Page 39 - Hikayat-Patani-The-Story-Of-Patani 1

30 HIKAYAT PATANI

This Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah has become one of the classics of
Malay literature.
It was apparently during this time that Abdullah also copied the
manuscript of the Hikayat Patani for Mr. North. The question now
arises as to where he obtained the original from which he copied his
manuscript. One could think of the possibility of Mr. North’s borrowing
Newbold’s manuscript and having it copied. This is impossible, however,
if on the one hand Newbold had already presented his MS. to the
Madras Society in January, 1838, and if on the other Abdullah is correct
in stating that he finished copying his MS. in October, 1839.16 Another
possibility is that Abdullah obtained a text of the Hik. Patani during
his journey to Kalantan in 1837. This is all the more likely since we
know that in Kalantan Abdullah obtained several Malay MSS. which
he borrowed for copying in Singapore. In his “Voyage” he mentions
that when making enquiries about a MS. of the Hikayat Kemala Bahrain
with a Mr. Ha, he received a basketful of religious texts to look at. But
among these papers there were also manuscripts of the Hikayat Isma
Dewa Pekerma Raja and the Kitab Khoja Maimun. These texts Abdul­
lah borrowed from Mr. Ha and took home to Singapore to copy.17
It is remarkable that the Washington collection should include copies
by Abdullah of the two texts mentioned above as well as a copy of the
Hikayat Patani. Should we infer from this fact that Abdullah obtained
a MS. of the Hik. Patani together with the Hikayat Isma Dewa Pekerma
Raja and the Kitab Khoja Maimun, and that he made copies of all
three on behalf of Mr. North? An argument which supports this hypo­
thesis is that Kalantan is the most likely place in the whole of Malaya
in which a manuscript of the Hik. Patani might be found. On the other
hand, in the Washington collection are also found copies of texts which
are not likely to have come from Kalantan, e.g. the Annals of the Kings
of Johore. So for the time being the question as to where the original
of the Hikayat Patani which Abdullah copied came from must remain
unanswered. Below a critical comparison will be made of the Newbold
version and our text in order to establish as far as possible the relation­
ship between the two versions.

10 Newbold apparently was in India during the period in question; he had been in
Malaya earlier — where he arrived in about 1829, took part in the so-called
Naning War (1831—32) and was put in charge of a military post at Kuala
Linggi in 1833. See Hill, 1955, p. 319. For a Biographical Memoir of Capt. T. J.
Newbold, adapted from the Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce of June
5th, 1850, see JSBRAS 19 (1887), pp. 143—149.
17 Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah, 1960, p. 81.