TAJU'S-SALATIN. 



The Crown of King's. 



By E. 0. WlNSTEDT. 



Dutch scholars have done much towards preparing a history of 

 Malay literature, but as Dr. Ph. S. van Bonkel, the successor of 

 van Ophuijsen in the chair of Malay at Leiden, points out in the 

 paper (Tijdschrift Ind. T. L. en Vic., deel XVI) 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 Hihayai Bayan Budiman,. 

 the Hikayat Kalila dan Damina, the Hikayat Glxolam and the 

 Hikayat Bakhtiar: van Bonkel has written a book on the Hi. Amir 

 Hamza and papers on the Taju's-Salatin, the Ht. Gul Bakaivali 

 (Le Boman de la Bose dans la literature malaise), the Ht. Tamim 

 ad-dari and the Ht. 8a ma' it n 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 JuyubolPs 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. Xow 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 

 lx>rrowing has been direct, sometimes by way of some Indian trans- 

 lation. 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 Bonkel alludes to the eulogies 

 unduly bestowed on this work by Boorda 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 

 Evsinga's text: a criticism repeated by Blagden and myself on p. 

 189 of our "Malay Beader " (Clarendon Press). 



Werndly and van Eysinga call the author Bokhari of Johore. 

 The true explanation is that he was " a Bokhari," a native of Bok- 

 hara, practising the trade of a jauhari " a jeweller." 



Ethe in his account of modern Persian literature speaks of a 

 Bokhari Jau'hari mentioned in the literary biography of S'uhuf 



Jour. Straits Branch R. A. Soc, No. 81, 1920. 



