A CHAIN OF KINGS - Books and Journals

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A chain of kings
There are two features of the translated chronicles that do not appear in
the original. First, while some chronicle texts do visually separate the reigns
of rulers, the division of each chronicle into sections (ten for the Gowa chronicle
and seven for the Talloq chronicle) has been done for ease of use. Similarly,
the titles for each section do not correspond to anything found in the
Makassarese texts. Second, within each section the text has been subdivided
into paragraphs that as much as possible separate topics. This is an imperfect
solution, as there are no such subdivisions within the original chronicles, but
it makes the translations more accessible and the often confusing narrative
paths of the chroniclers easier to follow.
Finally, much has been made of the differences between critical and diplomatic
editions of Indonesian texts (Robson 1988). As discussed above, the
translations here are based on BL with substantive variations found in other
texts presented in the notes. Nevertheless, in certain cases I have departed
from a reading in BL, particularly if all the other texts agree on a reading
or if it is clear from the context that the copyist of BL inadvertently omitted
or miswrote a passage. These occasions are always clearly marked. So
too Section 10 and Appendix 1 of the Gowa chronicle are not found in BL,
but are included here. In short, these translations are not quite diplomatic
editions of single texts, but neither are they reconstructions of hypothetical
‘best’ texts based on all the surviving manuscript versions of the chronicles.
Foregrounding the oldest complete text of the chronicles is sensible, but I
agree with Helen Creese that ‘slavishly reproducing every feature of a manuscript’
(Creese 1998:10) limits the usefulness of the edition. Above all else,
I hope that the translations, notes, and transliterations in the chapters that
follow are indeed useful.