Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/366

 severe blow to the happiness of the bulk of the popu- lation by forbidding the performance of the ma'iong.

The ma'iong are heroic plays which are acted throughout the length and breadth of the Peninsula by troupes of strolling players, and they are specially dear to the natives of Kelantan. They are bastard off-shoots of the magnificent spectacular plays which, to this day, are performed in the palace of the king of Kambodia at Pnom Phen. These in their turn had their origin in the traditional and ceremonial dances enacted at Angkor, when that city of gigantic ruins was still the capital of a great Hindu empire, which extended over most of Burma, Siam, and Indo- China, and was established and ruled for several centuries by Brahmans who migrated from across the Ganges. Since the enslaved population rose in revolt against the twice-born tyrants, utterly destroying them and reducing their city to ruins, the plays have undergone many changes, and in our time the clown, who plays the part of low comedian, is called Bram in Kambodia. In the Malayan. ma'iong he reappears as Pran; and this butt of the other actors, and object of the derision of the specta- tors, derives his title of infamy from the proudest caste on earth, who long ago at Angkor exacted the worship of the people, and by their oppression of them earned a hatred of which this grotesque piece of spite is the last surviving manifestation.

The Malay renderings of these plays are of the most primitive character. They are performed in- side a small square paddock, enclosed by a low bam-