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Jakun, any member of an aboriginal people found in the interior eastern portions of the Malay Peninsula. The major Jakun subgroups include the Biduanda, Mantera, Orang Laut, Orang Kanak, and Orang Ulu. The combined population was about 20,000 in the late 20th century. Later invaders from the highly developed states of Sumatra occupied the coasts of Malaya and often amalgamated with the Jakun. Those natives who resisted the newcomers finally retired to the interior, and they still retain much of early Malayan culture. The Jakun are physically somewhat distinguishable from neighbouring peoples, the Senoi and Semang; their language is archaic Malay.
Jakun houses of bamboo and thatch stand in jungle clearings where dry-land rice, sweet potatoes, millet, and other crops are raised; these are supplemented by jungle products and game hunted with blowgun and poison darts. Several family clearings make up a settlement, each settlement having a headman who is the leader in raids and in the search for game.
In common with many other Malayan peoples, the Jakun believe in multiple souls for humans, other animals, plants, and even inanimate objects. It is held that souls may leave their hosts and that they may be enticed or coerced by magic. It is thought that the souls of the right-hand side of an individual go to an afterworld at death, but that those of the left side wander on earth. Religion is centred upon many superior beings and family ancestors, for whom ceremonies are conducted by mediums.
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