Silat Pattani is said to trace back to the pendeta guru (pandita guru), the youngest of three brothers who had been trained as warriors. By their masters' instruction, the brothers were travelling north in the hope of attaining moksa (enlightenment). On their journey, they were caught up in a bloody battle near the Siamese border. The youngest of the three was wounded but managed to escape into a forest. Following a stream, he reached a waterfall where he stopped to rest. The warrior noticed a lotus flower come down the waterfall but even as it was pushed below the surface by the waterfall, the lotus would float back up completely intact. The warrior tried throwing a stone and then a stick at the lotus, both with the same result. Finally he went into the water and tried slashing at it with his sword but the lotus would only swirl away, still unharmed. The exhausted warrior then fell into the water and upon climbing out, he contemplated how this principle of overcoming the hard with the soft could be applied to battle. Over time he studied the movements of animals and mythical figures which he incorporated into his fighting style. This story is believed to have taken place during the 14th century.
Jantan betina literally means "male-female" and is the Malay concept of opposites, similar to the Chinese yin and yang. It also refers to the concept of relativity wherein hard is only harder than something that is softer but is softer than something that is harder. Jantan is represented by hard, fierce, fast actions while betina is slow, subtle and soft.
