Book Reviews - G.W.J. Drewes, A.H. Johns, The gift addressed to the spirit of the prophet. Oriental Monograph Series No. 1. Centre of Oriental Studies. The Australian National University, Canberra 1965. 224 pp. - , In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 122 (1966), no: 2, Leiden, 290-300

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Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 03:50:30PM via free access BOEKBESPREKINGEN The Gift addressed to the Spirit of the Prophet by Dr. A. H. JOHNS, Professor of Indonesian Languages and Literatures. Oriental Monograph Series No. 1. Centre of Oriental Studies. The Australian National University, Canberra 1965. 224 pp. 8°. The title of this book is that of the Arabic text and its versified Javanese adaptation which are both published here together with an English translation. The Arabic text has been prepared by Dr P. Voorhoeve from the manuscripts of the work and the commentaries on it preserved in the Oriental Department of the University library at Leiden. The Javanese text is based on two MSS., British Museum Add 12305 and Cod. or. 5594 Leiden. The author of the Arabic work was an Indian Muslim, Muhammad ibn Fadlallah al-Burhanpürï, who died in 1620. As to the age of the Javanese adaptation the conclusion arrived at by Professor Johns is that the nucleus of the text was in existence in the second half of the 18th century, although the original work must have been known in Java at least one hundred year earlier. I am inclined to disagree with Professor Johns' opinion that the Javanese poet did his work in Tegal arurn at the behest of the Javanese governor of that region. This is not what he says in the opening strophes. According to his own words the Javanese adaptation of the Tuhfa (the Gift) was made by order of the "Prince who resides at Pakungwati" (str. 5). Now Pakungwati is another name for the town of Cherbon, so that his royal principal was one of the Sultans of this petty kingdom. This does not go counter to what precedes in the same strophe, to wit that the author began to compose his didactic poem when staying at the martapura (=: necropolis), obviously the well-known cemetery, at Tegal arum in the neighbourhood of Tegal, where Mang- kurat I of Mataram lies buried. Or, perhaps, at Pasaréan (= grave; cemetery), the hamlet in close vicinity of this cemetery.1 Professor Johns' translation of martapura by 'coastal town' and his supposition that this word is a pseudonym for the 'coastal town of Tegal arum' are equally untenable. Tegal arum is the name of an elevation of the ground (siti muntuk), a hill near Tegal, not of the town itself (vide Babad Tanah Djawi ed. Olthof p. 171), and though

1 This hamlet is also mentioned in the beginning of the Djaka Saléwah, MS. Ned. Bijbelgenootschap no. 152 as the place where the copy of this story was made. (Vide: Juynboll, Suppl. Cat. Jav. Hss. Leiden II: 80; Poerbatja- raka, Voorhoeve and Hooykaas, Indonesische Handschriften, p. 96.)

Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 03:50:30PM via free access BOEKBESPREKINGEN. 291 marta is a poetic word for water (deriving from Skr. amrta, nectar), there is also another word marta which means 'dead' (Skr. mrta). It is difficult to see what else but cemetery could be meant in the given context: martapura ing Tegal arum enggèné, the martapura at Tegal arum. Nor is it improbable that a prince of Cherbon ordered this adaptation to be made. Cherbon was an important religious centre of the Pasisir and in many respects may be considered a link between Sumatran and Javanese Islam. It is quite possible that in Javanese religious circles in Western Java the need was feit to possess an easily accessible version of the work of Muhammad b. Fadlallah, so well-known in North Sumatra, and also that a Sultan of Cherbon charged a Javanese religious scholar with the task of providing such a version. The editor is of the opinion that the Arabic Tuhfa "represents an attempt on the part of the orthodox Sufi tradition to restrain the extremist tendencies of certain groups of mystics in India, and else- where, and ensure the grasp and practice of the essential elements of Islam" (p. 5). It seems a fair question to ask what exactly is meant by "the orthodox Sufi tradition", which is represented here as some kind of active Corporation; similarly one would be glad to hear more about these extremist groups our author is supposed to combat, since the text contains no specific reference to thetn. And secondly, on examining the contents of the Tuhfa one cannot fail to observe that, apart from a number of exhortations to keep to the Law, there is very little of the essential elements of Islam in this tract. Therefore, I cannot share the editor's conviction that the author was prompted by the desire to combat extremist tendencies. His book is a short treatise on Sufi ontology, completely in the vein of thinking of Ibn al-'Arabï and the author of the Insan al-k&mil, and one gets the impression that the first and foremost incentive for composing it was the author's desire to lay claim to a recognized place for this ontological doctrine within the body Islamic. The doctrine was not modified but by stressing the need for keeping within the bounds of the Law the author apparently aimed at making it acceptable {muwajiqa; cf. the title of his own commentary on the text) to people of the orthodox persuasion. So for instance we are told that the direct vision of God in creation is the prerogative of those ahl al-haqïqa who have attained the third stage of the mystic's progress without swerving from the Law and the Path. But this vision is explained in the terminology and spirit of Ibn al-'Arabï and 'Abd al-Karim al-Jïlï, both of them exponents of

Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 03:50:30PM via free access 292 BOEKBESPREKINGEN. extremist conceptions: God is the substance or the substrate of the Universe, or, in the words of our text (§ 17): "From the standpoint of being all existents are God, but from that of determination are other than He. The otherness is relative, for from the standpoint of reality all is God". The crucial point of this doctrine is the relationship between the (pre-existent) a'ySn thabita or Archetypal Ideas and their embodiment, the a'ySn kharija or External Essences, because the createdness and multiplicity of the latter would seem to imply the createdness of the a'yOn thabita, or at least plurality in God, should their createdness have been convincingly explained away. The accusation of detracting from God's unity is obviated by the assertion that in contradistinction to the Exterior Essences which are distinct entities the Archetypal Ideas are general concepts existing in God's knowledge and as such without any exterior existence. Further the reasoning is this: that God's knowledge being one of His eternal attributes and knowledge without known being absurd, they partake in the priority {qidam) of these attributes, though logically they are originated (muhdath, Jav. anjar) as deriving from God's Being, murakkab 'ala wujüd al-Haqq, as the Insan al-Kdmil says. In this work the paragraph on qidam is partly devoted to this question, the starting-point being an explanation of the twofold meaning of muhdath: 1°. called into being by an agent; 2°. logically posterior. Therefore, Professor Zoetmulder (thesis p. 123) was quite right when he suggested tentatively that the Javanese word anjar beside createdness might also denote posterioritas logica; his translation of the pertinent strophe, however, is not in conformity with this suggestion. When one keeps in mind the twofold meaning of anjar the difficulty ostensibly offered by C. I str. 42, 43, where the author of the Insan al-KSmil is said to attribute hudüth to the a'yan thQbita, is no difficulty at all, for this is what he teaches, or at least part of his doctrine. He even finds fault with those spiritual guides who declare that the a'yan thSbita are merely qadïm, while ignoring the other aspect. In view of this Prof. Johns' note on C. I str. 41 (p. 115) is not to the point, because the Javanese translater drew on the Insan al-Kamil, not on Ash'arite dogmatics (though later commentators may have done so), while his note on strophe 43 is erroneous, because so far from being a misrepresentation of al-Jïlï's teaching this strophe contains exactly the point stressed by this author, though only as part of his doctrine. Therefore the original reading jekti in C. 1:43 1.2, which

Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 03:50:30PM via free access BOEKBESPREKINGEN. 293 both MSS. and Zoetmulder's text have in commori, is correct, whereas the conjecture mohal has to be rejected as a misrepresentation of al-Jilï's teaching. As is well-known from Indonesian literature the issue of the a'yan thabita was time and again a favourite subject of theological contro- versies in Indonesia. No wonder the Javanese translater thought fit to expatiate on it, though it is only touched on in the Arabic original.

On the translation of the Arabic text and the Arabic quotations in the notes I wish to offer the following remarks. Introduction. al-'dqiba li 'l-muttaqln (thus; neither mutakkïn nor muttakkïn as given in the Errata on p. 138 is correct) is a quotation from the Qur'an (7:128; 28: 83; cf. 20: 132) frequently met with in the exordia of Arabic writings. It is usually translated: The final issue is to those who show piety. § 1. The tasliya formula salla 'llahu 'alaihi wa-sallama, pronounced after mentioning the prophet Muhammad is (here and passim) rendered literally: God's prayers and peace be upon him, a translation long since abandoned by Western scholars. Already in 1896 Goldziher remarked 2 that this rendering was unsatis- factory and that the translation almost unanimously consented to at the time was: God bless him and grant him well-being (or peace). As pointed out by Goldziher this interpretative rendering tallies with the opinion held by the majority of the Muslims, among them no less a scholar than al-Qadï 'Iyad, the greatest authority for every Muslim with regard to all questions connected with the position of the prophet. Another interpretation is advocated by al-Baidawï in his commentary on Qur'an 2: 157, where salawat (min rabbihim) is explained as "purification and forgiveness". By 'ilm al-haqa'iq is meant: speculative Süfï theology. The Tuhfa is a nubdha, not a selection but a brief sketch of the principal tenets thereof. § 2. Ikhwanï = My brethren, not: My brothers. wa 'l-ilbas {mukhtalifa), as Prof. Johns reads (cf. p. 108, where ilbas is given as the equivalent of Jav. panganggé (not panganggèn) in Canto 1: 16) cannot be the correct reading; one would expect wa 'l-malabis, the vestures. dhalika 'l-wujüd haqlqa jamï' al-mawjüdat wa-batinuhu, that Being is the inner reality of creation (the same in § 16 and in the Javanese text Canto I: 10). dhalika 'l-wujüd laisi bi-ma'na 'l-tahaqquq wa 'l-husül li-annahuma min al- ma'anl al-masdariyya means: Here wujüd (existence, Being) should not be understood in the sense of tahaqquq or husül (both verbal nouns denoting the 'state of being or existing') since these terms are significant of derivative concepts. The meaning of the last words becomes clear for instance by comparing this passage with what is said by Jamï (died 1492) in § 14 of his Lawa'ih, where the same point is argued in almost identical words,3 with the addition that 'being' in the last named sense is a ma'qüla thaniya, an 'idea of the 'second intention' — which words in scholastic terminology denote those ideas which "express ab- stractions from concrete individual objects, e.g. genus, species, etc." 4

2 In his well-known paper Ueber die Eulogien der Muhammedaner, Z.D.M.G. vol. 50 p. 97. 3 Facsimile edition and translation by E. H. Whinfield and Mïrza Muhammad Kazvinï. Or. Transl. Fund N.S. vol. XVI, 1914, p. 17 of the Persian text. 4 op. cit., translation p. 13 note 4.

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La yutlaqu 'l-wujüd bi-hadha 'l-ma'nü 'ala 'l-haqq al-mawjüd fï 'l-kharij; ta'ala 'an dhalika 'uluwwan kabïran: 'Being' in this sense cannot be applied to the Reality as existent in the extërior world. Not by a long way! (literally: It (the term Being in this sense) is far exalted above this usage). 'Anaina bi-dhalika 'l-wujüd al-haqïqa almuttasifa bi-hadhihi 'l-sifat a'nï wujü- daha bi-dhatiha wa-ivujüd sa'ir al-madjüdat bi-hü wa'ntifa' ghairiha fï 'l-kharij: We mean by Being here the Reality to which the following attributes apply, to wit: Self-existence and dependence of all beings (the Universe) upon it, to the exclusion of anything else in the extërior world. — This is a stock phrase; cf. JamI l.c. § 3. Wa 'l-muhdath la yudriku bi 'l-kunh Ma 'l-muhdath, What is created can only attain to the essence of created things. Cf. Jamï § 24; transl. p. 26. § 4. Fa-hadhihi thalath maratib kulluha qadïtna wa 'l-taqdim wa 'l-ta'khïr 'aqll la zamanï: These are three grades, all of them eternal; their order is a logical, not a temporal one. § S. Mujarrad does not mean 'independent', but 'incorporeal', 'immaterial'. Amthal and mithal are both translated by: ideas, which does not seem correct. If amthaliha in the second line is not a printer's error, the correct translation of 'ala dhawatiha wa'ala amthaliha might be: themselves and in their likenesses. Wahiya 'l-tajalli 'l-akhir wa 'l-libas al-akhir wa-hiya 'l-insan: This is the final epiphany and the last vesture, which is man. § 6. Wa-hadhihi sab' maratib al-üla minha martabat la suhür: These are seven grades, the first of which is that of non-manifestation. Wa 'l-Okhira minha a'nï 'l-insan idha 'araja wa-zahara fïhi jamï' al-maratib al-madhküra ma'a 'nbisatihi yuqalu lahu 'l-insan al-kamil iva 'l-iirüj wa 'l-inbisat 'ala 'l-wajh al-akmal kana fï nabiyyina: The last of these, I mean man, is called the Perfect Man when all the grades mentioned before culminate and become manifest in him in their full development, the supreme culmination and fullest development being attained in our prophet. § 7. Wa'anna martabat al-ulühiyya la yajüzu itlaqiiha 'ala martabat al-kawn wa 'l-khalq wa-kadhalika la yajüzu itlaq asma' maratib al-kawn 'ala marStib al-ulühiyya: (The name) grade of divinity cannot be applied to the grades of created things; nor can the names of these grades be applied to the grades of divinity. Cf. Lawa'ih § 23. § 8. The words "Essential Perfection" denote God's self-manifestation through, in and for Himself without the implication of 'other' and 'otherness' (see § 17 of the text). 1. 3 and ff. And by absolute self-sufficiency is meant God's contemplation within Himself of all conditions and aspects with regard to both divinity and the universe, their definitions, implications and requirements manifest to Him at the grade of Unity in a universal and general manner, as the universe is im- plicitly contained in the Unique Essence in the same way as all numbers are implicitedly contained in the numerical one. This is called absolute self-sufficiency, because God in His contemplation can do without the manifestation of the world in its full expansion. His contemplation obtains without (the vision of) the world and all that it contains, because the contemplation of the universe obtains in Him on account of its being virtually included in His Unity. § 9. 1. 3. Instead of 'ainan one should read 'ainiyyan, 'ainï wujüdï being the opposite of hukmï and of 'Umi {ghaibï) ; see for instance the chapter on azal in al-Jïlï's Insan al-Kamil. Therefore the translation should be: This contemplation is a concrete (factual) vision, comparable to the vision of the general in the particular etc. 1. 4.5. And this nominal perfection as to its actual occurrence is dependent

Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 03:50:30PM via free access BOEKBESPREKINGEN. 295 upon the existence of the universe, because perfection in the sense just referred to requires the existence of the universe in all its diversity. § 10. Dhawq al-'arifïn wa-wijdanuhum: the ecstatic experiences of the gnostics. § 11. Again a stock phrase; cf. Jamï l.c. § 19, transl. p. 21. Ka-ihatat al- malzüm bi 'l-lawazim: (God's Being) comprehends them as a necessary cause comprehends its consequences. £arf is: receptacle, vase, not: envelope. At the end of this paragraph the well-known formula Ta'dla 'an dhalika 'uluwwan kabïran is again mistranslated. It means: He is far exalted above it. § 12. last lines. Here the text seems to be corrupt after kama. I suggest the reading: kama kanat sifat al-mawjüdat qabla 'l-zuhür fï tilka 'l-sifat al-kamila wa'anna 'l-'alam bijamï' ajza'ihi a'rad wa'l-ma'rüd huwa 'l-wujüd. . In Prof. Johns' translation, line 4 from below, the comma between 'manifestation' and 'in' should be deleted, and 'their' should be read 'those'. The last part of the phrase has been completely misunderstood, both from a grammatical and a doctrinal point of view. In Süfï philosophy as for instance expounded by Ibn al-'Arabï 5 and commented upon by, among others, Jamï 6 it is taught that the universe consists of accidents all pertaining to a single substance, which is the Reality underlying all existences. Therefore, the last part of the phrase should be translated as follows: The world with all its parts is (an uninterrupted series of) accidents, the substrate of which is the (Only) Being (as already remarked bef ore in § 2 of the text). § 13. The world has three stages; the first is the first determination, in which it is named predispositions. The second is the second determination, in which it is named Fixed Archetypes, and the third is to be found in exterior being, where it is named Exterior Essences. bi 'l-nisba ila sü'ir al-alwan = in relation to all colours. § 14. ytihyï wa-yumïtu, he brings to life and causes death, not: he lives and dies. wa-hadha ma'na fana' al-sifat fï sifat Allah, this is what is meant by the obliteration of his attributes into those of God. § 16. wa-minhum man yushahidu 'l-Haqq fï 'l-khalq shuhüdan haliyyan bi 'l-qalb, and to some of them it is given to see God in creation directly in their hearts. p. 145 1.3.: the the others (sic), read: the other. § 17. Jamï' al-mawjüdat min haithu 'l-wujüd 'ain al-Haqq, in respect of being all existents are God; (and in respect of determination they are other than He;) wa 'l-ghairiyya i'tibariyya, the otherness is relative. zahara bi-sürat al-ma', looks like water, not: appearing in the form of water. § 18. Dala'il, not: proofs, but loei probantes. In Qur'an 48: 10 yubayi'uka does not mean 'honour you', but: swear allegiance to you. § 19. The saying of Labïd: A-la kuil shaï ma khala Allah batil wa-kull na'ïm la mahala za'il, means: Is not everything beside God vain and every pleasure bound to cease ?! kuntu sam'ahu .... wa-basarahu, I am his hearing and his sight; not the organs but the quwa, the faculties are meant. After rijlahu the relative pronoun should be allatï, not alatï, as given on p. 138 Errata. Habata 'ala 'llah, not: touch God, but: fall, come down upon God.

5 Fusüs al-hikam, with a commentary by 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Küshanï, Cairo 1321 A.H. towards the end of the Fass hikma qalbiyya fï kalima Shu'aibiyya, where the author rejects the doctrines of the Ash'arites and the Sophists. 6 op. cit. § 26, translation p. 29-37.

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§ 21. min ghair ishtirat al-wudü', without the obligation of ritual purity. It has escaped the translater that what follows next is still connected with min ghair ishtirat and that therefore the suggested emendation of the text is quite unnecessary. Moreover, he has not translated ja-huwa awla. What the author means to say is that for meditation ritual purity is not required, but if you are in this state, so much the better; neither need you prefer one time above another nor concentrate on the intake of breath and exhalation during meditation, nor on the letters of the shahada; on the contrary, what is needed is concentration on its meaning (read al-ma'na) and nothing else etc. § 22 first line read anniyyataka. wa 'l-anniyya 'ibara 'an takünu haqïqatuka wa-batinuka ghair al-Haqq .... wa-la tanfiya Ma hadhihi 'l-anniyya wa-huwa 'ain ma'na la ilaha, thumma tuthbita 'l-Haqq fï batinika thaniyan wa-huwa 'ain ma'na Ma 'llah, .. . .anniyya (individ- uality) denoting here that your inner reality is something other than God; only deny this individuality — which denial is the very meaning of Li ilaha; then, secondly, recognize that God is within your innermost being — which is the very meaning of il la 'l Is h. § 23. If you say: When Being is only one and beside it nothing does exist, what (else) can be denied or affirmed ?, then I reply: The illusion of otherness and individuality engendered by the created world. (The text seems corrupt, but this is obviously what is meant.) § 24. Bal lam yabqa fika Ma ithbat al-Haqq ...., nay nothing but the affir- mation of God will then remain within you. bi-hurmat al-nabï, not: through the intercession of the prophet, but: for the sake of the prophet. p. 107 sub 23 dajja' read dajja'a; p. 116 sub 45 1. S 'ajani r. a'jani; p. 117 sub 5 tab'ld r. tab'id; la-takabbala 'l-tadjsï'u wa'l-tab'ïdu wa la'l-charku wa'l-ilti'am, read: la takbalu 'l-tadjzï'a wa'l-tab'ïda wals 'l-charka wa'l-ilti'ama (it is no susceptible of partition or division, nor of piercing and repair) ; p. 122 sub 15 alla kulluma chala 'llahu bütilun .... read: a-la kullumü chald, 'Ilaha ('Hühi) batilun .... Verily, everything other than God is vain etc; p. 123 sub 18 hulül r. hulül; p. 124 sub 28 The ism al-djalala is not a name compounded from the formula: 'asza wa-djalla but: Allah, the loftiest among God's numerous names, because it denotes his ulühiyyah; see, for instance, the chapter on ulühiyyah in the Insan al-Kamil. The mystic should as it were write this name in his heart and meditate on it; p. 125 1.2 Maha r. ilaha. It is unfortunate that so many misspellings are to be found in the List of Words of Arabic Derivation (pp. 207-214), and some cannot be attributable to printing errors, e.g.: p. 208 hall and muhall in stead of hal and muhal; jihad (sic) in stead of jiha and translated by: space. p. 210 musafa rendered by 'subtlety' and registered under the root s.f.w., together with muftaja, chosen. Jiha means 'side', 'direction'; musafa does not exist in Arabic, but from the context it is clear that masafa, distance is meant (root s.w.f.). The

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translation of C. II: 16, tan djihat masajat iku /' kalawan ta'junatira is not: His subtlety is such, there is no space implied in his determinations, but: (Notions like) 'side' and 'distance' do not apply, are absurd with regard to (His relation to) His determinations.

Space precludes us from a detailed discussion of the translation of the sizable Javanese text (36 pp. compared with 9 of the original), so that a few remarks must suffice. First of all: I notice, not without surprise, that nowhere in the introductory chapters is any reference made to the fact that, beside editing in his thesis no fewer than 47 strophes out of the 58 contained in the first Canto (as duly men- tioned on p. 21/22), Professor Zoetmulder had also provided these with a Dutch translation. The recension used by Prof. Zoetmulder is of a more recent date and sometimes offers different readings, which account for discrepanties in his translation. Nevertheless, his pioneer work in this field is a great help to every student of this kind of Hterature and it is a matter for regret that Prof. Johns omitted to refer to it. Secondly, I gained the impression that the translator has under- rated the difficulties peculiar to this type of Javanese poetry. He finds fault with the traditional view that Javanese poetry is vague and allusive, and thinks that in the Tuhfa at least this is not the case. lts syntax is "exact and clearly defined", its meaning "definite and intelligible", and there "is amply scope for rhetorical effect as the sense units fall obediently into the formal mould, as they effortless flow out of it, as they boldly bind one stanza to the next". All this would seem to justify the expectation of an unimpeachable rendering, the more so as we are told that "whatever modifications at time occur in the translation, are justifiable on semantic and contextual grounds". The present writer regrets to say that he cannot concede to Prof. Johns that his 'modifications' are so well-grounded as he professes them to be. In many cases they are mere departures from the text arising from lack of familiarity with Javanese idiom, in particular the idiom of religious texts from the Arabic. A greater proficiency in Javanese would have saved him from not a few misunderstandings. So for instance it has escaped him that tan kena sarupakena is the Jav. rendering of bila tashblh, beyond compare; that sampun(ing) mangkana represents amma ba'du; that akarja ingsun ing asjja kerana sira anané lan sira kerana ingwang does not mean: My activity in things is for your sake and you are for Mine, but: I created the universe because of you, and you because of Me; that tan ningali ingsun ing sjai nanging Allah does not meah: I do not look on a thing, but God, but: I never look upon a thing without seeing God in it; that pasti and pinasti often represent thabit, just like tetep; that hukumé is not: by definition, but: has to be considered as, conform the Arabic hukmuhu; that rapet is the Java-

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nese rendering of tarklb (or vmrakkab) in its philosophical sense of 'compose' ('composite'). It is a habit with the translater to render the various words for God as far as possible in different ways: Jang Widi, Divine Providence; Jang Sukma, the Supreme Soul, etc. Yet, whatever the original meaning of these names may be, they are used indiscriminately by the Javanese. In poetry the choice of a particular name is often dependent on the rules of prosody, as these names frequently occur at the end of a line. Where prosody prescribes the vowel i there is no alternative but Jang Djati or Jang Widi. So, for instance C. 1: 34 1.9: ulih tuduhing Jang Widi, receive the guidance of the Lord, not: of Divine Providence. Curiously enough, in the next stanza Jang Widi is rendered correctly: the Lord, though for the rest the translation is erroneous. In this connection it may be observed that sedjati is another word which sometimes is translated rather strangely. By ivudjud kang sedjati is meant: the true (and only) Being, not: the being of the Reality, and there is no reason to write kang and sedjati with capital initials; by kunhi sedjati the pure essence, not: the inner Self of Reality; by ananing Jang kang sedjati God's Essence (dhatu 'llah), not: the being of the Reality. The last example at the same time shows the absurdity of Prof. Johns' surmise that Jang could be the Malay relative pronoun jang. A curious item in the list of terms of reference to the deity (pp. 215-216) is Sang Katong. These words mean: the Prince, and as far as I know are never used with reference to God. On examining C. IV: 5, where this name allegedly is to be found, a twofold surprise is in store for the reader. Firstly, Sang Katong is rendered: the Seeing One, which in Javanese would be Jang Manon, and, secondly, it is evident that sang katong can only be an erroneous transliteration or, possibly, a copyist's error, what is meant being kang katon.7 The text runs as follows: saliring kang katon / ajvaa kasamaran ing lakuné / sedaja pan minangka tadjali, Do not be in uncertainty as to the situation of this entire visible world: everything is a manifestation of God. There is insufficient space to discuss here all the controversial points raised by Prof. Johns' translation; I will therefore confine myself to a few further comments on matters taken more or less at random from the first Canto and from the Appendix. C. 1: 4 anelad read anélad. kang ingiket r. kang angiket, the author (as in C. IV: 8). 6 ing pinirasa r. kang pinirasa, the subject (of the tract). 7 pan aneda r. pananeda, prayer. The translation of this passage should be the following: that by its intermediary I may implore the intercession of the Prophet on the Day of judgement. 8 Not: You, who are mighty, fulfilling desires and merciful to Your servants, but: It rests with You to fulfil the wishes of your pitiable servants (dasih kawelas •arsa). 10 The semicolon at the end of the third line is correct; in the translation, however, it is neglected. L. 4: kang anèng dalem ilmu is not a relative clause connected with 1.3, but forms the subject of 1. S: ingaranan a'jan kang thabit: that which exists in (divine) knowledge is named the Archetypal Ideas. ilumu r. ilmu. 11 1.6 last word. There is no ground for Prof. Johns' conjectured chalikan in

7 There is very little difference between initial s and k in many Indonesian MSS. written in Arabic character. Cf. also: Zoetmulder op. cit. p. 363.

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either of the texts. From the next stanza 1. 5, where the same indistinctly written word occurs in MS. B as a variant reading of tan selaja one might infer that either this is meant in both places (though poorly written), or at least a word indicating the absence of difference, say: tanpa lowong, without gaps, or tan kalwang, modern Javanese ora. kalong, not diminished. djumbuh jèn dinulu. Not: and may only be seen in its generality, but: Could one see them, they would prove the same, cf. st. 33: saimba warnanira, alike. 12 duk Sang Wisnu ingkang Kresna. The variant reading of ingkang in A and Z is angkeh. If one reads anggeh, which makes only the difference of one dot or dash, the meaning is clear, as nganggeh — ngaku. The translation of this stanza is as follows: Exterior being is called / being in a figurative sense because it exists / only through its essence / its archetypal form in (divine) knowledge / does not differ from it, it is the same / their relationship is to be compared / to that of Wisnu and Kresna / when Lord Wisnu represented himself as Kresna / Kresna was actually a reflection of the true Wisnu / (who was) the real part of the noble Kresna. 17 1. 1-3 should be translated: As to one who has received true guidance, he beholds everything seen as a possible existent in its true form. 18 (tan) wruh, better: arah. 27 Tan ana Ijaning Sukma / ing martabat iku / does not mean: There is nothing other within the Supreme Soul at that grade, but: At that grade there does not exist anything beside God. 28 The pralambi (or pralambang) of this is the pralambi of that, is the ordinary way of saying: This is comparable to that. 40 last three lines. Sagung no doubt is preferable to saking, which does not make sense. The translation should be: Everything that goes with the Essence cannot be separated from it. Essence and attribtites are equally eternal. 46 The last lines of this stanza seem to be the Javanese rendering of Qur'an 13:41: Wa 'llahu yahkumu la mu'aqqiba li-hukmihi, Allah decrees and there is no repeller of His decrees. Appendix p. 151 st. 24 sjirik kapasamar r. sjirik kang asamar (Arabic shirk khafï). p. 157 st. 14 lir uwèh tibèng segara r. lir njah tibèng segara, like salt falling into the sea. p. 163 st. 5 wirasating tulis r. wirasaning tulis, the contents of the writing. p. 162 st. 12 tingalé agugurènga (?) r. tingalé aktnvur éngga (kasasar etc), his vision becomes so confused that (he goes astray).

In conclusion I will give two stanzas, C. 1:3,4, in the Javanese text, and with Prof. Johns' translation, followed by the translation which I would propose: Muga antuka berkat nerpati / anembangaken ing kitab Tuhfa / kinèn nembangi basané / kalawan tembang kidung / peksinila tembanging gending / Iwir wong anembang basa / aminda wong luhung / kewala asung gugudjengan / ingsun iki maring kang pertamèng kawis 8 / tan wruh jèn ingèseman//

8 kawi ?

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Nanging peksa wignja miljangazvi / anêlad basaning wong utama / malar antuka gandané J thawabê ingkang luhung / kang pininta ing sijang latri / antuka ingkang berkah / sjech Muhammad iku / kang angiket kitab Tuhfa / kabukaa ing rahsa ingkang sedjati / muga katarimaa.

May I gain too the king's blessing / in versifying the book Tuhfa / for my orders are to render it in verse / putting it into a poetic form / peksinila the name of the melody / the likeness of a man using verse / [attempting to] imitate the teaching of a noble one / is merely a matter for laughter. / [yet] I, vis a vis those skilied in verse / heed not if laughed at, // but continue to persist in the art of writing verse, / imitating the language of a noble one / to gain the fragrance / of his reward, which is noble / and which I pray for, day and night, / [trusting] to gain the blessing / of the Shaikh Muhammad / which is contained in the book, the Tuhfa / May its essential meaning [thus] be laid open / and [its doctrine] be accepted. // May the beneficent influence of the Prince attend me / in versifying the Tuhfa / it is by his orders that I render its contents / into Javanese poetry / the metre being dandanggula / anybody who while writing verse / puts on an air of importance / makes himself a laughing stock / I, however, do not care a rap / for the scornful smile of the literati// but playing the acxomplished poet shall engage in poetizing / imitating the language of the experts / that I may gain the fragrance / of the reward of the august personage [my royal principal] / day and night I pray / for the beneficent influence / of Shaikh Muhammad / the author of the Tuhfa / that thereby I may understand its true meaning / may my prayers be heard.

Our conclusion alas must be that the sooner the translater recon- siders his view on the easiness and intelligibility of Javanese poetry of this kind, the better. The interpretation of abstract subject-matter is not uniformly easy and demands a sound knowledge of Javanese idiom and familiarity with the possible sources of religious poetry. Showing considerable shortcomings with regard to both these require- ments this first volume of a new Series of Oriental Monographs is not an auspicious start. Though welcoming the attention paid to Islam in Java and hailing the publication of an undoubtedly important text, students of Indonesian Islam would find more occasion for rejoicing if the Standard achieved in rendering this text into English had been higher. Noordwijk, April 1966. G. W. J. DREWES

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