Ch. 10: How the Raja of China Cured His Skin Problem

This short chapter is about the Raja of China. When the envoys who had escorted the Raja of China’s daughter to Melaka come back to China, the letter they bring from Sultan Mansur Syah is paraded in a procession, and when it reaches the audience-​hall, the chief minister reads it out. Once the Raja of China finds out the meaning (probably via an inter­preter) he declares himself jolly pleased that the king of Melaka had just “berkirim sembah” (sent obeisance) to him. Very soon after this happens, the Raja of China falls sick and develops kedal (melasma) all over his body! (Alert readers will remember that melasma also played a part in the marital drama of Seri Teri Buana a few chapters ago ). A doctor (“tabib”) comes over but his treatment doesn’t work. The Raja of China sends for hundreds of doctors, in fact, but no one can find a cure. Even the best medical teams remain clueless:

Finally, however, an aged doctor says to him: “Your Majesty, this leprous condition (‘penyakit kenohong’) of yours cannot be cured by any of us, because it has a very specific cause.” The Raja of China asks, “What is the cause??” The doctor replies: “The cause is that the Raja of Melaka sent his obeisance to you. If you do not drink and bathe in the water that the Raja of Melaka uses to wash his feet, you will never be cured.” When the Raja of China hears this, he asks for envoys to be sent to Melaka to ask for water that had been used to wash the Raja of Melaka’s feet. The ships are made ready, and the journey of the envoys takes some time.

Word is brought to Sultan Mansur Syah that some Chinese envoys want the water that he uses to wash his feet. The letter that the envoys brings says: “This letter comes from the royal father to the royal son. If the royal son has affection for the royal father, the royal father would ask a favour for the water that has been used to wash the royal son’s feet.” Sultan Mansur Syah then gives the water. (The manuscript doesn’t say if he decided to wash his royal feet there and then, or if such used water is always kept on standby in anticipation of such a request.) He sends back a letter to China via the envoys, and he also rewards them with the inevitable robes of honour.

The letter and the feet-​washed water are paraded to the envoys’ ship, which sails back to China. Upon arrival, the letter and the water are paraded again and taken into the palace. The Raja of China then drinks the water that had been used to wash Sultan Mansur Syah’s feet, and he bathes in it, and then his melasma totally disappears! He then vows that he will never again accept obeisance from the Raja of Ujung Tanah (this is the first appearance of this term in the manuscript, and might be a case of the story-​teller getting ahead of himself, as it refers more to Southern Johor; but it might also be stretched to mean ‘Melaka and all territories at the southern-​most tip of the Asian land mass’). Anyway, the vow apparently exists until today, for the Raja of China said: “All my descendants on the throne shall never demand obeisance from the Raja of Melaka or his descendants, but only friendship on equal terms (‘muafakat berkasih-​kasihan’).”

Sep 4, 2010 – 10:24 PM | By Amir Muhammad | Posted in Blog Post | Comments (766)

Previous Chapters

  • CH 15–2: How Kampar Got Steamrolled by Melaka
  • CH. 15–1: How a Melakan Warrior Had to Wait Before Kicking Haru Asses
  • Ch. 14–5: Why the Bendahara Mentions Royal Horniness on His Deathbed
  • Ch. 14–4: How Melaka Delivered a Smackdown to Pahang
  • Ch. 14–3: How the Sultan of Melaka Turned into a Kick-​ass Vigilante
  • Ch. 14–2: How a Grandmother From Hell is Stopped from Committing Regicide
  • Ch 14–1: How the People of Campa Ended Up in Melaka
  • Ch. 13: How the Pasai King’s Uppity Words Lost Him a Valuable Ally
  • Ch. 12–3: How the Sultan of Melaka Got Cock-​Blocked
  • Ch 12–2: How The Pasai Philosopher Answers (or Not) a Riddle from Melaka
  • Ch. 12–1: Why the Horny Prince of Mengkasar Goes on a Destructive Spree
  • Ch. 11: How a Game of Sepak Raga Turned Deadly
  • Ch. 10: How the Raja of China Cured His Skin Problem
  • Ch. 9–5: How the Sultan of Melaka Got His Elephant Back
  • Ch. 9–4: How the Raja of China’s Daughter Came to Melaka
  • Ch. 9–3: How Hang Tuah Killed Hang Kasturi
  • Ch. 9–2: How the Melakans Responded to the King of Majapahit’s Practical Jokes
  • Ch. 9–1: How the Queen of Majapahit Chose Her Husband
  • Ch. 8–2: How Melaka Became Siam’s BFF
  • Ch. 8–1: How the Siamese Were Fooled
  • Ch. 7: Why The Bendahara of Melaka Committed Suicide
  • Ch. 6–3: How Melaka was Founded, and Then Became Muslim
  • Ch. 6–2: How a King’s Horniness Got Him into Trouble with His Brother
  • Ch. 6–1: How Islam Came to the Malay World
  • Ch. 5: How Eating Vomit Can Make You A Superman
  • Ch. 4: How Singapura Repaid Majapahit’s Insult
  • Ch. 3: How Singapore Got Its Name
  • Ch. 2: How China Saved Itself
  • Ch. 1: Alexander?

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