirlpool known as the ‘Pusat Tasek’ or the ‘navel of the seas’. At the centre of this whirlpool, there is an enormous tree known as the Pokok Pauh Janggi. This place, identified in Malay Cosmology as the Pusat Tasik Pauh Janggi, is inhabited by Nagas, Jins, Garudas and other such creatures. One of these creatures sits on the ocean floor, at the base of the tree blocking a gigantic opening at the root of the tree. This opening leads further down to the nether world of the Dasar Laut inhabited by Raja Lebis. Further, according to Anker Rentse, it is from the Dasar Laut, that the swirl of the Pusat Tasek rises in the course of ocean water draining down the opening. In some versions of this cosmology, a dragon guards this hole and its body also blocks the hole, preventing the ocean from running dry. In other accounts it is not a dragon but a giant crab that holds the waters up. It is the daily movements of this crab, unblocking and reblocking the hole, that cause the movement of the waters that we humans experience as currents and tides. The above Kelantan Wayang Kulit puppets of the Pokok Pauh Janggi and the giant crab were collected by Walter William Skeatfrom a Tok Dalang in the late 19th Century. They index the likelyhood that the Wayang repertoire was once replete with representations of indegenous Nusantara myths and ideas that have since been abandoned.
The Dari Pusat Tasek exhibition will run at Percha Artspace, Lumut Waterfront till 19 Jan 2020. The performance for this event arises from the myth of the ‘navel of the seas’ or the Pusat Tasik Pauh Janggi. It is held in Malay folklore that somewhere in the proximity of the island of Borneo, or alternatively, somewhere off the mouth of the Perak river, there is a massive whirlpool that swirls down to the depths, draining the waters into the earth. At this nexus, rooted on the ocean floor, is the fabulous Pokok Pauh Janggi that reaches up to the heavens. At the base of this tree, at the bottom of the swirl of the ‘pusat tasek’, there is said to sit a giant crab, blocking the opening of the drain of the waters. It is the daily movements of this crab, that cause the oceans to rise and fall cyclically, giving us both the currents and the tides.
Wayang Kulit puppets – Pokok Pauh Janggi and Ketam Gergasi
The Dari Pusat Tasek exhibition and performance will open at the Percha Art Space in Lumut on 25th Dec 2019. This performance for this event arises from the mythic realities of the ‘navel of the seas’ or the Pusat Tasik Pauh Janggi. Far out in in the deep ocean somewhere in the proximity of the island of Borneo, or even in the mouth of the Perak river, depending on which account one follows, there is said to be a momentus whirlpool that swirls down to the depths, draining the waters into the earth. Also at this nexus, rooted on the ocean floor, is the fabulous Pokok Pauh Janggi that reaches up to the heavens. At the base of this tree, at the bottom of the ‘pusat tasek’, there is said to sit a giant crab, blocking the opening of the drain of the waters. It is the daily movements of this crab, that cause the oceans to rise and fall cyclically, giving us both the currents and the tides. The oceanic currents are sometimes personified as a regular visitor, the Mambang Tali Harus, a type of spirit who is said to go back and forth from the navel of the seas (bĕrulang ka pusat tasek). Rooted at this centre of tidal activity, this Pusat Tasik, is the fabulous Pokok Pauh Janggi that reaches up to the heavens.
In the Selangor Malay tale of Haji Batu, a man, journeying to perform the Haj, had to cross the fearsome Navel of the Seas, known to be a dangerous and fiendish place (Siapa terjatuh atau tergelincir, tersuruplah ia ke dalam pusar. Tempat menanti segala mara bahaya. Tempat duduk menantinya Nenek Sepit Pentala Naga di Laut Buih Gelombang Tujuh. Kalau si lemah yang sampai, maka hilang ghaiblah ia di mulut Raja Naga yang maha bisa). As Haji Batu’s ship went down, he clung to the Pokok Pauh Janggi, and following instructions he had received in a dream, drew himself up on 7 nails that he drove into the tree. When he reached the top, he found the nest of the mythical Burong Roc (Garuda) that lived there. He waited therein and when the Roc returned, he attached himself to the bird and flew Westward on his Journey to Mecca.
The Koboi Project 
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