The grave-stone of Sultan Mansur Shah of Malacca (1458–1477 A.D.
This short note by J. P. Moquette, translated by Dr. R. O. Winstedt from the Journal of the Batavian Society, presents a corrected reading of the Arabic inscription on the head-stone of Sultan Mansur Shah of Malacca (r. 1458–1477), the only known extant stone from the tombs of the Malaccan Sultans.
Summary
Moquette argues that the two stones previously described by Winstedt (1918) do not belong together: the head-stone is genuine, while the second stone is not from any tomb. Using plaster-casts made at the Raffles Museum in Singapore, Moquette reconstructs the damaged inscription and corrects several errors in the earlier reading by Hervey. Most significantly, he establishes that the father’s name is Muzaffar Shah (not as previously read) and that the date of death falls in Rajab 882 A.H. (October–November 1477 A.D.), with the most likely date being Wednesday 15th, 22nd, or 29th October, or 5th November 1477 (p. 1–2). He also identifies the side inscription as a well-known verse on the transience of the world, common on stones in Northern Sumatra (p. 3).