34 A TAMIL MALAY MANUSCRIPT. 
Tambi Mirah, who styles his poem Sha‘ir Indra Dibawan, a name: 
of no importance. The author pretends that the book was in the: 
possession of an inhabitant of Batavia, but this assertion proves. 
nothing regarding its real origin. Over the poem there is written 
a date, viz, A.H, 1192, 4 Sha‘ban (1191 warusham Sha‘ban masam 
4 tiram) te. 29 August, 1767, and its owner’s name a certain: 
Kumaran with an illegibly written name of a town ending in 
puram, certainly not Singapura. This name, if it be one, is. 
divided into three unvocalised words, viz. ; 3 ok os 
Having completed my summary of the manuscript I wish to: 
offer a few remarks on the question of its origin. The former 
proprietor, Professor Snouck Hurgronje, purchased it in Java. 
But, evidently, it was previously the property of a Moslem, to: 
whom Malay was as familar as Tamil, and to whom Persian was. 
not an unknown language. An individual of this type one may 
expect to find in Singapore, at Pulau Pinang, in the Federated. 
Malay States, in short, anywhere in British Malaya and islands,. 
but certainly not in the Dutch Indian Archipelago, not even in 
Acheen. “ Habent sua fata belli,’ and Malay books too may have- 
their vicissitudes. I saw in Sumatra Malay manuscripts, which . 
had been the property of descendants of the Sepoys, who on the. 
cession of the ‘Western parts of that island to the Dutch govern-. 
ment went over from British to Dutch service. ‘These books had. 
been provided with interlinear comments: in Javanese and in 
Arabic characters, so-called p’egon. Evidently this commentary 
was due to some later owner of Javanese blood. Almost any col-- 
lection of manuscripts in Java comprises some books of remote 
origin, which one would hardly expect to meet with in this part. 
of the world. 
The manuscript which forms the subject of the present note- 
must have been brought to Java by a native of that country. 
Through the agency of Dr. Snouck Hurgronje, late Adviser to- 
the Netherlands-Indian government and now Professor of Arabic: 
at the Leyden University, it has found its way to the University 
Library. As regards the original owner, we can only conjecture: 
that he was a Tamil Moslem, who had dwelt long enough in Malaya 
to know Malay. But we cannot fancy the existence of a Tamil 
who lives long enough in a Malay country to master the Malay 
language so that it becomes equally easy for him as his own 
original idiom. It is obvious therefore that not he but a son of 
his, born in Malaya from a Malay mother, wrote this book. From 
his father he got his familiarity with Tamil, from his mother his. 
knowledge of Malay, from both his Islamic creed. Such a man 
would be a typical representative of the immigrants who intro- 
duced Islam into the Archipelago. 
Jour. Straits Branch: 
