History. The extraordinary popularity of the tale of Joseph in East Java and Madura seems to entitle it to a place of its own in Part Three, Belles-Lettres (30.520), next to other romances of foreign origin which in those districts became popular reading- matter. The history of Moses in Egypt is called in Javanese Sërat Raja Pirarym (or Pirpon): The Book of King Pharaoh, Pirapon being the Javanese form of Arabic Fir c awn: Pha raoh. Just like the other histories of the Prophets in the Javanese Anbiya texts, the Sërat Piraijon differs in some points from the Biblical tale. That is a consequence of the fact that the Anbiya texts are adap tations of Arabic originals, and Islamic tra dition of Biblical tales is known to have swerved from the Old Hebrew text. The Raja Piraqon book in prose is one of the first texts edited by professor Roorda (1844) f or the use of Dutch students of Javanese in Delft. This may explain the large number of manuscripts in the Leiden collection containing the text: apparently they were used by professor Roorda in preparing the edition. It is improbable that in Javanese religious circles the Sërat Pira- ijon at any time enjoyed a popularity as great as the history of Joseph and the life of Muhammad. References to manuscripts providing in formation on the subject are to be found in the General Index under the catchwords Pirav,on and Musa (Moses). 21.910 Sërat Raja Pira^on, in prose: cod. 2119, 2122, 2123, 2129, NBS 46, NBS 47, NBS 160. 22.000 Life of Muhammad. It

seems probable that biographies of the Prophet Muhammad were among the first books read in Muslim religious circles in Java. In the beginning the Javanese Mus lim’s religious thinking was dominated by mystic concepts. On account of the central place occupied by the person of Muhammad, the Perfect Man (Insan Kamil), in Islamic mysticism, treatises on the Prophet’s life were in favour among the pious. Episodes where his divine inspiration (Nur Muham mad : Muhammad’s Light, pre-existing) was in evidence were brought out in full relief in the Javanese books. Javanese biographies of Muhammad are closely connected with the Anbiya texts; indeed in some manuscripts they are united. In fact in Islamic theology the Biblical pa triarchs and Kings who' are called prophets are precursors of Muhammad. Probably Javanese biographies of Muhammad for one part are amplifications of the concluding chapters of extensive Anbiya texts, which are of Arabic-Persian origin. On the other hand, some Javanese -texts contain tales con necting the Prophet with Aji Saka, a per sonage belonging to Javanese mythology (see 23.100). Seen from a Javanese point of view, a legend about Muhammad meeting Aji Saka is not strange: both are mythic founders of social and religious order, Muhammad of Islam and Aji Saka of Old Javanese society. There is no need saying that such tales are not of Arabic origin. Some Indian-Persian prototype seems not impossible, however. In some respects such tales are comparable with pre-Islamic myths. The tales which were collected in the Ménak Amir Hamza cycle (see 30.460) seem to be of a comparable type and of the