Hikajat Bandjar

Text and translation of a hitherto unpublished chronicle of the most important Malay colony in Borneo. Hikayat Bandjar is a highly valuable body of material for the study of Indonesian cultural history. The author gives a textual and philological analysis of its contents. In the introduction he discusses earlier publications on the Hikajat Bandjar, the condition of the manuscripts, the language in which the text is written, and the (scholarly) appreciation expressed for Malay chronicles in the past. In the following chapter Ras gives summaries and comparisons of recensions I and II of the Hikajat Bandjar, and looks at parallels with other Malay and Javanese stories. He also discusses the Malay colony in Southeast Borneo and its contacts with Java.