SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis is a study of the Hikayat Indraputra, a Malay romance which could be classified as a cerita pelipur lara. There are thirty extant manuscripts, preserved in Berlin, Brussels, Cambridge, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Leiden, London, Paris, and Sri Lanka. This thesis is organized in four parts. The first part contains a discussion of all the manuscripts of the hikayat Indvaputra, and traces the efforts to establish the age of the manuscripts. Special attention is given to the undated manuscripts. MS I (Leiden) is chosen as the reference manuscript; a summary of it is given. It is dated 29 Rajab A.H. 1111 [20 January A.D. 1700], it comprises a complete version of the story, it is neatly written, and it is the second oldest extant manuscript. Although MS F (Jakarta), a XVIIth century manuscript of which the precise date is not known, is older, it cannot be utilised as the reference manuscript, since it is defective. The second part traces references to the Hikayat Indraputra given in the Sirat al-Mustakim, the Taj as-Salatin, and the Bustan as-Salatin, This story is found in the Indonesian regional literatures, i.e. in Achehnese, Buginese, and Macassarese. Outside the Malay world, the Hikayat Indraputra is also found in Cham and Philippine literature. There is consideration of its motifs and the role of helping powers in the Hikayat Indraputra, the extant of Islamic influence, and the evidence for the existence of a shorter version of our story is examined. The third part deals with the spelling of MS I and the editing of the text; it includes the transliteration of MS I. The fourth part consists of appendices including quotations of texts concerning the Hikayat Indraputra as found in manuscripts of the Sirat al-Mustakim and the Bustan as-Salatin other than those already quoted in the second part.