Vladimir Braginsky is Professor of Southeast Asian languages and culture at SOAS, University of London. He is a specialist on Malay and Indonesian religions, traditional and modern literatures, and comparative literature, and has published a number of books on these subjects.

• IntroductionPart I: Religion1. Bauddha Brahmins in Bali C. Hooykaas 2. A New Look at Sãsanavamsa V.B. Lieberman 3. The Dewartu Sotäpan : a Mon prototype of the 37 nats Part II: History, Historical Sources4. Tambralinga O.W. Walters 5. The Malay Founder of Medieval Malacca R.O. Winstedt 6. Malay History from Chinese Source R.O. Winstedt 7. Banten and the Dutch in 1619: six early 'pasar Malay' letters8. North-western Cambodia in the seventh century O.W. Wolters 9. Some Sanskrit Inscriptions of Arakan E.H. Johnson 10. The Kyaikmaraw inscriptions H.L. Shorto 11. The 32 myos in the medieval Mon kingdom H.L. Shorto 12. Collaborateur versus Abstentioniste (Tuong versus Tri ): political polemic in poetic dialogu during the French acquisition of southern Vietnam J.H.C.S. Davidson Part III: Literature and Arts13. The story of Sudhana and Monohara: an analysis of the texts and the Borobudur reliefs Padmanabh S. Jaini 14. Further light on Sir Richard Winstedt's 'undescribed Malay version of the Ramayana' E.C.G. Barrett 15. Three old Achehnese Manuscripts P. Vorrhoeve 16. The date of the SOAS manuscript of the Sjair perang Mengkasar R. Jones 17. The Song of the Three Mons J.A. Stewart 18. Three 'immortal' Burmese songs Hla Pe, A.A. Allot and J. Okell 19. Country life in Burmese Literature C.W. Dunn, Hla Pe, J.A. Stewart 20. Mahorasop in a Thai Manörä manuscript E.H.S. Simmonds 21. New evidence on Thai shadow-play invocations E.H.S. Simmonds Part IV: Historical Linguistics22. A Chinese Vocabulary of Malacca Malay Words and Phrases E.D.Edwards, C.O. Blagden 23. A Chinese Vocabulary of Cham Words and Phrases E.D. Edwards, C.O. Blagden 24. Tangut or Proto-Burman G.H. Luce 25. Three Mon-Khmer word families H.L.Shorto 26. Achinese and mainland Austronesian H.L.Shorto 27. The structure of the word in Old Khmer J.M. Jacob

'Vladimir Braginsky's introduction to this volume provides a thorough history of Southeast Asian Studies in the U.K., especially at SOAS (the school of Oriental and African Studies), and offers pointed suggestions for restoring the health of Southeast Asian Studies in the future.' - Justin McDaniel