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Excerpt from An Account of the Malay Chiri: A Sanskrit Formula Being in Perak in an official capacity during the military operations in that State in 1875 - 6, I ascertained that it was generally believed by the natives that among the treasures said to comprise the regalia of the Sultan was a mysterious document written in the ba/zasa fin (language of the Genii), on the possession of which the safety of the kingdom depended. The name given to it was Surat chirz'; swat in Malay meaning a document, and chiri a sign or written testimony 1 All inquiries for the document in question, or for copies of it, proved fruitless for a long time. They tended to prove, however, that no manuscript in the Sanskrit or other ancient character existed in Perak, and that the document called claim, whatever it was, was written in the ordinary malay-arabic character. Communication with J ohor, the state in which the de throned Sultan of Perak was living, produced little result. The original chirz' was said to have disappeared several reigns back, in one of the petty wars which were formerly common in Perak, and though a substitute had been written down from the dictation of one of the privileged family trusted with the reading or reciting of the mystic formula, even this had been mislaid, and could not be found. In 1879, chance brought to light a copy of the document for which search had so long been made. A chest of native manuscripts which had belonged to former Sultans of Perak was opened at the British Residency, and among them was a small ms. Volume containing the laws of the State. This transcript was dated the 18th Rajah, a.h. 1234, so it is about sixty years old. On the last page of it was a copy of the Chiri. This I now subjoin, with a transliteration of it in Roman characters. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work