Sama-Bajau: The Real life Aqua-man

If you are asked how long you can hold your breath underwater? You may answer at most 2 minutes, sometimes 4 minutes. After two minutes your body will start crying for oxygen, after three,  your head will be lightened, you will be feeling as if someone is pulling out your heart, and if 6 minutes have passed you will become unconscious. 

Doing normal work is a far cry. But wouldn't it be surprising if I could say that there is a whole community of people who can breathe underwater for almost 13 minutes and then work normally? Wouldn’t it be a surprising fact? 

One such community is the Sama-Badjao, a seaside community in several Southeast Asian countries. They can hold their breath underwater and go up to 200 feet deep and go fishing, oyster picking, and other activities. Their main job is to catch fish with spears and collect oysters. This is how they make a living. The 200 feet depth we can imagine is equal to the 20 storied buildings of our country. No wonder?

 

Causes of Such Stunning Physical Ability

A Bajau man catching fish under see

What is the reason for their abnormal physical ability? One study found that genetic mutations resulted in the spleen size of people in the Bajau community being one and a half times larger than the normal human spleen. 

The spleen acts as a blood filter in the body, breaks down contaminated and decayed red blood cells from the body and helps pure blood and iron to enter the body, and acts as an immune system. 

Although the spleen is not initially a supplier of oxygen, when the heart contracts due to severe oxygen deprivation, the spleen also contracts under pressure and releases oxygenated red blood cells, thereby filling the body's immediate oxygen deficiency. 

In addition, they have twenty-five distinct genes in their bodies that help them adapt to the aquatic environment. Shouldn't we learn a little more about those who have such abnormal physical abilities? Let’s go.

 

Identity, Accommodation, and Lifestyle

Stilt House

Lepa-Lepa Boat House (By David P. Barrows - A History of the Philippines (1905), Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68866645)

They live on the island of Tayo-Tayo in the Philippines in Southeast Asia, the coastal region of Mindanao, Borneo in Indonesia, Sulawesi, and various islands in the eastern area, off the coast of the Malaysian state of Sabah, and around the coast of Brunei. 

The Bajau community, scattered whithersoever, has a population of about 1.1 million. They are also called "Gypsies of the Sea" or "Nomads of the Sea", much like the Vedic community in our country. 

The Bajaus of different places introduce themselves by different names. Usually, they do not call themselves Bajau. 

However, "Bajau" usually refers to a situation in which life is associated with the sea. In The Philippines, they call themselves Sama Dilot or Sama Mandilot. 

Again in Malaysia, they call themselves Bajau Laut, and Malaya. The Austronesian word Sama, means together, one, or relative. They are known as Sama-Bajau because they form groups in the sea. 

During the British colonial period, the British administration officially named them Bajau. Bajaurs live and move in a kind of boathouse which they call Lepa, Lipa, or Lepa-Lepa. Moreover, for their stay, they build a kind of house by combining the land and the sea surface next to the coast, which is called a stilt-house. 

They usually make their living by fishing at sea and selling them and doing various maritime trades. They are not very interested in modern life, and they don’t get that much education. It can be said that they are accustomed to a nomadic life. But as a nation, they are calm, innocent, peace-loving, and hospitable. From an early age, they developed a close relationship with the sea. But for the fish trade, they often have to deal with the civilized world.  

Stilt House (By I, Hu9423, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2328937)

Origin and History

It is said that the Sama-Badjaurs once lived on the land. Once their king's daughter was lost in a sea-storm or taken away by someone. The task fell on them to bring back the princess, but they failed to do so and began to live by the sea, fearing the king's punishment and not returning to the kingdom.

There is another legend among the Badjaus living in Borneo that their ancestors were members of the royal forces of the Zohar kingdom of Malaysia. Once, they were escorting their country's princess, Dayang Aisha, by sea, to get married to the king of Sulu. 

On the other hand, Sultan Muhammad Shah, Sultan of Brunei used to like her. In the Mediterranean, they were attacked by the army of the Sultan of Brunei and the princess was snatched and got married to the Sultan of Brunei. Later, they did not go back to their homeland but settled on the coasts of Borneo and Sulu.

 Lepa Festival (By Photo by photo, Uwe Aranas or alternatively © CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42363224)

Moreover, there is another kind of story prevalent among the Indonesian Sama-Badjaus, where their relationship with the Sultanate of Goa is emphasized more than the kingdom of Zohar. It is said that a princess was swept away by a storm in Goa and later married a king there. Instead, they feel comfortable identifying themselves as descendants of that king. 

By the way, many more stories are circulating among the people, which are hard to verify. However, modern research has blown away the stories told by these people. The reason is said to be that the empires that are popularly spoken of were created after the 13th century. 

But the history of Badjau’s is even earlier. In a 1965 study, anthropologist David E. Safar stated that the ancestors of the Bajau and Urang Laut were the Veddors, a mixture of Southeast Asian and Australian ancestry. In another 1968’s study, anthropologist Arlo Nemo said that the Urang Laut has no connections to the Bajau’s, but rather the original ethnic group of Sulawesi and Borneo.

However, in a recent 1985 study, Alfred Kemp Paulsen, an anthropologist, from Linguistic assimilation said that the Sama-Bajaurs were more closely related to the Proto-Sama-Bajaus who lived in the Zamboanga Peninsula of the Philippines and originated in the eighth century. This is considered to be the most acceptable hypothesis in modern times.

An-Nur Mosque, the main mosque in the Bajau village of Tuaran, Sabah, Malaysia, (By Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas or alternatively © CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22397572)

 

Let's end with a few words. The Bajaurs speak about ten different languages, but the most widely used language is Malayalam-Polynesian. Most of them are Sunni Muslims in terms of religion, the rest are followers of Sufism and Christianity. 

Diversity is in their lifestyle, and diversity is in their history. The sea is their home, the sea is their everything. Their hearts also grow like the sea. Once you have the time and opportunity, you can visit them. Won’t you?