Silsilah Raja-Raja Brunei: The Manuscript of Pengiran Kesuma Muhammad Hasyim

Abstract

• This article presents an edition of a manuscript of the Silsilah Raja-Raja Brunei, “Descent of the rulers of Brunei,” from the collection of Muzium Negara, Kuala Lumpur. The transliterated Malay text is accompanied by an English translation and a complete photographic record of the 14-page manuscript, with an introductory essay. The manuscript can be identified as that given to Hugh Low by Pengiran Kesuma Muhammad Hasyim, one of Lowʼs main informants on Brunei history, who is mentioned in Lowʼs publication of the “Selesilah of the rajas of Bruni” in 1880. The Malay texts of two other manuscripts of the Silsilah Raja-Raja Brunei were published by Amin Sweeney in 1968, but Pengiran Kesumaʼs manuscript contains information on the aftermath of the civil war in Brunei in the late 17th century not found in any other Malay source.