Malay literature after 1550 - Preview

I have struggled through the two difficult chapters (IV and V) of V. Braginsky. Especially Chapter IV on the implicit Malay literary theory was very challenging for me to get through.

 

There are already lots of entries for works and authors in these two chapters. This is a summary of the important ones (~40 entries here, in no particular order):

 

Syair Burung Pungguk ('Poem of the Owlet')

 

Hamzah Fansuri - wrote in Aceh at the turn of 16th/17th c., wrote kitab works Asrar al-arifin ('Secrets of Gnostics'), Al-muntahi ('Adept'), Syarab al-asyikin ('Drink of lovers') (these three among the earliest Malay kitab literature, first one probably first example of Malay syair, last one probably first exposition of Sufi doctrine); creator of syair: Ruba'i is a collection of his mystical poems, Syair Burung Pingai ('Poem of the Pure Bird'), Syair Ikan Tunggal ('Poem of the Fish Who is One with God')

 

Abd al-Jamal - Sufi poet of Hamzah Fansuri's circle; maybe author of Miftah al-asrar ('Key of secrets'), probably a commentary on Hamzah's Asrar al-arifin

 

Taj as-salatin ('Crown of sultans') - by Bukhari al-Jauhari (either as author / compiler or as translator) in 1603 in Aceh; a didactic mirror (hidayat); well-known work; preface and epilogue used extensively by Braginsky to reconstruct Malay literary theory

 

Hikayat Isma Yatim ('Tale of Isma the Orphan') -- 16-17th c. by a certain Ismail; a synthetic hikayat; 20-30 copies preserved; Persian-style division into chapters

 

Syair perang Mengkasar ('Poem of the Makassar war') - by Enchi' Amin (a secretary of Sultan Hasanuddin of Makassar) in the 17th c.; first (and for a long time the only) signed historical poem

 

Hikayat Indraputra - late 16th - 17th c., synthetic hikayat and also a Sufi allegory prose; 20-30 copies preserved; popularity in Aceh of the 17th c.; "popular and artistically perfect"

 

Hikayat (Dewa) Indra Mengindra - synthetic hikayat; "popular and artistically perfect"

 

Syaikh Daud of Sunur - author of Syair Mekah dan Madinah ('Poem of Mecca and Medina') (and other works?)

 

Hikayat anak pengajian ('Tales for children who study the Qur'an') - by Safirin bin Usman Fadli of Batavia; author also wrote Hikayat Maharaja Ganda Purwa Kesuma in the 2H-19th c.

 

Hikayat Andaken Penurat - by Ahmad ibn Abdullah of Palembang ~1800A.D.; Panji prose romance

 

Hikayat Bayan Budiman ('Tale of the Wise Parrot') - ascribed to Qadi Hasan (who was most probably author of a Persian version of Tuti-nama on which the Malay work is based); framed didactic tale; influenced by Sanskrit work Shukasaptati ('Seventy stories of the Parrot'); one of the first known Malay literary work by Europeans

 

Hikayat Syah Mardan - likely 1H-17th c.; edited by Syaikh Muhammad Asyik Abd al-Fakar; synthetic hikayat / Sufi allegory; 20-30 copies preserved

 

Syamsuddin of Pasai - poet(?) alive in 1640s, also called Syamsuddin as-Samatrani, wrote Syarh ruba'i Hamzah al-Fansuri ('A Commentary on Hamzah Fansuri's Ruba'i')

 

Salasilah Kutai - chronicle; written in Southeast Kalimantan; 'extremely archaic'; under Javanese influence; Braginsky considers this the first stage of Malay historiography (before Hikayat raja Pasai and Sejarah Melayu) (but somehow, this work not covered much in chapters I-III)

 

Hikayat Patani - late 17th-early 18th c.; chronicle without dates; 2nd stage of historiography; Sejarah Melayu could have been a model

 

Hikayat Hang Tuah - 17th c.; impact on modern authors (Amir Hamzah, Usman Awang, Ali Aziz)

 

Abd ar-Rauf of Singkel (in Aceh) - lived approximately 50 years after Hamzah Fansuri (2H-17th c.); syair writer; also author of tafsir (Quranic commentary) called Tarjuman al-mustafid, which is essentially a Malay rendering of Arabic Tafsir al-Jalalayn; this is the earliest Malay tafsir, and also include the first complete translation of the Qur'an into Malay

 

Akaid ('Articles of faith') - Malay translation in late 16th c.; originally in Arabic by Najm al-Din al-Nasafi of Central Asia in 12th c.; among the earliest Malay kitab literature

 

Hikayat Aceh - chronicle written in 1636 (or later in 17th c.); first chronicle containing dates; key work for Braginsky's 3rd stage of Malay historiography; influenced by Mughal historiography Akbar-nama and especially Malfuzat-i Timuri (structure unique in using annual accounts of protagonist); author familiar with many prior Malay works; more Islamic than Hikayat raja Pasai and Sejarah Melayu; includes episodes of sultans murdered (thus less emphasis on loyalty than prior works)

 

Nuruddin ar-Raniri - from Gujarat, but wrote in Malay when in Aceh in mid-17th c.; works include the fairly popular Bustan as-salatin ('Garden of sultans') of hidayat (chronicle + mirror) genre which influences later Riau historiography, and Sirat al-mustaqim ('Straight Path') (not sure if latter work is in Arabic or Malay)

 

Hikayat Indra Bangsawan - synthetic hikayat; 5-10 copies

 

Hikayat Berma Syahdan - by Maulana Syaikh ibn Abu Bakar (who is also author of the Sufi hagiography Hikayat Sultan Ibrahim ibn Adham?); possibly one of the oldest specimens of the synthetic hikayat sub-genre; divided into chapters like Persian works; 5-10 copies

 

Hikayat Syah Kobad Leila Indra - synthetic hikayat; 5-10 copies; maybe a free paraphrase or imitation of Hikayat Indraputra

 

Hikayat Koris Mengindra - synthetic hikayat; 5-10 copies; has 2 quite different recensions

 

Hikayat Dewa Mandu - synthetic hikayat; 5-10 copies

 

Hikayat Ahmad dan Muhammad - synthetic hikayat; 5-10 copies

 

Syair Ken Tambuhan - Panji syair; among most popular panji tales with 5-10 manuscripts extant

 

Syair Bidasari - 18th c.; romantic syair; most famous among the synthetic syair with 12+ manuscripts extant

 

Syair Selindung Delima - most famous among the synthetic syair wtih 12+ manuscripts extant

 

Syair Silambari (or Syair Sinyor Kosta) - 19th c., maybe by Sultan Mahmud Badruddin of Palembang, who is also author of Hikayat Martalaya and Syair Nuri ('Poem of the Parrot'); work is best example of the merchant syair where both themes of women and merchants are blended

 

Hikayat Kalilah dan Daminah - didactic framed tale; from Persian prose Kalila wa-Dimna by Nasr Allah ~1144A.D.; 5 manuscripts in 2 recensions, one of which completed by mid-17th c.

 

Hikayat Bakhtiar - Abd al-Wahhab of Siantan (translator of one of the recensions); didatic framed tale; has Sanskrit prototype; 2 recensions have different relationships between the framing story and the inserted stories (loose in the long recension)

 

Hikayat Siak - 19th c.; chronicle; contains recension of Sejarah Melayu in its first part; schematically still in 2nd stage of Malay historiography according to Braginsky

 

Raja Ali Haji - a representative of the late Riau-Johor historical literature; wrote in Riau at court of Buginese 'viceroys'; at least 2 works Silsilah Bugus dan Melayu dan segala raja-rajanya ('Genealogy of the Malays, the Buginese, and all their kings') of 1865; and Tuhfat an-nafis ('Precious gift') with Malacca prologue and considered to be the most important historical writing after Sejarah Melayu by Winstedt; "crown of Buginese-centric historiography"; Raji Ali Haji was the first who listed his sources and sometimes gave a critical assessment of them; could also be author of Syair Taj al-Muluk (which could be by his sister Saleha); his son Raja Hasan wrote Syair Burung ('Tale of birds'); his daughter Safiah wrote Syair Kumbang Mengindra ('Poem of the Princely Bumblebee')

 

Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa - historical prose / mirror written in the Sultanate of Kedah; illustrates Thai-Malay literary ties; well-known pseudo-historical writing containing no dates

 

Hikayat Raja Jumjumah ('Tale of King Skull') - very popular story with Jesus as a character

 

Hikayat Tamim ad-Dari - enjoyed particular popularity (on the same level as Hikayat Muhammad Hanafiyah?)

 

The titles or names bolded are the ones I think are the most important, per narrative by Braginsky.