of the decline of pre-Islamic authority in Java and the rise of Islam, religious awe and reticence with regard to ancient myths decreased, so as to make it possible for authors to use the tales as subject-matter of literary works. In the flourishing period of the Javanese Pasisir culture, in the sixteenth and seven teenth centuries, Panji romances were widely spread over the Archipelago 1 and the coasts of Further India. Poerbatjaraka’s book on the Panji tales (Bibliotheca Javanica, KBG vol. 9, 1940) contains most valuable infor mation on this point. In his opinion a Panji romance dealing with the meeting of the hero with dèwi At}rèni, written in East Java about 1400 A.D., was the prototype of the numerous Panji romances in various lan guages, even in the South East Asian main land. Poerbatjaraka also called attention to< the similarity between passages and names oc curring in Panji romances and in Islamic Ménak Amir Hamza tales (see 30.460). The spread of the Ménak Amir Hamza tales over many islands of the Archipelago dates from the beginning of the Islamic period, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The popularity of the Ménak tales may have been increased by the wide spread of the Panji romances, which are older. In Bali the production of Panji romances flourished to a high degree. The hero’s ex ploits and amorous adventures were mul tiplied and descriptions of Court scenes were extended. In Bali the Panji romances were Us ed as texts of theatrical performances by male dancers, often wearing beautifully carved wooden masks. The literary value of uiany Javanese-Balinese Panji romances is

small. Most of them are written in tërjahan verse (see 00050). One compendium of Panji tales called Malat Kui} — after one of the hero’s epithets — is above all things remark able for its length. Poerbatjaraka’s book contains a complete summary. The dates of the numerous Javanese-Bali nese Panji romances are difficult to ascertain. Probably the majority of them was written in the flourishing period of the Gèlgèl and Klu^kui} kingdoms. It is not certain at all that the Malat compendium belongs to the oldest group of Panji romances. It is dis cussed under the present head before the other poems, merely on account of its length. It is the major Javanese-Balinese compen dium of Panji tales. Almost all Malat palm- leaf manuscripts are incomplete, because it is impossible to keep a great number of palmleaves together on one string. Dr van der Tuuk tried to reconstruct a complete text (see Brandes’ Catalogue of van der Tuuk’s mss, 1915, vol. 2). Codexes containing relevant texts have been registered in the General Index under the catchwords Malat and Panji. The Javanese Panji romances, which belong to the Pasisir period of the history of Javanese literature, are registered in 30.870 ff. 30.361 Malat Kurj, major compendium of Panji tales, in terjahan verse, greater parts of the text: cod. 1881, 2061, 2214, 2280 (fragment), 3120, 3585 (= 4311), 3595 (= 4309), 3597, 3604, 3630, 3670, 3710, 3714 (= 4313), 3721, 3737, 3785 (= 4304), 3800 (= 4312), 4302, 4303, 4304, 4305, 4306, 4307, 4308, 4310, 4314, 4315, 4316, 4317, 4318, 4319 (almost complete), 4320 (almost

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