ALOR STAR: The Sultan of Kedah Sultan Sallehuddin Almarhum Sultan Badlishah and the Sultanah of Kedah Sultanah Maliha Almarhum Tengku Ariff today underwent the ‘Istiadat Siram Tabal’ (royal bathing ceremony) at Dataran Kepala Tanjung, Istana Anak Bukit here.
The ceremony was held in conjunction with the installation of Sultan Sallehuddin as the 29th Sultan of Kedah on Oct 22 at the Istana Anak Bukit here.
Raja DiHilir Perak Raja Iskandar Dzulkarnain Almarhum Sultan Idris A’fifullah Shah and his consort, Raja Puan Muda Perak Tunku Soraya Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah, Tunku Laksamana of Kedah Datuk Tunku Shazuddin Arif Sultan Sallehuddin, Tunku Temenggong of Kedah Datuk Seri DiRaja Tan Sri Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah, Tunku Bendahara of Kedah Datuk Seri DiRaja Tan Sri Tunku Abdul Hamid Thani Almarhum Sultan Badlishah and his consort, Datin Seri Diraja Puan Seri Datuk Nora Abdullah, Raja Muda of Kedah Tengku Sarafudin Badlishah Sultan Sallehuddin and his consort, Raja Puan Muda of Kedah Che Puan Muda Zaheeda Mohamad Ariff, were in attendance.
Also present were Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir and his wife Tok Puan Norzieta Zakaria and other state government leaders.
Datuk Bijaya Indera, Datuk Paduka Syed Unan Mashri Syed Abdullah, then sought the consent of the Sultan to begin the ‘Istiadat Siram Tabal’ ceremony.
The ceremony began with the bearing of spring water from the 12 districts of Kedah and ‘zam zam’ water in a procession led by Datuk Jaya Budiman Datuk Paduka Mohd Puat Mohd Ali along with Kedah Mufti Datuk Syeikh Fadzil Awang and Grand Imam of State Mosque Datuk Syeikh Roslan Abdul Halim Al-Hafiz and 12 district officers as well as Mayor of the Alor Star City Council Datuk Mohd Zohdi Saad.
Datuk Jaya Budiman, the Mufti and the Grand Imam then proceeded to the Pancapersada (royal platform), followed by the Mayor, who was the bearer of a golden container containing the ‘zam zam’ water, and district officers, who were the bearers of 12 silver containers filled with spring water.
The spring water had been collected from Gunung Keriang, near here; Tupah Waterfall (Kuala Muda); Ulu Riau, Sedim (Kulim); Bukit Perangin (Kubang Pasu); Gunung Inas (Baling) and Teloi Forest Reserve (Sik).
Others were Seraya Waterfall (Padang Terap); Telaga Tujuh, Padang Matsirat (Langkawi); Puteri Mandi Gunung Jerai (Yan); Bukit Ulu Jawi Relau (Bandar Baharu); Sungai Rambai Bukit Perak (Pendang) and Kampung Budi, Mukim Lesong (Pokok Sena).
After that, Datuk Jaya Budiman went up the Pancapersada and stood behind three earthen pots of ‘Air Siram Taubat’, ‘Air Siram Selamat’ and ‘Air Siram Syukur’.
All 12 district officers and the Mayor handed the containers to Datuk Bijaya Budiman who then poured the spring water and ‘zam zam’ water into the three pots.
Then came 10 of the state’s Female Administrative Officers with nine of them carrying containers of nine types of flowers to be put into the pots, led by Datuk Andika Raja Datuk Wira Mohd Zain Osman.
The flowers were Cempaka Kuning, Melor, Kesidang, Melati, Kenanga, Lili, Mawar Kuning, Kekwa and Harum Malam.
And then came three penghulus, each carrying a tray containing, respectively, the ‘sintok’ bark, lime and incense, led by Datuk Seraja Setia Datuk Paduka Rasli Basir and accompanied by Penghulu Mukim Sungai Petani Tuan Ahmad Fuat Zainol Abidin.
They were followed by the Royal ‘Pawai’, among whom were Datin Paduka Datuk Tunku Kamaliah Almarhum Sultan Badlishah and Datin Paduka Tunku Nafisah Almarhum Sultan Badlishah, who were led to the Pancapersada by Datuk Johan Jasa Colonel Datuk Tunku Aziz Bendahara Tunku Nong Jiwa.
The head of the ceremony then sought the consent of the royal couple to sit atop the Pancapersada to begin the royal bathing ceremony.
Once the royal couple were seated, Syeikh Roslan recited a prayer and Tunku Bendahara of Kedah sprinkled rose water and ‘bunga rampai’ on the couple to mark the beginning of the ceremony.
As the ceremony began, the nobat played the ‘Gendang Anak’ song.
Tunku Nafisah and Tunku Kamaliah then poured the water from the three pots on Sultan Sallehuddin and Sultanah Maliha, with the final pour was done by the Kedah Mufti, with a prayer recited by Sheikh Fadzil.
The head of the ceremony then approached the royal couple to inform that the ceremony was completed.
The Sultan and Sultanah of Kedah then left the Pancapersada to return to the palace. - Bernama