Syair Hemop

bibliography

text notes

list of words

list of rhyme words

Bibliography

title:		Syair Hemop
edition:		J. Rusconi, Sja`ir Kompeni Welanda Berperang dengan Tjina, Academisch Proefschrift Utrecht, Wageningen: Veenman, 1935.
manuscript:		Farquhar 3, Royal Asiatic Society, London.
dates:		text:  1750s    manuscript:  1817.
provenance:		text:  Batavia, written by Abdul Rahman, a Banjarese manuscript:  ? Batavia, ? Malacca.
words:		29664 words, comprising 7170 verses.
references:		to the numbered couplets / lines (1 - 3573) of the printed edition; or of an extract from Cod.Or. 2095 (A-31 - A-52),  thus:   Hemop 3573;   Hemop A-52.

 

Editorial notes and bibliography

This syair is commonly known as Syair Hémop (Ballad of Van Imhoff) though the title found in the manuscript is that of Ruscon’s study, Cerita Welanda Berperang dengan Cina.

The contents cover, according to Rusconi's summary:

•  Events in Ceylon preceding the massacre of Chinese in 1741;

•  The war against the Chinese in Batavia and Central Java, together with the dispute between Adriaan Valckenier (Palkenir) and Baron van Imhoff (Himop), the latter’s recall to the Netherlands and his return as Governor General;

•  The arrest Valckenier, his departure from the Indies, and Van Imhoff’s war against the Pangeran of Madura.

The manuscripts which have received scholarly attention are:

A   Cod.Or. 2095, Leiden University Library, dated <1869.

B   Farquhar 3, Royal Asiatic Society (mentioned above, the base text for Rusconi’s edition), dated 1817;

G   a manuscript of the Mallinckrodt-Stichting (incomplete, broadly corresponding with A), dated <1914;

M   Ml. 217 Perpustakaan Nasional Republik Indonesia, Jakarta, dated <1891.

Rusconi made B his base text, but synthesized it with readings from A and added some passages found only in A.  Kern observes that the resulting text still has gaps in its narrative.  A has more Banjarese readings.  B seems to have been put into more standard Malay.

Manuscript M alludes to the authorship of the text:

`Abdul Rahman jadi kemendan , di negeri Banjar diperanakkan ,

berpayung tinggi ia barjalan , gajihnya seratus di dalam sebulan |

Ialah kemenden yang dikasihi , jadi juru tulis dari Betawi ,

terbang dan zikir setiap hari , dengan sekalian orang Betawi |

Ia pun lagi disuruhkan , ke negeri Semarang jadi bantuan ,

ra`yatnya banyak yang mengiringkan , tetunggulnya banyak kibar-kibaran |

Kern places the time of composition after 1759, but his evidence seem to indicate only some time in the 1750s.

The flyleaf of manuscript A bears the following inscription:

Ini surat sya`ir Hemop hamba K.M.R. Udin yang punya, maka barangsiapa yang suka mau pinjam jangan tiada berapik2; itulah pesan hamba kepada sekalian sanak saudara semuanya adanya, kepada 30 hari bulan Mai 1869.

Kern’s notes are very valuable in improving some of Rusconi’s readings, providing Banjarese sources for many words unattested in other Malay texts, and explaining the specifically Banjarese sense of some common Malay words and phrases.   Many of his proposed emendations have been included in the MCP text, together with a very small selection of his explanatory notes.

References:

W. Kern, “Aantekeningen op de Sja’ir Hémop (Sja’ir Kompeni Welanda berperang dengan Tjina)”, Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde  82.2 (1948): 211-257.

Ph.S. van Ronkel, Catalogus der Maleische Handschriften in het Museum van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, Batavia : Albrecht, 1909, p.344 (#460).

Liaw Yock Fang, Sejarah Kesusasteraan Klassik, rev. ed., Singapura: Pustaka Nasional, 1982, pp.307-09.

V. Braginsky, The Heritage of Traditional Malay Literature: A historical survey of genres, writings and literary views, Leiden: KITLV Press, 2004 (Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 214), pp.565-66.

 

Preparation

Added:  September 2010

The printed edition was scanned in Canberra and its spelling modernised.