Rigel Kent

This is probably not how we get our ‘ B ' Hindu-Arabic notation is strictly positional. It means if we stick an Arabic ‘٤' (4) to the left of an Arabic ‘١' (1), we would normally get a ‘٤١' (41). $$4\times 10 + 1 = 41$$ If for one moment, suppose the glyph for ‘5' is yet to be invented and we are asked to supply one. Excuse me, how do you write ‘five'? One easy way is to copy the Romans: We pretend the rule is not positional but additive, i.e. $$٤+١=4 + 1 = 5$$ However, for our new design to function properly (and to prevent mix-up) in the positional scheme, they must be fused tightly together into one single glyph. And the result is something that looks like a mirror image of B ( B ) or a Gujarati ‘ઇ' (i). ٤ ١ Now, this gedankenexperiment can be repeated if you start with ઇ (5) and remove the vertical stroke (1) on the right ...

One of the job of history is to piece together pieces of data in the past. The early Malay timeline is conveniently divided by B. W. Andaya and L. Y. Andaya (1982) into a couple of time-percha: (A) 1400 - 1699 (B) 1699 - 1819 (C) 1819 - 1874 (D) 1874 - 1919 (E) 1900 - 1941. Another way to cut the medieval Malay timeline is probably by following the Mahmuds. There are three of them if we discount The great grandson of Mahmud III. Mahmud IV . Thus, another way to split the timeline is 1400 ~ 1511 ~ 1699 ~ 1811. For instance, consider the following events in the Johor-Riau-Lingga-Pahang kingdom in 1811. Temenggong Abd al-Rahman (d. 1825) and his family relocated to Singapore from his home base in Riau. Tengku Husain (d. 1835) was in Pahang, as he was asked by his father to marry the daughter of Tun Ali (d. 1858). On January 15, Mahmud III (r. 1761 - 1811) died suddenly. Tengku Husain was bypassed and his half-brother Abd al-Rahm...