The Grave-Stone of Sultan Mansur Shah of Malacca (1458-1477 A. D.)
By J. P. Moquette.
(Translated by Dr. R. O. Winstedt from the Journal of the
Batavian Society, Vol. LIX, Part 6).
In the J.R.A.S., S.B., June 1918, pp. 47-48, Dr. R. O. Winstedt gave a description with photos of two grave-stones pur- porting to be from the tomb of Sultan Mansur Shah of Malacca.
It occurred to me at once that the two stones in no way matched, either in shape or ornament or workmanship. The head-stone undoubtedly once was placed on a tomb, while the other stone[1] belongs to the kind that lies on the ground. On all tombs and graves known to me head and foot stones correspond and it would be very strange if there were any departure from this custom at Malacca especially in the resting place of Sultan Mansur Shah. For the rest I could not learn much from the plates accompanying the article since the inscriptions, blackened for clearness, were thus made illegible.
Winstedt gave readings of the inscriptions on the head-stone and on the sides of the stone from a version procured by Mr. Blagden from Hervey (op. cit. p. 47).
1 was certain that after the word Mansur should come the name of his father and that the date given was impossible, because (1) one word was not accounted for and (2) the Malay word dua seemed very strange in a purely Arabic inscription.
Fortunately I met Mr. I. H. Evans, Curator of the Taiping Museum, who promised to look up the stones for me at Singapore. Both the stones are in Raffles Museum and plaster-casts were made for me by Mr. Valentine Knight, then acting for Major Moulton the Director. Both, as shown in Dr. Winstedt's photos, are black- ened. The head-stone has apparently been broken off the tomb, so that the inscription on the lowest line is damaged, and the other stone has a large round hole making the middle line of obverse and reverse illegible. As I am positive that the second stone neither came from the grave of Sultan Mansur nor from any other tomb, I shall leave it out of this discussion.
- ↑ Note. The stone, in my opinion, has no historical value. Heer G. P. Rouffaer informs me that the round hole in it shows that it was used for the taking of oaths. Should the headstone belonging to it he discovered, possibly my view might not stand. [There is a stone at Pengkalan Kempas, Negri Sembilan, with a round hole in it, which tradition avers will tighten on the arm of the person who takes a false oath R. O. W.].
