The Wily Malay Mousedeer

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10 February 2015

The wily Malay mousedeer

Many cultures celebrate an animal who, while not the largest or strongest,outwits all around him. In Europe this is Reynard the fox; in the Malay wor ld of Southeast Asia it is Sang Kancil the mousedeer ( pelanduk ). Malay folklor e isfull of accounts of how the mousedeer gets the better of the other animals byhis intellect and trickery. But in addition to oral tales and childens’ stories t hereis also a written epic in Malay, the Hikayat Pelanduk Jenaka or 'Tale of theWily Mousedeer', probably dating from the 15th or 16th century, which is ahighly sophisticated literary composition.

Sumatran mousedeer. Drawing by a Chinese artist in Bengkulu, between 1784

and 1808, reproduced in William Marsden, A history of Sumatra, 3rdedition (London, 1811). British Library, NHD 1/8.

In the Hikayat Pelanduk Jenaka, the mousedeer tricks the other animals intothinking that he has magic powers, and holds court from an ant-hill. He usesthese 'powers' to make peace between the goats and the tigers and to gain

http://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/.a/6a00d8341c464853ef01b8d0c36f94970c-pihttp://a7.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c36f7f970c-pihttp://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2015/02/southeast-asian-manuscripts-digitised-through-the-ginsburg-legacy.htmlhttp://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2015/02/the-beauty-of-palm-leaf-manuscripts-3-storage-and-preservation.htmlhttp://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/index.htmlhttp://www.bl.uk/index.shtml


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their allegiance, and then by his cunning gets the better of the lion, elephantand crocodile. Finally the mousedeer sees off his enemies the monkeys, andbecomes the ruler of the jungle. This satire on power has been characterisedby Ian Proudfoot: ‘It is subversive; it is cynical. It attacks authority rather thanbolstering it … Its premise is that royal power rests on false consciousness. Itdemonstrates how a gullible public can be made to think they need an authorityfigure through a combination of religious fraud and false security fears’(Proudfoot 2001: 70-71).

There are three Malay manuscripts of the Hikayat Pelanduk Jenaka in theBritish Library which have now been digitised, all originating from Penang or Kedah around 1805. MSS Malay B.2, from the collection of John Leyden, isdated 1219 AH (1804/5 AD), and was published by Klinkert in 1893. Thesecond copy (MSS Malay D.5) is undated, but comprises the second work in avolume containing four different tales, and is in the same hand as the first item,Hikayat Muhammad Hanafiah, which was copied by Mahmud ibn Husain on14 Syaaban 1220 (7 November 1805).

Hikayat Pelanduk Jenaka, dated 1219 AH (1804/5 AD). British Library, MSSMalay B.2, ff. 1v-2r .

http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=mss_malay_b_2_f001vhttp://a1.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01bb07dd2681970d-pihttp://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2015/01/a-malay-spur-to-valour-the-hikayat-muhammad-hanafiah.htmlhttp://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=MSS_Malay_D_5http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=MSS_Malay_B_2http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/malay.html


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First page of Hikayat Pelanduk Jenaka, 'This is a tale from olden days': Al-kisah ini hikayat daripada orang dahulu kala. MSS Malay B.10, f. 2r .

Colophon of Hikayat Pelanduk Jenaka, copied by Ahmad Keling on 22 Rejab1220 (16 October 1805): diperbuat surat ini pada dua likur hari bulan Rejabhari Arba' pada sanat 1220 tahun, tahun wau, wa-katibuhu seorang fakir

http://a0.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c30458970c-pihttp://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=mss_malay_b_10_f002rhttp://a6.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b7c739720e970b-pi


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Ahmad Keling tamat . MSS Malay B.10, f.38r (detail).

The final letter of the word al-kisah is the Arabic letter tā’ marbūṭa, which inMalay manuscripts is often adorned with a decorative knot. Significantly, theMalay name of this letter is either ta marbuta or ta bersimpul , ‘knottedta’. Artistic variations can include multiple-looped knots, double-headed loops,and concave or convex headed loops to these knots. Knotted ta marbuta isfound in manuscripts from all over the archipelago, with some of the mostcomplex versions found in the surah headings in Qur’an manuscripts from Java

(Gallop 2005: 203-9). And yet however elaborate the embellishments of theknot, they are generally conducted along a horizontal plane. In the manuscriptof Hikayat Pelanduk Jenaka, however, the 5-looped double-headed ta marbutais extended vertically. This form of the letter has only ever been seen in oneother Malay manuscript: the Hikayat Perintah negeri Benggala; moreover, bothtexts are set in double-ruled frames in a slightly acidic brown-black ink whichhas begun to eat into the paper. All these factors leave little doubt that ‘AhmadKeling’ is indeed Ahmad Rijaluddin.

Vertically extended knotted ta marbuta of al-kisah in (left) Hikayat PerintahNegeri Benggala (Add. 12386, f.2v) and (right) Hikayat Pelanduk Jenaka

(MSS Malay B.10, f.2r ).

The heading for the penultimate chapter in a Qur'an manuscript from Java,Sūrat al-Falaq, with examples of knotted ta marbuta on the words Sūrat andMakiyyah, and on final ta of ayat . The final example has six loops, doubleheaded on the bottom and concave headed at the top. British Library, Add.12343, f.189r.

Further reading:

A.T. Gallop, Beautifying Jawi: between calligraphy and palaeography.Malay images, ed. Asmah Haji Omar. Tanjung Malim: Universiti PendidikanSultan Idris, 2005; pp.194-233.

Ian Proudfoot, A 'Chinese' mousedeer goes to Paris. Archipel , 2001, 61:69-97.

R.O. Winstedt, A history of classical Malay literature. Revised, edited andintroduced by Y.A.Talib. Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysian Branch of the Royal

Asiatic Society, 1991; ‘Beast fables’, pp.7-13.

Annabel Teh Gallop, Lead Curator, Southeast Asia

http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/arch_0044-8613_2001_num_61_1_3613?luceneQuery=%2B%28authorId%3Apersee_158450+authorId%3A%22auteur+arch_523%22%29&words=persee_158450&words=auteur%20arch_523https://www.academia.edu/7477256/Beautifying_Jawi_between_calligraphy_and_palaeographyhttp://a3.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b8d0c37443970c-pihttp://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=mss_malay_b_10_f002rhttp://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=add_ms_12386_f002vhttp://a1.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01bb07dd29b1970d-pihttp://a3.typepad.com/6a0192ac16c415970d01b7c7397393970b-pihttp://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=mss_malay_b_10_f038r


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Malay

manuscripts

on Bugis

history

A Malay spur

to valour: the

Hikayat

Muhammad

Hanafiah

Ibrahim:

portrait of a

Malay scribe

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Posted by Annabel Gallop at 1:04 AM

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Digitisation, Malay, South East Asia

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The Wily Malay Mousedeer

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