Malay-Version Nymph

Bidadari

How does a bidadari, or Malay-version nymph look like?

Kamus Dewan defines bidadari as a goddess who lives in heaven and a beautiful woman. If that's the case, I don't think we can see a bidadari with our naked eyes unless God grants us visions.

Looking at the Indonesian side, they have artwork of bidadari portrayed as a winged beautiful bare-breasted woman, wearing traditional Balinese costume.

According to the Bahasa Indonesia Wikipedia, bidadari originates from a Sanskrit word vidhyadhari to denote female heavenly messengers. They are also known as Apsaras in Hinduism and Pohaci by the Sundanese.

In the Mahabharata epic, a bidadari Supraba is used by the gods to distract Arjuna from his ascetic practice. Later, Supraba was given to Arjuna as wife, as a reward for his heroic deeds...Okay, okay Wan knows this is different from the Indian version. But we are discussing the context of bidadari only in relation to the Malay language...don't forget that.

The above Wikipedia reference also notes that the role of bidadari is parallel to Semitic angelic messengers. No wonder then, another English equivalent for bidadari is angel

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