Raffles' Sources for Traditional Javanese Historiography and the Mackenzie Collections

Abstract

a s t A sia n S tu d ie s , s p e c i f i c a l l y In d o n e s ia n h i s t o r y , l i t e r a t u r e , and c u l t u r e s , b e g in w ith R a f f le s and C ra w fu rd .1 T h e ir p a p e rs and books a re m ile s to n e s in n in e te e n th -c e n tu r y O r ie n ta lis m .R a f f l e s 1 H is to r y o f J a v a 2 ( h e r e a f t e r c i t e d as RHJ) in p a r t i c u l a r s i g n a l l y i n f l u enced su c c e e d in g D utch view s o f th e J a v a n e s e .I t rem ain ed th e s ta n d a rd w ork u n t i l n e a r ly th e end o f th e c e n t u r y .3* In p a r t t h i s i s b e c a u se th e w ork opened new ways o f lo o k in g a t th e t o t a l i t y o f Ja v a n e s e c u ltu r e and th u s " b r in g s to th e f o r e much t h a t is v a lu a b le in th e o ld and new J a v a n e se c i v i l i z a t i o n .''^ The RHJ, ho w ev er, is n o t so much a p e rs o n a l to u r de fo r c e by R a f f le s as a s y n th e s is o f r e p o r ts and m a te r ia ls p re p a re d and asse m b le d by o th e r s .R a f f le s , in in tr o d u c in g th e ''h i s t o r y " com ponent o f th e RHJ (V ol. 2, C h a p te rs 10 and 1 1 ), c la im e d t h a t h is s o u rc e s w ere b a se d on ''n a tiv e w r i t i n g s " p ro v id e d him by th e Panem bahan o f Sum enep, th e S e c r e ta r y o f th e P a n g e ra n A d ip a ti o f S u r a k a r ta , and th e l a t e K yahi A d ip a ti o f Demak [S u ra A d im S n g g a la ]. 5 A cco rd in g to R a f f le s , S u ra A d im S n g g ala1s a b s t r a c t *The author wishes to express his g ratitu d e to the L ibrarian and s ta f f of the India O ffice Library for th e ir help and cooperation.P a rtic u la r thanks are due to Dr. F. J. Bingle and Miss Jane Bebbington for th e ir assistance while the author was working h is way through the Mackenzie C ollections.The author*s research, 1970-71, was made possible by support for a sabbatical year from the U niversity of South Caro lin a and the Earhart Foundation.1,,0ne should not fo rg e t," w rites John B astin, "th at the real beginnings of Indonesian H istoriography are to be found not so much in the work of the early Orien ta lis ts at Leyden or in the w ritings of V alentijn as in the massive h isto rie s which were published by the B ritish scholars Marsden, R affles, and Crawfurd, at a time when Indonesian studies a ttra c te d l i t t l e atten tio n in the N etherlands."''English Sources for the Modern Period of Indonesian H isto ry ," in Soedjatmoko et a l ., eds.,An In tro duction to Indonesian Historiography (Ithaca: Cornell U niversity Press, 1965), p. 252 2Thomas Stamford R affles, The H istory o f Java (1817; re p rin t ed.[with introduc tio n by J. S. B astin; 2 v o ls.] Kuala Lumpur, New York: Oxford U niversity Press, 1965) 3B astin, ''English Sources," p. 262; J. G. de C asparis, "H istorical W riting on Indonesia (Early P erio d )," in D. G. E. H all, e d ., H istorians o f South East Asia (Lon don: Oxford U niversity Press, 1961), p. 122.^H.J. de Graaf, "Aspects of Dutch H isto rical W ritings on Colonial A ctiv ities in South East Asia with Special Reference to the Indigenous Peoples during the Six teenth and Seventeenth C enturies," in H all, H istorians o f South East Asia3 p. 218.5RHJ, 2, p. 64.

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