Edwin Wieringa

A Javanese Handbook for Would-Be Husbands: The Serat Candraning Wanita

The Sěrat candraning wanita (Book of descriptions of women) is a voluminous Javanese manuscript written in Yogyakarta in the 1930s. This handbook for would-be husbands is basically an instruction manual, informing its (male) readers how to choose a good wife/sexual partner (based on physiognomy) and how sex works (based on the etiquette of sexual intercourse). It can be regarded as the swansong of pre-modern Javano-Muslim erotology

A JAWI SOURCEBOOK FOR THE STUDY OF MALAY PALAEOGRAPHY AND ORTHOGRAPHY

This special issue of Indonesia and the Malay World was compiled by friends and colleagues as a tribute to Professor E. Ulrich Kratzs three decades of teaching Jawi and traditional Malay literature at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and to mark his 70th birthday on 14 October 2014. Reflecting Ulrichs deep interest in Malay manuscript texts and letters over many years (see the list of publications compiled by Helen Cordell in this issue), this Festschrift takes the rather unusual form of a compilation of reproductions of Malay manuscripts in Jawi script, accompanied by commentaries on the handwriting and spelling. Nearly all the manuscripts are dated or firmly dateable, and come from known locations. The hope is that this issue will be useful as a sourcebook for the study of the development of Jawi script, and in particular its palaeography and orthography, over the course of nearly three and a half centuries. The manuscripts presented date from the end of the 16th century to the early 20th century, and originate from all corners of the Malay world, from Aceh to Aru and from Melaka to Mindanao, as well as from Malay communities in Sri Lanka and Mecca.

The dream of the king and the holy war against the Dutch: The kôteubah of the Acehnese epic, Hikayat Prang Gômpeuni

When the Aceh War finally broke out in 1873 it did not come as a surprise to most contemporaries. In colonial historiography Aceh, a ‘nest of pirates’, according to the Dutch, had obviously precipitated the war by its ‘treason’ in turning to Turkey, America and other foreign powers for support against the Dutch. The discussions with the American consul in Singapore early in 1873 on a possible Acehnese-American treaty constituted a casus belli in the eyes of the Dutch.

A late eighteenth-century probatio pennae from Batavia

In his catalogue of Malay and Minangkabau manuscripts in the Library of Leiden University, van Ronkel (1921: 296) succinctly described a relatively small text under the heading of ‘Synonyms’. It is a manuscript of no more than eight folios, registered as Sn. H. 139. As indicated by the initials, this codex once belonged to Snouck Hurgronje, but after his death in 1936, it was bequeathed to the Library of his alma mater where it is now shelf-marked Cod. Or. 7366. The manuscript consists of two quires (ff. 1r-4v and 5r-8v), both having two sheets, each folded into four leaves which contain eight pages. Van Ronkel summed up its contents as ‘Synonyms, divided into subjects (such as trees, animals, adjectives, etc.), together with a short syair on the art of writing. Dated: September 1791’. This résumé roused my curiosity: for all one knows, the word list might originally have been intended as a thesaurus, and if so, could we perhaps be dealing here with an unfinished (failed?) late 18th century example of the ‘encyclopaedic impulse’ in the Malay world? Judging from van Ronkel’s scanty information, the lexicon and the poem seemed to belong together, both sharing an interest in penmanship. Turning to Iskandar’s (1999: 440) more recent description of the same manuscript, however, a slightly different picture emerges. In the latter’s catalogue, the codex is said to contain: (I) ff. 1r-2r: all kinds of jottings; (II) f. 2v: an example of letter-writing; (III) (1) ff. 3v-4v: Syair nasihat belajar menyurat; containing 17 stanzas; (2) f. 5: writing exercises; (IV) ff. 6r-8v: a word list, mentioning the names of foodstuffs, vegetables, fruits, animals, etc., and at the end synonyms. In addition, Iskandar (1999: 440) called the writing ‘calligraphic’ and stated that the language was influenced by the Malay dialect of Batavia. In this brief paper I wish to explore this intriguing little manuscript in more detail. What is the exact nature of the word list and is it possibly related to the preceding syair on writing? Although contextual information is lacking, the manuscript itself can yield valuable details about its Sitz im Leben or setting in life. A telling clue to the document’s background is a striking difference in hands. An important distinction is immediately noticeable between two extremes of the art of writing, reflecting an opposition in both form and content. Elegant writing in an expert hand befitting serious discourse is juxtaposed with clumsy jottings scribbled down by beginners. Most authoritative, as might be expected, are the calligraphic parts, clearly betraying a professional craftsman, which present the meaningful texts, viz. the syair and the word list. In contrast, the rest

A 14th century Malay Code of Laws. The Nītisārasamuccaya

politics and religion, together into a revealing history. The richness of the book is in the narratives that illustrate the themes. These narratives demonstrate the in-depth familiarity of the authors with their subject. To avoid a one-sided emphasis on big political centres that tend to overshadow less populated “peripheral” areas, each chapter covers seven zones – the western, central, northern and eastern archipelago, and the western, central and eastern mainland. Each zone receives equal attention and illustrates the variety of historical experiences of different societies in the region. The book is moreover nicely illustrated with illuminating pictures, clear maps and timelines. The authors do not directly engage in a debate with Victor Lieberman and Anthony Reid who wrote important books on the early modern period. However, they seem to support Lieberman’s thesis about the gradual process of territorial consolidation, administrative centralisation and cultural integration that took place on the mainland.1 The authors do not refer to Reid’s interpretation of the so-called “Age of Commerce” in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. He characterises the era as dominated by the emergence of large urbanised maritime trading centres ruled by “gunpowder kings”, followed by a dramatic crisis in the second half of the seventeenth century, which was intensified by climate change and natural disasters resulting in the demise of these maritime centres. As a result, Reid argues that Southeast Asian societies adopted an inward-looking attitude.2 Implicitly, however, Barbara and Leonard Andaya criticise Reid’s view by presenting a much more nuanced picture. They describe a gradually accelerating process in which Southeast Asian societies became part of world history through integration into a global system of economic and cultural exchanges, in which Southeast Asians played an active role. This is an authoritative “triple A” handbook and a great read, reflecting the unrivalled expertise of the authors. It should convince future generations of students of the richness of Southeast Asia’s early modern history.

Andrew Beatty, A shadow falls; In the heart of Java.

In this feature we highlight a recently launched book. We invite specialists in the field to comment on the book, and we invite the author to respond to their comments.In this issue we focus on Andrew Beattys, A shadow falls; In the heart of Java. Those invited to comment on the book are Puja Semedi, Michael Peletz and Edwin Wieiringa. Registered readers may participate in the debate.

Writing love: expressing nearness and dearness in Malay-language love letters

The historical development of Malay letter-writing can be viewed as a barometer, indicating sociopolitical and linguistic alterations. For centuries Malay letters were social documents far more than personal communications. The actual shift towards more individualized letters was a piecemeal process, intimately connected with the advancement of such essential prerequisites as the spread of literacy, the availability of cheaper writing materials, and the improvement of postal services, all taking place from the mid-nineteenth century onwards. The process of steadily increasing individualization signals what some scholars have called the project of modernity, the essence of which may be summed up as ‘creative destruction’. Embracing the idea of progress, it espoused a break with history and tradition. In the field of Malay letter-writing the first person who urged for innovation seems to have been Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir, alias Abdullah Munsyi, i.e. the language-instructor. In the 1840s he launched a scathing attack on traditional epistolography, criticizing the ignorant copying of stock phrases that convention prescribed. He advocated instead a more personal style, ‘without thinking or paying attention to expressions used by others, in the past or present’. He spurred Malays to throw away the time-honoured manuals for letter-writing, and to start a new ‘tradition’ (adat), viz. to use language ‘just to convey what one wishes, nothing else’. Nevertheless, the traditional way of Malay letter-writing continued well into the twentieth century, the last specimen of a traditional kitab terasul (manual for letter-writing), being published in 1937. Although the general long-term trend towards individualization in Malay letter-writing looks evident enough, it is less clear how to visualize this abstract idea in specific cases. Theoretically, letters between individuals may have become less formulaic and formal, more resembling personal conversations, but to what extent was there really a break with the past? In this paper I wish to examine this question by looking at Malay-language love letters, focusing on changing attitudes towards language. I will not study love letters from original manuscripts, but base my analysis on exemplary models in traditional and modern manuals dealing with the art of epistolary composition. Because love letters are regarded in these handbooks as belonging to a specific stage in life, viz. adolescence, I will solely deal with love letters as an activity of courting. Two situations in particular will be discussed: first, love letters in the pre-modern era which functioned as social documents, using more or less standardized expressions, and second, love letters of the late twentieth century which emphasized an individualization of the message and hence combated the rigidity of official Indonesian Malay. I will not present a detailed historical

The illusion of an allusion : A soothing song for the exiled Prince Dipasana (d. ca 1840) in Ambon

Javanese literature can boast a distinct genre of works about the adventures of wandering students/scholars, who travel about the countryside in pursuit of esoteric knowledge. Journeying and undergoing various trials and tribulations on the way is regarded in Javanese culture as an ascetic practice, preparatory to ultimate enlightenment. An early, pre-Islamic representative of this genre is the Kidung Subrata , dated 1541. The best-know examples, at least by name, i.e. the Cĕnṭini and Jatiswara , probably originate from the beginning of the seventeenth century. In the course of time these two stories were constantly reworked until by the beginning of the nineteenth century they reached massive proportions and were made into storehouses of encyclopaedic knowledge of all kinds of things Javanese. The so-called Major Cěntini , compiled in 1814 at the Surakarta Crown Princes court, has hitherto received most attention. Quite a few scholars, guided by Pigeauds table of contents, have tapped this source for information on many topics.

A last admonition to P.P. Roorda van Eysinga in 1828; Haji Zainal Abidin's Syair Alif-Ba-Ta

Malay manuscripts copied by Haji Zainal Abidin of the kampung of Pekhojan Pengukiran in Batavia are relatively well represented in the Leiden University Librarys Oriental manuscript collection. This scribe is explicitly mentioned as the copyist of Cod.Or. 1714, a Kitab Tabib, which was copied in 1824. Other manuscripts which can be ascribed to him, on the basis of the handwriting, are: Cod.Or. 1701, comprising a copy of the Hikayat Banjar (dated 11 January 1828); two texts contained in manuscript Cod.Or. 1763, namely the Hikayat Nakhoda Muda and the Surat Ingatan Tengku Sayyid Muhammad Zainal Kudsi, which were probably written in about 1825; and Cod.Or. 1935, representing a copy (dated 11 or 19 December 1825) of the Hikayat Andaken Penurat (Van der Molen 1984:331-2). The handwriting of Cod.Or. 1728, Hikayat Sultan Moghul mengajarkan anaknya, seems to me also to point to him.1 Furthermore, in 1828-1829 he copied six hikayat which are now kept in the General State Archives at The Hague, in the collection of Du Bus de Gisignies (Van der Molen 1984:326-33). These manuscripts were probably all the products of Haji Zainal