The Story of Four Dervishes: The First Translation from

The Story of Four Dervishes:

The First Translation from Urdu

in Traditional Malay Literature

Vladimir Braginsky

A historico-literary background: Two waves of Islamic India’s impact on Malay literature

The significance of literary contacts between the Malay world and Islamic India has not yet been properly assessed in Malay literary scholarship. This assessment, however, is an important (and overdue) task, since thanks to these contacts tradi-tional Malay literature was enriched with a substantial number of literary works: translations and more frequently peculiar re-workings of source texts written in both the Persian language (one of the major literary languages of India) and Indian ver-naculars. We may speak of at least two waves of Islamic India’s literary impact upon Malay literature.

The first of these waves reached Pasai in the fourteenth century and brought

such compositions in Persian as Hikayat-e Muhammad-e Hanafiyah and Qissa-ye Amir-e Hamzah. The influence of this wave, enhanced by close economic, cultural and reli-gious connections with the empire of the Great Mughals and the Deccan sultanates of Bijapur and Golconda, continued in Aceh of the sixteenth to the seventeenth centu-ries. As an outcome, by the mid-seventeenth century quite a few identical or similar pieces of literature such asheroic epics, framed tales (Kalilah va-Dimnah, stories of the wise parrot, the tale of Bakhtiyar), and edifying ‘mirrors for kings’ enjoyed equal popularity in the Mughal India and the Sultanate of Aceh. At the same era, Islamic India exerted a substantial influence on the formation of Malay Sufi literature and the genre of Malay fantastical romances, which synthesised constellations of Hindu-Javanese and Islamic-Indian narratives and descriptive motifs and not infrequently also represented Sufi allegories (for instance, Hikayat Indraputra, Hikayat Syah Mardan, partly Hikayat Isma Yatim and some others).

In the seventeenth to eighteenth centuries, the Dutch colonial expansion weak-

ened ties (including literary) between Islamic India and the Malay world, although it failed to undermine these ties completely. Paradoxically, the same colonial expan-sionism, now British sponsored, restored these ties, having united India and a part of the Malay world, Penang and Singapore in particular, in the framework of British Empire. And once again, literary contacts—the second wave of Islamic India impact—became one of the forms of these ties. A salient feature of this wave was the fact that

Jurnal Elektronik

Jabatan Bahasa &

Kebudayaan Melayu

Jurnal e-Utama, Vol. 2 (2009)

Vladimir Braginsky

14

it brought new works, both narrative and dramatic, in Urdu, not in Persian as it had been earlier.

Needless to say, socio-political environments of the first and the second wave

of Indo-Malay literary ties were quite different. Their cultural backgrounds were also rather dissimilar. For instance, in the sphere of literary production, the lithographic press came to replace the chirographic tradition, while histrionic forms influenced by the Victorian theatre (the Parsi theatre, wayang bangsawan) began to oust such earlier kinds of performance as oral story-telling and reading aloud from the book. And yet, the cultural situation in Penang and Singapore of the nineteenth century revealed a number of resemblances with that in Pasai and Malacca of the fourteenth to early six-teenth century or in Aceh and Johor of the late sixteenth to seventeenth century. In both cases this situation developed in a flourishing, cosmopolitan trading port and contacts with Islamic India played an extremely important role. In both cases the port accommodated a considerable Indian community with its indispensable ‘aureole’ of bilingual Indo-Malay metises Muslims (Jawi peranakan) with their potential as cultural and literary brokers.

In the course of time, a constellation of Indian narratives and plays of the Parsi

theatre, such as Gul-i Bakawali, Indar Sabha, Laili Majnun and half a dozen of the others, were translated into Malay in the form of hikayat, syair or theatrical librettos.1 Along-side these fairly free translations, there appeared Malay compositions, which pre-served only the core and basic motifs of Urdu plots so much supplemented by local elements that they can be considered original pieces of Malay literature (such is, for instance, Hikayat Ganja Mara2). The earliest Malay works inspired by the second wave of Indian impact were composed in the mid-1870s, which, together with the fact that the Parsi theatre first appeared either in Singapore in 1862 or in Penang in the 1870s, provided the date of the coming of this wave to the Malay world.

However, the unique manuscript of Qissa-ye char darvesh (Malay translation:

Cetra empat orang fakir, i.e. ‘Stories of four dervishes’), which is kept in the National Library of Singapore under the accession number Q 11.4A/27, allows us to reconsider the above date. This manuscript, as we shall see, contains a Malay translation of the famous Bagh-o bahar (The garden and spring, composed in 1802) by the classic of Ur-du literature Mir Amman (1750-1837).3 The translation was completed in 1845 and copied in 1846. Thus, it presents the earliest known example of the Malay rendering of an Urdu text, which, in addition, is not related to the Parsi theatre. The study of this manuscript, to which we turn now, can shed the new light on the beginning of the second stage of literary contacts between Islamic India and the Malay world.

1 For these translations, see V. Braginsky and A. Suvorova, ‚A New Wave of Indian Inspiration:

Translations from Urdu in Malay Traditional Literature and Theatre,‛ Indonesia and the Malay

world 36-104 (2007): 115-153.

2 Ibid., pp. 118, 143-145. 3 Sh.M. Faruqi and F.W. Pritchett, ‚A Date List for Urdu Literature—A Work in Progress,‛

Annual of Urdu Studies 9 (1994): 143, 173-211.

The Story of Four Dervishes

15

Manuscript of the ‘Stories of four dervishes’4

The manuscript (henceforth MS) of the National Library of Singapore Q 11.4A/27 (call number 891.5523 CET, microfilm NL 1885) contains a Malay translation of Qissah-e char darvesh (rendered into Malay as Cetra empat fakir). This work known in Persian and Urdu versions is sometimes attributed (probably mistakenly) to the great Indo-Persian poet Amir Khusrau Dehlavi (1253-1325). According to the preface of the translator, Mahmud b. *Almarhum+ Sayid Mu’alim b. Arsyad Marikan, he translated this cetra from Persian.

The MS numbers 270 pages with the pencil per page pagination. The size of the

page—31x22 cm, the size of the text—26x17; 25 lines per page. Good European paper, thick and strong, with two watermarks: ‘tre lune’ (three moons) and ‘VG’. The MS is written in large naskh with some cursive features. It is generally clear and copied by good hand of a professional scribe. Black ink. The Arabic phrases of the doxology as well as the words Allah, Allah Ta’ala and Qur’an, the formulae of syahadah and Maka berkata sahib al-hikayat al-syaikh Amir Khusrau, the beginnings of passages, such as se-bermula, al-kisah, hatta, syahdan, et cetera are irregularly written in red ink.

Two first (a) and two last (b) pages of MS Q 11.4A/27

kept in the National Library of Singapore

(a)

4 For the earlier descriptions of the MS, see Haji Wan Ali Wan Mamat, Katalog Manuskrip Melayu

di Singapura (Kuala Lumpur: Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia, 1993), pp. 18-19; Chan Fook

Weng, Catalogue of Rare Materials in Lee Kong Chian Reference Library (Singapore: National Library

Board, 2008), p. 217.

Vladimir Braginsky

16

(b)

The MS has the modern binding covered with reddish marble paper, with

pieces of fabric in the corners and spine. The date of the text’s composition is given by Mahmud b. Syed Mu’alim in the form of chronogram as 8 Dhulhija 1262 AH (1845/6 AD). On 10 Jumad al-awwal 1263 AH (1846/7 AD) Mahmud’s translation was copied by the scribe Ismail b. Ali. The place of both the translation and copying is Singapore.

On the back of the front cover there is a sticker with another title of the work:

Bunga anggrek di atas pagar (An orchid flower on the fence). Neither origin, nor the re-lation of this title to the text (which mentions no orchids) is comprehensible. Proba-bly, like in Mir Amman’s composition which is the source of the Malay translation, this strange title is related to the chronogram. The latter contains the Arabic-Persian word sargh, ‘grape-vine’, anggur in Malay. This word might have been confused with the word anggrek, ‘orchid’, which is written similarly in Jawi, by a later user or owner of the MS. This conjecture is no more than a guess, indeed.

On the MS’s flyleaf there is the stamp of Raffles library and the inscription in

English: ‘Four poor men. A Malay translation from the Persian. Done in Singapore. These manuscript is dated 1791 A.D. Added to Raffles library, 1923’. The origin of the intriguing, although wrong, date 1791 is unknown. The MS itself mentions more than once or twice only the dates 1845 and 1846.

On the unnumbered first folio (recto) there is a brief excerpt from the story of

the King Azadbakht (the third story of the composition), narrating the help given by two young brahmans to the protagonist during his stay in Sarandip (the same pas-


17

sage is found in the MS, p. 176). Below this excerpt in Jawi there are hamdala, the title Cetera empat darvesh and the date 1263 AH. A little closer to the bottom of the page there is another Jawi note in Ismail b. Ali’s hand: ‘Ini surat daripada saya Ismail *one illegible word+ bin Ali, Kampung Kadi (?)’. The excerpt and note are probably Ismail b. Ali’s samples of writing.

The manuscript begins with a preface of Mahmud b. Sayid Mu’alim and in-

cludes all five tales of the ‘Story of four dervishes’ (for this preface, see Appendix 1; for the summary of the composition and page numbers of each tale in the MS, see be-low, pp. 13-16).

Preface of the translator

The preface of the ‘Story of four dervishes’ (henceforth SFD) contains a doxology, some information of the original of the translated piece and its translator, a history of the translation, the date of its composition in the form of a chronogram and a request to correct errors in the translation, addressed to the readers, so that ‘having received an appropriate expression, this work will benefit all the servants of God who will read it’ (MS, p. 1). Fairly detailed and extensive in terms of traditional Malay litera-ture, the preface of SFD is worthy of thorough examining. However, I shall only deal with some aspects of it.

The translator of SFD, Mahmud b. Sayid Mu’alim, informs the reader that he

hails from Malacca (anak Melaka). The note of the copyist, Ismail b. Ali, adds to this that the complete name of the translator is Mahmud b. Sayid Mu’alim b. Arsyad Ma-rikan and that his father demised (<b. Almarhum Mu’alim<) by the time of the MS copying. The Malaccan origin and the family name Marikan—Tamil in its roots and not infrequently encountered in Malaysia and Singapore—allow us to assume that Mahmud, just as the later translators from Urdu (for instance, Syaikh Muhammad Ali b. Ghulam Husain al-Hindi, Datuk Saudagar Putih, et al.) was a Jawi peranakan. Since Mahmud received the Urdu original of SFD during his stay in Singapore on some commercial business, he may have been a merchant. The one who brought this original to Singapore was another Jawi peranakan (peranakan orang Hindustan), Rah-man Khan. He also helped his friend Mahmud, who did not have enough experience in writing literary Malay (lughat Melayu Jawah [Jawi?]), to translate the composition which captivated him so much. All these data sufficiently clarify the issue of the so-cio-cultural milieu from which the translation of SFD originated.

In his preface Mahmud b. Sayid Mu’alim also repeats a few times that he trans-

lated SFD from the Persian language (dipindahkan dari bahasa Parsi). Although the name of the author of the Persian source text is not mentioned in the preface of the work, in the work itself this source text is attributed to Amir Khusrau Dehlavi (1253-1325) again and again.5 It is true that there are several Persian versions of SFD, of which at least one was composed in the nineteenth century, while the rest dated from before the 19th century (although usually from the seventeenth to eighteenth centuries).

5 For Amir Khusrau Dehlavi, see, for instance, Muhammad Wahid Mirza, The Life and Works of

Amir Khusrau (Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press,1935); Zoe Ansari (ed.), Life, Times and Works of

Amir Khusrau Dehlavi (New Delhi: National Amīr Khusrau Society, 1975); A. Schimmel, ‚Amir

Kosrow Dehlavi,‛ in Encyclopaedia Iranica online (http://www.iranica.com/newsite/authors/

index.isc). Last visited 18 February 2010. The formula: Maka berkata sahib al-hikayat syaikh

Amir Khusrau occurs in our MS on pp. 24, 64, 70, 71, 152, 160, 161, 198, 216, 251, etc.

http://www.iranica.com/newsite/authors/%20index.isc

http://www.iranica.com/newsite/authors/%20index.isc

Vladimir Braginsky

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Besides, according to the tradition conveyed by already mentioned Mir Amman, SFD was narrated by Amir Khusrau to his Sufi master, Nizam al-Din Auliya, the celebrat-ed sheikh of the Chishtiyya order, in order to entertain him during his illness. After his recovery, the sheikh pronounced the following benediction: ‘That whoever will hear this tale, will, with the blessing of God, remain in health’.6

However that may have been, Mahmud b. Sayid Mu’alim’s statement that he

translated SFD from Persian cannot fail to provoke serious doubt. Leaving aside the debatable problem of Amir Khusrau’s authorship,7 we can note that two important peculiarities contrast Persian versions of SFD which predate the nineteenth century to its Urdu versions. First, these Persian versions do not mention Amir Khusrau as their author.8 Second, the successions of stories in Urdu and Persian versions of SFD are different: the second dervish’s story of the Persian versions is told by the third dervish in Urdu versions, whereas the third dervish’s story of the Persian versions is told by the second dervish in the Urdu versions. In other words, the stories of the second and the third dervishes in the Persian and Urdu versions exchange their posi-tions9. These two easily comparable features show that none of the pre-nineteenth century Persian versions of SFD could have been the source text of Mahmud b. Sayid Mu’alim’s Malay translation. In his translation Amir Khusrau is repeatedly men-tioned as SFD’s author, and the stories of the second and the third dervishes follow the order of Urdu versions.

It is also hardly possible that the Persian version of SFD composed in 1802 by

the Indian author Muhammad ‘Ivaz Zarrin could serve as the source text of the Malay translation. As Abdul Haq remarks: ‘In his *Zarrin's+ work, the qissahs are given very

6 Bagh-o bahar, or Tales of the Four Darvishes. Translated from Hindustani of Mir Amman of Di-

hli by Duncan Forbes (London: Wm.H. Allen, 1857), p. 3 (henceforth: Forbes’ translation,

1857). 7Abdul Haq, ‚Muqaddimah-e murattib‛ (Editor’s introduction), pp. 1-36. Translated into

English from Urdu by F.W. Pritchett, [in Mir Amman. Bagh-o Bahar, the late 1920s],

(http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00urdu/baghobahar/intro_abdulhaq.html). Last

visited 18 February 2010, pp. 1-2 (henceforth Abdul Haq’s introduction, 1920s). Cf., however,

the different position of Muhammad Salim-Ur-Rahman, ‚Classics Revisited‛, Annual of Urdu

Studies 13 (1998), pp. 161-167 (http://www.urdustudies.com /pdf/13/12salimClassics.pdf), Last

visited 18 February 2010,, pp. 161-162). According to the catalogue of the former India Office,

SFD ‘popularly ascribed to Amir Khusrau *<+ also considered to be by Muhammad Wahid,

but is probably by an unknown author of the early Mughal period’ (see Catalogue of Persian

manuscripts in India Office. Qissa-i Chahar Darvish [n.d.] (http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/ indiaof-

fice selectpd/FullDisplay.aspx?RecordId=015-000019754). Last visited 18 August 2008. 8 Abdul Haq’s introduction, 1920s, p. 2. 9 See G.A. Zograf, ‚Predisloviye‛ (Introduction), in Mir Amman, Sad i vesna (The garden and

spring). Translated from Urdu into Russian by G.A. Zograf (Moscow: Izdatel’stvo Vostichnoy

Literatury, 1962), p. 13. The illustrated Persian manuscript of SFD from the former India Of-

fice collection confirms this exchange of the positions and adds some more details contrasting

Persian versions to their Urdu counterparts. For instance, the prince from the second story (in

the Persian sequence) is in love with the princess of peris, while in Urdu versions he is in love

with the princess of Farang. In the same second story (in the Persian sequence) there appears

the prince who carries with him his dead wife’s body in the coffin, while in Urdu versions,

the prince’s foster-brother carries with him the coffin with the murdered prince’s body (see

Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in India Office. Qissa-i Chahar Darvish [n.d.]). In the Malay

translation of SFD all these details are like in Urdu versions.


19

briefly; the situations are just the same’.10 Contrary to Zarrin’s version, in Mahmud’s translation all the qissahs (stories) are extensive and detailed narratives, of which the ma-jority of details, as we shall see, occur in the Urdu version by Mir Amman.

Therefore, the Malay translation of SFD is traceable not to Persian, but to Urdu

versions of this composition. There were at least two Urdu versions of it. One of them, entitled Nau tarz-e murassa’ (A new style of adornment), was composed around 1775 by Mir Muhammad Husain ‘Ata Khan, better known under his pen-name Tahsin. The language of this version, according to Abdul Haq, ‘is extremely colourful, and filled with similes and metaphors from head to foot. So much so that while read-ing, at some points one’s mind begins to feel nauseated. *<+ the style of the language is archaic and it is overflowing with Persian constructions and words.’11 The second version is the classic Bagh-o bahar (The garden and spring) composed by Mir Amman in 1802 in simple, clear and idiomatic language, the style of which is eloquent and elegant. As Abdul Haq notes, ‘There is neither inappropriate prolongation, nor use-less verbiage *in this book+. To write in simple language is extremely difficult. *<+ To combine simplicity with eloquence and to maintain an enjoyable style is a great achievement *of Mir Amman+’12.

Mahmud b. Sayid Mu’alim’s translation does not reveal even accidental echoes

of the excessively metaphoric, artificial style of Tahsin’s Nau tarz-e murassa’, let alone any attempt to somehow reproduce it. This, by itself, questions the possibility that this work could be the source of his translation. Moreover, judging by the fact that even insignificant complications in the imagery of descriptive passages in Mir Amman’s composition—the actual source of the discussed translation, as I shall try to argue—presented insurmountable obstacles for Mahmud, it is unlikely that he was compe-tent enough to translate the text as difficult as Tahsins’s.

A number of facts confirm the assumption that Mahmud b. Sayid Mu’alim

rendered into Malay none other than Mir Amman’s Bagh-o bahar. First of all, the Malay version of SFD contains all the episodes of this work in Urdu, which follow one an-other exactly in the order of the latter. Narrative passages of these episodes in Malay translation normally contain most of sentences of which they consist in Bagh-o bahar. Here is only one example of how closely the Malay translation corresponds to this Urdu text, its suggested source:

The episode with a young man riding the yellow bull13

Bagh-o bahar by Mir Amman, Forbes’ translation, 1857, pp. 113-

114

‘Story of four dervishes’ in Malay (SFD),

MS, pp. 88-89. One day, the moment the morning ap-peared, all the inhabitants of the city, lit-tle and great, young and old, poor and rich, issued forth. They went out and assem-bled on a plain; the king of the country went there also mounted on horseback,

Maka adalah pada suatu hari sekalian orang di dalam negeri itu kecil besar dan tua(h) muda(h) sekalian berjalan keluar negeri itu. Adalah di luar negeri [one il-legible word] itu adalah suatu padang besar sekali. Maka pergilah orang itu se-

10 Abdul Haq’s introduction, 1920s, p. 24. 11 Ibid., p. 14. 12 Ibid., pp. 4-5. Cf. Muhammad Sadiq, A History of Urdu Literature (London: Oxford University

Press, 1964), pp. 210-211. 13 For the place and significance of this episode from the tale of the second dervish in the general

composition of the ‘Story of four dervishes’, see its summary below.

Vladimir Braginsky

20

and surrounded by his nobles; then they all formed a regular line, and stood still. I also stood among them to see the strange sight, for it clearly appeared that they were waiting for [the arrival of] some one.

kalian kepada padang itu, berkampung serta bersaf-saf beratur. Dan adalah di si-tu raja negeri itu dan orang besar-besarnya sekali adalah hadir di-situ. Ma-ka hamba pun adalah serta orang banyak itu.

In an hour’s time a beautiful young man, of an angelic form, about fifteen or six-teen years of age, uttering a loud noise, and foaming at the mouth, and mounted on a dun bull, holding something in one hand, approached from a distance, and came up in front of the people; he des-cended from the bull, and sat down [oriental fashion] on the ground, holding the halter of the animal in one hand, and a naked sword in the other;

Maka datanglah seorang muda(h) dari-pada pihak hutan negeri itu. Maka ada-lah rupanya itu sahib al-jamal dan ber-busa-busa pula mulutnya, terlalu baik sekali parasnya. Adalah umurnya itu ti-ga-empatbelas tahun umurnya. Dan ru-panya seperti anak-anakan raja besar jua dan adalah ia kendaraan di atas lembu seekor kuning warnanya. Maka datan-glah ia kepada sekalian khalk (or: kha-layak?) Allah yang banyak di padang itu. Setelah ia sampai, maka turunlah ia dari atas kendaraannya itu, duduk ke tanah seraya memegang tali lembunya itu dan sebelah tangan memegang pedang ber-cabut dan ada pula pegang suatu ben-da—hamba tiadalah ketahui.

a rosy-coloured, beautiful [attendant] was with him; the young man gave him that which he held in his hand; the slave took it, and went along showing it to all of them from one end of the line to the other; but such was the nature [of the ob-ject], that whoever saw it, the same invo-luntarily wept aloud and bitterly [at the strange sight]. In this way he continued to show it to every one, and made every one weep; then passing along the front of the line, he returned to his master again.

Maka dipanggilnya seorang budak, umurnya enam-tujuh tahun budak itu. Maka budak itu bawalah kepada orang banyak itu, ditunjukkan kepada sekalian orang yang ada di padang itu. Setelah orang itu sekalian melihat akan benda yang dibawa oleh budak itu, maka me-nangislah sekalian orang yang melihat itu. Setelah habislah sudah ditunjukkan oleh budak itu, maka pergilah ia kembali kepada orang muda(h) yang naik di atas lembu itu.

The moment he came near him, the young man rose up, and with the sword severed the attendant’s head *from his body], and having again mounted his bull, galloped off towards the quarter from whence he had come. All [present] stood looking on. When he disappeared from their sight, the inhabitants returned to the city.

Setelah budak itu datang, maka dijin-jangnya oleh orang muda itu dengan pe-dangnya yang dipegangnya itu kepada leher budak itu, maka budak itupun ma-tilah. Maka orang muda(h) itu pula naik-lah di atas kendaraannya itu, lalu ia ber-jalanlah pergi, dari mana datangnya itu di situlah kembali. Maka sekalian orang banyak yang di padang itu sekaliannya kembalilah ke dalam negeri.

Roughly the same degree of closeness to Bagh-o bahar is characteristic for the

majority of narrative passages in the Malay translation of SFD. Interestingly, all the passages of Bagh-o bahar that Abdul Haq considers particularly typical of Mir Amman’s manner of writing14 occur in Mahmud’s translation and contain most of the expres-sive details to which the Indian scholar draws the reader’s attention (see Appendix 2).

14 Abdul Haq’s introduction, 1950s, pp. 6-7.


21

Alongside the close correspondence of Mahmud’s translation to Bagh-o bahar, two more specific, and therefore more convincing, features are indicative of the fact that Mir Amman’s work does represent the original of the Malay SFD. One of them is the rendering, sometimes rather awkward, of Mir Amman’s verses from Bagh-o bahar that occur in SFD (see, for instance the MS, pp. 11, 64, 97, 125). Here are some exam-ples:

Bagh-o bahar by Mir Amman,

Forbes’ translation, 1857 ‘Story of four dervishes’ in Malay

(SFD) Beloved of God, turn towards me, and hear this

helpless one's narrative.

Hear what has passed over my head

with attentive ears,

Hear how Providence has raised and depressed

me.

I am going to relate whatever misfortunes I have

suffered; hear the whole narrative (p. 29).

MS, p. 11. Ya ‘abd Allah (ertinya, hai hamba

Allah), dengan sebaik-baik pendengaran tuan-

tuan dengarkanlah / dan memberi telinga den-

gan sebaik-baik pendengaran. / Tuan, dengar-

kan cetera hamba akan hal fakir ini bercetera-

cetera yang hamba mendapat dan hamba

mendengar dan melihat. / Cetera seperti kepala

ke bawah dan kaki ke atas yang hamba dapat

yang hamba ceterakan ini.

O friends, to this faqir's story listen a little; --

I will tell it to you, --from first to the last, listen;

Whose cure no physician can perform;

My pain is far beyond remedy, --listen (p. 93)

MS, p. 64. Maka sekarang mahulah tuan-tuan

mendengar akan cetera fakir ini, dengan

bersungguh-sungguh hamba bercetera

daripada permulaannya hingga datang kepada

kesudahannya. / Maka katanya adalah hal

hamba ini seperti seorang jua mendapat

penyakit yang besar sekali yang tiada dapat

ditadbirkan (ya’ni tiada dapat dibicarakan oleh

seorang juga). / Jika hakim dan hukama atau

tabib yang besar-besar sekali pun kehendaki

hendak mengobati akan penyakit hamba,

tiadalah boleh sekali-sekali. / Karena hamba itu

celah hati hamba yang hamba menurutkan itu,

maka menjadilah penyakit besar sekali.

Why should not she of the arched eyebrows

come [to my house],

She for whose sake I have fasted for forty days

(p. 148).

MS, p. 125. Adalah kening tuan seperti taji

dibentuk; kenapakah gerangan tuan tiada

datang kemari? / Dan sebab kerana tuanlah,

maka hamba bertapa empat puluh hari.

Another feature is the appearance of colloquial expressions, so characteristic of

Mir Amman’s idiomatic language, in Mahmud’s translation. Some of them—for in-stance the expression ‘the frog caught cold’, which implies something absurd and is ‘to ridicule the extravagant idea of a merchant’s son presuming to be in love with a princess’15—are rendered rather whimsically, whereas the others are translated fairly precisely, though not without a certain Malay colouring:


Forbes’ translation, 1857

‘Story of four dervishes’ in Malay

(SFD)

On hearing these words, she was greatly of-

fended, and frowning with anger, she ex-

claimed, ‘Very fine indeed! What, thou art

my lover! Has the frog then caught cold?’ (p.

61).

MS, p. 28. Maka rupanya yang seperti bulan

itu menjadi kelamlah serta masam, dan karut

dahinya dengan marahnya, maka katanya

tuan puteri: ‘Baiklah, jikalau begitu selama

ini engkau menaruh asyikkah kepadaku in?

15 Forbes’ translation, 1857, p. 61, note 1.

Vladimir Braginsky

22

Adalah seperti misal dikata orang-orang tua:

‘Adapun kodok tempatnya di dalam air.’

Maka sekarang kudengar katamu itu adalah

seperti kodok berkata ini duduk di dalam air,

menjadi lemas konon?’

Return quick, as if you ate your dinner there

and drank your wine here (p. 260)

MS, p. 206. Engkau makan nasi di kebun itu

dan engkau basuh tangan di sini.

Finally, one more argument in favour of Bagh-o bahar as the source of the Malay

translation is that Tahsin’s Nau tarz-e murassa’ was a marginal work, difficult to ob-tain. In contrast, much more popular Mir Amman’s composition had already been lithographed six times before 1845, the year of the Malay version of SFD16. It was is-sued in Calcutta in 1804, 1813, 1824 and 1834, in Cawnpore in 1833 and, which is par-ticularly interesting, in Madras (Tamilnadu) in 1840, only 5 years before the date of the Malay translation. With all these arguments in mind, it seems safe to state that the text, which Mahmud b. Sayid Mu’alim translated into Malay with an assistance of his friend Rahman Khan, was none other than Bagh-o bahar.

Another remarkable feature of the preface of the Malay SFD is that it contains

the date of the translation in the form of chronogram. Quite usual in literatures of the Middle East and Islamic India, chronograms rarely occur in traditional Malay texts. I can quote only Taj as-salatin as an example, in which the word ‘ghaib’ stands for the year of this work’s composition (1603 AD)17. The chronogram in SFD is the Arabic word-combination bi-sargh. Since, according to abjad, numerical value of ‘ba’ is 2, ‘sin’ – 60, ‘ra’ – 200 and ‘ghain’ – 1000, the year in question is 1262 AH = 1845/6 AD. Chronograms not infrequently contained hints and allusions of various kinds. For in-stance, the chronogram Jahangir (289) az (8) jahan (59) raft (680), which literally means ‘World conqueror left the world’, points to 1036 AH, the year of the Emperor Ja-hangir’s death18.

What draws attention in SFD’s chronogram, which means ‘on an offshoot of

the vine’ or ‘thanks to an offshoot of the vine’, are its garden associations, moreover offshoots appear on vines in the springtime. Could, consciously or unconsciously, the title Bagh-o bahar (The garden and spring), which is at the same time the chrono-gram for the year of this book’s composition (1802 AD), bring forth these associations in Mahmud b. Sayid Mu’alim’s mind? On the other hand, Mahmud’s chronogram could allude to the fact that his translation ‘sits’, as it were, on an ‘offshoot’ (Mir Amman’s composition) of the ‘vine’ (Amir Khusrau’s original of SFD) or that his translation appeared thanks to this ‘offshoot’. Needless to say, the two interpreta-tions do not contradict each other. In both cases an allusion to Bagh-o bahar cannot be excluded.

However, what could force Mahmud to conceal the real source of his transla-

tion? There might have been several reasons for this. One of them was that the origi-nal author of SFD had after all been Amir Khusrau, who composed it in Persian. No matter whether this attribution is correct or otherwise from the point of view of

16 G. A. Grierson, A Bibliography of Western Hindi, including Hindostani (Bombay: Education So-

ciety Press, 1903), p. 32 17 A. Marre (transl.), Makota Radja-radja, ou la couronne des rois / par Bokhari de Djohore (Paris:

Maisonneueve et Cie, 1878), p. 13, notes 1-2. 18 M.A. Farooqi, ‚The Secret of Letters; Chronograms in Urdu Literary Culture‛, Edebiyat 13-2

(2003): 147–158, p. 150.


23

modern scholarship, Mahmud undoubtedly believed in it, although, paradoxically, he found this attribution not in Persian versions of SFD (in which it is absent), but in the work of that same Mir Amman. Another reason was the high authority of Persian works in traditional Malay literature, which at the time of Mahmud’s translation by far surpassed that of pieces in Urdu.

And—last but not least—religious considerations may have played an impor-

tant, if not decisive, role in the concealment of the source-author’s name. The point is that Mir Amman’s creation had a distinct smell of Shiism, it ‘berbau Syia’, as Malay literati would have put it. Not only contained the introduction to Bagh-o bahar a long eulogy addressed to twelve imams, but none other than Ali Murtaza saved the life of each protagonist of the book in the instant of his utter desperation. It goes without saying that these features of Mir Amman’s narrative are removed from its Malay translation (Ali, for instance is transformed into a nameless, mysterious prince). And yet, more subtle Shiite motifs of Mir Amman’s book continued to worry Mahmud b. Sayid Mu’alim. It is hardly accidental that in the beginning of his preface to SFD he pleads Allah ‘to protect us from unbelief and treacherous (or rather apostate) words’ and in its ending he asks the readers to improve everything in his book that ‘is unac-ceptable in terms of the law (syara‘) of our Prophet’.19

With all this in mind, it is little wonder that Mahmud preferred to attribute

SFD to a great Persian poet, not to a less known Urdu writer the Shiite. Both his Sun-nite piety and his striving for the success of the translation with the Malay audience required this attribution. Curiously enough, in his false attribution Mahmud as if fol-lowed the example of Mir Amman himself who had also presented his Bagh-o bahar as a translation of the Persian work by Amir Khusrau and had chosen to ignore Tahsin, the genuine author of the Urdu source text that he reworked20.

This narrative includes the stories told by saints and wise men and those who turned their back to the world… and it consists of five tales

Now, after a discussion of some issues brought forward by the preface to SFD, we can get acquainted with the content of SFD itself more closely. Similarly to many fantastic adventure narratives Urdu and Malay alike, the hikayat begins with the story of the childless king, in this case the king of Rum (Turkey) Azadbakht (MS, pp. 2-11).

Once, looking in the mirror, the king notices a grey strand in his hair. He meditates on the

transitoriness of the world and wishes to leave his realm in order to spend the rest of his life in prayers and deeds of piety. However, his wise vizier Khiradmand persuades the king that

he should perform his royal duties in the daytime and serve God at night. One night the

king sets out to a cemetery in the hope that he will meet self-denying dervishes there and

will be able to learn from them. Having approached to the cemetery, he actually notices

four dervishes who while away the night telling tales about what happened to them in their

life. Azadbakht hides himself and listens to their stories.

The first dervish tells (pp. 12-41)21 that his father, a merchant from Yemen, left him a

great fortune. Having thoughtlessly wasted his inheritance, the merchant’s son pleads his

sister to help him. He buys various goods for her money and departs for a trading trip to

Dimasyk (Damascus). While spending the night at the closed gates of Dimasyk, he sees

19 MS, p. 1. 20 Abdul Haq’s introduction, 1920s, pp. 2-14. 21 All page numbers refer to MS Q 11.4A/27.

Vladimir Braginsky

24

how someone lowers a chest from the city wall and finds a badly wounded beautiful girl in

the chest. The merchant’s son brings a physician to cure the girl and spends all his money

taking care of her. He is head over heals in love with the belle who, however, remains un-

attainable to him and prohibits the merchant’s son to ask her any questions about her past.

When the young merchant’s money is exhausted, the girl sends him to a certain Siti Bahar

who, without a question, gives him a lot of gold.

The belle insists that the merchant’s son should become friends with a young jeweller

Yusuf. Yusuf invites him to his luxurious house, arranges a sumptuous feast and acquaints

the young merchant with his lover who is exceptionally ugly. The merchant’s beloved tells

him that he, in his turn, should invite Yusuf and throws a banquet even more splendid than

that of the jeweller. At the banquet the merchant’s son gets drunk and loses consciousness.

Next morning, when he comes to, he finds the decapitated bodies of Yusuf and his ugly

lover and learns that his beloved deserted him. The young merchant eventually finds the

belle who is infuriated by his reckless behaviour at the banquet. Yet, in the end she forgives

and marries him.

After a lot of coaxing, the merchant’s wife agrees to tell him her story (pp. 41-58). She

is the princess of Dimasyk who fell in love with her handsome servant Yusuf. Playing on

her passion for him, the servant became rich and famous in their city and persuaded the princess to buy a beautiful garden and a female-slave for him. Once, wishing to admire the

gardens, the princess set off to pay a visit to Yusuf. Together with his ugly slave Yusuf

made her drunk, injured her with his sword and, considering the princess dead, lowered her

in a chest from the city wall. The merchant’s son saved the princess’s life and helped her to

take revenge on the treacherous servant, even though he did not know that.

The princess does not want to stay in Dimasyk any longer and leaves the city with her

husband. After a long journey, they come to the sea and the merchant’s son sets off in

search of a boat. However, when he returns, he does not find the princess on the seashore.

In vain the merchant’s son looks for her everywhere. His desperation is so great that he is

ready to commit suicide, but at this moment a mysterious rider who is wrapped in the green

cloak and whose face is covered appears before him. He dissuades the merchant’s son from suicide and advises him that he should go to Rum to the king Azadbakht. There he will

meet three dervishes and will reach the fulfilment of his desire.

The second dervish begins his story (pp. 64-128) and tells that he was born as a prince

of Fars. From the early years he was fond of tales about people who had managed to

achieve eternal fame, particularly those of extraordinarily generous Hatim Ta’i (pp. 66-72).

After his father died and he became the king, he decided to become famous for equal gene-

rosity. However, a dervish, who annoyed him by getting alms forty times in a row during

one and the same day, explained to the prince that he was still very far from the genuine

generosity, of which the only possessor is the princess of Basra.

The prince of Fars sets off to Basra in order to meet the princess. However, before their

meeting, the princess’s servant, Bahrawar, tells him about strange events in the city of Nimroz.

Every month all the people of the city gather in a broad plain. The prince of Nimroz comes to the plain on the back of a white bull, breaks a vase of emerald and kills his young slave.

Afterwards he leaves the plain and, with loud groans and moans, disappears in the forest

(pp. 87-89). When the prince of Fars meets the princess of Basra, he expresses his admira-

tion with her generosity and beauty. A lady in waiting of the princess tells him that the

princess was unjustly expelled from the palace by her father, but, by the mercy of God, she

found a treasury with inexhaustible riches (pp. 95-106). The prince offers the princess his

hand and heart, and she agrees to marry him, if he knows the secret of the prince of Nimroz.

The prince of Fars arrives in Nimroz and, with a great risk to his life, persuades the

prince of Nimroz to tell him his story (pp. 111-127). Astrologers foretold that at the age of

fourteen a disaster may have befallen the prince. Therefore, his parents hid him in an un-

derground chamber, where he saw no sunlight. However, no one can escape from his fate. Once, a throne, on which a beautiful peri was seated, descended into the chamber through

its dome. The prince and the peri fell in love with each other, but the peri’s father, the king

of jinns, separated them. Distraught with grief, the prince fell seriously ill, and his parents

sent him to a great yogi to be cured. There he took hold of the book containing the greatest

name of Allah and, with its help, summoned the king of jinns. The poor enamored talked


25

the king to leave the princess of peris with him and promised that he would not touch her.

However, he failed to keep his promise, and the jinns took away his magic book and sepa-

rated him from his beloved again. Since then, every month he rides on the bull, into which

he has turned one of the jinns, to the plain and performs strange actions, so that every one

could see how deeply he suffers.

The prince of Fars, who feels compassion for him, promises his help to the enamored and sets off in search of the peri. However, he fails to find her and is ready to commit sui-

cide in desperation. At that moment, the same green horseman appears, stops the prince and

advises him that he should go to Rum.

Meanwhile the dawn cracks. Azadbakht returns to his palace and sends a courtier to

bring the dervishes. The king tells them that last night he listened to the stories of two of

them and now wishes to learn about adventures of two others. To encourage the dervishes

the king suggests that he will tell them his own story first.

Once an Iraqi merchant arrives in Rum and presents a very big ruby to him. Azadbakht

is extremely proud of the ruby and likes to boast of it, but his wise vizier says that this je-

wel, like all other earthly riches, does not deserve to be praised so much. Moreover, a mer-

chant from Nishapur has embellished the collar of his dog with twelve rubies that are bigger

than this one. Azadbakht calls the vizier a liar and throws him in dungeon. In the guise of a young male-trader, the vizier’s daughter sets off to Nishapur in order to find the merchant

who is the owner of the dog and to prove that her father told the truth. The ‘young trader’

charms the merchant and persuades him to go with ‘him’ to Rum. The ‘young trader’ and

the Nishapur merchant arrive in Rum. The merchant brings the dog and two his brothers,

who are put into cages, with him. Infuriated by the fact that the merchant keeps human be-

ings in cages, but does everything to please the dog, Azadbakht is ready to execute him. To

save his life the merchant has to explain his strange behaviour, for which he was nicknamed

a ‘dog-worshipper’, and to tell him his story (pp. 144-195).

When his father died, the merchant’s brothers stripped him off his share of the inheri-

tance and tried to kill him many times. However, each time his faithful and extraordinarily

clever dog managed to save the life of its master. Having lost all his possessions, the mer-chant found himself in a new country, where he experienced many amazing adventures,

such as his liberation from the horrible ‘dungeon of the Prophet Sulaiman’, about which his

rescuer, the princess of Iraq, narrates a story (pp. 155-157).

Eventually, thanks to the mercy of Allah, to whom the merchant is as loyal as his dog is

loyal to him and to whose faith he converts a few princess-idol-worshippers, the merchant

becomes rich again. Afterwards he learns that his evil brothers have committed a new crime

and have got into trouble again. He rescues them, and the whole situation repeats. In the

end the merchant puts his incorrigible brothers in the cages, but surrounds the faithful dog

with comfort and luxury.

Azadbakht approves the merchant’s actions and asks him about the origin of his enor-

mous rubies. The ‘dog-worshipper’ replies that once he met a young man who presented

him these rubies and told the following story (pp. 180-193). After a shipwreck he found himself in a magical city, where there was a plenty of such jewels. Although he was buried

alive in that city, he managed to escape from the place of the burial together with his be-

loved and took the rubies with him. The story of the merchant convinces the king that his

vizier told him the truth. He releases the vizier and marries his intelligent daughter to the

merchant-‘dog-worshipper’.

When Azadbakht finishes his narrative, the third dervish agrees to relate the story of his

misfortunes (pp. 198-225). In fact, he is the prince of Ajam. Once he goes for hunting,

chases a very beautiful she-deer, wounds her in the leg and finds himself in the house of an

old man, Niman Sayah, whose pet the wounded she-deer is. The old man curses the prince

and, although he forgives him later, the prince is doomed to suffer from pangs of love. In

the house of Niman Sayah, the prince finds a statue of an incomparably charming girl and passionately falls in love with her. The old man tells the story of this sculpture (p. 202-210).

It portrays the princess of Farang whom he hopelessly loves. The prince of Ajam departs to

Farang and after a number of adventures unites with the belle thanks to the help of the pow-

erful warrior Bihzad Khan. However, when on the way back the pair of lovers crosses the

river, the princess of Farang suddenly disappears in the waves. Because of his grief the

Vladimir Braginsky

26

prince nearly looses his mind, dresses up as a dervish and starts wandering over jungles and

mountains. He wishes to commit suicide, but the green horseman keeps him from this reck-

less step and sends to Rum.

The time of the fourth dervish’s story comes (pp. 225-251). He was the prince of China

(Cin). Before his father the king dies he entrusts the only son to his brother’s care. However,

the treacherous uncle only looks for the opportunity to kill the prince and to usurp the throne. The loyal servant Mubarak rescues the prince and brings him to his father’s friend,

the king of jinns Malik Sadik. Malik Sadik is ready to help the prince to get back his realm,

provided the prince finds and brings to him the belle depicted on the portrait. However, the

king of jinns repeatedly warns the prince that, in case of a treachery or an attempt to get the

girl for himself, he will be severely punished. The prince and Mubarak set out in search of

the belle, but, when they finally find her, her father tells them the sad story of his daughter

(pp. 239-244). Anyone who wishes to marry her dies in a mysterious manner, just as this

happened to the son of the king, whose courtier her father is.

The prince falls in love with the belle and, although he has to bring her to Malik Sadik,

he does not want to give her to the king of jinns. With the help of a ruse Mubarak tries to

save the girl from Malik Sadik. However, the latter guesses what his ruse is, attacks the

prince, wins the victory and takes away the girl from him. In desperation the prince sets off for wanderings. He is ready to throw himself from the high mountain, when the same green

rider stops him and sends him to Rum.

When the fourth dervish finishes his tale, the king Azadbakht suddenly learns that one

of his wives has just born the son to him. Overwhelmed with joy, the king orders to arrange

a great feast. With the help of the great king of jinns, Malik Syahpal, Azadbakht marries all

the separated lovers to one another: the merchant’s son from Yemen to the princess of

Damsyik, the prince of Fars to the princess of Basra, the prince of Ajam to the princess of

Farang, the prince of Nimroz to the princess of jinns, and the prince of China to the daugh-

ter of the courtier, who was kidnapped by Malik Sadik. Everyone happily achieves the ful-

filment of his or her desire.

And love and passion for these stories entered my soul…so that I asked him to help me in their translation

While trying to identify the source text of the Malay version of SFD, we have already touched upon some specific features of its translation. Now we shall discuss this issue in more detail.

The principles that Mahmud b. Sayid Mu’alim and his assistant adhered to in

their rendering of Mir Amman’s work did not largely differ from those of their predecessors from the first wave of Islamic India literary impact, translators of Persian literary pieces. In both cases, an idiomatic and an unidiomatic rendering of the source text constituted two ‘poles’ of the translation strategy. The choice of one or another strategy normally depended on the character to be born and the function to be performed by a particular section of the source text in the semantic and stylistical fabric of the target text.

The idiomatic strategy of translation was usually used for narrative sections of

the source text, whereas the unidiomatic strategy for its edifying sections, which of-ten included quotations from the Qur’an and hadith, poetical insertions and all kinds of passages written in a religious, legalistic or scholarly manner. In the eyes of the Malay translators, the authority of such quotations and passages, or their great sig-nificance within the context of the work, or both, required the reproduction of not only their meaning, but also their syntax. It is little wonder, therefore, that the attempts to fulfil this most contradictory task frequently brought forth a kind of ‘translatio-nese’, ‘not only distinguished by its clumsiness and its weird constructions, but also


27

by a distinctly deviant use of prepositions’22. Between these two ‘poles’, there lay the whole spectrum of transitional forms, more or less idiomatic or otherwise.

A number of these forms we find in Mahmud’s translation. A considerable, if

not greater, part of Bagh-o bahar’s narrative segments are rendered into idiomatic Malay. Once again, just as in translations of the predecessors from the first wave, Mahmud’s idiomatic strategy is based on a sentence-by-sentence (or close to sentence-by-sentence) Malay paraphrase of the Urdu original. Inherent in this paraphrase are rela-tively few additions and omissions, embellishments of the source text and skipping them over, and only slight traces of its vocabulary. A good example of this idiomatic and fairly exact translation presents the episode about the prince on the yellow bull, which was quoted above.

However, also not infrequently, Mahmud’s translation of Urdu narrative pas-

sages—particularly those combining narration with edification—show different de-grees of deviation from the idiomatic strategy. In such cases, Mir Amman’s elegantly lucid, concise narration is substantially extended by various explanatory remarks, deliberations intended to enhance didactic overtones of a passage or to add such over-tones to it, and sometimes simply by repetitions of words and word-combinations ra-ther awkwardly arranged and only leading to the translated passage’s long-windedness. The latter is particularly characteristic for the rendering of Mir Amman’s verses (see examples of it above, p. 10). Self-standing segments in Bagh-o bahar, in Malay SFD these verses are occasionally reworked into a part of the character’s prose monologue23 or integrated into a prose narrative as one of its sentences (see below, p. 19-20 and notes 23-24).

A typical example of the didactic (and long-winded) amplification of the SFD’s

source text has already been referred to, when I mentioned characteristic (from Ab-dul Haq’s viewpoint) passages of Mir Amman’s work that occur in Mahmud’s trans-lation (see Appendix 2, I). The real extent of this amplification becomes clearer if the preceding part of the above passage is also quoted:


Forbes’ translation, 1857, pp. 32-33


MS, pp. 13-14

This mendicant [i.e., the first dervish telling

this story] had no sooner reposed himself

in [the vacant] seat [of his father] than he

Setelah berapa lamanya hamba duduk di atas

itu, maka datanglah pula tahunnya dan bu-

lannya dan harinya dan saatnya sesal di atas

22 L.F. Brakel, The Hikayat Muhammad Hanafiyyah; A medieval Muslim-Malay Romance (The Hague:

Nijhoff, 1975), p. 43. 23 For instance, the princess of Basra addresses Allah with a long speech, which includes a

prose reworking of Mir Amman’s verse:

Bagh-o bahar by Mir Amman

Forbes’ translation, p. 185

‘Story of four dervishes’ in Malay (SFD)

MS, p. 97

When I had no teeth, then thou gavest milk;

When thou hast given teeth, wilt thou not grant

food!

Maka tiadalah ada bergigi, maka Tuhanku

memberi pula akan hambamu rezeki daripada

susu jua, dan telah besarlah hambamu maka

Tuhanku kurniakan gigi kepada mulut hambamu

makanlah rezekiMu daripada ni’matMu sekalian.

[...] Sekarang haraplah akan hambamu kepada

Tuhanku dengan Kamu mudah-mudahan jua

hambaMu mendapat rezeki Tuhanku jua.

Vladimir Braginsky

28

was surrounded by fops, coxcombs, ‘thig-

gars and sornars’ *parasites+, liars and flat-

terers, who became his favourites and

friends. I began to have them constantly in

my company. They amused me with the

gossip of every place, and every idle, lying

tittle tattle; they continued urging me thus:

‘In this season of youth, you ought to drink

of the choicest wines, and send for beauti-

ful mistresses to participate in the plea-

sures thereof, and enjoy yourself in their

company.’

In short, the evil genius of man is man:

my disposition changed from listening

constantly [to their pernicious advice.]

Wine, dancing, and gaming occupied my

time. At last matters came to such a pitch,

that, forgetting my commercial concerns, a

mania for debauchery and gambling came

over me. My servants and companions,

when they perceived my careless habits,

secreted all they could lay hand on; one

might say a systematic plunder took place.

No account was kept of the money which

was squandered; from whence it came, or

where it went:

When the wealth comes gratuitously,

the heart has no mercy on it.

Had I possessed even the treasures of Ka-

run [the rich man, a personification of

wealth], they would not have been suffi-

cient to supply this vast expenditure.

kepala hamba ini, maka datanglah orang

muda-muda belia terlalu banyak daripada pi-

hak orang tiada bermalu dan tiada bersopan

dan fitnah dan hasad sekalian, daripada akal

yang jahat datanglah ia bersahabat kepada

hamba. Maka hamba pun mengikutlah akan

nasihatnya yang keji-keji, maka hamba pun

mengikutlah kepadanya dan hamba pun ter-

masuklah di dalam pukatnya yang celaka itu.

Sebermula diajarnya oleh orang celaka itu

kepada hamba seraya katanya: ‘Hai tuan yang

baik paras dan muda(h) belia(h), apakah

gunanya semua [an illegible word] itu dan

harta yang sebanyak itu jikalau tiada tuan

menyukakan tatkala muda(h) ini. Jika tuan

nanti apalah apalah gunanya lagi? Adapun

yang baik kepada hamba sekalian, baik juga

tuan berlajar minum khamr [wine] dan minu-

man-minuman yang memberi asyik berahi

serta dengan mabuk-mabuk selasih. Itulah

yang baik kepada hamba sekalian. Dan kedua,

maka mahulah tuan minum janganlah tuan

seorang diri. Menjadi tiada mendapat rasanya

dan lezatnya sekali-sekali. Baik juga tuan men-

gambil anak-anakan perempuan yang

muda(h)-muda(h) serta dengan elok parasnya.

Tatakala itu barulah tuan mendapat rasanya

dan lezatnya minuman sekalian itu.’

Setelah hamba mendengar, maka terbuka-

lah hati hambamu dan sukaria dengan terlalu

amat sangat. Maka hamba pun kabulkanlah,

maka hamba pun mengikutlah pengajaran dan

nasihat sekalian itu. Maka menjadilah lupa

sekalian perbuatan dan perniagaan pun

tiadalah teringat sekali-sekali. Maka hamba

pun belanjakanlah harta yang ditinggalkan

oleh ayahanda baginda itu yang tiada terhisab

itu tiadalah dengan kadarnya atau kira-kira

bagaimana garuk harta ini datangnya kepada

hamba. Maka bagaimana datangnya,

demikianlah perginya dengan tiada boleh da-

pat terhisab lagi dan hingganya melainkan

dengan belanja jua seperti orang tiada sedarkan

diri adanya.

Maka hamba pun ngapallah [stubbornly]

menurut akan perkataan syaitan yang berpen-

gajaran manusia jua. Bukannya syaitan yang

dijadikan tuhan kita, mengajarkan pengajaran

syaitan manusia itu? Dan cukuplah kepada

hamba pengajarannya syaitan manusia itu. Dan

tiada kasihan kepada hak yang ditinggalkan oleh


29

ayahanda baginda itu, dengan sia-sia jua perginya.

Karena apa sebabnya? Bukannya hamba penatkan

aku, ta’ hamba mencarikan harta itu. Jikalau se-

kiranya hamba yang empunya pencarian, niscaya

hamba tiadalah berani kerjakan [demikian].24

Adapun sekarang, pada sangka hamba, tat-

kala hamba belanjakan harta itu, jikalau seperti

khazanah Karun sekalipun habis juga hamba

belanjakan dengan sekejap mata juga. Maka

berkata sahib al-hikayat: ‘Dengarkan olehmu

nasihat saudaramu, dengan seboleh-bolehnya

ambillah olehmu ibarat ini, pakaikan kepada

akalmu dan hatimu.’

Hai saudaraku tua dan muda, dengarkan

olehmu cetera telah hilang harta daripada tan-

gannya itu.

One more reason for changing the source text that caused its lengthening was its adaptation to the expectations of the target audience. Such change-adaptations in Mahmud’s rendition of SFD are numerous and can be examined on many levels of their semantics and their expression in the word. I, however, limit myself to only one example that seems to combine Mahmud’s edifying intentions and his striving to meet the audience’s tastes and idiosyncrasies. Although stories of two dervishes de-scribe their early life as princes, Mir Amman tells next to nothing of their education. Yet, it is likely that this was an issue of great importance for Mahmud b. Sayid Mu’alim. Moreover, traditional Malay literature in general paid sufficient attention to the education of princes, and not only of them indeed. Such compositions as Taj as-salatin, Hikayat Isma Yatim, Hikayat Hang Tuah and Hikayat Aceh – to mention only several works of many – bear witness to this fact. Therefore, the Malay translation of Bagh-o bahar adds narratives, even though highly formulaic, of the educational back-ground of its characters. Here is an example:


Forbes’ translation, 1857, p. 251


MS, p. 198

*<+ my father was king of that country, and

had no children except myself. In the season

of my youth, I used to play with my compa-

nions at chaupar cards, chess, and backgam-

mon; or mounting my horse, I used to enjoy

the pleasures of the chase.

MS, p. 198. Setelah diperanakkan baginda

kepada hamba, maka dipeliharalah baginda

dengan beberapa kesusahan serta dengan

inang pengasu[h] dan dayang-dayang

daripada anak orang yang besar-besar jua.

Maka setelah sampailah umur hamba tujuh

tahun, maka disuruh baginda mengajar

mengaji Qur’an. Tiada berapa lama mengaji

Our’an telah tamatlah sudah dengan karunia

Allah Ta’ala dan baginda menyuruh pula

berlajar mengaji kitab-kitab dan ilmu alat.

Dengan tolong Tuhan yang menjadikan

sarwa sekalian alam, dengan segera jua

hamba dapatlah ilmu yang hamba pelajari

24 The italicised part of the paragraph corresponds to one line of poetry in Mir Amman’s text:

‘When the wealth comes gratuitously, the heart has no mercy on it’.

Vladimir Braginsky

30

itu dengan mudahnya jua. Telah sampailah

usianya hamba empat belas tahun, maka

hamba pun duduklah dengan bersuka-

sukaan kepada sahabat hamba, iaitu anak

menteri hulubalang serta anak orang kaya-

kaya.

In the preface to his translation, Mahmud asks the readers to improve his trans-lation, as, for his traditionally announced ‘ignorance’, he ‘extended short passages and shortened long passages’ of the original. It is true that, like his predecessors and successors, he shortened or even omitted some pieces of Mir Amman’s text, too diffi-cult for the translation or the understanding of the audience and too rhetorically re-fined or artificial to the Malay literary taste. However, for the reasons discussed above, the ‘extension of short passages’ is by far prevalent over the ‘shortening of long ones’ in Mahmud’s rendering of Bagh-o bahar’s narrative sections, which never-theless is sufficiently adequate as a whole.

A totally different strategy was chosen by Mahmud for the translation of nu-

merous descriptive passages of Mir Amman’s composition. This is even not so much a strategy of translation as a strategy of substitution. Mahmud mostly replaces Bagh-o bahar’s portrayals of palaces and gardens, female beauty and sumptuous attires and ornaments, picturesque ceremonies and distant marvellous lands, exquisite but alien to Malay literature, by typically Malay versions of these topoi.

In many cases, Mahmud extends descriptive passages of Mir Amman, too. For

example, in the story of the fourth dervish from the Urdu original the wedding ceremony is described briefly, only in its general outlines:

From that day the preparations for the marriage were begun by both parties; and

on an auspicious hour, all the qazis and muftis, the learned men and the nobles

were convened, and the marriage rites were performed; the bride was carried

away with great éclat, and all the ceremonies were finished25.

The Malay translation, which in this case has little in common with its Urdu source text, describes the event at length, completely in the manner of Malay fantastical ad-venture romances (such as Hikayat Indraputra), using the majority of their stock for-mulae.

‘Story of four dervishes’ in Malay, MS, pp. 240-241

Hikayat Indraputra26

Maka raja pun bertitah kepada menteri hulubalang hendak memulai pekerjaan kahwin anak raja,27 seperti adat kahwin anak raja yang besar-besar empat puluh hari empat puluh malam dengan bersuka-sukaan,

Maka Raja Syahsian pun memulai kerja berjaga-jaga akan mengawinkan tuan puteri *<+ dengan Indraputra. *<+ Maka Indraputra pun duduklah pada negeri itu makan minum dengan segala anak raja-raja

25 Forbes’ translation, 1857, p. 292. 26 See Rujiati S.B. Mulyadi, Hikayat Indraputra; A Malay Romance (Dordrecht: Foris, 1983), pp.

150-153, 195-198. There are seven descriptions of weddings in Hikayat Indraputra. As we are

interested in Malay formulae typical of the wedding topoi, the description below is con-

structed from two Indraputra’s marriages: those to the princesses Mengindera Seri Bulan and

Mengindera Sari (should be Seri) Bunga. 27 This anak is the raja’s daughter, bride, whereas anak aku is the bridegroom.


31

makan minum, pencak tari, masing-masing dengan halnya bersuka-sukaan jua.

dan memalu bunyi-bunyian.

Setelah genaplah empat puluh hari empat puluh malam, maka anak raja pun diarakkan oranglah berkeliling negeri dengan terlalulah ramai permainannya sekali dan bunyi-bunyian pun terlalu ramai dan gegak-gempita di dalam negeri itu sebab permainan belaka. Maka anak hamba pun diriasi oranglah dengan sekalian hiasan pakaian daripada emas perak dan intan manikam. Penuhlah sekali tubuhnya dengan permata menjadi teranglah seperti bulan dan cahaya api pun hilanglah sudah, sebab karena cahaya intan manikam menjadi kelamlah sekalian cahaya yang lain-lain. Maka didudukkan oranglah di atas pelaminan tujuh tingkat, dan rupanya terlalulah elok sekali, tiadalah boleh dipandang nyata.

Bermula setelah genaplah empat puluh hari empat puluh malam *<+ maka diarak *<+ oranglah *tuan putri] berkeliling negeri tujuh kali *<+. Maka berbunyilah segala bunyi-bunyian gendang gong serunai nafiri *<+ terlalu azmat bunyinya. Maka tuan puteri [...] dihias oranglah dengan pakaian yang keemasan, bergelang dan bercincin [...] dan bermalai intan dikarang, gemerlapan seperti bintang [...]. Setelah sudah tuan puteri [...] dihias orang maka didudukkan di atas puspa pemajangan, maka rupa tuan putri [...] gilang-gemilang, kilau-kilauan, tiada dapat ditentang nyata.

Maka anak raja berarak pun dekatlah sudah istana raja, maka berbunyilah sekalian tempik dan sorak sekalian menteri hulubalang dan ra’yat, menjadi seperti kiamatlah negeri itu. Maka anak raja pun sampailah ke istana, lalu dibawa masuklah duduk ke atas pelaminan itu. Maka menjadilah anak raja dan anak aku seperti bulan dan matahari. Maka raja dan orang besar-besar dan aku pun datanglah mengadap kepada penganten kedua-dua itu. Maka raja pun bangunlah membuat suap-suapan dan sekalian menteri dan orang besar-besar dan aku pun bangunlah membuat suap-suapan. [Se]telah sudahlah, maka keduanya pun dibawa masuk oranglah kepada tempat peraduan.

Maka Indraputra pun dihias oranglah dengan pakaian yang keemasan bertatahkan ratna mutu manikam [...]. Maka dinaikkan [Indraputra] di atas perarakan [...]. Maka dibawa oranglah perarakan itu berkisar sendirinya. Maka berpalu-palulah segala rumbai-rumbai mutianya seperti bunyi-bunyian. [...] Hatta maka Indraputra pun sampailah ke istana Raja Syahsian. [...] Maka didudukkan baginda di atas puspa pemajangan di kanan tuan putri [...]. Maka terlalulah amat baik rupanya [tuan putri], bercahaya-cahaya, gilang-gemilang, kilau-kilauan seperti bulan purnama empat belas hari [...] dan rupa Indraputra seperti matahari. [...] Maka nasi adap-adap pun dibawa oranglah di hadapan Indraputra. Setelah sudah santap, maka tuan putri pun dibawa Indraputra masuk ke dalam peraduan.

Setelah keesokan hari, maka segala hulubalang dan ra’yat sekalian pun mengaraklah air mandi berkeliling negeri dengan permainan pun jua. Setelah sudah, anak raja dan anak aku didudukkan oranglah di atas panca persada 28 seraya bersiram.

Bermula setelah genap tiga hari, Raja Dewa Lela Mengerna dan Nabat Rum Syah dengan segala anak raja-raja itu berbuat pancapersada [...], tempat Indraputra dengan tuan putri [...] mandi. [...] Maka Raja Dewa Lela Mengerna dan Nabat Rum Syah pun mengatur segala pawai dan air mandi. [...] Setelah sudah maka diarak oranglah segala pawai itu dengan air mandi [...] dengan bunyi-bunyian terlalu azmat bunyinya.[...] Maka diarak oranglah berkeliling negeri [...]. Setelah itu maka [Indraputra dan tuan putri] dimandikan orang di atas pancapersada.

Beauty of the belle is described in the story of the third dervish from Bagh-o bahar as follows:

28 MS mentions puncak persada.

Vladimir Braginsky

32

*<+ her face was like the moon, and her ringlets on both sides [of her head]

hung loose; she had a smiling countenance; and she was dressed like a Euro-

pean, and with a most charming air; she was seated [on the throne] and looking

forward.29

In the Malay translation this description is substituted for the one well known to any reader of traditional Malay literature from countless fantastical adventure romances in prose and verse, hikayat Indraputra for one:


MS, p. 201

Hikayat Indraputra30

Adalah rupanya itu seperti gambar ditulis

dan warnanya putih kuning dan mukanya

bujur dan pipinya seperti pauh dilayang dan

hidungnya seperti kuntum melur dan

keningnya seperti taji dibentuk dan matanya

bundar dan giginya lentik dan bibirnya

merah seperti gincu Cina dan rambutnya ikal

seperti mayang mengurai dan pelipisannya

pun terulur dipandang manis dan

pakaiannya seperti perempuan Inggeris.

*<+ terlalu elok rupanya *of Candra Lela

Nurlela+: *<+ rambutnya seperti cincin

dituang *<+ keningnya bagai taji dibentuk,

*<+, matanya bagai bintang timur,

hidungnya bagai kuntum melur, *<+ pipinya

bagai pauh dilayang, bibirnya bagai pati

dicarik, giginya bagai delima merekah *<+

After this description, in the following narrative passage, Mahmud returns to his somewhat lengthened sentence-by-sentence paraphrase close to the translation proper, as if to contrast two different strategies of his rendering of the source text:


Forbes’ translation, 1857, p. 254


MS, p. 201

*<+ when I recovered, I got up, and went up to

the angelic woman and saluted her; she did not

in the least return my salute, nor did she open

her lips. I said, ‘O lovely angel, in what religion

is it right to be so proud, and not to return a sa-

lute.’

Setelah sudah hamba lihat belaka, maka hamba

hampirilah kepada perempuan itu serta dengan

beberapa hormat dan salam. Maka tiadalah ia

menyahut salam hamba itu sekali-sekali

perempuan ini, sebab rupanyakah? Maka kata

hamba: ‘Hai tuan puteri badan seperti bunga,

mengapakah tuan tiada mau menyahut salam

hamba? Kepada adat siapakah itu dan pada

agama manakah itu tiada mau menjawab salam

orang? *...+.’

The strategy of substitution can create the impression that Mahmud’s translation does not contribute to traditional Malay literature in its descriptive aspect at all. However, as we shall see, this is not completely so.

29 Forbes’ translation, 1857, p. 254. 30 Mulyadi, Hikayat Indraputra, p. 108.


33

The most beautiful stories that should bring benefit to all God’s servants

Judging from the preface to his translation, the ‘unspeakable beauty’ (terlalu in-dah-indah sekali) of Bagh-o bahar was one of the major reasons of Mahmud b. Syed Mu’alim’s passionate love for this story (berahi hatiku dan asyik kepada cetera itu). This is quite natural both in terms of traditional Malay aesthetics, in which precisely the beauty of a literary piece that evoked love in the heart of the reader turned this piece into a powerful psychotherapeutic means31, and of the quality of Mir Amman’s com-position, famous primarily for its beauty32.

The Urdu original and the Malay translation of SFD alike are permeated with

beauty. It is manifested in captivating, well-balanced and enjoyable plots of its five stories, new to Malay literature in many respects, and in the orderly overall composi-tion of the piece; in the characters of the protagonists, their love experiences and ad-ventures33 and in the portrayal of their travels over amazing, miraculous countries; in elegant, wise sayings and in the smooth, expressive style of writing (in the case of Mahmud at least partly). Be that as it may, like in many earlier Malay fantastical ad-venture romances, both translated and original, beauty of SFD reveals itself in par-ticular fullness through emotionally active descriptions34.

SFD is saturated with such descriptions, both brief and extensive. The best of

them, again like in earlier romances, are based on the three-fold unity, or synaesthe-sia, of visual, acoustic and olfactory impressions. Particularly important among them are: a specific illumination created by gleaming precious metals and iridescent jewels, against the background of which more intensive lighting effects flash now and then35; loud sounds of music, birds and crowds of people; smells of flowers and fragrances. The majority of these impressions and the traditional imagery intended to express them occur in the Malay version of SFD, for which reason descriptions in this text deserve special attention. Here we shall touch upon only two, although especially representative, descriptive topoi – those of the palace and the park or garden – which usually form a complex of sorts.36

As I have noted above, a number of descriptions in Malay SFD represent sub-

stitutes rather than translations of their Urdu counterparts. Descriptions of the pal-ace-garden complex largely follow this translation strategy, although not as strictly as descriptions of weddings. For instance, in the original Urdu text the portrayal of the palace and garden of the princess of Basra from the story of the second dervish sounds as follows:

31 V. Braginsky, The Heritage of Traditional Malay Literature; A Historical Survey of Genres, Writings

and Literary Views (Leiden: KITLV Press, 2004), pp. 254-258. 32Abdul Haq’s introduction, 1920s, pp. 4-7; Salim-Ur-Rahman, Classics Revisited, p. 163. 33 Importantly, indah—‘beautiful’ is a conceptual ‘synonym’ of ajaib—‘amazing’and gharib—

‘uncommon’ in Malay aesthetics. 34 Braginsky, The Heritage of Traditional Malay Literature, pp. 335-336. 35 For more details of these specific illumination, see V. Braginsky, ‚‘The Sight of Multi-coloured

Radiance’; Lighting Effects in Malay Love-and-adventure Narratives and the Sufi Concept of

Visuality,‛ in Rainbows of Malay Literature & Beyond; Festschrift in honour of Professor Md. Salleh

Yaapar, ed. Lalita Sinha (Penang: Universiti Sains Malaysia Press, 2010), pp. 1-11. 36 On this complex in Urdu literature, see A.A. Dekhtyar [Suvorova], Problemy Poetiki Dastanov

Urdu (The problems of poetics of Urdu dastan) (Moscow: Nauka, 1979), pp. 50-58. For the

complete text of descriptions, excerpts from which are discussed below, see Appendix 3.

Vladimir Braginsky

34

*<+ then the female servant came to me and said, ‘Come, the princess has sent

for you.’ I went along with her; she led me to the private apartment; the effect of

the lights was such that the shab-i kadr was nothing to it. A masnad, covered with

gold, was placed on rich carpets, with a pillow studded with jewels; over it an

awning of brocade was stretched, with a fringe of pearls on [silver] poles stud-

ded with precious stones; and in front of the masnad artificial trees formed of

various jewels, with flowers and leaves attached, (one would say they were na-

ture’s own production,) were erected in beds of gold.37

Although the Malay rendering of the Urdu text follows the original closer than the examples of the substitution strategy quoted above, it can hardly be considered as its translation proper. In fact, this rendering is more similar to descriptions of the pa-lace-garden complex in the earlier hikayat with their stock formulae that developed not without the influence of the first wave of Islamic India’s impact.

‘The story of four dervishes’ in Malay

(SFD),

MS, pp. 93-94

Combination of traditional Malay descrip-

tive formulae from several hikayat38

Maka [...] lemah sudah anggota hambamu

melihat terlalu indah-indah sekalian

mahaligai tuan puteri itu. Adalah seperti

sekalian ruma[h] itu dan isinya sekalian

serasa sudah menjadi manikam sekalian di

ruma[h] itu dan boleh dikatakan rumah

manikam semua pula bertambah dian pelita

dan kandil setulup gemerlapan tiadalah

dapat ditentang nyata. Maka setelah hamba

sampai ke dalam mahaligai itu, maka hamba

amat-amati adalah suatu majlis terlalu besar

sekali. Adalah hamparannya daripada

katifah buatan negeri Rum dan beberapa

pula katifah daripada suf sakhlat ‘ain al-

banat dan makhmal z-ri b-t-ng (?) emas

belaka.

Maka [perbuatan mahligai itu] daripada gad-

ing dan kayu harang bersendi-sendi dengan

pualam *<+. Syahdan pada kemuncak*nya+

ada dibubuhnya sebuah kemala amat berca-

haya-cahaya *<+ Maka *<+ suatu pang-

kat*nya+ *<+ daripada baiduri dikarang, dan

kedua pangkat *<+ daripada nilam dikarang,

*<+ dan keempat pangkat *<+ daripada mu-

tia dikarang, *<+ dan keenam pangkat *<+

darpada ratna dikarang, dan ketujuh pangkat

*<+ daripada zamrut dikarang. Maka dian,

tanglung, kandil, pelita pun dipasang, ge-

merlapan rupanya *<+ tiada dapat ditentang

nyata. Maka istana pun dihiasi daripada

hamparan permadani yang keemasan, maka

daripada suf sakhlat ainulbanat dan beledu

khatifah.

Dan adalah pada sisi hamparan itu adalah

sebuah singgasana dibuatnya terlalu indah-

indah sekali, perbuatannya daripada emas

bersendikan perak suasa, tiangnya

singgasana itu empat batang, adalah

tiangnya itu daripada manikam jua adanya

beberapa pula bertatahkan intan baiduri dan

manikam jawahir dan beberapa pula

Maka dibuatnya *<+ singgasana daripada

emas dan perak bertatahkan ratna mutu

manikam, tiangnya daripada tembaga suasa,

bersendi-sendi dengan gading. Dan empat

biji kemala tergantung pada *<+ empat pen-

juru[nya], kemala [itu] amat bercahaya-

cahaya. Maka segala cahaya dian pelita

kandil tanglung sekaliannya pun suramlah

37 Forbes’ translation, 1857, p. 118. 38 The text below is made up from descriptive formulae that occur in Hikayat Indraputra (Mulyadi,

Hikayat Indraputra, pp. 68, 79, 107, 148, 203), Hikayat Isma Yatim (Hikayat Isma Yatim [Singapore:

Educational Service of the Straits Settlements, 1910], pp. 20, 24, 28, 58) and Hikayat Syah Mardan

(Hikayat Syah Mardan, ed. Zabedah Abdullah [Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka,

2000], p. 48). As in the hikayat tradition the formulae in question are used in a number of

descriptions, they are not necessarily applied to the same objects in these hikayat and in our

text.


35

tergantung manikam yang besar-besar harga

dan yang melekat (?). Ada yang tergantung

sekalian itu seperti siang harilah sebab

karena cahaya manikam itu, maka sekalian

api pelita itu menjadi kelam.

oleh sebab terkena sinar cahayanya.

Adalah suatu taman dibuatnya daripada

emas perak jua, dan adalah jambangan dan

pohon bunga-bunga(h)an daripada intan

manikam jauhar zamrud nilam pualam

puspa ragam panca logam dibuatnya pohon

bunga-bunga(h)an. [...] Sekalian itu

perbuatan dari batu-batu jawahir belaka.

Maka hamba melihat dengan sebenar-

benarnya pada pihak taman itu adalah

seperti bukannya perbuatan manusia sekali-

sekali hanyalah kudrat Ilahi jua datangnya

itu sekalian.

Maka [hamba] lalu masuk dalam suatu

taman *<+, syahdan dalam taman itu be-

berapa jambangan daripada emas dan perak

dan tembaga suasa yang bertatahkan ratna

mutu manikam. [Maka di taman itu] ada se-

pohon kayu, batangnya daripada emas dan

daunnya daripada pirus dan bunganya dari-

pada zamrut dan buahnya daripada mani-

kam yang merah. Adapun *<+ ini bukanlah

perbuatan manusia pada firasatku. [Inilah]

kekayaan Allah SubhanaHu wa Ta’ala, Tu-

han sarwa sekalian alam.

And yet, the influence of the Urdu original is also perceivable in this very Ma-lay description. Turning to classical hikayat of the late 16th-18th centuries, it is difficult, if at all possible, to find a portrayal of the palace and garden, of which every compo-nent is ‘made’ of iridescent jewels alone to produce together the image of a genuine ‘house *and park+ of gems’, their radiance reigning supreme over all and everything in the description.

This specific turn in the manner of representation of a standard Malay topos,

which, hailing from the Urdu source text of SFD, contributed to this topos’s expres-sive potential, is also important in another aspect. It shows how intimate is the con-nection of beauty and didacticism in SFD, the former being a means of manifestation of the latter. The point is that the princess of Basra, the owner of the ‘house of gems’ is unreservedly faithful to God. Expelled because of this faithfulness from her fa-ther’s palace, she addresses Him in a moving prayer, and God gives her that inex-haustible reserve of jewels from which her ‘house of gems’ is built. It is not accidental either that none other than precious stones appear in this story. Their radiance (in contrast to their rough nature of stones) is symbolically associated with the Divine principle39, and thus, they, so to speak, ‘shine about’ the Source of the princess’s rich-es and the reason for her becoming rich.

The rendering of SFD’s descriptions of gardens, which stand half-way between

the translation and the substitution strategy, also brings new options to Malay repre-sentations of this old topos. For instance, the image of ‘leaves similar to emeralds’ is most common in the Malay hikayat tradition. However, the exquisite combination of properties of this jewel with those of pearls is a novelty contributed by the Malay translation of SFD:

*<+ maka hamba melihat pada daun pohon sekalian itu, adalah daun itu seperti

batu zamrud yang hijau. Dan jatuh titik-titik hujan di atas daun itu, maka men-

39 See Braginsky, ‚The Sight of Multi-coloured Radiance‛, pp. 9-10.

Vladimir Braginsky

36

jadilah seperti disendikan mutiara dan ma’nikam di atas batu zamrud yang hi-

jau itu40.

Another example of descriptive novelties drawn from Mir Amman’s version of SFD is a portrayal of the illumination and fireworks that follows the formulaic, typi-cally Malay, representation of a palatial house:

Maka adalah terang pada ruma[h] itu seolah-olah lebih pula terangnya dari-

pada bulan dan beberapa pula daripada permainan seperti bunga api dan ba-

num (?) dan belerang m-t-a-f-u menjadi ramailah ruma[h] itu.41

Yet another example is the representation of the protagonist’s respectful cir-

cumambulation of his beloved as a flight of a winged insect around the candle that irresistibly attracts it:

Maka tatkala itu hamba melihat rupanya tuan puteri itu seperti kandil tanglung

terpasang, maka ada pula kumbang berkeliling-keliling hendak masuk kepada

api itu. Maka hamba pun bangkitlah tiada sedarkan dirinya, lalu hamba naik ke

atas balai itu, seraya berkeliling kepada tuan puteri serupa tabi’at hamba

tatkala itu samalah bagaimana kumbang yang hamba sebutkan dahulu itu.

Maka hamba pun hampir juga kepada tuan puteri itu [...]42.

Finally, Mahmud b. Sayid Mu’alim’s translation reproduces a description from

the Urdu original, which portrays how the protagonist’s vision of the nocturnal park changes as his melancholy in separation from the beloved gives way to the joy of his encounter with her. It is true that trysts of lovers in the moon-lit garden are a commonplace in the earlier Malay hikayat. However in this form, with its transfiguration of the landscape, when the metaphoric ‘thorn of sufferings’ is at last taken out from the enamoured’s eye, this description is undoubtedly an innovative elaboration of the old topos:

Maka sebab tiada tuan puteri itu di sini, maka menjadilah sekalian pandangan

pada mata hamba kebun itu dan pohon-pohon bunga dan bunganya yang

kembang itu dan bulan yang terang dan menerang itu menjadi seperti durilah

menyocok kepada mata hamba. Antara yang demikian itu, maka Tuhan [...]

telah dimasukkan gerak kepada hati mahbu[b] hamba itu, maka ia pun

datanglah kepada kebun itu. Maka setelah hamba melihat rupa mahbu[b]

hamba itu datang ke dalam taman itu, maka hamba pun sukalah yang maha

sangat.[...] Maka tatkala itu pada mata hamba taman itu baharulah berseri-seri

40 See MS, p. 50. In Bagh-o bahar we find the following presentation of this image: ‘As the rain-

drops fell on the fresh green leaves of the trees, one might say they were like pearls set in

pieces of emerald *<+’ (Forbes’ translation, 1857, p. 78). 41 MS, p. 50. In Bagh-o bahar: ‘The illuminations within were magnificent; on every side, ge-

randoles, in the shape of cypresses, and various kinds of lights in variegated lamps were

lighted up; even the shabi barat, with all its moonlight and its illuminations, would appear

dark [in comparison to the brightness which shone in the pavilion]; on one side, fire-works of

every description were displayed.’ (Forbes’ translation, 1857, p. 79). 42 MS, p. 27. In Bagh-o bahar: ‘After strolling for a few minutes about the garden, she sat down

in the alcove on a richly-embroidered masnad. I ran, and like the moth that flutters around the

candle, offered my life as a sacrifice to her *<+’ (Forbes’ translation, 1857, p. 60).


37

karena sebab tuan puteri ada melihat itu. Maka hamba pun barulah terang mata

hamba yang seperti dicocok duri itu43.

As we see, the Malay version of SFD balances the old and the new, the strategy of substitution oriented to expectations of the audience and the strategy of translation intended to enrich habitual descriptions with novel shades and tones of the imagery and/or uncommon possibilities of its use. Thus, SFD not only contributes to the beauty of emotionally active descriptions, the core of Malay literary aesthetics, but also shed new light on the process of these descriptions’ formation in the earlier, worse documented period.

43 MS, p. 26. In Bagh-o Bahar: ‘*<+ when I beheld the roses, I thought of the beautiful rose-like

angel, and when I gazed on the bright moon, I recollected her moon-like face. All these de-

lightful scenes without her were so many thorns in my eyes. At last God made her heart fa-

vourable to me. After a little while that lovely fair one entered from the [garden] door

adorned like the full moon *<]By her coming, the beauties of that garden, and the joy of my

heart, revived’ (Forbes’ translation, 1857, p. 38).

Vladimir Braginsky

38

Appendices

Appendix 1. Preface to the Malay Char Darvesh (MS, p. 1)

Bismillah al-Rahman al Rahim

*<+ Segala puji bagi Allah yang menunjuki kita dengan iman dan Islam, *<+ dan dipeliharakan kita daripada kufur dan kalam durhaka. *<+ Dan kita pohonkan pada-Nya bahwa ditetapkan iman pada hati kita dan pada lidah kita. *<+ Dan rahmat Al-lah atas penghulu kita Saidina Muhammad yang membawa kita ke negeri yang se-jahtera, *<+ dengan rahmat yang senantiasa daripada Raja yang mengetahui segala yang ghaib-ghaib, *<+ dan atas segala keluarganya dan segala taulannya yang suci mereka itu daripada segala suci. Amma ba’ad hadha al-qissah bi’l-lughat Farsi ‘Car Darvesh’, ya’ni cetera-cetera dari-pada bahasa Parsi ‘Empat orang fakir’. Adapun kemudian daripada itu, memuji Al-lah dan mengucap salawat akan Rasul-Nya, maka inilah kisah yang dipindahkan daripada bahasa Parsi kepada bahasa Melayu dan daripada segala cetera-cetera orang dahulu *<+ dan daripada cetera-cetera segala auliya dan hukama *<+ dan daripada segala cetera-cetera orang yang membelakangi dunia [dan] daripada cet-era-cetera yang berbuat kebaktian di bumi dan di langit. *<+ Dan dibahagikan dia atas lima kisah. Maka kata seorang fakir bi’l-dhanb wa’l-taqsir, iaitu Mahmud bin Sayid Mu’alim, anak Melaka, dan adalah pada zaman dan masa itu bahwa adalah hamba itu berni-aga di dalam negeri Singapura. Maka datanglah seorang sahabatku, peranakan orang Hindustan, dan namanya Rahman Khan. Maka datanglah ia membawa sebuah kitab kisah ini yang terlalu indah-indah sekali akan ceteranya itu. Maka setelah su-dah hamba mendengar akan cetera itu, maka datanglah berahi hatiku dan asyik akan cetera itu. Maka hamba minta tolong aku kepadanya dengan seboleh-boleh minta(?) pindahkan daripada bahasa Parsi ke dalam bahasa Melayu. Setelah ia melihat keluan berahiku itu, maka datanglah rahim kepada hatinya, maka ia pun minta tolong pula kepada Tuhan [.?.], maka datanglah himmat hatinya, maka menolonglah ia akan membuatkan serta memindahkan daripada bahasa Parsi kepada bahasa Melayu. Sebermula adalah pada tahun ‘bisaragh’ dan dualapan haribulan Dalhija (sic). Maka adalah fakir itu tiada mengetahui bahasa Melayu istimewa lughat Melayu Jawah (= Jawi?) sekali tiada mengetahuinya, sebab karena tiada paham dan tiada ber-ilmu barang sedikit sekali. Maka berpeganglah aku dengan bersungguh-sungguh kepada Tuhanku serta berkat Nabiku Saidina Muhammad. Maka kubuatkanlah kitab ini dengan tiada sepertinya ini. Maka kuuraikan juga dengan seboleh-bolehnya, maka jadilah perkataan yang pendek menjadi panjang dan yang panjang menjadi pendek, sebab tiada kutahu loghat Melayu. Hai ikhwanku sekalian yang melihat atau yang mendengar dan yang membaca hikayatku ini, jikalau tia[da] munasabah kepada syara’ Nabi kita Saidina Muhammad, melainkan aku harap-harap sangat-sangat kepada sekalian saudaraku yang tahu lughat Parsi dan yang tahu lughat Me-layu mengubahkan perkataan itu supaya memberi manfaat pada sekalian hamba Al-lah yang membaca kisahku ini serta mengambil ibaratnya yang sahih. Wa Allahu ‘alam!


39

Note of the copyist (MS, p. 270) Setelah (?) selesai daripada menyurat hikayat ini di dalam negeri Singapura wa’-l salam(?) kepada sepuluh haribulan Jumad al-awal, yaum al-Ithnain, pada hijrat seribu dua ratus enam puluh tiga tahun. Hak Mahmud ibn al-Marhum Sayid Mu’alim bin Arsyad Marikan (or Marigan). Yang menyuratnya al-kerani Ismail bin Ali.

Appendix 2. Examples of passages which, according to Abdul Haq,

are typical of Mir Amman in Malay translation




I. My servants and companions, when they

perceived my careless habits, secreted all

they could lay hand on; one might say a sys-

tematic plunder took place. No account was

kept of the money which was squandered;

from whence it came, or where it went

*<+.Had I possessed even the treasures of

Karun, they would not have been sufficient

to supply this vast expenditure. In the course

of a few years such became all at once my

condition, that a bare skull cap for my head,

and a rag about my loins were all that re-

mained. Those friends who used to share my

board, and who so often swore to shed their

blood by the spoonful for my advantage, dis-

appeared; yea, even if I met them by chance

on the highway, they used to withdraw their

looks and turn aside their faces from me *<+.

I had no companion left but my grief and re-

gret (p. 32).

MS, pp. 14-15 Adapun sekarang, pada sang-

ka hamba, tatkala hamba belanjakan harta

itu, jikalau seperti khazanah Karun sekalipun

habis juga hamba belanjakan dengan sekejap

mata juga. *<+ Maka antara tiada berlama

duduk yang demikian itu, maka sekalian

orang yang megajar itu terlalulah karib dan

rafik kepada hamba bersahabat. Maka adalah

tatkala itu sekalian tua-muda, laki-laki perem-

puan sekaliannya barang kata hamba darwis

ini melainkan44 sekalian itu membenarkan sahaja

tiada yang ada membatalkan sekali-sekali,

melainkan ditambah pula dengan berlebih-

lebihan. Jikalau hambamu harus hendak

minum air, hamba melihat lakunya sahabat

hamba sekalian itu, jikalau hamba meminta

kepadanya, jangan katakana air, jikalau

darah anggotanya sekali pun dirinya dengan

sukarelanya jua. Maka hamba pun haraplah

sangat mengikut kepadanya.

Dan tiada berapa tahunnya lamanya

sudah, maka harta yang sebanyak itupun

habislah sudah, tiada berketahuan perginya.

Sebab dilihat oleh mereka yang wakil

ayahanda baginda itu sekalian melihat

kelakuan dan perjalanan hambamu itu, maka

sekalian harta yang di tangan masing-masing

itu maka dimiliki olehnya serta angkara dan

m-n-k-r 45 belaka. Hatta maka habislah

sekalian harta itu, hanyalah yang tinggal

kepada hamba kain sehelai dan sepinggang

w-gh-i(ai)-r46 tiada sekali-sekali.

Antara sehari dua hari yang demikian itu

adalah sahabat yang jauh-jauh datang mahu

44 Refers to ‘not only’ in English. 45 Probably ‘Angkara-murka’(?) or greed and ruthlessness. 46 ‘Wa ghair’, an Arabic term, which loosely means ‘and nothing else’.

Vladimir Braginsky

40

mengupas kepada hamba, maka didapati-

nya47 pula tiada suatu apa yang ada kepada

hamba. Maka ia sekalian pun larilah dari-

pada hamba. Apalagi yang telah tahu sudah

hal-ihwal hamba, jauhlah sekali. Jika ia

bertemu kepada hamba di jalan raya, jikalau

boleh dengan seboleh-bolehnya ia berjalan

menyimpang kepada jalan lain. Jikalau tiada

berdaya lagi, melainkan pura-pura ia melihat

kepada pihak yang lain. Jikalau hamba

menegur dan menyapa, adalah ia seperti

orang tuli. Demikianlah hal hamba. Tiada

berapa lama, maka makan minum pun

tiadalah mendapat sekali-sekali *<+

II. ‘O, child, may the arrow of my grief stick

in the heart of him who hath struck thee; may

he derive no fruit from his youth, and may

God make him a mourner like me’ (p. 253).

MS, p. 200. ‘Bagaimana sakit engkau kena

panah ini, demikianlah sakit hatiku. Dan

bagaimana ia menyakitkan memanah hatiku,

iapun barang dikenakan Allah Ta’ala akan

panah hatiku berahi itu kepadanya. Dan

biarlah ia terbuang muda belianya didalam

berahinya jua!’

III. An old hag, the aunt of Satan (may God

make her face black), with a string of beads

in her hand, and covered with a mantle, find-

ing the door open, entered without fear, and

standing before the princess, lifted up her

hands and blessed her, saying: ‘I pray to God

that he may long preserve you a married

woman, and that thy husband's turban may

be permanent! I am a poor beggar woman,

and I have a daughter who is in her full time

and perishing in the pains of child-birth; I

have not the means to get a little oil which I

may burn in our lamp; food and drink, in-

deed, are out of the question. If she should

die, how shall I bury her? and if she is

brought to bed, what shall I give the midwife

and nurse, or how procure remedies for the

lying-in woman? it is now two days since she

has lain hungry and thirsty. O, noble lady!

give her, out of your bounty, a morsel of

bread that she may eat the same along with a

drink of water’ (p. 270-1).

MS, p. 217. Maka datanglah seorang

perempuan tua, dan mukanya hitam, dan

memakai baju hitam, giginya putih, bibirnya

tebal, matanya terbuka, rupanya terkutuk (?),

rambutnya beruban putih, dan ditutup

mukanya dengan selendang hitam. Maka

adalah pada tangannya seutas tasbih seraya

membilang-bilang dan terbungkuk lalu ber-

jalan datang masuk ke dalam rumah itu,

pura-pura ia meminta. Setelah ia meman-

dang kepada tuan puteri, maka menangislah

yang sangat, lakunya seperti Iblis. Maka

katanya: ‘Ya tuanku, berilah hamba ini

barang yang ada pada tuanku, sebab patik ini

terlalu miskin dan anak patik baru beranak

dan hendak dibelanjakan ubat pun tiada ada,

dan hendak memberi upah mengerat pusat

dan upah bidan, dan hendak membeli

minyak pelita pun tiada, suatu pula daripada

makan dan minum tiadalah sekali-sekali.’

IV. It happened that on the day the Wazir

was sent to prison, the girl (his daughter;

V.B.) was sitting with her young companions,

and was celebrating with [infantile] pleasure

the marriage of her doll; and with a small

drum and tumbrel she was making prepara-

tion for the night vigils; and having put on

the frying pan, she was busy making up

MS, p. 133. Maka tatkala itu adalah anak

orang besar-besar dan orang kaya-kaya

bermain-main dengan anak menteri itu

dengan bersuka-sukaan. Maka datanglah

isteri menteri berlari-lari serta terurai

rambutnya dan menangis-nangis, datang

kepada anaknya lalu ditampar pada kepala

anakda dengan kedua-dua tangan, katanya:

47 Can be translated as ‘understood’.


41

sweetmeats, when her mother suddenly ran

into her apartment, lamenting and beating

[her breasts], with disheveled tresses and

naked feet. She struck a blow on her daugh-

ter's head [with both her hands], and said,

‘Would that God had given me a blind son

instead of thee; then my heart would have

been at ease, and he would have been the

friend of his father’ (p. 158).

‘Celaka sekali aku beranakkan engkau. Jika

ada anakku laki-laki, jikalau buta sekali pun,

dapatlah ia sejukkan hatiku. Dan apalah

gunanya engkau ini perempuan!’

Appendix 3. Descriptive passages from the Urdu text in Malay translation

Gardens




I. I amused myself with admiring the beauty

of the flowers of the garden, and the bright-

ness of the full moon, and the play of the

fountains in the canals and rivulets, a display

like that of the months of Sawan and Bhadon;

but when I beheld the roses, I thought of the

beautiful rose-like angel, and when I gazed

on the bright moon, I recollected her moon-

like face. All these delightful scenes without

her were so many thorns in my eyes. At last

God made her heart favourable to me. After a

little while that lovely fair one entered from

the [garden] door adorned like the full moon,

wearing a rich dress, enriched with pearls,

and covered from head to feet with an em-

broidered veil; she stepped along the garden

walk, and stood [at a little distance from me].

By her coming, the beauties of that garden,

and the joy of my heart, revived. After strol-

ling for a few minutes about the garden, she

sat down in the alcove on a richly-

embroidered masnad. I ran, and like the moth

that flutters around the candle, offered my

life as a sacrifice to her, and like a slave stood

before her with folded arms (pp. 59-60).

MS, pp. 26-27. Maka hamba melihat kepada

taman itu, pohon bunga-bunga(h)an terlalu-

lah banyak sekali, kembang bunga itu serta

di taman harum ba(h)unya. Maka tatkala

hamba melihat akan bunga banyak kembang

itu, maka hamba pun teringatlah akan

mahbu[b] hamba itu badannya yang seperti

bunga itu, dan hamba melihat pula pada

pihak bulan, maka hamba terkenanglah akan

ma’syuk hamba tuan puteri ke sini parasnya

yang seperti bulan itu. Maka sebab tiada tuan

puteri itu disini, maka menjadilah sekalian

pandangan pada mata hamba kebun itu dan

pohon-pohon bunga dan bunganya yang

kembang itu dan bulan yang terang dan

menerang itu menjadi seperti durilah menyo-

cok kepada mata hamba.

Antara yang demikian itu, maka Tuhan

yang menjadikan sekalian alam pun telah

dimasukkan gerak kepada hati mahbu[b]

hamba itu, maka ia pun datanglah kepada

kebun itu. Maka setelah hamba melihat rupa

mahbu[b] hamba itu datang ke dalam taman

itu, maka hamba pun sukalah yang maha

sangat. [Se]telah itupun maka tuan puteri

berjalanlah kepada kebun itu serta ia berdiri

melihat rupanya taman itu, serta ia melihat

akan bunga-bunga[h]an. Maka tatkala itu

pada mata hamba taman itu baharulah

berseri-seri karena sebab tuan puteri ada

melihat itu. Maka hamba pun barulah terang

mata hamba yang seperti dicocok duri itu.

Maka tuan puteri pun berjalan-jalan serta

dayang sekalian memungut bunga-

bunga(h)an dan permain sama sendirinya.

Vladimir Braginsky

42

Setelah sudah bermain-main dan berjalan-

jalan, maka tuan puteri pun naiklah kepada

sebuah balai peranginan. Maka adalah balai

itu terlalulah indah-indah sekali dibuat orang

dan berapa pula hamparan daripada suf

sakhlat ‘ainul-banat dan berapa pula tilam

dihamparkan orang sekalian ke atas balai itu

dan berapa pula bantal seraga daripada

mukhmal (?) yang keemasan diatur orang.

Maka tuan puteri pun naiklah ke atas tilam

itu serta bersandar kepada bantal seraga itu.

Maka tatkala itu hamba melihat rupanya

tuan puteri itu seperti kandil tanglung

terpasang, maka ada pula kumbang ber-

keliling-keliling hendak masuk kepada api

itu. Maka hamba pun bangkitlah tiada

sedarkan dirinya, lalu hamba naik ke atas

balai itu, seraya berkeliling kepada tuan

puteri serupa tabi’at hamba tatkala itu

samalah bagaimana kumbang yang hamba

sebutkan dahulu itu. Maka hamba pun

hampir juga kepada tuan puteri serta dengan

takut dan gentar dan mengikat tangan

berdiri hampir juga tuan puteri seperti abdi

yang tiada laku sekali-sekali. II. I involuntarily took a female servant with

me, and went to the young man's house by

the way of the mine; from thence I proceeded

to the garden, and saw that the delightful

place was in truth equal to the Elysian fields.

As the raindrops fell on the fresh green

leaves of the trees, one might say they were

like pearls set in pieces of emerald, and the

carnation of the flowers, in that cloudy day,

appeared as beautiful as the ruddy crepuscle

after the setting sun; the basons and canals,

full of water, seemed like sheets of mirrors,

over which the small waves undulated. In

short, I was strolling about in every direction

in that garden, when the day vanished and

the darkness of night became conspicuous.

At that moment, the young man appeared on

a walk [in the garden]; and on seeing me, he

approached with respect and great warmth

of affection, and taking my hand in his, led

me to the pavilion. On entering it, the splen-

dour of the scene made me entirely forget all

the beauty of the garden. The illuminations

within were magnificent; on every side, ge-

randoles, in the shape of cypresses, and vari-

ous kinds of lights in variegated lamps were

MS, pp. 49-50. Maka setelah hamba dan

dayang sampai ke dalam kebun itu, maka

hamba dan dayang pun lalulah ta’jub sekali

melihat kebun taman itu serta diaturnya pula

akan pokok kayu-kayuan dan bunga-

bunga(h)an terlalulah indah-indah sekali

dibuatnya oleh orang yang empunya kebun

itu. Maka ada pula taman terlalu indah sekali

daripada pohon bunga-bunga(h)an, dan ada

pula kolam besar, diikatnya kolam itu

dengan batu hablu[r]. Maka adalah airnya itu

jernih sekali seperti cermin, dan airnya pun

ditiup oleh angin yang lemah-lembut itu

maka terombak-ombaklah airnya itu seperti

kilat manikam. Maka hamba melihat akan

perbuatan kebun itu, kecuali sahaja syurga

yang Tuhan kita menjadikan itu, dan

tiadalah bandingan sekali-sekali daripada

sekalian kebun yang telah dahulu melihat-

nya. Maka adalah tatkala itu adalah hujan

rintik-rintik satu-satu, maka jatuhlah ke atas

daun buah-buahan, pada daun bunga-

bunga(h)an, maka hamba melihat pada daun

pohon sekalian itu adalah daun itu seperti

batu zamrud yang hijau. Dan jatuh titik-titik

hujan di atas daun itu, maka menjadilah


43

lighted up; even the shabi barat, with all its

moonlight and its illuminations, would ap-

pear dark [in comparison to the brightness

which shone in the pavilion]; on one side,

fire-works of every description were dis-

played. In the meantime, the clouds dis-

persed, and the bright moon appeared like a

lovely mistress clothed in a lilac-coloured

robe, who suddenly strikes our sight. It was a

scene of great beauty; as the moon burst

forth, the young man said, ‘Let us now go

and sit in the balcony which overlooks the

garden’ (pp. 78-79).

seperti disendikan mutiara dan ma’nikam di

atas batu zamrud yang hijau itu. Maka

hamba pun dengan kesukaan besar sekali,

maka hamba menilik pula pada bunga-

bunga(h)an adalah yang merah warnanya

dan yang putih kuning, ada yang kembang,

ada yang kuncup, sekalian pohon bunga-

bunga(h)an berbunga belaka. Maka [pada]

antara hamba berkeliling kebun itu serta

melihat sekalian itu maka terciumlah bau

bunga-bunga(h)an, maka menjadi tiadalah

sedar baik anggota hamba, dan hari pun

petanglah antara itu. [...] Ia memimpin

tangan hamba seraya dibawanya berjalan

kepada sebuah ruma[h] terlalulah [.?.] sekali,

iaitu besar tinggi sekali ruma[h] itu. Maka

setelah sampai kepada ruma[h] itu, maka

hamba melihat terlalulah indah-indah sekali

perbuatannya, dan adalah beberapa kandil

setolop dan lantera tergantung terlalu

banyak sekali serta dipasangnya api, maka

menjadilah seperti kelip-mengerlip. Maka

beberapa pula perhiasan yang diatur dan

yang digantung dan beberapa pula yang

melekat pada jidar (?) rumahnya itu. Setelah

hamba melihat nyata akan (h)alatan rumah

itu, maka hamba lupakanlah akan rupa

kebun itu, maka lebih pula hamba berahi

pada ruma[h] itu. Maka adalah terang pada

ruma[h] itu seolah-olah lebih pula terangnya

daripada bulan dan beberapa pula daripada

permainan seperti bunga api dan banum (?)

dan belerang m-t-a-f-u menjadi ramailah

ruma[h] itu. Kemudiannya maka adalah

seperti redup dan gelap malam itu hilanglah

sudah, maka bulan pun terbitlah adalah

bulan itu seperti seorang ma’syuk pun

datang kepada orang yang ‘asyik dengan

pakaian terlalu indah-indah sekali.

Palaces




I. The same female returned, and conducted me to the apartment where the princess was; what [a display of beauty] I saw! Handsome female slaves and servants, and armed dam-sels, from Kilmak, Turkistan, Abyssinia, Uz-bak Tartary and Kashmir, were drawn up in two lines, dressed in rich jewels, with their arms folded across, and each standing in her appropriate station. Shall I call this the court

MS, p. 90. Setelah beberapa sa’at lamanya itu, maka datanglah dayang memanggil hamba lalu dibawanya berjalan-jalan sama-sama ke dalam istana tuan puteri itu. Maka setelah hamba sampai ke dalam istana tuan puteri itu, maka hamba melihat perbuatan istana itu terlalu indah-indah sekali dan banyak sekali dayang yang muda(h)-muda(h) beratur dan bersaf-saf mengadap serta me-

Vladimir Braginsky

44

of Indra? or is it a descent on the part of the fairies? an involuntary sigh of rapture es-caped [from my breast], and my heart began to palpitate; but I forcibly restrained myself. Regarding them all around, I advanced on; but my feet became each as heavy as a hun-dred mans. Whenever I gazed on one of those lovely women, my heart was unwilling to proceed farther. On one side [of the saloon] a screen was suspended, and a stool set with precious stones was placed near it, as well as a chair of sandal-wood; the female servant made me a sign to sit down on the [jewelled] stool; I sat down upon it, and she seated her-self on the [sandal-wood chair]; she said, ‘Now, whatever you have to say, speak it ful-ly and from the heart’ (pp. 115-116).

makai pakaian yang indah-indah serta bersunting-suntingkan bunga dan [be]berapa pula dipakainya daripada pakaian intan manikam dan jawahir. Maka rupanya dan pakaiannya tiadalah dipandang nyata kenalah(?) sudah rupanya dan pakaiannya sekalian itu. Maka jika kita memandang kepada suatu pihak, maka tiadalah berke-hendak memandang kepada pihak yang lain. Maka adalah hal hamba tatkala itu adalah seperti tinggal sudah engkau, ta’ hamba daripada badan, dan nyawa hamba pun melayanglah sudah, tiada lagi ada pada badan hamba. Maka hamba pun terkejutlah. Maka hamba pun tetapkan jua anggota hamba dan himmat.

Maka hamba berjalanlah dari situ kepada suatu tempat yang mulia jua. Adalah perbuatan tempat itu terlalu indah-indah sekali. Maka dayang pun memberi isyarat duduk di atas tempat itu. Adalah perbuatan tempat itu daripada emas dan bersendikan perak serta bertatahkan 48 ratna mutu manikam dan bersendikan jawahir dan berumbai-rumbaikan mutiara dikarang. Dan adalah di atas tempat itu adalah hamparan tilam daripada sutera serta bantal beratur daripada emas dan perak jua. Dan adalah sebuah kisi[-kisi?] emas serta bertatahkan ratna mutu manikam. Maka didudukkan dayang akan hamba ke atas tilam keemasan itu, maka hamba duduklah di situ. Maka hamba melihat beberapa pula ada perhiasan diatur orang daripada emas dan perak jua.

Setelah tetap sudah hamba duduk di situ, maka kata dayang: ‘Hai tuan, ceteralah olehmu barang apa kasadmu dan muradmu sekalian itu.’ Maka hamba pun berceteralah.

II. *<+ then the female servant came to me and said, ‘Come, the princess has sent for you.’ I went along with her; she led me to the private apartment; the effect of the lights was such that the shab-i kadr was nothing to it. A masnad, covered with gold, was placed on rich carpets, with a pillow studded with je-wels; over it an awning of brocade was stretched, with a fringe of pearls on [silver] poles studded with precious stones; and in front of the masnad artificial trees formed of various jewels, with flowers and leaves at-tached, (one would say they were nature's own production,) were erected in beds of gold; and on the right and left, beautiful slaves and servants were in waiting with folded arms and down-cast eyes, in respect-

MS, pp. 93-94. Maka hamba pun dipimpin dayang dibawa-bawanya berjalan dengan perlahan-lahan karena lemah sudah anggota hambamu melihat terlalu indah-indah sekalian mahaligai tuan puteri itu. Adalah seperti sekalian ruma[h] itu dan isinya sekalian serasa sudah menjadi manikam sekalian di ruma[h] itu dan boleh dikatakan rumah manikam semua pula bertambah dian pelita dan kandil setulup gemerlapan tiadalah dapat ditentang nyata. Maka setelah hamba sampai ke dalam mahaligai itu, maka hamba amat-amati adalah suatu majlis terlalu besar sekali. Adalah hamparannya daripada katifah buatan negeri Rum dan beberapa pula katifah daripada suf sakhlat ‘ain al-banat dan makhmal z-ri b-t-ng (?)

48 In MS the word is mistakenly written as bertahtakan.


45

ful attitude. Dancing women and female singers, with ready-tuned instruments, at-tended to begin their performances. On see-ing such a scene and such splendid prepara-tions, my senses were bewildered. I asked the female servant *who came with me+ ‘there is here such gay splendour in the scene of the day, and such magnificence in that of the night, that the day may very justly be called 'Id, and the night shab-i barat; moreover, a king who possessed the whole world could not exhibit greater splendour and magnifi-cence. Is it always so at the princess's court?’ The servant replied, ‘The princess's court ev-er displays the same magnificence you see now; there is no abatement [or difference], except that it is sometimes greater: sit you here; the princess is in another apartment, I will go and inform her of your arrival. Saying this, the nurse went away and quickly re-turned; she desired me to come to the prin-cess. The moment I entered her apartment I was struck with amazement. I could not tell where the door was, or where the walls, for they were covered with Aleppo mirrors, of the height of a man, all around, the frames of which were studded with diamonds and pearls. The reflection of one fell on the other, and it appeared as if the whole room was in-laid with jewels. At one end a parda was hung, behind which the princess sat. The fe-male servant seated herself close to the parda, and desired me to sit down also; then she be-gan the following narrative, according to the princess’s commands (pp. 117-118).

emas belaka. Dan adalah pada sisi hamparan itu adalah

sebuah singgasana dibuatnya terlalu indah-indah sekali, perbuatannya daripada emas bersendikan perak suasa, tiangnya singga-sana itu empat batang, adalah tiangnya itu daripada manikam jua adanya beberapa pula bertatahkan intan baiduri dan manikam jawahir dan beberapa pula tergantung manikam yang besar-besar harga dan yang melekat (?). Ada yang tergantung sekalian itu seperti siang harilah sebab karena cahaya manikam itu, maka sekalian api pelita itu menjadi kelam. Dan adalah langit-langitnya terlalu indah-indah sekali daripada sutera anta kesuma perbuatan perikah atau dewa pun hambalah tiada ketahui. Sebagai lagi ada perhiasan singgasana itu.

Adalah suatu taman dibuatnya daripada emas perak jua, dan adalah jambangan dan pohon bunga-bunga(h)an daripada intan manikam jauhar zamrud nilam pualam puspa ragam panca logam dibuatnya pohon bunga-bunga(h)an. Adalah pohon bunga-bunga(h)an itu terlalu lebat sekali: ada yang kembang, ada yang kuncup, ada yang kudu(p), ada yang mali(h). Sekalian itu perbuatan dari batu-batu jawahir belaka. Maka hamba melihat dengan sebenar-benarnya pada pihak taman itu adalah seperti bukannya perbuatan manusia sekali-sekali hanyalah kudrat Ilahi jua datangnya itu sekalian. Maka hamba pun tercengang-cengang tiadalah dapat lagi hendak diceterakan.

Maka sebagailah lagi adalah dayang-dayang perempuan yang muda(h) belia daripada sekalian jenis bangsa orang dan rupanya dayang-dayang itu sekalian seperti anak-anakan dewa dan peri atau mambang terlalu jamal sekalian rupanya serta memakai pakaian terlalu indah-indah sekali daripada intan manikam jua. Dan adalah sekalian dayang itu menjaga-jaga bersaf-saf diatur orang berkeliling majlis itu mengadap serta berdiamkan diri tiada bersuara sekali-sekali. Dan beberapa pula joget tari syair gurindam ada belaka hadir menanti titah sabda jua, dan beberapa saf pula ada orang memegang rebab kecapi dan bunyi-bunyian belaka menanti-nanti jua.

Setelah hamba sudah melihat nyata akan hal-ihwal mahaligai tuan puteri itu, maka hamba pun sebenar-benarnyalah hilanglah sudah akal hamba, ke manakah gerangannya

Vladimir Braginsky

46

pergi pun hamba tiada ketahui. Maka kata hamba kepada dayang: ‘Adakah49 istana dan mahaligai tuan puteri ini sehari-hari malam dan siang demikianlah pada tiap-tiap harinya? Dan jika demikian tiap-tiap harinya dan malamnya sekaliannya, menjadi, pada sangka hamba, sekalian malam Lailat al-Qadri jua dan pada tiap-tiap siang harinya hari raya besar dan hari raya kecilkah? Dan jika demikian, tuan puteri telah sudah miliki dunia ini sekalian dengan isinya, maka sebab senantiasa hari demikian dikerjakannya.’

Maka kata dayang: ‘Adalah hal tuan puteri senantiasa hari demikianlah halnya. Telah lamalah sudah lalu hal ini pada sehari-hari berlebih-lebih bertambah-tambah dan kurangnya tiada sekali-sekali.’ Maka kata dayang: ‘Hai tuan, diamlah (?) tuan dahulu di sini dan adalah tuan puteri ini tiada di sini, adalah tuan puteri pada suatu ruma[h] yang lain.’ Maka dayang pun segeralah pergi kepada tuan puteri. Maka tiada berapa sa’atnya maka segera pula dayang itu kembali kepada hamba, maka katanya: ‘Marilah tuan berjalan sama dayang, kita pergi mengadap tuan puteri.’Maka hamba dan dayang pun berjalan sama kepada tempat tuan puteri itu. Maka setelah hamba sampai pada rumah tuan puteri itu, maka hamba pun pingsanlah tiada khabarkan diri lagi, seperti matilah sudah diri hamba, sebab karena cermin dan jawahir sekalian rumah itu, penuhlah sekali dengan cahaya belaka. Maka adalah di dalam rumah itu adalah suatu tirai terlabuh 50 dan di balik tirai itu adalah tuan puteri di situ. Maka dayang pun duduklah di hadapannya tirai itu serta menyuruh kepada hamba. Maka hamba pun duduklah dengan beberapa hormat dan ta’zim.

49 In MS the word is mistakenly written as adalah. 50 In MS the word is mistakenly written as terlabur.

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