Sirs,

Here is a copy of a letter of our National Hero Dr.
Jose Rizal to His Austrian friend Ferdinand
Blumentritt regarding "Bathala" and others:

http://www.univie.ac.at/Voelkerkunde/apsis/aufi/rizal/rbcor143.htm

It says:

143. Rizal, Brussels,17 April 1890

Rizal, historiographer and ethnographer - Various
works on oriental countries - In search of light on
the Philippines and the Malayans - Studies Dutch -
Orders Kern's new book - Investigating the origin of
the Malayan race.

38 Rue Philippe de Champagne, Brussels
17 April 1890
My Brother,
I have just received your most useful book, The Races
of the Philippine Archipelago, and I leafed through it
at once. It seems to me that it is of the greatest
value to Philippinologists, and for me especially, as
I am now devoting myself with earnestness to the study
o everything related to the Far East. I have bought
here various books on travel, history, etc. If you
want them, write me and I shall send them to you. I
have Marsden, History of Sumatra, Pagés, Voyage around
the World, Dumont d' Urville, Picturesque Voyage
around the World, Bougainville, Picturesque Voyage
around the World, Thimberg Voyage in Africa and Asia
(Java an Japan), Thompson, Malacca, Indochina, China,
Malabar Coast; and in addition 16 volums in 4° of the
History of Voyages until 1760. There is a great deal
about the Philippines in this work. I have also
Rienzi, Malaysia, (The Universe), Panthier, China and
Gesantschappen an de Kaisaren van Japan. I am studying
Dutch and I am searching the bookstores to complete my
collection. I already wrote to Holland ordering Kern's
new book.

I hope the money that will give impetus to our society
will soon come; oh, money!

If you still want some copies of Morga, write me: you
need not buy them.

Pages who has lived a long time among the natives,
that is to say, among the Tagalogs, writes good things
about their customs that the Spaniards could not
understand.

Kern's statement that the Malalayan people may have
originated in Indochina aroused greatly my interests,
because in reading Marsden's Sumatra, I found many
similarities between the customs of the Sumatrans and
the Filipinos. However. I cannot draw the conclusion
that the Filipinos had come from Sumatra. The
similarity between two individuals does not
necessarily mean that one is the father of the other.
Both can be the children of a deceased person, and for
this reason I believe it is difficult to decide
whether we originated here or there before having
studied thoroughly our respective histories,
languages, and religions. I believe that nearly the
whole life of a competent man will not he sufficiently
long to throw light on the origin of the Malayan race.
It seems to me that the Malayans should not be
considered either the original or typical race. The
Malayans have heen exposed to many foreign and
powerful factors that have influenced their customs as
well as their nature.

When shall I be allowed to make use of Dr. Hirth's
translation of Chinese Commerce? I have been waiting
for it a long time.

I am thinking of writing an article on the word
Bathalà. The mre I study it the more convinced I am
that this word is an error - an error of Chirino or
some missionary older and ahead of him who has been
recopied by subsequent historians, because the
majority of the historians oE the Philippines are mere
copyists. Despite the derivation of Deva, avatara,
etc. it seems to me incredible that the Tagalogs had
at all times in their mouth the name of their foremost
God when they hardly pronounced the name of their
parents - a custom that has been preserved throughout
a period of three centuries, despite the efforts of
the missionaries to make such reverence disappear, as
Chirino observed. I believe that the Tagalogs never
pronounced the name of their God, especially before
strangers whom they considered their greatest enemies.
They only called him Maykapal, a designation still
used and understood by any Tagalog. Why is there no
trace at all of the name Bathalà among the Tagalogs in
the towns? And nevertheless, the Tagalogs in the towns
use such words as Tikbalang, Asuang, Anito, Nuno,
Tiyanak, etc., and they retain many pagan usages, many
traditions, legends, stories of pagan origin. I
believe that the old missionaries did not take much
interest in knowing exactly the religion of the
Filipinos, for, on account of their religious zeal,
they considered it unworthy, diabolical, and for this
reason they did not undertake a thorough investigation
of it. I believe that the phrase Bathalà MayKapal that
was adopted by the other historians after Chirino is
nothing more than the phrase Bahala ang MayKapal,
wrongly written, that is equivalent to Alla or Alah of
the Muslims or to the Malayan Tuan AIla punia Kraja;
because Bahalà ang MayKapal means "God will take
care", a meaning given also in a dictionary to the
phrase Bathalà May Kapal. However, the fact that the
phrase Bathalà May Kapal is often encountered, makes
me presume that it may be only a copy. There cannot be
found another source where the word Bathalà is used
but without the denomination May Kapal. The bird
which, according to Morga, has been called Bathalà is
not the omnipotent one; it may be the symbol of
another divinity. As to the word Diwata as well as the
word Diwa (Tag. Mens, intellectus, spiritus,
Beurisstein), it is possible that they may be derived
from Dewa, Diu, Diw, Deos, Ti, etc.

Iwant to know exactly your opinion before publishing
my article, because it may have fatal consequences. If
you now a better derivation, I beg you to let me know.
The derivations of this word by Kern and Pardo de
Tavera do not seem sufficient to me because they did
not examine if the word was correctly written. You
know already how it is possible to construct with
etymology.

Consequently, I wish you good luck for your new book.
I shall study it carefully and if I find something in
it, allow me to give you my opinion.

Greetings to your family



Yours,
Rizal




This is a good letter to study because it detailed
some of Dr. Rizal's opinions about the Tagalog native
Supreme God "Bathala". Some reasons or hint why we do
not have much writings about "Him". That is the
Tagalogs seldom utter the name of their almighty God
(similarities with the Jewish seemingly "nameless
God", Yahweh "I am who am" and the 2nd Commandment
"Thou shalt not use the name of the Lord, thy God in
vain). Moreover they will most likely not do so in
front of their supposed enemies (during those times
the Spaniards).
The letter also seems to indicate the similarities of
the word Bathala with Allah and the belief in one
Supreme God of the Pilipinos before the coming of the
colonizers.
Other items on the letter give some hints on pagan
beliefs and seemingly "Indic" deities and a good
opinion on the theories of Philippine peoples'
origins.

Thanks

Loreto

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