Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society/Volume 81/Taju's-Salatin
TAJU'S-SALATIN.
"The Crown of Kings."
By R. O. Winstedt.
Dutch scholars have done much towards preparing a history of Malay literature, but as Dr. Ph. S. van Ronkel, the successor of van Ophuijsen in the chair of Malay at Leiden, points out in the paper (Tijdschrift Ind. T. L. en Vk., deel NVJ) which I here summarize, a great deal remains to be studied not only as to the spread of tales in the Archipelago itself but as to the source and date of borrowings from Arab, Persian and Indian literature. Brandes has studied the sources of the Hikayat Bayan Budiman, the Hikayat Kalila dan Damina, the Hikayat Gholam and the Hikayat Bakhtiar: van Ronkel has written a book on the Ht. Amir Hamza and papers on the Taju's-Salatin, the Ht. Gul Bakawali (Le Roman de la Rose dans la literature malaise), the Ht. Tamim ad-dari and the Ht. Sama'un and above all an exhaustive catalogue of the great collection of Malay MSS, in the possession of the Batavian Society, of which it suffices to say that it is a worthy counterpart of Juynboll's catalogue of the Malay MSS. at Leiden. Gradually material for a history is being accumulated. But the field is dreary and the labourers are few.
Early scholars supposed that Malay borrowings were from the Arabic. Now we know that not even all Malay theological works were translated from the Arabic. India has been the source of much Malay literature and of popular mysticism:—vide Snouck Hurgronje's book on "The Achehnese." For a long time Persian was the official language of India, especially of northern India. To the Persian language, but not therefore to direct Persian influence, Malay is indebted for its script, the name of its vowel points, certain loan-words and many legends and romances. Sometimes the borrowing has been direct, sometimes by way of some Indian translation. The comparison of Malay romances with Hindustani and Tamil literature might well engage the interest of our local students of those languages.
For the Taju's-Salatin, van Ronkel alludes to the eulogies unduly bestowed on this work by Roorda van Eysinga, its first editor, and by the grammarian Werndly. That sound scholar van der Tuuk gave a note of warning and criticized the poorness of van Eysinga's text: a criticism repeated by Blagden and myself on p. 189 of our "Malay Reader" (Clarendon Press).
Werndly and van Eysinga call the author Bokhari of Johore. The true explanation is that he was" a Bokhari," a native of Bokhara, practising the trade of a jauhari "a jeweller."
Ethé in his account of modern Persian literature speaks of a Bokhari Jauhari mentioned in the literary biography of Suhuf Ibrahim as a court panegyrist under the Seljukian princes, Malik-shah (1152), Muhammad (1153-1160), Sulaiman Shah and Arslan Shah bin Tughrul (1161-1176), who wrote an epic called Hikayat-i Amir Ahmad u Mahisti. But to judge from references to books in the Taju's-Salatin, this man lived too early to be our author.
The introduction to the Taju's-Salatin acknowledges indebtedness to many sources. These sources have Arabic titles, but some are well-known Persian works found also in Arabic, and some Persian translations from the Arabic. One of the sources given is the Akhlaq-i-Muhsini, written in 1494 by Husain bin Ali alwaiz al Kashifi.
On page 43 (van Eysinga's text) the author quotes from the Tanhibu'l-Ghafilin; probably an Arabic religious tract translated into Persian—there are several works of that name, Persian, one Hindustani and at least one in Malay (van Ronkel's "Catalogus" of MSS. at Batavia, p. 412; and a Malay version has been printed at Mecca and is on sale in Singapore). The Sijar ul Muluk, a well-known Persian work composed by the famous Vizier Nizam 'l Mulk, born in 1017, is referred to on pp. 65 and 203. A Persian ethical treatise (Ethé p. 347) is cited on p. 116. A Persian verse is quoted on p. 117 out of the Secrets of Attar, a Persian work by the famous mystic and poet, Abu Hamid Muhammad bin Abibakr Ibrahim Farid ud Din Attar, a dealer in perfumery who died 114 years old in 1230. On p. 151 is mentioned the famons Persian romance of Mahmud and Avaz: the oldest version is by Fashru'd Din Ali Safi (died 1532), but there are others by Anisi (died 1605), Zulali (composed 1593-1615), Mirza Muhammad Ali Saib (d. 1677) and later by Mir Abu Talib. On the same page are mentioned the "Arab story" of Laila wa Majnun and the "Persian stories" of Khusran wa Shirin, and of Yusof and Zulaikha. The story of Khusrau and Shirin is told in verse by Fashru'd Din Asad Nizani and by many later writers. Firdausi and earlier authors have told the story of Yusof and Zulaikha.
The introduction to the Taju's-Salatin, the type of book, the names of princes and ministers are all Persian. In Persian more than in Arabic ethical treatises one fonds verses, stories and texts from the Koran introduced. The verses in the book are all in forms of Persian prosody, the mathnawi, ruba'i, ghozal: they are mostly didactic or sing the praises of the first four khalifs or of the merits of the author's work. On p. 7 Kayomarz the first of the old kings of Persia is mentioned as a son of Adam. Cf. also p. 103.
Sometimes a Persian word is explained, e.g. on p. 134, by a later hand, The Persian word for the New Year is used. There are Persian forms of the genitive: e.g. Omari-Abdul-Aziz.
The chronogram in the introduction gives 1012 A.H. (1603 A.D.) as the date of composition.
Though no Persian original has been discovered, clearly the book is of Persian origin and, considering there was no direct Persian influence on the Malays, probably was derived from India.