In the first place the Islamic epics are to be discussed. The hero is Amir Hamza, a historic personage, an uncle of the Prophet. In Arabic-Persian and Indian literary works his warlike and amorous exploits were sung by numerous poets, so as to' make him the legendary champion of the Faith in many Islamic areas of South East Asia. Perhaps a Malay prose version of Amir Hamza’s life was read in Muslim communities in the western part of the Archipelago 1 as early as the fifteenth century. “De Roman van “Amir Hamza”, by professor Van Ronkel (1895) deals with the spread of the tales in South East Asia and the Islands, The Ménak romances contain a great number of names of Kings, princes, princesses and countries. In the Javanese versions they are very much corrupted, but in many cases their foreign (to wit: Persian-Indian) origin still is apparent. In the sixteenth century Islamic literature of several kinds was introduced in Java in a Malay garb, and probably the first Java nese Amir Hamza tales were versions of Malay originals, In Java the hero was given the ancient Javanese title Ménak and the whole cycle of Islamic epic tales was called the book of the Ménak. Beside Amir Hamza himself, his sons and grandsons also ap pear in later invented and appended tales. The similarity of some personages of Ja vanese Ménak books and Javanese-Balinese Panji tales was noticed by Poerbatjaraka (“Beschrijving der Handschriften, Ménak”, 1940, p. 3). Mutual influence of the two cycles seems probable. Their spread over many countries of the Archipelago' is contempo raneous, and both groups of romantic tales are characteristic for sixteenth and seven

teenth century international Pasisir culture. But the Panji tales are original products of East Javanese poets and the Ménak romances are of foreign origin. Perhaps in some cases familiarity with the Panji character made acceptance of Ménak tales in Javanese nar rative literature easy. Similarities of Panji tales with some other romances (Yusup, 30.520, and Asmara Supi, 30.670) are also remarkable (see 30.850). In Java, Ménak tales were put on a par with autochthonous romances, so that the hero was given a pair of panakawans, men tors and cunning servants, of the same kind as the heroes of the wayaij plays and the Panji tales. In Javanese Ménak tales the panakawans are called Marmaya, or Umar Maya, and Marmadi, or Umar Madi. Origi nally the names belong to historic personages belonging to the entourage of Muhammad. In the Javanese Ménak tales and in the special kind of wayat} theatre presenting those tales, called wayaq golèk, the two cunning servants show genuine Javanese panakawan characters (see the present au thor’s paper “The Romance of Amir Hamza “in Java”, in Bingkisan Budi, Festschrift van Ronkel, Leiden 1950, p. 235). Probably Ménak tales were known in Java already in the seventeenth century. In the course of time many passages were en larged, and new episodes were added. Sev eral additions were very much admired; they developed into independent romances. Per haps older tales belonging to' the Panji cycle exercised their influence in this development. Almost all Javanese Ménak romances have been discussed and epitomized by Poer batjaraka in his “Beschrijving” (1940) and his “Indonesische Handschriften” (1950).

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