Asian and African studies blog

In 1579 Francis Drake sailed into Ternate harbour during his circumnavigation of the globe. This was the first official visit by an Englishman to the islands of what is now Indonesia.  The visit appears to have been a diplomatic success, and Drake brought back a letter to Queen Elizabeth and a gold ring.  However the follow-up was less than satisfactory from the Ternate point of view, for it was not until 1605 that the next English ships arrived in Ternate, captained by Henry Middleton. Middleton carried back to London a letter to James I from Sultan Said Syah (held today in the National Archives, SP 102/4/24) in which the sultan noted acerbically that in the over twenty years that had passed since Drake’s visit, he had sired eleven children, without receiving any further overtures of friendship from England  (dalam kerajaan itu sebellas anak beta, itu pun tiada jua sesuatu khabar Inggliterra hendak berkasih-kasihan Ingglitera dengan orang Maluku). Hardly surprisingly, the sultan refused the English permission to trade in Ternate, citing his alliance with the Dutch (Gallop 2003: 413-418).


Ilhas de Maluco, 'The islands of the Moluccas', showing from left to right the islands of Hiri, Ternate, Maitara, Tidore, Mare and Makian, with an interesting treatment of perspective which emphasises the height of the volcanoes which rise from the sea to form each of the islands. Livro do Estado da India Oriental, by Pedro Barreto de Resende, 1646. British Library, Sloane MS 197, ff.395v-396r.

Despite such ups and down, over the next three centuries diplomatic channels of communication between Ternate and Britain remained open, as reflected in an occasional series of royal letters preserved in various repositories.  Presented here is a newly-digitised letter in Malay from Sultan Kaicil Patra Muhammad Yasin of Ternate (r.1801-1807) to the British Commissioner in Ambon in the central Moluccas, dated 26 Zulhijah 1216 (19 April 1802) (Add.18141, f.2r).  At that time the Commissioner was Col. J. Oliver, but the letter may have been intended for his predecessor, Sir Robert Townsend Farquhar (1776-1830) - British commercial Resident of Ambon from the late 1790s until 1801 and subsequently Lieutenant-Governor of Penang from 1804-1805 and first Governor of Mauritius from 1810 to 1823 - for the letter was presented to the British Museum in 1850 by his son, Sir Walter Minto Farquhar (who had evidently been named after the oldest son of Lord Minto, Governor-General of India).  In this letter, the Sultan informs the Commissioner that a joint British-Ternatan force had been despatched to Halmahera to settle a disturbance in Sawu provoked by the kingdom of Jailolo (kuku Jailolo dengan manisnya membujuk negeri Sawu, maka berdiri sama2 menunjuk berani, ‘sweet-talking Jailolo has managed to dig its nails into Sawu, and now they’re both acting up’).


Letter in Malay from Sultan Muhammad Yasin of Ternate to the British Commissioner in Ambon, 1802. British Library, Add. 18141, f.2r.

The letter is written in superb calligraphy, confident and stylish, by a master of the craft who makes good use of the thick and thin edges of the nib of the pen, as particularly evident in the first line, a detail of which is shown below.  The hand in this letter shares some characteristics with other royal letters from the Moluccas, in particular the sweeping, cursive style of writing which greatly exaggerates the tails of letters. One of the most characteristic letter forms is ya or medial or final ha (see the word maha below), both of which are usually written as two convex arcs joined at the lower tip, like an elongated curved v tipped towards the right, while also notable is the pyramidal (or mountain-like?) presentation of the sultan’s name in the first line shown here.
 

Detail of part of the first line of the letter, reading 'Wherefore His Majesty the Sultan of Ternate ...' (Bahwa  paduka  seri  maha  yang  tuan sultan  Ternate al-buldan taj ...).  The scribe has taken a very cavalier and almost playful approach to certain letters, such as the dal (d) of paduka, and the convoluted tail of nga in the word yang.

Further reading:

A.T. Gallop, 'Seventeenth-century Indonesian letters in the Public Record Office', Indonesia and Malay World, vol.31, no.91 (2003), pp. 412-439.

The full Malay text of the letter shown here can be read in the catalogue entry for Add.18141, f.2r.

Annabel Teh Gallop, Lead Curator, Southeast Asia

Throughout island Southeast Asia, the hot and humid tropical climate with attendant rodent and insect life is usually judged hostile to the preservation of manuscripts. And yet in certain highland communities in the province of Jambi in east Sumatra, manuscripts can and do survive for centuries, as reflected in a recent Endangered Archives project, EAP117, Digitising ‘sacred heirlooms’ in private collections in Kerinci, Sumatra, Indonesia.  

Buffalo horn manuscript inscribed with the story of the journey of Uti Unduk Pinang Masak and Dayang Berani, written in the Kerinci incung script, in the collection of Depati Singolago Tuo (the text is transliterated in Tambo Kerinci no.37). British Library, EAP117/2/1

In many villages in the interior of Jambi, manuscripts in Malay on paper, horn and bamboo, written in Arabic or the Indic incung script, have been preserved as sacred village heirlooms along with other auspicious objects such as weapons, coins, pieces of porcelain and elephant teeth. Usually carefully stored in a wooden box in the loft of the house of the village headman, these precious items could only be brought out on occasional ritual feasts to celebrate the origins of the village (Watson 2009).  In retrospect, it can be seen that the combination of secure storage of these manuscripts at the top of the house, where smoke from the kitchen below would act both as an insect repellent and as a natural dehumidifier, together with very occasional ‘airings’, was an extremely effective form of preservation.  In one spectacular case, a code of laws from the village of Tanjung Tanah written on treebark paper has been carbon-dated to the 14th century, making it the oldest known surviving Malay manuscript in the world (Kozok 2006).


Heirloom edict from Jambi dated 1794. When it was seen by P. Voorhoeve in 1941 and transliterated in Tambo Kerinci (no.43), the first line could still be read (Inilah cap serta tapak tangan Pangeran (Suria) Kesuma dan Pangeran Ratu serta Raja Sultan Ahmad Badruddin ... marhum). By the time the document was photographed in 2008 for the Endangered Archives Programme, it had been slightly damaged. British Library, EAP117/2/1/7.

In early 1941 a survey of village heirlooms of Kerinci was carried out by Petrus Voorhoeve, a Dutch language officer working for the colonial administration.  Voorhoeve and his team documented and photographed some 260 manuscripts, and then produced the 'Tambo Kerintji', an unpublished volume containing transliterations of all the texts into latin script. During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, Voorhoeve was imprisoned and sent to work on the Burma railway.  At the end of the war, all his notes were feared lost – until 1973, when C.W. Watson discovered in Kerinci one surviving copy of ‘Tambo Kerintji’, and arranged for this to be retyped and distributed to a few libraries. And in 2006, Uli Kozok uploaded the Tambo Kerinci on to the website of the University of Hawaii, where it can now be freely consulted. 

Kozok returned to Kerinci in 2007 with an Endangered Archives grant to document the sacred heirlooms of 65 villages, including some of the very items seen by Voorhoeve in 1941; the results can be consulted online here. In addition to locally-produced manuscripts, there are copies of the Qur’an and songs in praise of the Prophet (the well-known Mawlid Barzanji) printed in Bombay in the second half of the 19th century, and colourful maps of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, evidently brought back to central Sumatra after the hajj pilgrimage.

Map of Mecca and Medina, probably brought back to Kerinci by a pilgrim returning from the hajj, in the collection of Mangku Suka Rame.  British Library, EAP117/11/1/4

A selection of copies of the Qur’an, printed in Bomby in the 19th century, in the collection of Mesjid Keramat, Kerinci. British Library, EAP117/22/1/8.

Liha or rehal, stand for a copy of the Qur’an, from the collection of Mangku Rajo Perang. British Library, EAP117/46/2/23

Among the most historically significant manuscripts documented in these heirloom collections are royal edicts issued by the sultan and nobles of Jambi, to local leaders (dipati) upstream. For centuries, valuable products from the highlands such as gold, ivory and resin were brought downstream to the coastal regions for trade.  The economic and political relationship between the lowland court of the sultan of Jambi and the peoples of the highlands was formalised and cemented through the issuing of royal edicts (piagam) in Malay.  In these edicts, the sultan or his nobles would grant an honorific title and jurisdiction over a certain territory to highland leaders, who in return would be bound to uphold the law and respect the royal prerogative to certain types of forest produce.

Sealed decree (piagam) issued by Pangeran Sukarta, probably 18th c., rolled and stored in a bamboo tube, from collection of Depati Lindo Indah Jati. Britsh Library, EAP117/9/1/2.

Some royal piagam contain detailed descriptions of the territory awarded to certain village leaders, and it is the boundary lists in these centuries-old documents that have ensured their contemporary relevance, particularly with the increasing threat of encroachment by commercial interests. While I was researching a group of 17th-century royal edicts found in Serampas, south of Kerinci, I was very interested to find out that in 2006, KKI Warsi - an Indonesian NGO promoting community-based forest management - had made use of an heirloom edict dated 1756 to support the village of Guguk in neighbouring Merangin in its successful struggle to manage its own ancestral lands.


The heirloom royal edict (piagam) dated 1756 of Guguk, Merangin, Jambi. Photo: Kumiadi / KKI Warsi, 2006.

And so on a recent visit to Indonesia, I was delighted to be invited by the journal of Jambi studies, Seloko, to deliver a workshop on manuscripts, to be co-hosted by KKI Warsi.  The workshop was held in Jambi from 15-16 September and was attended by about 15 participants from KKI Warsi and educational establishments in Jambi. While covering the basics of philology (the study of the content of manuscripts) and codicology (the study of their outer form), and the 'social lives' of manuscripts, we focussed on royal edicts from Jambi, and in particular, the perceptible increase in importance of boundary lists in these piagam over time.

At the manuscripts workshop held on 15-16 September 2014, Mrs Zarfina Yenty, a lecturer at IAIN Sultan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi, brought in a Qur'an manuscript inherited from her grandfather in Kerinci.  Copied on European paper and probably dating from the late 18th or early 19th century, despite lacking beginning and end, it is a fine example of penmanship.

Further reading:

Tambo Kerintji: disalin dari toelisan Djawa Koeno, toelisan rentjong dan toelisan Melajoe jang terdapat pada tandoek kerbau, daoen lontar, boeloeh dan kertas dan koelit kajoe, poesaka simpanan orang Kerintji.  P.Voorhoeve, dengan pertolongan R.Ng.Dr. Poerbatjaraka, toean H.Veldkamp, controleur B.B., njonja M.C.J. Voorhoeve Bernelot Moens, goeroe A.Hamid.  1941.  [Typescript, reproduced by C.W.Watson in 1973].
Tambo Kerinci, with updated spelling, uploaded to the internet by Uli Kozok in 2006:
http://ipll.manoa.hawaii.edu/indonesian/research/tambo-kerinci/

P. Voorhoeve, ‘Kerintji documents’, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 1970, 126 (4): 369-99. [Before the re-discovery of the 'Tambo Kerintji' in 1973, Voorhoeve published an article drawing on his memory and surviving notes to reconstruct his expedition to Kerinci in 1941.]

A.T.Gallop, ‘Piagam Serampas: Malay documents from highland Jambi’, From distant tales: archaeology and ethnohistory in the highlands of Sumatra, ed. Dominik Bonatz, John Miksic, J. David Neidel, Mai Lin Tjoa-Bonatz.  Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2009, pp. 272-322.

A.T. Gallop, ‘Piagam Muara Mendras: more Malay documents from highland Jambi’, Seloko, 2013, 2 (1): 1-50.

Uli Kozok, Kitab undang-undang Tanjung Tanah: naskah Melayu yang tertua. Jakarta: Yayasan Naskah Nusantara, 2006.

C.W.Watson, ‘Tambo Kerinci’, From distant tales: archaeology and ethnohistory in the highlands of Sumatra, ed. Dominik Bonatz, John Miksic, J. David Neidel, Mai Lin Tjoa-Bonatz.  Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2009, pp. 253-271.

Indonesian media coverage of the Manuscripts Workshop, 15-16 September 2014, Jambi.

Annabel Teh Gallop, Lead Curator, Southeast Asia

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Malay manuscripts on Javanese paper

Following the successful completion of the first year of our Malay manuscripts digitisation project – funded by William and Judith Bollinger, and undertaken in collaboration with the National Library of Singapore – we are pleased to announce that photography has commenced for the second year of the project. This year we will be digitising 53 manuscripts mainly from the collections of the India Office Library, as well as a few recent acquisitions. All these manuscripts are listed on our Digital Access to Malay Manuscripts project page.

Sumatra (in yellow) and part of the Malay peninsula (in green) and Java (in red). From a maritime atlas for navigating from the Cape of Good Hope to the Far East. Amsterdam, 1722. British Library, Maps.C.12. f.3, 27

Among the highlights to be digitised this year are the Adat Aceh (MSS Malay B.11), the exceptionally important compendium of port regulations and court procedures from 17th-century Aceh, and a copy of the Undang-undang Aceh, a legal digest from Aceh (MSS Malay D.12). Scholars of indigenous healing techniques will be particularly interested in a work from the court of Pontianak in western Kalimantan, entitled Kitab obat-obat dan azimat, ‘Book of medicines and charms’ (MSS Malay B.15), described as ‘The Malay Materia Medica, from the practice of Tama, Physician to the royal household of His Majesty of Pontiana’, copied on 17 May 1813.

First page of the Kitab obat-obat dan azimat, containing a charm to stop children crying (azimat budak jangan menangis), Pontianak, 1813. MSS Malay B.15, f.1v.

There is a rich corpus of literary works, both in prose (hikayat) and narrative verse (syair), mostly collected by John Leyden in Penang and Melaka. Many of these manuscripts are dated, and were written in Kedah, Penang or Melaka between 1804 and 1811 by scribes known to have worked for the British, including Muhammad Kasim, Ismail, Ibrahim, who was Raffles’s chief secretary, and his brother Ahmad Rijaluddin. In a few cases the manuscripts to be photographed this year contain the same texts as in those already digitised last year such as Hikayat Dewa Mandu (MSS Malay D.1), Hikayat Hang Tuah (MSS Malay B.1) and Hikayat Ular Nangkawang (MSS Malay A.1), allowing textual comparisons to be made. Some manuscripts bear finely illuminated frames around the opening pages.

Hikayat Inderaputera. The red and black decorative motifs suggest a Minangkabau origin for this manuscript, believed to date from around 1821. British Library, MSS Malay B.14, ff.1r, 2r [The MS has been mis-bound, and in the image above the two illuminated pages have been digitially reunited to show how they would originally have appeared across two facing pages.]

The broad linguistic and epigraphic reach of the Malay world is reflected in three manuscripts from south Sumatra written in variants of the pre-Islamic incung script of Indic origin, also called ka-ga-nga script after its first three letters. A manuscript written on folded tree bark contains the Syair Perahu (MSS Malay A.2) in Malay in incung script, and possibly dates from the 18th century. Surat pantun cara Lampung (MSS Malay A.4) is a paper manuscript which contains parallel columns of Malay pantun and quatrains called wayak in Lampung language and script. A third manuscript in incung script is a tembai or myth of origin, written on strips of bamboo (MSS Malay D.11).


Syair Perahu, first few lines of a manuscript in Malay in incung script from south Sumatra, written on folded treebark. MSS Malay A.2, f.a 1 (detail).

Also to be digitised this year are a number of Malay vocabulary lists, mostly collected by servants of the East India Company including Leyden and Raffles. Perhaps most interesting are the working materials of Thomas Bowrey, author of the first original Malay-English dictionary. Alongside his notebooks are also held page proofs for A dictionary English and Malayo, Malayo and English (London, 1701), together with hand-written annotations by Thomas Hyde, professor of Arabic at Oxford, who appears to have helped Bowrey with the Jawi script elements (MSS Eur A 33).

The first lines from a vocabulary of Malay, Javanese and Madurese, arranged not alphabetically but by subject, starting with the concept of God and creation (Tuhan, ketuhanan, kejadian) and other-worldly creatures (dewa, hantu, gergasi, raksasa). This manuscript bears the bookplate of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. MSS Malay A.3, f.3v (detail).

Manuscripts which have already been digitised are highlighted above in blue. All the other manuscripts mentioned will be digitised in the course of the coming months.

References:

M.C.Ricklefs & P.Voorhoeve, Indonesian manuscripts in Great Britain: a catalogue of manuscripts in Indonesian languages in British public collections.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.

Annabel Teh Gallop, Lead Curator, Southeast Asia

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British libraries and museums hold some of the oldest and most important manuscripts in Malay and other Indonesian languages in the world. Although small by comparison with manuscript holdings in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Netherlands, British collections are especially notable for their antiquity and, in some cases, contain unique copies of important texts.  

New Edition of Indonesian manuscripts in Great Britain (Jakarta, 2014), the front cover design based on the wadana (illuminated frame) from the Javanese manuscript Serat Jayalengkara Wulang shown below.

Serat Jayalengkara Wulang, Javanese manuscript copied at the court of Yogyakarta in 1803. One of the many Indonesian manuscripts described in Ricklefs and Voorhoeve (1977: 61), and which has just been digitised. British Library, MSS Jav 24, ff.111v-112r.

The publication in 1977 of Indonesian manuscripts in Great Britain: a catalogue of manuscripts in Indonesian languages in British public collections, by M.C. Ricklefs & P. Voorhoeve (Oxford University Press), was a landmark event. Merle Ricklefs, whose main interest was in Javanese, was at the time Lecturer in the History of Southeast Asia at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. Petrus Voorhoeve (1899-1995) was formerly Keeper of Oriental Manuscripts at Leiden University Library, and a great expert on the languages of Sumatra – ranging from Acehnese and the various Batak dialects in the north to Lampung and Rejang in the south – as well as on Malay and Arabic. The catalogue listed over 1,200 manuscripts in the indigenous languages of Indonesia (except Papua), Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and the Philippines, including those in Cham and Malagasy, found in British public collections. Catalogue entries included names of authors, scribes, owners and collectors, dates and places of writing, watermarks and paper. The 1977 volume was soon followed by an Addenda et corrigenda, published in the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies in 1982, listing a further 92 manuscripts.

When I joined the British Library in 1986, I very soon became aware of how difficult my task as Curator for Maritime Southeast Asia would have been without the helping hand of ‘Ricklefs & Voorhoeve’.  As the indispensible guide to the British Library’s own collection of nearly five hundred manuscripts in Malay, Javanese, Balinese, Batak, Bugis, Makasarese, Old Javanese, I found myself consulting the book on a daily basis in order to answer enquiries about the British Library collections, and to select and describe manuscripts for exhibition, and, more recently, for digitisation.

Front cover of Ricklefs & Voorhoeve (1977).

While ‘Ricklefs & Voorhoeve’ continued to be of enormous value to scholars of the languages, literatures, cultures and history of maritime Southeast Asia, it became increasingly difficult to find a copy in bookshops. And so in March 2013, Arlo Griffiths, director of the Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient in Jakarta, agreed to republish the catalogue in the EFEO’s valuable series Naskah dan Dokumen Nusantara (Manuscripts and documents from maritime Southeast Asia). The New Edition, which was published in Jakarta last month by EFEO in collaboration with Yayasan Pustaka Obor Indonesia, and with the support of the National Library of the Republic of Indonesia and the British Library, presents facsimiles of the original 1977 catalogue and the Addenda et corrigenda of 1982, together with a new supplement of 2014 describing 155 manuscripts not included in the previous editions.

The 155 additional manuscripts cover the following languages: Balinese (15), Batak (11), Bugis (2), Cham (1), Javanese (31), Maguindanao (1), Malay (86), Minangkabau (2), Old Javanese (5) and Tausug (1).  Nearly three-quarters of the total (114) are held in the British Library, and include both long-held but newly-documented manuscripts in Austronesian languages - such as the treaties in Tausug and Malay signed with the sultanate of Sulu in the 1760s, and vocabulary lists in various Indonesian languages collected by servants of the East India Company - and recent acquisitions, such as two Malay manuscripts of Sejarah Melayu and Hikayat Hang Tuah transferred to the British Library from the University of Lampeter in Wales in 2003. Notable finds in other institutions include four Batak manuscripts acquired by the University of Hull from the estate of Dr Harry Parkin - author of Batak fruit of Hindu thought (1978) - and now held in the Hull History Centre; six Malay and one Balinese manuscript formerly belonging to Sir Harold Bailey and now in the Ancient India and Iran Trust in Cambridge; and a Malay manuscript of Hikayat Muhammad Hanafiah in the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds. Shown below are some of the newly-described manuscripts.

Illustrated Balinese manuscript on palm leaf with scenes from Ādiparwa, with the (unusual) use of red pigment in addition to black ink. Acquired in Bali in late 1938 by George and Ethel Fasal and donated by their daughter Jenny Fasal in 2010. British Library, Or.16802, f.4r (detail).

Panji romance, Javanese manuscript with 39 coloured drawings, dated 7 May 1861. British Library, Or.15026, ff.188v-189r. 

Genealogical chart in the form of a tree of the rulers of Java, from Adam to Pakuwana IV (of Surakarta) and Mataram IV (Hamengkubuwana IV of Yogykarta), in a Javanese manuscript, Papakem Pawukon, said to have come from Kyai Suradimanggala, Bupati sepuh of Demak, 1814/5. Formerly from the India Office Library collection. British Library, Or.15932, f.72r.

Pustaha, Batak manuscript of Simalungun provenance, written on folded treebark, containing Poda ni suman-suman ma inon, instructions on the art of controlling forces by invoking the supernatural. British Library, Or.14808, f.a 27.

Malay manuscript of Sejarah Melayu, 'Malay Annals', with an ownership note of D.F.A. Hervey, 1 May 1876. Ancient India and Iran Trust, Malay 1.

References:

M.C.Ricklefs & P.Voorhoeve, Indonesian manuscripts in Great Britain: a catalogue of manuscripts in Indonesian languages in British public collections.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.

M.C.Ricklefs & P.Voorhoeve, Indonesian manuscripts in Great Britain: addenda et corrigenda.  Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 1982, Vol.XLV, Part 2, pp.300-322.

M.C.Ricklefs, P.Voorhoeve† & Annabel Teh Gallop, Indonesian manuscripts in Great Britain: a catalogue of manuscripts in Indonesian languages in British public collections. New Edition with Addenda et Corrigenda. Jakarta: Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient, Perpustakaan Nasional Republik Indonesia, Yayasan Pustaka Obor Indonesia, 2014.  (Naskah dan Dokumen Nusantara; XXXIII). ISBN France 978-2-85539-189-2.

Annabel Teh Gallop, Lead Curator, Southeast Asia

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In 1795, the Dutch ruler William V fled to Britain to escape Napoleon’s advances. There he issued the ‘Kew Letters’, giving Britain temporary authority over Dutch possessions overseas, in an attempt to keep them out of French hands. Over the next decade, the Napoleonic war arena spilled across the Indian Ocean and into Southeast Asia, and by 1800 the British had captured the Dutch territories of Padang in west Sumatra, and Ambon and Ternate in the Moluccas.  In October 1810 Lord Minto, the Governor-General of Bengal, sent Thomas Stamford Raffles to Melaka as ‘Agent of the Governor General to the Malay States’, with the confidential mission of planning for the British invasion of Java, at the time in Franco-Dutch hands.


View of Batavia from the sea.  From J. Nieuhof, An embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham Emperour of China (London, 1669).  British Library, X.1202.

The British expeditionary force set sail from Melaka in June 1811 and on 4 August 1811 landed at Cilincing in West Java. The city of Batavia fell on 8 August, and within six weeks the British had conquered the whole of the island of Java.  This proclamation in Malay announcing the capture of Batavia is dated 11 August 1811, exactly 203 years ago today. The manuscript (Or.9484), which has just been digitised, was issued in the name of Lord Minto and bears his seal but is signed by Raffles.  The document reflects the British desire to see trade return to normal as soon as possible, and invites the people of Batavia to compare conditions under British and Dutch rule, seemingly confidently anticipating a favourable response:
‘It is announced that Batavia is now British territory and is once again open to all ships, of whatever size and of any nationality, carrying trade goods and foodstuffs, who are all welcome to come and trade freely. There will be no obstruction by warships, because the port of Batavia is now controlled by the British and will be administered with justice. His Excellency the Governor General cordially welcomes merchants of all nationalities to trade in Batavia, and invites them to see how well their business and profits fare under the British administration of Java, and how this compares with Dutch rule.’ (Maka hendaklah diketahui bahwa sekarang ini negeri Betawi sudah menjadi bandar Inggeris dan adalah sedia terbuka akan menyambut segala kapal dan keci dan sebarang perahu yang ada bermuat dagangan dan makanan pada tiap2 bangsa dagang, supaya boleh datang berniaga dengan sukanya.  Maka tiada lagi boleh diadang oleh kapal perang sebab sud(ah) terdiri bandar Inggeris di dalam tanah Betawi serta dengan adilnya.  Adapun sekarang ini bahwa Seri Maharaja Gawarnur Jenderal Yang Maha Mulia dipersilakan segala bangsa orang dagang datang ke Betawi berniaga, serta boleh melihat untung dan laba dari sebab kedatangan Inggeris ke tanah Jawah dan bolehlah sekalian menimbangkan perintah Inggeris dengan Belandah atau persamaan.)


Malay proclamation of the capture of Batavia by the British, 8 August 1811.  British Library, Or. 9484.

The proclamation is stamped with a red ink seal, inscribed in Malay. The seal was probably commissioned by Raffles while in Melaka as part of the preparations for the Java expedition. The inscription may have therefore have been calligraphed by Ibrahim, head of Raffles’s secretariat, the brother of Ahmad Rijaluddin whose account of a visit to Calcutta appeared on this blog recently. As discussed in another posting on this blog, there was a tradition of the use of ‘local’ seals in Arabic script by British officials in Asia and the Middle East, due to the long-established custom of using Persian seals by British East India Company officials serving in Mughal India.


Lord Minto’s seal, inscribed in Malay, ‘This is the seal of His Excellency the Maharaja, Gilbert Elliot Lord Minto, Governor General of Bengal, ruler of the whole of Hindustan, above the winds [and] below the winds’ (Inilah cap Paduka Seri Maharaja Gilbetelet Lard Minto Gurnur Jenral Benggala raja pada sekalian tanah Hindustan atas angin bawah angin adanya).  British Library, Or. 9484 (detail).

Further reading

W. Thorn, Memoir of the conquest of Java.  London: Robert and Wilkes, 1815.
Victoria Glendinning, Raffles and the golden opportunity. London: Profile, 2012
Tim Hannigan, Raffles and the British invasion of Java. Singapore: Monsoon, 2012.

Annabel Teh Gallop, Lead Curator, Southeast Asia

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The Malay letter of 1815 shown here, which has just been digitised, is from Pangeran Nata Negara, ruler of Sumenep on the island of Madura north of Java, to Captain James Clark, British Resident of Sumenep. The letter is swiftly written, probably by the prince himself, and is intimate in tone, and the Pangeran states that he is sending Clark presents of a Malay-style keris and a brazier or incense-burner (tempat bara api) belonging to his late father, the Panembahan.
 
A keris and scabbard from Madura. Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, 903-13.

Pangeran Nata Negara, later known as Panembahan Nata Kusuma II and then as Sultan Paku Nata Ningrat, ruled Sumenep from 1812 to 1854.  He succeeded his father, Raden Temenggung Tirto Negoro, Nata Kusuma I, who reigned from 1768 to 1812. During the British administration of Java from 1811 to 1816, Nata Kusuma II became one of Thomas Stamford Raffles's chief informants on Javanese culture and history, appreciated for his knowledge of not only Javanese literature but also texts in Arabic.  Raffles lavishes praise on Nata Kusuma in his History of Java (London, 1817), concluding 'He is revered, not only for his superior qualifications and talents, but also for the consideration and attention he pays to the happiness and comfort of the people committed to his charge' (Vol.1, p.272).

James Clark was a British officer in Java who in December 1811 was appointed by Raffles to the temporary command of ‘Samanap’.  In April 1812 Clark was transferred to Banyuwangi but in November of that year he was appointed Commandant of Madura and civil administrator of Sumenep, where he remained until 1816. Thus it is likely that Clark had known Pangeran Nata Negara’s father before his death in 1812, albeit briefly, and therefore a gift of precious heirloom items (pusaka) belonging to the late Panembahan would have been particularly meaningful.


Malay letter from Pangeran Nata Negara of Sumenep to James Clark, Resident of Sumenep, dated 19 Jumadilawal 1230 (29 April 1815). The letter was given to the British Library in 1994 by Lt. Col. James de D. Yule, a descendant of James Clark and also of Sir Henry Yule, co-author of the Anglo-Indian dictionary Hobson-Jobson. British Library, Or.14858.

The letter begins with a religious invocation, Qawluhu al-Haqq, ‘His Word is The Truth’.  This was the most popular letter heading (kepala surat) used on Malay letters addressed to European officials, and the same heading is found in a letter from Bengkulu dated 1718. It is positioned towards the left side of the paper, traditionally regarded as a sign of politeness and respect, and is written diagonally upside down. The letter is written in a swift, competent and cursive hand, and as the signature is written in the same ductus and with the same brownish ink, the letter was probably written by the Pangeran himself.  In this letter, as in all other written communications in Malay from Madura of this period, the placename is always written as Sumeneb with a ba rather than the present-day spelling Sumenep.

The full text of the letter, in Malay followed by an English translation, is given below.

Qawluhu al-Haqq
Bahwa warkat al-ikhlas yang termaktub di dalamnya beberapa tabik dan hormat yang beserta selamat al-khair selama-lamanya datang mengadap ke hadapan majlis sahudara saya Tuan Kaptin Jims Klarq Residint di dalam negeri Sumeneb adanya.  Wa-baadahu maka adalah saya melayangkan nubdhah yang sedharrah ini ke hadapan majlis sahudara akan seperti saya sendiri bertemu dengan sahudara, lain tiada hanya saya hendak kasih kepada sahudara satu pertanda daripada saya yang saya sudah dapat pusaka daripada sahudara [sic] punya bapa Panembahan yang sudah meninggal, iaitu satu keris cara Melayu lagi satu tempat bara api, keduanya itu dahulu Panembahan punya pakaian, melainkan saya harab sahudara terima tiada dengan sepertinya hanya cuma pertanda sahabat, demikian adanya.
Tersurat kepada 19 hari bulan Jumadilawal sanat 1230.
[signature] Thalib al-da‘i al-Pangeran Nata Negara al-amir

'His Word is the Truth
This sincere epistle, containing greetings and respects together with eternal best wishes, is sent into the presence of my brother Captain James Clark, Resident of Sumeneb.  After that, the reason I am sending this fragment of a note into my brother’s presence, in lieu of our meeting, is that my only wish is to give my brother a memento from me which I inherited from my brother’s father the late Panembahan, namely a Malay-style keris and a brazier, both of the Panembahan’s own using, and I hope my brother will accept these, though they are not as they should be, merely as a token of friendship.
Written on the 19th of Jumadilawal in the year 1230.
[signature] Student of The Summoner, the Pangeran Nata Negara, the prince'

Several other letters from Nata Kusuma have survived from his long reign, but this is the earliest known.  A future blog post will present Nata Kusuma's beautifully illuminated farewell letter to Raffles of 1816.

Further reading

A.T.Gallop, ‘Three Malay letters from Sumenep, Banjarmasin and Brunei’, in: Malay-Indonesian studies: dedicated to the 80th birthday of Vilen Sikorsky.  Moscow: Econ-inform. (Issue XIX), pp.117-127.

Thomas Stamford Raffles, The history of Java.  2 vols. London, 1817. [Facsimile reprint, with an introduction by John Bastin. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1965.]

Annabel Teh Gallop, Lead Curator, Southeast Asia

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Several posts on the Asian and African Studies blog have highlighted a variety of perceptions of worlds to come, from Zoroastrian visions of heaven and hell to Thai Buddhist depictions of future lives in manuscripts of the story of the monk Phra Malai. Reminders of the next world, dunia akhirat, are also found in Malay Islamic manuscripts, but painted with words rather than pigments, for there is no established tradition of illustration in Malay manuscripts.

Two Malay manuscripts in the British Library, Add. 12390 and Or. 6899, which have just been fully digitised, contain slightly variant versions of the Syair Makrifat, ‘Poem on Gnostic Knowledge’, concerning the need to strive in this life in order to reap rewards in the next. The Syair Makrifat is widely thought to be the work of the famous 17th-century Sufi writer and theologian Abdul Rauf from Singkil in north Sumatra, who studied in Mecca for many years before returning to Aceh to serve as Syaikh al-Islam to Sultanah Tajul Alam Safiatuddin Syah, the first queen of Aceh (r.1641-1675). However, Edwin Wieringa (2009: 19) has cautioned that Abdul Rauf never mentioned this poem as his own composition in his many other works of confirmed authorship, all of which are in prose.  


Syair Makrifat, a narrative poem on Islamic doctrine and the transience of worldly goods. The colophon shown above gives the date of copying as 24 Zulhijah, without specifying the year, and the name of the scribe and owner as Da’ut (wa-katibuhu Da'ut yang empunnya syair ini), with instructions to borrowers to take good care of the manuscript and to return it promptly. A scribbled note on f.1r has the date 1222 (AD 1807/8). British Library, Add. 12390, ff.22v-23r.

The version of Syair Makrifat in Or. 6899 ends on f.24r, exhorting borrowers to take care of the book:
‘Mister Umar is the owner of this book / anyone may borrow it
please treat it gently / and don’t let the pages come loose from the stitching’
Encik Umar yang empunya / sekalian orang boleh meminjamnya /
baik-baik sedikit menaruhnya / jangan diberi bercerai akan jaitannya
This manuscript also contains a second poem, Syair Dagang, ‘Ballad of the Wanderer’, which uses the itinerant trader of this life as a metaphor for preparations for the next life.  As Wieringa points out, the two poems are good stablemates as both concern the need to eschew wordly goods and instead look towards the afterlife.  The copy of Syair Dagang in Or.6899, said to have been composed by a man of Melaka, is incomplete, ending abruptly on f.28r on a salutory note:
‘Gold is a formidable material / very dangerous to hoard
if we just relax our guard for just a minute / it can inflict pain worse than a poisonous snake’
Emas itu sangat berbangsa / menaruh dia sangatlah bisa
jikalau lengah kita semena / sakitnya terlebih ular yang bisa


Malay manuscript containing two poems, Syair Makrifat on ff.1v-24r, and Syair Dagang on ff.24r-28r. British Library, Or. 6899, ff.1v-2r.

Although Malay manuscripts are not generally illustrated, manuscripts on Islamic mysticism and prayerbooks from Southeast Asia do sometimes have charts or drawings of the attributes of the next world.  A manuscript from Ambon in the Moluccas shown below, recently digitised through the Endangered Archives Programme, is in the form of a long scroll with detailed depictions of the stages of heaven, and similar Islamic manuscripts have been found in the southern Philippines. One manuscript from Mindanao annoted in Maranao portrays on one page the palatial mansion in heaven awaiting the woman patient enough to accept her husband’s taking another wife, while the facing page depicts the hovel in hell awaiting the woman who could not accept her husband’s second marriage  (Kawashima 2012: Fig.30).


Detail from a pictorial scroll depicting the heavens, from the collection of Said Manilet, Ambon.  Captions written vertically in the left margin give the name of each of seven gates (pintu), while a caption in the lower right margin describes these as the gates of heaven (ini pintu syurga). British Library, EAP276/9/17.

Further reading

Edwin Wieringa, ‘Syair berupa rintihan seorang penyalin tentang nasib malangnya: beberapa catatan mengenai BL Or. 6899 (Syair Makrifat dan Syair Dagang)’.  Kearifan lokal yang terkandung dalam manuskrip lama, penyunting Ding Choo Ming, Henri Chambert-Loir, Titik Pudjiastuti.  Bangi: Institut Alam dan Tamadun Melayu (ATMA), 2009; pp.15-30.

Kawashima Midori (ed.), The Qur'an and Islamic manuscripts of Mindanao.  Contributors Tirmizy E. Abdullah ... [et al].  Tokyo: Institute of Asian Cultures, Sophia University, 2012. (Monograph series; 10).

Annabel Teh Gallop, Lead Curator, Southeast Asia

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From the late 17th to the early 19th century, the most enduring British trading base in Southeast Asia was on the west coast of Sumatra at Bengkulu, referred to in contemporary English accounts as ‘Bencoolen’ and in Malay as ‘Bengkahulu’ or 'Bangkahulu'. After being ousted by the Dutch from Banten in west Java in 1682, the English East India Company established a ‘factory’ or trading post at Bengkulu in 1684, which lasted for nearly 150 years until it was exchanged for Melaka under the terms of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of London in 1824.  

The history of the British presence in Bengkulu is recorded in 162 thick red leather-bound volumes of ‘Sumatra Factory Records’, held today in the India Office Records in the British Library. The story is a desultory one, for the hoped-for fat profits from pepper never materialised and the factory suffered from poor crop yields and even worse administration. Events are almost entirely reported from the English point of view, but very occasionally original Malay sources have survived, which help to give us a local perspective.  


Fort Marlborough, Bengkulu, showing the Government House and Council House.  Coloured aquatint with etching; drawn by Andrews, ca.1794-98; engraved by Joseph Stadler; published by William Marsden, 1799. British Library, P 329.

Among the Malay manuscripts in the British Library recently digitised is a letter (Add.4828*) sent to the commander of the 'Company' in Bengkulu, at the time Richard Farmer. Although the letter is undated and written in the name of Datuk Raja Kuasa, it is annotated in a contemporary English hand From Sultan Cutchell / No.213 / Janry 14. 1718, referring to Sultan Takdirullah Muhammad Syah of Anak Sungai, better known as Raja Kecil Besar (r.1716-1728) (Kathirithamby-Wells 1977: 37), under whom Datuk Raja Kuasa served as a minister. The writer assures the English of his good will and acknowledges the glue of the relationship – a shared interest in trade – but also refers to the slanderous rumours swirling round on all sides. As the letter is quite short, it will be reproduced in full below, with the Malay text followed by an English translation. In line with Malay epistolographic conventions, the letter starts with a religious invocation or heading (kepala surat).  

Qawluhu al-haqq
Bahawa ini alamat surat tulus dan fu(ad) ikhlas serta putih hati sel(agi) ada peridar cakrawala bulan dan matahari akan menerangi malam dan siang {dan siang} tiada berubah kepada Kompeni, iaitu dari pada Datuk Raja Kuasa, barang sampailah kiranya kepada Orang Kaya Komandar Bengkahulu. Adapun seperti hal mengatakan surat Orang Kaya sudah sampai kepada hamba, mengeratilah hamba seperti dalam surat Orang Kaya Komandar itu kata pada hamba jangan mendangar feritnah [i.e. fitnah] itupun hamba tiada bercarai dangan Kompeni, bicara hamba dan setia hamba tiada berubah pada Kompeni, karena Kompeni dagang kami pun Melayu dagang sama2, kita malu juga jikalau dibuwang kita sama2 malu dagang kita itupun jikalau kerja raja2 tiada hamba tahu dan tiada hamba peduli pada bicara raja itu, jangan Komandar mendangar feritnah orang lain kata surat hamba yang di{a}dangar oleh Orang Kaya.  Lagi kata Komandar dahu(lu) kepada hamba berkirim surat pada hamba juru tulis hamba diberi belanja empat rial sebulan sekarang satu pun tiada malu hamba kepada kata itu yang menyurat itu dari Bengkahu(lu) juru tulis anak hamba Encik Beruruk.  Jikalau kan diberi belanja suruh hantar pada m.l.l.a.d.w k.a.t.a.h.n pada hamba ke Pangatang tamat, jikalau ada tiada suruh tamat.

His Word is The Truth
This is an honest letter from a sincere and pure heart, and as long as the moon and sun revolve and light up night and day never shall it waver towards the Company, from Datuk Raja Kuasa, may it be conveyed to the Noble Commander at Bengkahulu.  I have received your letter and understood its contents, whereby you advise me not to pay any attention to the slander, and I assure you I will never be parted from the Company, my word and my loyalty remains firmly pledged to the Company, for the Company is for trade and we Malays too are equally for trade, we would be ashamed to break off relations, for our trade would equally suffer; if that is the decision of the princes then I know nothing of it, and neither will I heed it, so I beg the Commander not to listen to the slander in the letter said to have been written by me which has come to your attention.  Furthermore the Commander had previously informed me in writing that my scribe would be paid four rial per month, and I find nothing to be ashamed of in that, the one who wrote the news from Bengkulu was my scribe Mister Beruruk.  If you are planning to send the payment please send it to …. to me at Pangatang; the end.  But if not, not; the end.

Malay letter from Datuk Raja Kuasa to Richard Farmer, Deputy Governor of Bengkulu, recd. 14 January 1718. British Library, Add. 4828*, f.2v.


The letter was not placed in an envelope, but was folded with the address written on the outer side (Bahawa ini alamat surat dari pada Datuk Raja Kuasa barang sampailah kiranya kepada Orang Kaya Komandar Bengkahulu), and closed with a red wax seal. The letter was presented to the British Museum in 1767 by Mrs Rust, daughter of Governor Farmer. British Library, Add. 4828*, f.1r (detail) 

A number of early Malay letters from Bengkulu are known, scattered through the  Sumatra Factory Records or held in other institutions; none of the others  have yet been digitised, but all are listed below for reference.

Malay letters from Bengkulu to the East India Company (up to 1763)

1.     Letter from Tunku Baginda Raja Makota of Anak Sungai to the Orang Kaya Jenderal [Joseph Collett] in Bengkulu, [ca.1712-16]. Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk Record Office, 613/841. (Gallop 1994: 121).
2.     Letter from Datuk Raja Kuasa (conveyed by Sultan Kecil Besar of Anak Sungai) to Orang Kaya Komandar [Richard Farmer] in Bengkulu, [recd. 14 Jan 1718]. British Library, Add.4828*
3.    Letter from Pangiran Mangku Raja and Pangiran Sungai Hitam to the East India Company in Bengkulu, 17 April 1724. British Library, IOR: G/35/8, f.568A. (Bastin 1965: 57).
4.    Letter from Sultan Gandam Syah of Muko-Muko to the East India Company, [Sept. 1733]. British Library, IOR: G/25/8, f.577. (Gallop 1994: 129).
5.     Letter from Pangiran Mangku Raja and Pangiran Khalifah Raja to the East India Company at Fort Marlborough, Bengkulu, Nov 1733. British Library, IOR: G/35/8, f.369. (Bastin 1965: 59-60).
6.     Letter from Raja Mengkuta and Raja Gelumat and the 59 perbatin (perbatin yang kurang esa enam puluh) to the Governor of Bengkulu, [early 18th c]. Cambridge University Library, Add.285, no. 63.
7.    Letter from Pangiran [Makota] Raja of Silebar to Governor Roger Carter, 6 June 1763. British Library, IOR: G/35/13, f.58

Further reading

John Bastin, The British in West Sumatra.  Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press, 1965.
A.T. Gallop, The Legacy of the Malay Letter / Warisan Warkah Melayu.  London: British Library, 1994.
J. Kathirithamby-Wells, The British West Sumatran Presidency (1760-85): problems of early colonial enterprise.  Kuala Lumpur: Penerbit University Malaya, 1977.

Annabel Teh Gallop, Lead Curator, Southeast Asia

Updated 12 July 2023 with thanks to Christopher Buyers for biographical notes on Datuk Raja Kuasa.

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