Page 47 - Hikayat-Patani-The-Story-Of-Patani 1

38 HIKAYAT PATANI

b. The Thai translation
It seems beyond doubt that the Thai translation was made direct
from a Malay manuscript. The difficulty is, however, that we do not
know how literal the translation is or to what extent the Thai translator
allowed himself certain liberties with regard to his model. In other words,
we find it impossible to decide whether differences between the Malay
and the Thai text are attributable to differences between our MSS. and
the Malay MS. from which the Thai author worked or to conscious or
unconscious adaptation, errors, elaborations or abbreviations on the part
of the Thai translator. However, even though this missing link makes
it difficult to draw conclusions, a comparison of the three versions is
useful; the very nature of the differences may give us some indications
as to their explanation.
The first thing which becomes clear when we look at the three texts
is that all three begin at exactly the same point, but that each has a
different ending. B stops at the end of part I of A, i.e. of section 39 of T.
T 40—43 contains information which roughly coincides with a number
of paragraphs of parts II, IV and V of A but can certainly not be called
an abridged translation of A. Parts III and VI of A are lacking in T.
In any case the parts of the two texts fit for comparison are A 1—78
and the whole of B of the Malay text, and T 1—42. We give below a
summary of a detailed comparison of these two parts. For convenience
sake we refer to the page numbers of the Abdullah MS., or, as the case
may be, to the relevant footnotes in the Notes to the Text and to the
paragraph numbers of the English translation of the Thai text.
In the first part of the texts A and T correspond closely, T 1—18
being a faithful, though in some respects abbreviated, rendering of
A 1—16. The stories of the two royal voyages to Siam are considerably
shorter in T 19—24 than we find them to be in A 16—26. Many
characteristic details are omitted here, although in other parts of this
fragment there is an almost literal correspondence between the two texts,
e.g., T 21 and A 18b—19a. The same type of abbreviation, though of an
even more drastic nature, is found in the story of Wan Muhammad’s
journey to Siam (T 28, cf. A 30—35). Between these we find in both
texts the story of Palembang’s attack on Patani, essentially similar in
A 27—29 and T 25—26, but with T omitting a number of characteristic
details, such as the partially Javanese dialogue at the court of Palembang.
The genealogical details of T 27 are for the greater part similar to those
of A 29, but then again interesting details from A with regard to the