The Genealogy of Sulu is a succinct analysis of the tribes or elements
which constituted the bulk of the early inhabitants of the island and is
the most reliable record we have of the historical events which antedated
Islam.
The original inhabitants of the island are commonly referred to as
Buraniin or Budanun, which means "mountaineers'' or 'liill people/'
This term is occasionally used synon^Tuously with Gimbahaniin, which
means "people of the interior," and with Manubus in the sense of "savage
hill people" or "aborigines." Some of the old foreign residents of Sulu
maintain that they recognize considerable similarity between the Buraniin
and the Dayaks of Borneo, and say that the home utensils and clothes
of the Sulus in the earlier days closely resembled those of the Dayaks.
The capital of the Buraniin was Maymbung. The earliest known
ruler of Maymbung was Eaja Sipad the Older, of whom nothing is related
except that he was the ancestor of Raja Sipad the Younger. In the days
of the latter there appeared Tuan Masha'ika, about whose ancestry there
seems to be considerable ambiguity and difference of opinion. According
to the Genealogy of Sulu he was supposed to have issued out of a stalk
of bamboo, and was held by the peqile as a prophet. The traditions state
that Tuan Masha'ika was the son of Jamiyun Kulisa and Indira Suga,
who came to Sulu with Alexander the Great.
Jamiyun Kulisa and Indira Suga are mythological names ^ and in all
probability represent male and female gods related to the thunderbolt
and the sun, respectively. The foi-mer religion of the Sulus was of
Hindu origin. It deified the various phenomena of nature and assigned
the highest places in it^? pantheon to Indra, the sky; Agni, the lire; Vayu,
the wind; Surya, the sun. The ancient Suhis no doubt had many myths
relating to the marriages and heroic deeds of their gods by which natural
phenomena were explained, and it is not unlikely that the above story of
Jamiyun Kulisa was one of those myths. Taken in this light, the above
legend may express the belief of the ancient Sulus that, by the marriage
of the gods, Jamiyun Kulisa and Indira, rain fell and life was so imparted
to the soil that plants grew.
The word Masha'ika is so written in the Malay text as to suggest
its probable formation from two words Mdsha and ika. The Sanskrit
word Masha means "pulse" or "plant." Ika or eka means "one." On
the other hand masha-ika may represent the two parts of the Sanskrit
mdshika which means "five mdshas,^' It may not therefore be improb-
able that masha'ika refers to the subordinate deity which assumes the
form of a plant or signifies the first mati, whom the deity created from a
plant. It is not an uncommon feature of Malay legends to ascribe a
supernatural origin to the ancestor of the tribe, and Tuan MashaMka
probably represents the admission into the Buraniin stock of foreign blood
and the rise of a chief not descended from Eajah Sipad the Older. The
tarsila ^ adds that he married the daughter of Eaja Sipad the Younger,
Iddha,^ and became the forefather of the principal people of Sulu.
The common belief among the Sulus that Alexander the Great invaded
their island is one of many indications which lead one to think that most
of their knowledge and traditions came by the way of Malacca or Juhur,
and possibly Tuan Masha-ika came from the same direction. It does
seem therefore as if the dynasty of Sipad was supplanted by a foreign
element represented by Tuan Masha'ika.
These two elements were later augmented by the Tagimaha who settled
at Bwansa and along the coast west of that point, and by the Baklaya who
settled on the same coast east of the present site of Jolo. The four tribes
thus brought so closely together mixed very intimately and later lost their
identity in the development of a single nation, which reached its maturity
under the guiding hand of a Mohammedan master. In spite of later
immigrations to the island and in spite of conquest and defeat, the
national character thus formed has remained unchanged throughout
history and the Sulu of to-day still maintains that same individuality
which he acquired in his earlier days.
The noted emigration of the Bajaws or Samals of Juhur must have
begun in the earlier parts of the fourteenth century, if not earlier. These
sea nomads came in such large numbers and in such quick succession as
to people the whole Tawi-tawi Group, the Pangutaran and Siasi Groups,
all available space on the coast of Sulu proper, the Balangingi Group,
and the coasts of Basilan and Zamboanga, before the close of the century
and before the ai-rival of the first Mohammedan pioneers.
The Samals exceeded the Sulus in number, and the effect of such
overwhelming immigration must have been considerable; but, nevertheless,
the Sulu maintained his nationality and rose to the occasion in a most
remarkable manner. The newcomers were taken into liis fold and were
given his protection, for which they rendered noteworthy service; but
their relation was never allowed to exceed that of a slave to his master
or that of a subject to his ruler, and the Samals thus remained like
strangers or guests in the land until a late date.
Besides the Samals, some Bugis^ and llanun emigi-ants gained a
foothold on the northern and northeastern coast of Sulu. The Bugis
appear to have lost their identity, but the llanun are still recognizable
in many localities, and some of the principal datus of Sulu still trace
their origin to Mindanao.
The numerous and extensive piratical expeditions undertaken by the
Sulus from time immemorial must have been a great source of further
influx of foreign blood. The earliest traditions say that, in tlie days of
the Timway,^ Orangkaya SuMl, slaves or hostages were sent by the
raja of Manila to secure the friendship of the Sulus. These slaves were,
according to some accounts, of six colors, but the written records give
them as four — red-eyed, white-eyed, blue-eyed, and black-eyed. The
people do not entertain any doubt relative to the truth of these statements,
and the custom is current even among the Samals of referring to the
origin of some person as descended from the red-eyed slave, in making
distinction as to whether he comes from a noble or is of low birth and
as to the part of the country to which he belongs. According to general
opinion the red-eyed slaves lived at Parang, the western section of the
island; the white-eyed at Lati, the northern section lying to the east
of Jolo; the black-eyed at Gi'tung, the middle and southern section; the
blue-eyed at Lu'uk, the eastern section.
This color distinction is difficult to explain, but it must have arisen
out of the established custom of dividing slaves and captives, after
returning from a piratical expedition, among the great chiefs of the
various parties which composed the expedition. These parties as a
rule belonged to four sections representing the four great districts of
the island, over each of which one chief fonnerly was in authority.^
The number of elements which have thus entered into the constitution
of the Sulu people must be great, for there was not a single island in
the Philippine Archipelago which was spared by these marauders.
Indeed, the nation owes its origin and its chief characters to piracy.
As pirates these people took refuge in this island and lived in it, and
as pirates they have stamped their rei)utation on the annals of history.
However, the Sulus do not differ in this particular point from the
Malays of other countries. All Malays were eciually addicted to piracy.
"It is in the Malay's nature," says an intelligent Dutch writer, "to rove
on the seas in his prau, as it is in that of the Arab to wander with his
steed on the sands of j;he desert. It is as impossible to limit the adven-
turous life of a Malay to fishing and trading as to retain a Bedouin in
a village or in a habitation. ♦ ♦ * This is not merely their habit;
it may be termed their instinct." ^
"As surely as spiders abound where there are nooks and comers,"
says another, "so have pirates sprung up wherever there is a nest of
islands offering creeks and shallows, headlands, rocks, and reefs — facili-
ties, in short, for lurking, for surprise, for attack, and for escape. The
semibarbarous inhabitant of the Archipelago, born and bred in this
position, naturally becomes a pirate. It is as natural to him to consider
any well-freighted, ill-protected boat his property as it is to the fishing
eagle above his head to sweep down upon the weaker but more hard-
working bird and swallow what he has not had the trouble of of catching."
So we are told that before the days of Makdum and Raja Baginda,
Sulu had long been an emporium not only of regular traders from most
nations, but the headquarters of those piratical marauders who there
found a ready market for enslaved victims.
