It has been said that "a modern arrogance has blocked our access to the history of the Muslim calendar in Southeast Asia". Without at least the outlines of that history, we simply do not understand the basis of dates found in Malay sources. Also, without a history of Malay calendars we are denied an understanding of the context from which the Javanese Muslim calendar arose.
This volume, the result of combining empirical evidence with a sound understanding of the structural requirements of calendar-making, and of the mechanisms through which these needs could be met, for the first time explains how these old octaval calendars actually worked. It traces the history of Muslim calendars in Southeast Asia, and attempts to put them into their historical and cultural context. Understanding the old calendars will at last throw light on a number of essential aspects of older Malay science and culture.
An accompanying interactive CD-ROM presents the reader with a tool for converting Malay and Javanese dates, with access to the range of variant calendars.