Hikayat Si-Miskin or Marakarma. 
By R. O..Winstept, D. Litt. (Oxon.) 
There are 5 MSS. of this tale at Batavia (van Ronkel’s 
Catalogus,” CXL-CXLIV): two at Leiden (Juynboll’s “ Catalogus,” 
CXII and van KRonkel’s Supplement-Catalogus (1921) "13); 
one in the possession of the Royal Asiatic Society, London 
(“ Hssays on Indo-China,” Second series, vol. II, p. 35). 
It has been twice (1857 and 1894) lithographed and once (1915) 
printed in Malay characters at Singapore. It is the printed ver- 
sion I have used for this paper. Newbold mentions the romance 
and gives a brief synopsis—‘ British Settlements in the Straits of 
Malacca,” vol. II, pp.328-330 (1839). 
Many writers have quoted Professor Snouck Hurgronje’s 
dictum on the home of most Malay romances being “that part of 
South India which is also the source whence are derived the 
popular mysticism and the popular religious legends of the Muslim 
peoples of the East Indian Archipelago ene The Achehnese,” vol. 
II, p. 122). At the same time few English scholars have adopted 
his method of analyzing and giving an outline of a tale, so that 
it may be accessible to students of comparative folk-lore most of 
whom are ignorant of Malay. Outlines in English are especially 
likely to be of value, because so'many European and Oriental ex- 
perts in the folklore of British India will have little acquaintance 
with Dutch; and it is those experts particularly who should be in 
a position to identify the sources of Malay borrowings. 
I give first an outline of the romance of Marakarma, to use 
its more apposite title, and I add comparative notes. 
In Anta 'Béranta, a land ruled by Maharaja Indra Dewa, lived 
a poor vagabond couple, Si-Miskin and his wife, erstwhile rajas 
from the heaven of Indra but exiled by the curse of Betara Indra. 
They were driven away with sticks and stones from palace and 
cottage and market-place, so that to allay their hunger they fed on 
plant-shoots and picked bundles of rice (kétupat) and sugar-sticks 
from dust-heaps on the highway. When Si-Miskin’s wife had gone 
three months with child, she longed for a manggo (émpélam) 
from the royal orchard, and the Maharaja granted her husband’s 
supplication for the fruit. Three months later she longed for a 
jack-fruit and again the ruler was gracious. She bore a son and 
named him ‘Marakarma, because he was born in poverty. Digging 
a site for a hut her husband found a jar (tajok) full of gold. He 
went to the town and ordered shoes, a staff, clothes, horse and 
trappings, creese, sword and shield (ota-otar). Then after bath- 
ing he prayed to the dewa that a town might be raised up in the 
forest. His prayer was heard. He ruled over this town, Puspa 
Sari, with the title Maharaja Indra Angkasa, and his consort was 
R. A. Soc., No. 85, 1922. 
