Ch. 9–3: How Hang Tuah Killed Hang Kasturi

The chapter continues with Sultan Mansur Syah and his large posse coming back to Melaka. All the big honchos of the palace come to the port to greet him, bringing all manner of drums, pipes and trumpets. There are more ships than anyone can count. All the chiefs pay homage to him, and he and his new bride Radin Galuh Cendera Kirana travel to the palace. Sultan Mansur Syah gives his daughter, Puteri Bakal, away in marriage to Maharaja Merlang of Inderagiri. (This is probably to tie the two families together, because Inderagiri is now under Melaka.) From the marriage of Maharaja Merlang and Puteri Bakal, Raja Nara Singa is born; he later becomes known as Sultan Abdul Jalil.

And from the marriage of Sultan Mansur Syah and Radin Galuh Cendera Kirana, a son named Ratu di Klang is born. Now, this is an odd name for a boy, to be sure; Ratu mean queen. Did the royal couple expect their son to grow up to be not a Melakan king but a drag queen?

The Sensational Shelah!

(You might be relieved to know that in other versions of this manuscript, the son’s name as the more masculine-​sounding Raja Radin).

One day, Sultan Mansur Syah’s favourite horse falls into a cesspool (“pelendap angin”). Kaypoh people gather around the cesspool to wonder how to get the horse out, but no one is brave enough to go down and tie a rope to the horse to pull it out. This is the cue for Hang Tuah to enter the scene and do exactly that. After the horse is rescued, Hang Tuah goes back and has a bath. When Sultan Mansur Syah sees that his horse is safe, he is thrilled and presents Hang Tuah with compliments and robes of honour.

Some time later, a Javanese man has a fever, and the young people who pass by all laugh at him (perhaps because he shivers so badly — but still, that’s no excuse for being rude!) The Javanese man is so embar­rassed that he runs amok with a Sunda knife and goes on an unstoppable killing spree! Hang Tuah comes forth and the Javanese makes to attack him. Hang Tuah pretends to retreat and drops his keris. The Javanese man drops his own knife and picks up the keris, thinking, “This must be a good keris, because Hang Tuah must know his shit when it comes to owning keris.” When Hang Tuah sees this, he picks up the dropped knife and sets upon the Javanese man, who stabs at him with the keris. Hang Tuah springs aside, avoiding the keris, and he in turn stabs the Javanese man with the Sunda knife, below his chest (“dapur-​dapur susunya”), killing him. When Sultan Mansur Syah hears that the Javanese is dead, he sends for Hang Tuah and gives him robes of honour.

When Hang Tuah becomes a fully grown adult (“datang hujjatul alafah”), he is said to have an affair with one of the female palace attendants, and the king hears of this. And so Sultan Mansur Syah instructs Seri Nara Aldiraja to have Hang Tuah killed. But Seri Nara Aldiraja thinks to himself: “Hang Tuah’s sin doesn’t deserve the death penalty.” So he instead hides Hang Tuah away in an orchard, and has him restrained in fetters (“dipasung”). He then informs the king that Hang Tuah had been executed, and Sultan Mansur Syah receives the news silently.

A year later, Hang Kasturi has an affair with a female palace attendant who is one of the king’s concubines (“dipakai raja”). Sultan Mansur Syah and his queen leave this palace and move into another one. Hang Kasturi is then under siege in the earlier palace. Sultan Mansur Syah sits in a small pavilion, where all the chiefs present themselves to him. There is a big crowd surrounding the palace where Hang Kasturi is, but no one can go inside to attack him. He had locked all the doors, leaving only one in front open. He had strewn the floor with trays and bronze platters and such, and he would walk on them. (Although the manuscript doesn’t explain why he does this, watching a movie scene of the incident made me realise it’s to avoid being speared from below; the palace is elevated on stilts and the floor is made of wood). He then kills his mistress, slitting her open from her face to her belly, and strips her naked.

Sultan Mansur Syah gives an order for Hang Kasturi to be killed but everyone is too chicken, because Hang Kasturi isn’t just anyone. So the king says: “If only Tuah were here, he would erase my shame.” (In the original version, the phrase for ‘erase my shame’ is actually “menghapuskan kemaluanku.” Yes, go ahead and ROTFL, you pervs.) After he says the same thing a couple more times, Seri Nara Aldiraja pipes up: “Erm, if Hang Tuah were still alive, would Your Majesty forgive his previous sin?” The sultan asks: “Do you have him with you?” Seri Nara Aldiraja replies: “What am I, crazy? Your Majesty told me to get rid of him, and so I did.” The sultan says: “If Tuah were still alive, I’d forgive him even though his sin were as big as a hill. And who do I have a sneaky feeling that he’s still alive, Seri Nara Aldiraja?” So Seri Nara Aldiraja says: “Your Majesty is correct. When you told me to have him killed, it seemed to me that his sin didn’t warrant the death penalty. So I put him in fetters, because he’s not an ordinary man and I thought he might prove useful to you later.” The sultan is thrilled to hear this, and says, “Seri Nara Aldiraja, you are the most worthy of servants,” and rewards him with (you guessed it) robes of honour. He then asks for Hang Tuah to be brought back.

Hang Tuah is brought to see Sultan Mansur Syah. Hang Tuah still can’t walk steadily, and he is feeble from being in fetters for so long. The king takes out his own keris and gives it to Tuah, saying, “Kill Kasturi with this keris of mine.” Hang Tuah replies, “Yes, Your Majesty”; and after doing obeisance (“menjunjung duli”) to the king, he sets out to get Kasturi.

When he comes to the palace steps, Hang Tuah calls out “Hang Kasturi! Come down!” When Hang Kasturi sees him, he cries out, “Is that really you? I thought you were dead, which is why I did what I did. And now we meet, keris to keris. Come up here!” And Hang Tuah says, “Very well.” But as soon as he climbs two or three steps, Hang Kasturi attacks him. Hang Tuah leaps down and tries to climb again, but the same thing happens. After this goes on a few times, Hang Tuah says, “How am I supposed to come up if you keep blocking me? If you’ve really got balls, come down here and fight with me, so that everyone can see!” But Hang Kasturi says, “How can I come down when all those people are there? While I fight with you, one of them will come and stab me!” Hang Tuah says, “I won’t allow anyone to help me. This is between you and me.” But Hang Kasturi says, “If I were to come down, someone else will stab me. If you want to kill me, come up!” Hang Tuah says, “Then you have to step aside.” And so Hang Kasturi gives way.

Hang Tuah goes up. He sees a small shield (“utar”) on the wall and takes it. Then they fight; Hang Tuah has a shield but Hang Kasturi does not. Hang Tuah sees that the concubine had been killed and stripped naked; he manages, even when fighting, to use his foot to bring up the woman’s sarong so that it covers her, making it look like a sheet over her. Hang Tuah fights even though he’s still weak, unsteady and can’t stand properly. He stabs but his keris gets embedded into the wall instead. Hang Kasturi is about to stab him, but Hang Tuah says, “If you had balls, you wouldn’t stab me when I have no weapon. A real man would let me retrieve my keris first.” So Hang Kasturi says, “OK, retrieve your keris.” And so Hang Tuah takes his keris and sets it right.

The fight resumes, but Hang Tuah once again misses and gets his keris stuck into a pillar. Again Hang Kasturi gives him a chance to retrieve his keris. This happens two or three times: Hang Tuah getting his keris stuck somewhere, and Hang Kasturi giving him time to get it back. And then by the grace of God, Hang Kasturi gets his own keris stuck into the wall. And Hang Tuah stabs him in the back, right to his heart. And Hang Kasturi says, “Hey Tuah! Is this how a man with balls fights? You got your keris stuck a few times and I gave you time. Now that I got my keris stuck once, you stab me!” And Hang Tuah says, “I don’t have to play fair with you, because you have committed treason.” Hang Tuah stabs Hang Kasturi again, killing him.

When Hang Kasturi is dead, Sultan Mansur Syah oozes with happiness. He gives to Hang Tuah all of the very clothes he is wearing. (Is the king now naked on the throne?) The corpse (“bangkai”) of Hang Kasturi is flung into the sea. His wife and children are also killed and their house, right down to the ground on which its pillars stood, is brought down and cast out into the sea. Hang Tuah is then installed as Laksamana (Admiral) and given a procession that befits a prince. In the hall of audience, he is seated right next to Seri Bija Aldiraja. Hang Tuah is the first Laksamana, and when Seri Bija Aldiraja is absent, the Laksamana takes his place to bear the sword of state. This is the procedure that is (apparently) followed until today.

Aug 31, 2010 – 6:36 PM | By Amir Muhammad | Posted in Blog Post | Comments (966)

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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