J.

Millie
The poem of Bidasari in the Maranao language

In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 157 (2001), no: 2, Leiden, 403-406

This PDF-file was downloaded from http://www.kitlv-journals.nl

 KORTE MEDEDELINGEN

JULIAN MILLIE

The Poem of Bidasari in

the Maranao Language

In the course of preparing a manuscript for a book presenting the well-

known Malay poem entitled Syair Bidasari, I was surprised to come upon
evidence that the work was enjoyed over a far wider region than was previ-
ously known to scholars of Malay studies. In the library of the Koninklijk
Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde there resides a volume authored
by Ester Vallado Daroy entitled Bidasari. This volume, coming to 91 pages,
was published in Quezon City, the Philippines, in 1980. The contents are best
described by quoting the author's preface:
This story Bidasari is a rendition of a Maranao legend which I stumbled upon
while working on a research grant in the University of the Philippines in 1968.
While I kept the basic storyline as translated in English from the original Maranao
dialect in verse, I have taken many liberties with the scènes, incidents and descrip-
tions. I therefore beg the indulgence of the native Maranao or of the scholar on
Muslim literature; whatever beauty it may exude, I ascribe to the Maranaos, and
whatever outrages the scholar may uncover, I am fully to blame.

No other information concerning the provenance of the story is given!

The Syair Bidasari is oné of the best known and widespread of the roman-
tic syair, and it is likely that only the Syair Ken Tambuhan rivals it. We know
from recollections of the poet Amir Hamza's youth that the poem was one of
the works read in the homes of the aristocracy of Langkat (Bagian Kesenian
1955:10). Ch.E.P. Kerckhoff described this work as one of those adapted to
theatrical performance in Padang in the 1880s (Robson 1969:140), and accord-
ing to W.W. Skeat the story was used for theatrical representation in the
Mendu theatre (Skeat 1900:520). In 1965 a feature film of the story was made
in Malaysia by the Shaw Brothers Film Agency. Some thirteen manuscripts of
the work are kept in institutions the world over, and one manuscript is in pri-
vate hands in Sri Lanka. A prose translation in the Makassarese language and
Bugis script is also held in the Leiden University library. Four editions of the
Malay poem have appeared in published form (Van Hoëvell 1843; Klinkert
404 Korte Mededelingen

1886; Tuti Munawar 1978; Jamilah Haji Ahmad 1989). The earliest of these
contains the Malay text in Jawi script, notes, and a Dutch translation, the sec-
ond presents the text in Jawi script, and the two most recent editions are
transliterations of the Malay text. E.P. Wieringa (1998:175-7) gives a summary
of the poem's narrative and bibliographical details.
A comparison of Daroy's translation with the Malay manuscripts is an
exercise of limited value, since important characteristics of the source text no
doubt are not discernible in the translation. Nevertheless, the narrative in this
translation is an almost exact replica of the basic Malay narrative shared by all
the editions of the poem. Narrative variations are minor, and many examples
of figurative language and descriptive passages of the Malay editions are
found intact in the translation of the Maranao text. Certain proper nouns are
found in slightly different forms. For example, the Garuda of the Malay text
is the Kurita in the Maranao version, and the name of Bidasari's pleasure gar-
den in the Malay editions, Taman Penglipur Lara, is Pentipoulara in Daroy's
edition.
Speakers of Maranao reside in the area around Lake Lanao on the island
of Mindanao. The Maranao language is one of the smallest of the major lan-
guages of the Philippine archipelago. According to one estimate, made in the
mid-1980s, approximately one million Filipinos, or 1.8% of the then pöpula-
tion, spoke Maranao (Moseley and Asher 1994: maps 41 and 43, page 120). It
is an Austronesian language of the Danao subgroup, and apart from those on
Mindanao Island, speakers of Danao languages reside in the Malaysian
province of Sabah.
That the peoples of Mindanao share the cultural heritage of the Malay
peoples is well known. N.M. Saleeby (1912) has discussed the earliest 'Malay
migrations' to the region now known as the Philippines, with great emphasis
on cultural aspects, and CA. Majul (1988:50-1) has emphasized that the
arrival of Islam in what is now the Philippines must be considered in the con-
text of the spread of Islam throughout the Malay world in general. Maguin-
danao1 manuscripts containing genealogies of the two main sultanates of the
region, Sulu and Maguindanao, illustrate this clearly. Those familiar with
Malay genealogies will be already familiar with some elements of the
genealogies, such as the story of the discovery of a princess inside a bamboo
shoot (Saleeby 1905:31, 37; Ras 1968) and the genealogical linkages to Iskan-
dar Zulkarnain (Saleeby 1905:53). In discussing one such tarsila (genealogy),
Saleeby (1905:20) writes: 'The Moros2 derived what learning they have from

1
The Maguindanao people are also located on the island of Mindanao, and live in Cotabato
Province, to the south of the Maranao people.
2
The term 'Moro' was used to designate the Muslim members of the Maranao, Maguin-
danao and other groups of the region.
 Korte Mededelingen 405

Malay and Arabic sources, and consequently take pride in what Malay and
Arabic they know and can write; hence their custom of beginning their books
with an Arabic and Malay introduction'. For example, the introduction to the
Mindanao laws (Luwaran), written in Arabic script, reads:
Bismillah al-rahman al-rahlm, al-hamdü lillah alladhl hadana lil-ïman wal-Islam
wa salla Allah 'ala sayyidina Muhammad wa 'ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in wa
b'adu adapun kemudian dari itu segala hukum diambil daripada kitab Minhaj
dan Fath ul-Qarïb dan Taqrlb ul-Intifa' dan Mirat ul-Tullab dipindahkan bahasa
Jawi daripada Mindanaowi dar us-salam[...].3 (Saleeby 1912: Plate I.)

The text following this passage contains the laws written in Arabic script in
the Maguindanao language.
Turning to specifically Maranao literature, the correspondence with
Malay traditions is no less evident. Manuscripts (kirim) of the oral epic en-
titled Darangen were written in Arabic script (Ma. Delia Coronel et al. 1986:5-
6). Juan Francisco, (1994) has discussed the origin of the Maranao Ramayana.
And in the compilation of Maranao stories assembled by H.P. McKaughan
(1995:v), who describes a rich oral tradition, can be found characters who fea-
ture prominently in the Malay corpus, such as Raja Inderaputera and Nenek
Kebayan.
The exclusion of texts and data from the Philippines from Malay studies
appears to be an unfortunate consequence of the tendency of scholarship to
develop within parametres corresponding to the boundaries of what used to
be colonial empires and are now nation states. Our knowledge of the centres
in which Malay works were created and written, as well as the means by
which these works spread throughout the Malay world, is extremely limited.
Knowledge of the cultural traditions shared by the peoples of the Malay
world and the Philippines could be useful in this regard. To this end, I am
currently seeking further information about the sources used by Ester
Vallado Daroy.

3
In the name of Allah the compassionate, the merciful, all praise is Allah's, who guides us
in faith and Islam, and blessings of Allah upon our master Muhammad and all his family and
companions, and having said this, all these laws are taken from the books (entitled) Minhaj,
Fathul Qarib, Taqribul Intifa' and Miratu Tullab, translated from the lawi language into (?)
Mindanao, the abode of peace [...].

REFERENCES
Bagian Kesenian, 1955, Bara Api Kesusasteraan Indonesia; Catatan-Catatan Tentang Amir
Hamza, Yogyakarta: Bagian Kesenian Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan.
Daroy, E.V., 1980, Bidasari, Manila: Rex Book Store.
.406 Korte Mededelingen

Francisco, J.R., 1994, From Ayodhya to Pulu Agama Niog; Rama's Journey to the Philip-
pines, Quezon City: Asian Centre, University of the Philippines.
Hoëvell, W.R. van, 1843, 'Sjair Bidasari; Een Oorspronkelijk Maleisch Gedicht', Verhan-
delingen van het Koninklijk Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen 19.
Jamilah Haji Ahmad, 1989, Syair Bidasari, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
Klinkert, H.C., 1886, Drie Maleische Gedichten, Leiden: Brill.
Ma. Delia Coronel, et al., 1986, Darangen in Original Maranao Verse, ivith English Trans-
lation, Vol. 1, Marawi City: The Folklore Division, University Research Centre,
Mindanao State University. -
Majul, C.A., 1988, Islam diFilipina, translated by Shamsuddin Jaapar, Kuala Lumpur:
Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
McKaughan, H.P., 1995, Maranao Stories, Manila: De La Salie University Press.
Moseley, C , and R.E. Asher (eds), 1994, Atlas of the World's Languages, London:
Routledge.
Ras, J.J., 1968, Hikajat Bandjar; A Study in Malay Historiography, The Hague: Nijhoff.
[KITLV, Bibliotheca Indonesica 1.]
Robson, S.O., 1969, Hikajat Andaken Penurat, The Hague: Nijhoff. [KITLV, Bibliotheca
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Saleeby, N.M., 1905, Studies in Mom History, Law and Religion, Manila: Department of
the Interior, Ethnological Survey Publications IV-1.
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of the Malay Peninsula, London: MacMillan.
Tuti Munawar, 1978, Syair Bidasari, Jakarta: Departemen Perididikan dan Kebu-
dayaan.
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