Temikei: mendikei: kamendikei. NQ 4
W.E. Maxwell, a British colonial administrator serving as Assistant Resident in Perak, published in 1886 a verbatim transcription of a Malay oral romance called Sri Rama, taken down from the lips of a village story-teller named Mir Hassan of Kampar. The work documents a living oral tradition rooted in the Rāmāyaṇa, demonstrating how the great Hindu epic had been absorbed, transformed, and perpetuated through Malay popular performance. Maxwell’s overarching thesis is that the profound influence of the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata across the Far East is best evidenced not in literary texts but in the “somewhat childish narrative of the Malay village-singer” (p. 88).
Summary
Maxwell frames the publication within the broader context of Malay oral storytelling, describing the penglipur lara—the “soother of cares”—as a figure who, in the balei of a Raja or on a private verandah, intones legendary romances in a monotonous chant, holding audiences of all ages enthralled through the night (pp. 87–88). He compares the wandering Malay rhapsodist to Homer among the Greek cities, noting that the story-teller inherits his repertoire from his father and ancestors and is rewarded with a hearty welcome and a good meal wherever he goes. Maxwell had witnessed Mir Hassan’s talents during his time in Perak and, through the influence of Raja Idris, induced the story-teller to visit Singapore in 1886 so that his legendary lore could be committed to writing (p. 88).
The narrative itself opens in the kingdom of Tanjong Bunga, where Raja Sri Rama, married three years without an heir, summons his elder brother Raja Laksamana to perform a divination ritual. The sorcerer predicts an heir will be born but warns that a lake on a coastal hill will transform anyone who bathes in it into a monkey (p. 92). The Princess, ignoring the warning, plunges into the lake and is transformed; Sri Rama follows suit. Their son is consequently born as an infant monkey, named Kra Kechil Imam Tergangga, who is eventually banished to a remote forest by his ashamed father (pp. 97–99). The monkey wanders to the court of Shah Numan, then to the kingdom of Bandar Tahwil, where he is taken in by Princess Renek Jintan. He later discovers he is the son of Sri Rama, gains the allegiance of vast monkey armies, and ultimately rescues his mother from Maharaja Duwana, a sorcerer-king who had abducted her from Kachapuri (pp. 102–110). The story concludes with the monkey-prince’s transformation into a human named Mambang Bongsu, his marriage to Renek Jintan, and his accession as Raja of Bandar Tahwil (pp. 111–113).
Maxwell’s commentary interspersed throughout the narrative highlights the oral text’s distinctive features: the piling up of similes and synonymous descriptive phrases, the formulaic travel phrases, the anachronistic inclusion of cannon and muskets, and the metrical passages in a rhythm Maxwell compares to Dayak blank-verse (pp. 88, 90, 95). He draws explicit parallels between the Malay narrative and the Indian epic, noting that Hanuman’s showing Sita a ring corresponds to the monkey’s slipping a ring into a water-jar, and that Hanuman’s burning of Lanka is echoed in the destruction of Kachapuri (p. 109).
Key Findings
- The text was transcribed verbatim from Mir Hassan’s oral performance by native writers, with Maxwell providing explanations of obscure passages; it represents a genuine village-singer’s version rather than a scribe’s literary composition (p. 88).
- Maxwell identifies the penglipur lara as a professional oral performer whose art temporarily banishes woes, comparing the figure’s role and itinerancy to that of Homer among Greek cities (pp. 87–88).
- The story contains a detailed description of Sri Rama’s dress, including a kris “sampana ganja iras” whose iron is said to be harder than the iron of the Kaaba’s door, and a turban inscribed with love-compelling attributes such as “Ashik sa’kampong” and “Sapalit gila” (pp. 92–94).
- The divination ritual performed by Raja Laksamana—using a candle, tepong tawar (sacred water), bertik (parched rice), bras kunnet (yellow rice), and white cloth—is described as identical to the practice of a Malay pawang at the present day (pp. 91–92).
- Maxwell notes that the Andaman Islands likely owe their name to Malay identification of their inhabitants with the monkeys of Hanuman, the Malays calling the group “Pulau Handuman” (p. 88).
- The narrative includes a metrical passage describing tropical daybreak that Maxwell translates into English verse, noting its “beauty of expression” as a specimen of oral poetic art (pp. 89–90).
Conclusion
Maxwell’s definitive historical takeaway is that the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata have exercised a “profound influence” across the Far East—what he terms India extra Gangem and the islands beyond—such that no village-stage in Siam, Malaya, or Java presents dramas not directly referable to these sources (p. 88). The oral text he preserves demonstrates that this influence operated not merely through literary transmission but through the living medium of popular performance, where the epic’s core elements (the wrongs of Sita Dewi, the might of Rawana, the prowess of Hanuman) became “household words everywhere” while being reshaped by local narrative conventions, Islamic references, and the aesthetic preferences of the Malay audience.
Context
- Maxwell was collecting oral Malay romances as part of a broader programme; he notes that two other stories by Mir Hassan (Raja Ambong and Raja Donan) had already been transcribed, and a third (Raja Budiman or Naga Mas) was secured from a teller in Penang, with further collections in progress in Sarawak (p. 113).
- The publication appears in the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, reflecting the Society’s early commitment to documenting indigenous oral traditions before the “present generation of story-tellers dies out” (p. 113).