<figcaption>Map of Vietnam’s Cen­tral Highlands</figcaption>

The pro­to-Indochi­nese pop­u­la­tions, also called the ​“Mon­tag­nards of Indochi­na,” were the first inhab­i­tants of the area we now know as Viet­nam, Laos and Cam­bo­dia. In the dis­tant past, these pow­er­ful, inde­pen­dent eth­nic groups lived iso­lat­ed in their vil­lages, pro­tect­ed from the out­side world by high moun­tains and impen­e­tra­ble jun­gles. The ances­tral lands of the pro­to-Indochi­nese were por­trayed in French Indochi­nese works such as Jun­gles moï, Hin­ter­land moï or Pays des Moïs (moï derives from the pejo­ra­tive Viet­namese word, mean­ing wild or bar­bar­ic). The pro­to-Indochi­nese, or Sons of Men as they called them­selves, built their lives around all-pow­er­ful spir­its, nev­er-end­ing trib­al wars, and a rich tapes­try of tra­di­tions. One group can be traced to the Jaraï, a sig­nif­i­cant Moï tribe in the Aus­tro-Asian lin­guis­tic group that can still be found in Vietnam’s cen­tral highlands.

Leg­ends tell of how the Jaraï fought the con­quer­ing Cham king­dom with the help of two sor­cer­er-chiefs (Sadets). The first, the Sadet of Fire – known as King of Fire, Supe­ri­or King, or King of the East, depend­ing on the region – lived south of the present-day Pleiku in the Ya Ké basin along a trib­u­tary of the Ayun­pa Riv­er, a branch of the Song Ba, the most impor­tant riv­er in cen­tral Annam. The king was reput­ed to pos­sess a famous sacred sword that fell from the sky and was recov­ered after a series of adven­tures involv­ing the rulers of the Cham, Cam­bo­di­an, Anna­mite, Laot­ian, Rhade and Jaraï tribes. The king used the sword to assert his divine author­i­ty over the near­by Moï and Cham peo­ples and extend­ed his rule to the Khmer king­dom, which pos­sessed the sheath of the famous sword and hon­ored the famed Jaraï ruler with mys­te­ri­ous annu­al tributes.

The sec­ond chief, the Sadet of Water (or King of Water, Infe­ri­or King, or King of the West), lived along the Ya Lop, a trib­u­tary of the Nam Lieou, a large trib­u­tary of the Mid­dle Sre­pok. He was less famous and influ­en­tial than his fiery neigh­bor, pos­sess­ing only a wood­en scepter adorned with pre­cious stones called Tam­bong Phek. The scepter was said to have the abil­i­ty to kill any­one it touched; the vic­tim, how­ev­er, would be res­ur­rect­ed when touched with the scepter’s oppo­site end. Oth­ers claimed that the Sadet of Water held a stone rep­re­sent­ing the Mak-yang fruit that ripens as the end of the world approaches.

<figcaption>Moï weapons</figcaption>

The influ­ence of these two chief­tains waned with the arrival of French set­tlers at the end of the 19^th cen­tu­ry and dis­ap­peared com­plete­ly when the Sadet of Water orches­trat­ed the assas­si­na­tion of the colo­nial admin­is­tra­tor and explor­er Pros­per Odend’hal in April 1904. Odend’hal vis­it­ed the region on an archae­o­log­i­cal and philo­log­i­cal mis­sion to estab­lish friend­ly rela­tions with this dread­ed magi­cian in order to paci­fy the area, which was over­run with ban­dits. The explor­er pre­sent­ed him­self at the chief’s vil­lage to dis­cuss an agree­ment, but when he insist­ed on see­ing the chief’s celes­tial weapon, Odend’hal perished.

<img alt="Moï weapons" src="https://www.secretindochina.com/upload-images/programmes/sadets-the-mystic-kings-of-the-jaraisadets---the-mystic-kings-of-the-jarai/Armes%20mo%C3%AF%202%20(Henri%20Maitre)%20(1)%20(1)-1583486020.png" />
<figcaption>Moï weapons</figcaption>