Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. (IA mobot31753002412036).pdf/222

Hikayat Sri Rama. Introduction to the Text of the M.S. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. BY W. G. SHELLABEAR, D.D. Extracts from a Malay text of the Hikayat Sri Rama were first published in 1812 by Marsden, in his "Malayan Grammar," the work being described by him as "the Malayan version or para- phrase of the Ramayana." In 1843 Roorda van Eysinga published at Amsterdam a quarto edition of the Malay story, describing it as "a translation of the original Sanskrit by Valmie." Three years later, however, it was pointed out in the Journal Asiatique of 1846. 4th Series, Vol. 7, page 425, that the Malay Hikayat Sri Rama is not in any sense a translation from the original Sanskrit, but is really a distinct work, though dealing with the same characters and following for the most part the narrative of the great Hindu epic. The complete text, which is given in No. 71 of this Journal, is reproduced, as closely as can be done by letterpress printing, from the manuscript in the Bodleian Library, which has already been described in a previous number of this Journal (J. R. A. S. Straits Branch, No. 31. This manuscript was acquired by Arch- bishop Laud in the year 1633, as stated in the footnote on page 1 of the text, and is therefore probably not less than three hundred years old. The spelling of such a very old MS. (probably the oldest Malay book in existence), is of great interest to students of the language, and has therefore been faithfully reproduced, even pal- pable errors of the copyist have not been corrected. In order to make possible a comparison of the story in the Malay Sri Rama with that of the Sanskrit Ramayana, it has been thought best to give first a brief summary of the seven Books of the great poem, with notes showing some of the principle variations in the Malay text, after which a more detailed Analysis of the Malay Hikayat Sri Rama is given. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE RAMAYANA OF VALMIKI. The original poem in the Sanskrit language, known as the Ramayana, consists of seven Books, the last of which is generally admitted to be a later addition. Incidents from every one of these seven Books are to be found in the Malay work.