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presentday.In1856theBurmeseKingMindon,founderoftheroyalcityof
MandalayandconvenoroftheFifthBuddhistCouncil,orderedtheengravingof
theBurmesePaliTipitakaonto729stonestelae.Onehundredyearslater,the
SixthBuddhistCouncilwasconvenedinBurma(1954–6)torevisethe
engravedtextandpublishaprinteditioninBurmese.
In1969theBuddhistInstituteofCambodiapublishedthecompletePalitextof
theTipitakabasedonacriticaleditiondoneinThailand,togetherwithaKhmer
translationin110volumes.ThiseditionwascompletedunderFrenchinfluence,
withitsmoreacademicapproachtoeditingandtranslation.SeveralCambodian
verseadaptationsoftheMahanipataweremadefromthisTipitakacollection.
TheRamayanacontinuestobepopularthroughoutMainlandSoutheastAsia.
Thailand’sRamaIV(1920–25)commissionedanewtranslationofitbased
uponanEnglishtranslationoftheSanskritoriginal;thefirstcriticaleditionofthe
LaoPhraLokPhraLamwaspublishedin1973.Mostrecently,the
CambodianBuddhistInstitutepublishedThunHin’sKhmertranslationofthe
Ramayanain2005.
IslaminIslandSoutheastAsia
ThecomingofIslamtoIslandSoutheastAsiaafterthebeginningofthe
thirteenthcenturyCEgraduallyputanendtotheformalcreationand
consumptionofHinduandBuddhisttextsinthisregion.Sometextssurvivedin
suitablyadaptedversions;otherswerenotrecopied,allowedtorot,or
sometimeseitherburnedorconsignedtobeusedaswastepaperforcleansing
purposes(SheikhNuruddinarRaniri1992:29).
Again,religioustexts(theQUR’ĀNandthestoriesofthelifeoftheProphet
Muhammad,hadith),togetherwith‘explanations’inindigenouslanguages,
wereatthecentreofthesystem,whileadventurestoriescontinuedtoappeal
stronglytothemenofthecourt(andlovestoriestotheirwomen).Theearliest
legendsderivedfromtheShiatraditions,whichwerelaterconsideredtobe
unorthodoxthroughouttheregion.A.SamadAhmadnotesthat‘thegreater
part’ofMuslimchroniclesinMalayfromc.1300toc.1600swere‘translations
oradaptationsofPersianstoriesandmostfollowPersianwritingstyles’(A.
SamadAhmad1987:xix).
AmajorexampleistheHikayatMuhammadHanafiyyah,whichisbasedona
Persiantextwritteninabout1350andtranslatedintoanarchaicformof
classicalMalayshortlythereafter.Thetextconsistsoftwoparts.Thefirsttells
ofthemartyrdomofHasanandHusein,grandsonsoftheProphetbutdestined
nevertosucceedhimastheleadersofIslam.Thesecondpartisaquite
unhistoricalaccountoftheattemptoftheirhalfbrother,MuhammadHannifiyah,
torevengetheirbetrayal.ThemajorityoftheMalaytextisfluentandidiomatic,
althoughsectionslapseintoanunidiomatic‘translationese’,whichis
distinguishedbyits‘clumsinessandweirdconstructions’(Brakel1975:44).
These,however,laterhaveastructuralpurpose:theyarereservedfordirect
quotationsfromArabicandPersian,forparaphrasesofArabicphrasesand
quotations,andforthefinerpointsofreligiouslaw.Thetwostyles,aseditorL.
Brakelstates,are‘complementary’,andtheiruseisstructurallydeterminedin
thatthedifferentformsserveopposingpurposes(ibid.).Othertranslationsof
MiddleEasternwarriorstoriesmadepriortothesixteenthcenturyincludethe
HikayatAmirHamzah,describingthebattlesoftheuncleoftheProphetin
defenceofthenewfaith,andtheHikayatIskandarDzulKarnain,thelifeof
AlexandertheGreat.
TheTajasSalatin(CrownofKings)byBukharialJauhariwascompletedin
theAchehnesecourtofAlauddinRiayatShahin1603.Thefirstthreechapters
dealinapantheisticmannerwiththenatureofmankind,ofGod,andofthe
world.Theremainingtwentythreechaptersdeal,asthecolonialscholarSir
RichardWinstedtwrites,‘withsuchtopicsasdeath,theCaliphsandtheir
honourablepoverty,justandunjustrulers,Muslimandinfidel,viziers,writers,
envoys,officials,children,rightconduct,intelligence,thescienceof
physiognomy,thequalificationsofrulersandtheirdutiestosubjectsMuslimand
infidel,theirneedtokeepfaithandbeliberal’(Winstedt1977:140).Winstedt
findstheMalay‘atrocious’(ibid.:138).Amorerecentscholar,V.Braginsky,
simplynotesthatthetextincludesPersiancalques,avarietyofPersianpoetic
formsandrhymedprose,andreferstooverfiftyArabicandPersiansources
(Braginsky2004:431).
OtherworkstranslatedfromPersianandArabictotheendofthenineteenth
century