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The Story of Four Dervishes:The First Translation from Urduin Traditional Malay LiteratureVladimir Braginsky

A historico-literary background:Two waves of Islamic Indias impact on Malay literature

The significance of literary contacts between the Malay world and Islamic Indiahas 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 boththe Persian language (one of the major literary languages of India) and Indian ver-naculars. We may speak of at least two waves of Islamic Indias literary impact upon

Malay literature.

The first of these waves reached Pasai in the fourteenth century and broughtsuch compositions in Persian as Hikayat-e Muhammad-e Hanafiyah and Qissa-ye Amir-eHamzah. 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 ofBijapur 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 similarpieces of literature such asheroic epics, framed tales (Kalilah va-Dimnah, stories of thewise parrot, the tale of Bakhtiyar), and edifying mirrors for kings enjoyed equalpopularity 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 thegenre of Malay fantastical romances, which synthesised constellations of Hindu-Javanese and Islamic-Indian narratives and descriptive motifs and not infrequentlyalso 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 itfailed to undermine these ties completely. Paradoxically, the same colonial expan-sionism, now British sponsored, restored these ties, having united India and a part ofthe Malay world, Penang and Singapore in particular, in the framework of BritishEmpire. And once again, literary contactsthe 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 MelayuJurnal e-Utama, Vol. 2 (2009)


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Vladimir Braginsky14

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

Needless to say, socio-political environments of the first and the second waveof Indo-Malay literary ties were quite different. Their cultural backgrounds were also

rather dissimilar. For instance, in the sphere of literary production, the lithographicpress came to replace the chirographic tradition, while histrionic forms influenced bythe Victorian theatre (theParsi theatre, wayang bangsawan) began to oust such earlierkinds 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 anumber 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 andcontacts with Islamic India played an extremely important role. In both cases the portaccommodated a considerable Indian community with its indispensable aureole of

bilingual Indo-Malay metises Muslims (Jawi peranakan) with their potential as culturaland literary brokers.

In the course of time, a constellation of Indian narratives and plays of the Parsitheatre, 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 localelements that they can be considered original pieces of Malay literature (such is, forinstance, Hikayat Ganja Mara2). The earliest Malay works inspired by the second waveof Indian impact were composed in the mid-1870s, which, together with the fact thatthe 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 NationalLibrary of Singapore under the accession number Q 11.4A/27, allows us to reconsiderthe above date. This manuscript, as we shall see, contains a Malay translation of thefamous 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 andcopied in 1846. Thus, it presents the earliest known example of the Malay renderingof an Urdu text, which, in addition, is not related to the Parsi theatre. The study ofthis manuscript, to which we turn now, can shed the new light on the beginning ofthe second stage of literary contacts between Islamic India and the Malay world.

1For 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, 143-145.3Sh.M. Faruqi and F.W. Pritchett, A Date List for Urdu LiteratureA Work in Progress,

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


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The Story of Four Dervishes 15

Manuscript of the Stories of four dervishes4

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 thetranslator, Mahmud b. *Almarhum+ Sayid Mualim b. Arsyad Marikan, he translatedthis cetra from Persian.

The MS numbers 270 pages with the pencil per page pagination. The size of thepage31x22 cm, the size of the text26x17; 25 lines per page. Good European paper,thick and strong, with two watermarks: tre lune (three moons) and VG. The MS iswritten in large naskh with some cursive features. It is generally clear and copied bygood hand of a professional scribe. Black ink. The Arabic phrases of the doxology aswell as the words Allah, Allah Taala and Quran, the formulae of syahadah andMakaberkata 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/27kept 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.


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(b)

The MS has the modern binding covered with reddish marble paper, withpieces of fabric in the corners and spine. The date of the texts composition is givenby Mahmud b. Syed Mualim in the form of chronogram as 8 Dhulhija 1262 AH(1845/6 AD). On 10 Jumad al-awwal 1263 AH (1846/7 AD) Mahmuds translation wascopied by the scribe Ismail b. Ali. The place of both the translation and copying isSingapore.

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 Ammans composition which is the source of the Malay translation,this strange title is related to the chronogram. The latter contains the Arabic-Persianword sargh, grape-vine, anggur in Malay. This word might have been confused withthe word anggrek, orchid, which is written similarly inJawi, by a later user or ownerof the MS. This conjecture is no more than a guess, indeed.

On the MSs flyleaf there is the stamp of Raffles library and the inscription inEnglish: 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 ofthe intriguing, although wrong, date 1791 is unknown. The MS itself mentions morethan 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 bytwo young brahmans to the protagonist during his stay in Sarandip (the same pas-


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sage is found in the MS, p. 176). Below this excerpt inJawi there are hamdala, the titleCetera empat darvesh and the date 1263 AH. A little closer to the bottom of the pagethere is anotherJawi note in Ismail b. Alis hand: Ini surat daripada saya Ismail *oneillegible word+ bin Ali, Kampung Kadi (?). The excerpt and note are probably Ismailb. Alis samples of writing.

The manuscript begins with a preface of Mahmud b. Sayid Mualim and i n-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 ofthe 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 receivedan appropriate expression, this work will benefit all the servants of God who willread 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 dealwith some aspects of it.

The translator of SFD, Mahmud b. Sayid Mualim, informs the reader that hehails from Malacca (anak Melaka). The note of the copyist, Ismail b. Ali, adds to thisthat the complete name of the translator is Mahmud b. Sayid Mualim b. Arsyad Ma-rikan and that his father demised (


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Besides, according to the tradition conveyed by already mentioned Mir Amman, SFDwas 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. Afterhis recovery, the sheikh pronounced the following benediction: That whoever willhear this tale, will, with the blessing of God, remain in health.6

However that may have been, Mahmud b. Sayid Mualims statement that hetranslated SFD from Persian cannot fail to provoke serious doubt. Leaving aside thedebatable problem of Amir Khusraus authorship,7 we can note that two importantpeculiarities contrast Persian versions of SFD which predate the nineteenth centuryto its Urdu versions. First, these Persian versions do not mention Amir Khusrau astheir author.8 Second, the successions of stories in Urdu and Persian versions of SFDare different: the second dervishs story of the Persian versions is told by the thirddervish in Urdu versions, whereas the third dervishs story of the Persian versions istold by the second dervish in the Urdu versions. In other words, the stories of thesecond 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. SayidMualims Malay translation. In his translation Amir Khusrau is repeatedly men-tioned as SFDs author, and the stories of the second and the third dervishes followthe order of Urdu versions.

It is also hardly possible that the Persian version of SFD composed in 1802 bythe Indian author Muhammad Ivaz Zarrin could serve as the source text of the Malaytranslation. As Abdul Haq remarks: In his *Zarrin's+ work, the qissahs are given very

6Bagh-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 (Editors 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 Haqs 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 *


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briefly; the situations are just the same .10Contrary to Zarrins version, in Mahmudstranslation 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 ofthem, entitled Nau tarz-e murassa (A new style of adornment), was composed around1775 by Mir Muhammad Husain Ata Khan, better known under his pen-nameTahsin. 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 onesmind begins to feel nauseated. *


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and surrounded by his nobles; then theyall formed a regular line, and stood still. Ialso stood among them to see the strangesight, for it clearly appeared that theywere waiting for [the arrival of] some

one.

kalian kepada padang itu, berkampungserta 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 hours 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 mountedon a dun bull, holding something in onehand, approached from a distance, andcame up in front of the people; he des-cended from the bull, and sat down[oriental fashion] on the ground, holdingthe halter of the animal in one hand, anda 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 baiksekali parasnya. Adalah umurnya itu ti-ga-empatbelas tahun umurnya. Dan ru-panya seperti anak-anakan raja besar juadan adalah ia kendaraan di atas lembuseekor kuning warnanya. Maka datan-glah ia kepada sekalian khalk (or: kha-layak?) Allah yang banyak di padang itu.Setelah ia sampai, maka turunlah ia dariatas kendaraannya itu, duduk ke tanahseraya memegang tali lembunya itu dansebelah tangan memegang pedang ber-cabut dan ada pula pegang suatu ben-dahamba tiadalah ketahui.

a rosy-coloured, beautiful [attendant]was with him; the young man gave himthat which he held in his hand; the slavetook it, and went along showing it to allof 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 thestrange sight]. In this way he continuedto show it to every one, and made everyone weep; then passing along the front ofthe line, he returned to his master a ain.

Maka dipanggilnya seorang budak,umurnya enam-tujuh tahun budak itu.Maka budak itu bawalah kepada orang

banyak itu, ditunjukkan kepada sekalianorang yang ada di padang itu. Setelah

orang itu sekalian melihat akan bendayang dibawa oleh budak itu, maka me-nangislah sekalian orang yang melihatitu. Setelah habislah sudah ditunjukkanoleh budak itu, maka pergilah ia kembalikepada orang muda(h) yang naik di ataslembu itu.

The moment he came near him, theyoung man rose up, and with the swordsevered the attendants head *from his

body], and having again mounted his

bull, galloped off towards the quarterfrom whence he had come. All [present]stood looking on. When he disappearedfrom their sight, the inhabitants returnedto the city.

Setelah budak itu datang, maka dijin-jangnya oleh orang muda itu dengan pe-dangnya yang dipegangnya itu kepadaleher 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 itudi situlah kembali. Maka sekalian orang

banyak yang di padang itu sekaliannyakembalilah ke dalam negeri.

Roughly the same degree of closeness to Bagh-o bahar is characteristic for themajority of narrative passages in the Malay translation of SFD. Interestingly, all thepassages of Bagh-o baharthat Abdul Haq considers particularly typical of Mir Ammansmanner of writing14occur in Mahmuds translation and contain most of the expres-sive details to which the Indian scholar draws the readers attention (see Appendix 2).

14Abdul Haqs introduction, 1950s, pp. 6-7.


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Alongside the close correspondence of Mahmuds translation to Bagh-o bahar,two more specific, and therefore more convincing, features are indicative of the factthat Mir Ammans work does represent the original of the Malay SFD. One of them isthe rendering, sometimes rather awkward, of Mir Ammans verses from Bagh-o baharthat occur in SFD (see, for instance the MS, pp. 11, 64, 97, 125). Here are some exam-

ples:

Bagh-o baharby 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 thisfaqir'sstory 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 (yani 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 ofMir Ammans idiomatic language, in Mahmuds translation. Some of themfor in-

stance the expression the frog caught cold, which implies something absurd and isto ridicule the extravagant idea of a merchants son presuming to be in love with aprincess15are rendered rather whimsically, whereas the others are translated fairlyprecisely, though not without a certain Malay colouring:

Bagh-o baharby Mir Amman,

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?

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


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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 thereand drank your wine here (p. 260)

MS, p. 206. Engkau makan nasi di kebun itudan engkau basuh tangan di sini.

Finally, one more argument in favour of Bagh-o bahar as the source of the Malaytranslation is that Tahsins Nau tarz-e murassa was a marginal work, difficult to ob-tain. In contrast, much more popular Mir Ammans composition had already beenlithographed 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 ofthe Malay translation. With all these arguments in mind, it seems safe to state thatthe text, which Mahmud b. Sayid Mualim 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 containsthe date of the translation in the form of chronogram. Quite usual in literatures of theMiddle East and Islamic India, chronograms rarely occur in traditional Malay texts. Ican quote only Taj as-salatinas an example, in which the word ghaib stands for theyear of this works composition (1603 AD)17. The chronogram in SFD is the Arabicword-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 chronogramJahangir (289) az (8)jahan (59) raft (680), which literally meansWorld conqueror left the world, points to 1036 AH, the year of the Emperor Ja-

hangirs death18.

What draws attention in SFDs chronogram, which means on an offshoot ofthe vine or thanks to an offshoot of the vine, are its garden assoc iations, moreoveroffshoots 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 books composition (1802 AD), bring forth these associationsin Mahmud b. Sayid Mualims mind? On the other hand, Mahmuds chronogramcould allude to the fact that his translation sits, as it were, on an offshoot (MirAmmans composition) of the vine (Amir Khusraus 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 beexcluded.

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. Nomatter 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. 3217 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): 147158, p. 150.


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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 inthe work of that same Mir Amman. Another reason was the high authority of Persianworks in traditional Malay literature, which at the time of Mahmuds translation byfar surpassed that of pieces in Urdu.

Andlast but not leastreligious considerations may have played an impor-tant, if not decisive, role in the concealment of the source-authors name. The point isthat Mir Ammans creation had a distinct smell of Shiism, it berbau Syia, as Malayliterati would have put it. Not only contained the introduction to Bagh-o bahar a longeulogy addressed to twelve imams, but none other than Ali Murtaza saved the life ofeach protagonist of the book in the instant of his utter desperation. It goes withoutsaying that these features of Mir Ammans narrative are removed from its Malaytranslation (Ali, for instance is transformed into a nameless, mysterious prince). Andyet, more subtle Shiite motifs of Mir Ammans book continued to worry Mahmud b.Sayid Mualim. It is hardly accidental that in the beginning of his preface to SFD hepleads 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 attributeSFD 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 audiencerequired 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 baharas a translation of the Persian work by Amir Khusrau and had chosen to ignoreTahsin, the genuine author of the Urdu source text that he reworked20.

This narrative includes the stories told by saints and wise men and those whoturned 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 manyfantastic adventure narratives Urdu and Malay alike, the hikayat begins with thestory 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 thetransitoriness 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 thathe should perform his royal duties in the daytime and serve God at night. One night theking 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 noticesfour dervishes who while away the night telling tales about what happened to them in theirlife. 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 agreat fortune. Having thoughtlessly wasted his inheritance, the merchants son pleads his

sister to help him. He buys various goods for her money and departs for a trading trip toDimasyk (Damascus). While spending the night at the closed gates of Dimasyk, he sees

19 MS, p. 1.20Abdul Haqs introduction, 1920s, pp. 2-14.21 All page numbers refer to MS Q 11.4A/27.


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how someone lowers a chest from the city wall and finds a badly wounded beautiful girl inthe chest. The merchants 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 merchants son to ask her any questions about her past.When the young merchants money is exhausted, the girl sends him to a certain Siti Baharwho, without a question, gives him a lot of gold.

The belle insists that the merchants 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 merchants beloved tells

him that he, in his turn, should invite Yusuf and throws a banquet even more splendid thanthat of the jeweller. At the banquet the merchants 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 thebelle who is infuriated by his reckless behaviour at the banquet. Yet, in the end she forgivesand marries him.

After a lot of coaxing, the merchants wife agrees to tell him her story (pp. 41-58). Sheis the princess of Dimasyk who fell in love with her handsome servant Yusuf. Playing onher 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 thegardens, 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 herin a chest from the city wall. The merchants son saved the princesss 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 herhusband. After a long journey, they come to the sea and the merchants son sets off insearch of a boat. However, when he returns, he does not find the princess on the seashore.In vain the merchants son looks for her everywhere. His desperation is so great that he isready to commit suicide, but at this moment a mysterious rider who is wrapped in the greencloak and whose face is covered appears before him. He dissuades the merchants son fromsuicide 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 toachieve eternal fame, particularly those of extraordinarily generous Hatim Tai (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 duringone and the same day, explained to the prince that he was still very far from the genuinegenerosity, 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 theirmeeting, the princesss 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 comesto 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 theprincess 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 hishand 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 theprince of Nimroz to tell him his story (pp. 111-127). Astrologers foretold that at the age offourteen 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 throughits dome. The prince and the peri fell in love with each other, but the peris 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 greatestname of Allah and, with its help, summoned the king of jinns. The poor enamored talked


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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 whichhe 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 enamoredand 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 ofthem and now wishes to learn about adventures of two others. To encourage the dervishesthe 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. Azadbakhtis 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 biggerthan this one. Azadbakht calls the vizier a liar and throws him in dungeon. In the guise of ayoung male-trader, the viziers 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 andthe 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. Tosave his life the merchant has to explain his strange behaviour, for which he was nicknameda dog-worshipper, and to tell him his story (pp. 144-195).

When his father died, the merchants 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 hisrescuer, 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 merchantbecomes rich again. Afterwards he learns that his evil brothers have committed a new crimeand 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 dogwith comfort and luxury.

Azadbakht approves the merchants 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 foundhimself 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 hisvizier 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 anold 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. Inthe house of Niman Sayah, the prince finds a statue of an incomparably charming girl andpassionately 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


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prince nearly looses his mind, dresses up as a dervish and starts wandering over jungles andmountains. 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 dervishs 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 brothers care. However,

the treacherous uncle only looks for the opportunity to kill the prince and to usurp thethrone. The loyal servant Mubarak rescues the prince and brings him to his fathers 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, theking of jinns repeatedly warns the prince that, in case of a treachery or an attempt to get thegirl for himself, he will be severely punished. The prince and Mubarak set out in search ofthe 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 thishappened 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 tosave the girl from Malik Sadik. However, the latter guesses what his ruse is, attacks theprince, 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 greenrider stops him and sends him to Rum.

When the fourth dervish finishes his tale, the king Azadbakht suddenly learns that oneof 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 allthe separated lovers to one another: the merchants son from Yemen to the princess of

Damsyik, the prince of Fars to the princess of Basra, the prince of Ajam to the princess ofFarang, 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 soulso that I asked him tohelp me in their translation

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

The principles that Mahmud b. Sayid Mualim and his assistant adhered to intheir rendering of Mir Ammans work did not largely differ from those of theirpredecessors from the first wave of Islamic India literary impact, translators of Persianliterary 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 oranother strategy normally depended on the character to be born and the function tobe performed by a particular section of the source text in the semantic and stylisticalfabric of the target text.

The idiomatic strategy of translation was usually used for narrative sections ofthe source text, whereas the unidiomatic strategy for its edifying sections, which of-ten included quotations from the Quran and hadith, poetical insertions and all kindsof passages written in a religious, legalistic or scholarly manner. In the eyes of theMalay 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 notonly 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


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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, lyingtittle 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 akannasihatnya 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 jugatuan 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 kepadahamba. 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. Dantiada kasihan kepada hak yang ditinggalkan oleh


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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 wasits adaptation to the expectations of the target audience. Such change-adaptations inMahmuds rendition of SFD are numerous and can be examined on many levels oftheir semantics and their expression in the word. I, however, limit myself to only oneexample that seems to combine Mahmuds edifying intentions and his striving tomeet the audiences 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. SayidMualim. Moreover, traditional Malay literature in general paid sufficient attentionto the education of princes, and not only of them indeed. Such compositions as Tajas-salatin, Hikayat Isma Yatim, Hikayat Hang Tuah and Hikayat Aceh to mention onlyseveral works of many bear witness to this fact. Therefore, the Malay translation ofBagh-o bahar adds narratives, even though highly formulaic, of the educational back-ground of its characters. Here is an example:

Bagh-o baharby Mir Amman

Forbes translation, 1857, p. 251

Story of four dervishes in Malay (SFD),

MS, p. 198

*


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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 passagesand shortened long passages of the original. It is true that, like his predecessors andsuccessors, he shortened or even omitted some pieces of Mir Ammans 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 discussedabove, the extension of short passages is by far prevalent over the shortening oflong ones in Mahmuds rendering of Bagh-o bahars 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 Ammans composition. This is even not so mucha strategy of translation as a strategy of substitution. Mahmud mostly replaces Bagh-obahars portrayals of palaces and gardens, female beauty and sumptuous attires andornaments, picturesque ceremonies and distant marvellous lands, exquisite but aliento Malay literature, by typically Malay versions of these topoi.

In many cases, Mahmud extends descriptive passages of Mir Amman, too. Forexample, in the story of the fourth dervish from the Urdu original the weddingceremony is described briefly, only in its general outlines:

From that day the preparations for the marriage were begun by both parties; andon 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 clat, and all the ceremonies were finished25.

The Malay translation, which in this case has little in common with its Urdu sourcetext, 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 menterihulubalang hendak memulai pekerjaankahwin anak raja,27 seperti adat kahwin anakraja yang besar-besar empat puluh hariempat puluh malam dengan bersuka-sukaan,

Maka Raja Syahsian pun memulai kerjaberjaga-jaga akan mengawinkan tuan puteri*


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

dan memalu bunyi-bunyian.

Setelah genaplah empat puluh hari empatpuluh malam, maka anak raja pun diarakkanoranglah berkeliling negeri dengan terlalulahramai permainannya sekali dan bunyi-

bunyian pun terlalu ramai dan gegak-gempita di dalam negeri itu sebab permainanbelaka. Maka anak hamba pun diriasioranglah dengan sekalian hiasan pakaiandaripada emas perak dan intan manikam.Penuhlah sekali tubuhnya dengan permatamenjadi teranglah seperti bulan dan cahayaapi pun hilanglah sudah, sebab karenacahaya intan manikam menjadi kelamlahsekalian cahaya yang lain-lain. Makadidudukkan oranglah di atas pelaminantujuh tingkat, dan rupanya terlalulah elok

sekali, tiadalah boleh dipandang nyata.

Bermula setelah genaplah empat puluhhari empat puluh malam *


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*


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The most beautiful stories that should bring benefit to all Gods 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. SyedMualims 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 thebeauty of a literary piece that evoked love in the heart of the reader turned this pieceinto a powerful psychotherapeutic means31, and of the quality of Mir Ammans com-position, famous primarily for its beauty32.

The Urdu original and the Malay translation of SFD alike are permeated withbeauty. It is manifested in captivating, well-balanced and enjoyable plots of its fivestories, 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; inelegant, wise sayings and in the smooth, expressive style of writing (in the case ofMahmud 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 ofthem, again like in earlier romances, are based on the three-fold unity, or synaesthe-sia, of visual, acoustic and olfactory impressions. Particularly important among themare: 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 expressthem 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 especiallyrepresentative, descriptive topoi those of the palace and the park or garden whichusually 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 strictlyas descriptions of weddings. For instance, in the original Urdu text the portrayal ofthe palace and garden of the princess of Basra from the story of the second dervishsounds 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 Haqs introduction, 1920s, pp. 4-7; Salim-Ur-Rahman, Classics Revisited, p. 163.33 Importantly, indahbeautiful is a conceptual synonym of ajaibamazingand 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 DastanovUrdu (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.


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*


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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 daripadaemas 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 suatutaman *


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jadilah seperti disendikan mutiara dan manikam di atas batu zamrud yang hi-

jau itu40.

Another example of descriptive novelties drawn from Mir Ammans version ofSFD 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 protagonists respectful cir-cumambulation of his beloved as a flight of a winged insect around the candle thatirresistibly attracts it:

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

terpasang, maka ada pula kumbang berkeliling-keliling hendak masuk kepadaapi itu. Maka hamba pun bangkitlah tiada sedarkan dirinya, lalu hamba naik ke

atas balai itu, seraya berkeliling kepada tuan puteri serupa tabiat 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 Mualims translation reproduces a description fromthe Urdu original, which portrays how the protagonists vision of the nocturnal parkchanges as his melancholy in separation from the beloved gives way to the joy of hisencounter with her. It is true that trysts of lovers in the moon-lit garden are acommonplace in the earlier Malay hikayat. However in this form, with itstransfiguration of the landscape, when the metaphoric thorn of sufferings is at lasttaken out from the enamoureds eye, this description is undoubtedly an innovativeelaboration 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 baharwe 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 *


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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 strategyof substitution oriented to expectations of the audience and the strategy of translationintended to enrich habitual descriptions with novel shades and tones of the imageryand/or uncommon possibilities of its use. Thus, SFD not only contributes to the

beauty of emotionally active descriptions, the core of Malay literary aesthetics, butalso shed new light on the process of these descriptions formation in the earlier,worse documented period.

43 MS, p. 26. In Bagh-o Bahar: *


26/34


Appendices

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

Bismillah al-Rahman al Rahim

*


27/34


Note of the copyist (MS, p. 270)Setelah (?) selesai daripada menyurat hikayat ini di dalam negeri Singapura wa-lsalam(?) kepada sepuluh haribulan Jumad al-awal, yaum al-Ithnain, pada hijratseribu dua ratus enam puluh tiga tahun. Hak Mahmud ibn al-Marhum SayidMualim 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



Story of four dervishes in Malay (SFD)

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

*


28/34


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, jikalauboleh 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 *


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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 soninstead 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

masyuk 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.


30/34


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 tilamdihamparkan 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 atasbalai itu, seraya berkeliling kepada tuan

puteri serupa tabiat 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 proceededto 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 directionin 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 tajub sekalimelihat 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 sepertikilat 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-titikhujan di atas daun itu, maka menjadilah


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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 manikam 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, makahamba 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 berahipada 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 masyuk pun

datang kepada orang yang asyik dengan

pakaian terlalu indah-indah sekali.

Palaces




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

MS, p. 90. Setelah beberapa saat lamanyaitu, maka datanglah dayang memanggilhamba lalu dibawanya berjalan-jalan sama-sama ke dalam istana tuan puteri itu. Makasetelah hamba sampai ke dalam istana tuanputeri itu, maka hamba melihat perbuatanistana itu terlalu indah-indah sekali danbanyak sekali dayang yang muda(h)-muda(h)beratur dan bersaf-saf mengadap serta me-


32/34


of Indra? or is it a descent on the part of thefairies? an involuntary sigh of rapture es-caped [from my breast], and my heart beganto 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 thoselovely women, my heart was unwilling toproceed farther. On one side [of the saloon] ascreen was suspended, and a stool set withprecious stones was placed near it, as well asa chair of sandal-wood; the female servantmade 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 sertabersunting-suntingkan bunga dan [be]berapapula dipakainya daripada pakaian intanmanikam dan jawahir. Maka rupanya danpakaiannya tiadalah dipandang nyatakenalah(?) sudah rupanya dan pakaiannya

sekalian itu. Maka jika kita memandangkepada suatu pihak, maka tiadalah berke-hendak memandang kepada pihak yang lain.Maka adalah hal hamba tatkala itu adalahseperti tinggal sudah engkau, ta hambadaripada badan, dan nyawa hamba punmelayanglah sudah, tiada lagi ada padabadan hamba. Maka hamba pun terkejutlah.Maka hamba pun tetapkan jua anggotahamba dan himmat.

Maka hamba berjalanlah dari situ kepadasuatu tempat yang mulia jua. Adalah

perbuatan tempat itu terlalu indah-indahsekali. Maka dayang pun memberi isyaratduduk di atas tempat itu. Adalah perbuatantempat itu daripada emas dan bersendikanperak serta bertatahkan 48 ratna mutumanikam dan bersendikan jawahir danberumbai-rumbaikan mutiara dikarang. Danadalah di atas tempat itu adalah hamparantilam daripada sutera serta bantal beraturdaripada emas dan perak jua. Dan adalahsebuah kisi[-kisi?] emas serta bertatahkanratna mutu manikam. Maka didudukkandayang akan hamba ke atas tilam keemasanitu, maka hamba duduklah di situ. Makahamba melihat beberapa pula ada perhiasandiatur orang daripada emas dan perak jua.

Setelah tetap sudah hamba duduk di situ,maka kata dayang: Hai tuan, ceteralaholehmu barang apa kasadmu dan muradmusekalian itu. Maka hamba pun berceteralah.

II. *


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ful attitude. Dancing women and femalesingers, 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 thefemale servant *who came with me+ there is

here such gay splendour in the scene of theday, and such magnificence in that of thenight, that the day may very justly be called'Id, and the night shab-i barat; moreover, aking who possessed the whole world couldnot 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 seenow; there is no abatement [or difference],except that it is sometimes greater: sit youhere; the princess is in another apartment, I

will go and inform her of your arrival. Sayingthis, the nurse went away and quickly re-turned; she desired me to come to the prin-cess. The moment I entered her apartment Iwas struck with amazement. I could not tellwhere the door was, or where the walls, forthey were covered with Aleppo mirrors, ofthe height of a man, all around, the frames ofwhich were studded with diamonds andpearls. 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 washung, 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 theprincesss commands (pp. 117-118).

emas belaka.Dan adalah pada sisi hamparan itu adalah

sebuah singgasana dibuatnya terlalu indah-indah sekali, perbuatannya daripada emasbersendikan perak suasa, tiangnya singga-sana itu empat batang, adalah tiangnya itu

daripada manikam jua adanya beberapa pulabertatahkan intan baiduri dan manikamjawahir dan beberapa pula tergantungmanikam yang besar-besar harga dan yangmelekat (?). Ada yang tergantung sekalian ituseperti siang harilah sebab karena cahayamanikam itu, maka sekalian api pelita itumenjadi kelam. Dan adalah langit-langitnyaterlalu indah-indah sekali daripada suteraanta kesuma perbuatan perikah atau dewapun hambalah tiada ketahui. Sebagai lagi adaperhiasan singgasana itu.

Adalah suatu taman dibuatnya daripadaemas perak jua, dan adalah jambangan danpohon bunga-bunga(h)an daripada intanmanikam jauhar zamrud nilam pualampuspa ragam panca logam dibuatnya pohonbunga-bunga(h)an. Adalah pohon bunga-bunga(h)an itu terlalu lebat sekali: ada yangkembang, ada yang kuncup, ada yang kudu(p),ada yang mali(h). Sekalian itu perbuatan daribatu-batu jawahir belaka. Maka hambamelihat dengan sebenar-benarnya padapihak taman itu adalah seperti bukannyaperbuatan manusia sekali-sekali hanyalahkudrat Ilahi jua datangnya itu sekalian. Makahamba pun tercengang-cengang tiadalahdapat lagi hendak diceterakan.

Maka sebagailah lagi adalah dayang-dayang perempuan yang muda(h) beliadaripada sekalian jenis bangsa orang danrupanya dayang-dayang itu sekalian sepertianak-anakan dewa dan peri atau mambangterlalu jamal sekalian rupanya serta memakaipakaian terlalu indah-indah sekali daripadaintan manikam jua. Dan adalah sekaliandayang itu menjaga-jaga bersaf-saf diatur

orang berkeliling majlis itu mengadap sertaberdiamkan diri tiada bersuara sekali-sekali.Dan beberapa pula joget tari syair gurindamada belaka hadir menanti titah sabda jua, danbeberapa saf pula ada orang memegangrebab kecapi dan bunyi-bunyian belakamenanti-nanti jua.

Setelah hamba sudah melihat nyata akanhal-ihwal mahaligai tuan puteri itu, makahamba pun sebenar-benarnyalah hilanglahsudah akal hamba, ke manakah gerangannya


34/34


pergi pun hamba tiada ketahui. Maka katahamba kepada dayang: Adakah49 istana danmahaligai tuan puteri ini sehari-hari malamdan siang demikianlah pada tiap-tiapharinya? Dan jika demikian tiap-tiap harinyadan malamnya sekaliannya, menjadi, pada

sangka hamba, sekalian malam Lailat al-Qadri jua dan pada tiap-tiap siang harinyahari raya besar dan hari raya kecilkah? Danjika demikian, tuan puteri telah sudah milikidunia ini sekalian dengan isinya, maka sebabsenantiasa hari demikian dikerjakannya.

Maka kata dayang: Adalah hal tuanputeri senantiasa hari demikianlah halnya.Telah lamalah sudah lalu hal ini pada sehari-hari berlebih-lebih bertambah-tambah dankurangnya tiada sekali-sekali. Maka katadayang: Hai tuan, diamlah (?) tuan dahulu

di sini dan adalah tuan puteri ini tiada disini, adalah tuan puteri pada suatu ruma[h]yang lain. Maka dayang pun segeralah pergikepada tuan puteri. Maka tiada berapasaatnya maka segera pula dayang itukembali kepada hamba, maka katanya:Marilah tuan berjalan sama dayang, kitapergi mengadap tuan puteri.Maka hambadan dayang pun berjalan sama kepadatempat tuan puteri itu. Maka setelah hambasampai pada rumah tuan puteri itu, makahamba pun pingsanlah tiada khabarkan dirilagi, seperti matilah sudah diri hamba, sebabkarena cermin dan jawahir sekalian rumahitu, penuhlah sekali dengan cahaya belaka.Maka adalah di dalam rumah itu adalahsuatu tirai terlabuh 50 dan di balik tirai ituadalah tuan puteri di situ. Maka dayang punduduklah di hadapannya tirai itu sertamenyuruh kepada hamba. Maka hamba punduduklah dengan beberapa hormat dantazim.

49

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

vladimir braginsky

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