Traditional Malay Literature after ~1550AD: D. Historiographical Works

This group of works are often not mentioned with number of manuscripts.

 

In the pre-1550AD post, 3 works were already included: Hikayat raja PasaiSejarah Melayu, and Hikayat Banjar

 

The following are a selected short-list of more important works after 1550AD. The comments are in from Braginsky that I took as my notes in Excel. As you can see, Braginsky's stage of historiography is more typology and has only weak linkage with when the work was actually written.

 

4. Hikayat Aceh (1636?): "3rd stage of historiography"; "influenced by Mughal historiography like Akbarnama;" "unique in using annual accounts of protagonist as narrative device;" "panegyric chronicle focusing on the life story of one ruler (Iskandar Muda);" "more Islamic than prior historiographic works;" "first chronicle containing dates"

5. Syair perang Mengkasar (c. 1670): by Enchi' Amin; "First (and for a long time the only) signed historical poem;" "the earliest historical syair, also the most remarkable one in literary respects;" 3 manuscripts 

6. Hikayat Patani (late 17th - early 18th c.): "2nd stage of historiography;" "devoid of dates"

7. Misa Melayu (1761): "3rd stage of historiography;" "similar to Hikayat Aceh but contains only one date"

8. Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa (between 1818-1820?): "illustrates late Thai-Malay literary ties;" "4th stage of historiography;" "pseudo-historical writing;" "well-known;" "contains no dates;" 3 manuscripts

9. Salasilah Kutai (committed to writing in 19th c.): "oral prototype before mid-17th c."; "showed Javanese influence;" "extremely archaic;" "represents first stage of Malay historiography before Hikayat raja Pasai and Sejarah Melayu"

10. Hikayat Siak (19th c.); "2nd stage of historiography;" "contains Sejarah Melayu in its first part"

11. Tuhfat an-nafis (19th c.): by Raja Ali Haji of Riau; "with Malacca prologue;" "contain dates;" "4th stage of historiography (late Johor historical literature)" other comments see prior post.

12. Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi was mentioned to have written a syair about conflagration in Singapore; also he was named as the "forerunner of modern Malay literature;" and gave the name "Sejarah Melayu" to the chronicle as we know it now in 19th c. On Wikipedia I find http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_bin_Abdul_Kadir

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikayat_Abdullah

which claimed Hikayat Abdullah written/published in the 1840s as his most important work which is an autobiography. So in many ways this transitional figure to modern literature is deeply linked with the historiography.

 

 

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