Ch. 9–4: How the Raja of China’s Daughter Came to Melaka

The chapter continues with the news that Sultan Mansur Syah refuses to live again in the palace where Hang Kasturi was killed (talk about bad chi!). So he asks Bendahara Paduka Raja to build a new one. The Bendahara himself supervises the construction. The manuscript goes on at length to describe how very swanky this new palace is, with details like ‘the tops of the windows are made of red glass, so that in sunlight they gleam like fire’ before concluding that no other palace in the world, at that time, could match its sheer awesomeness.

When it is almost done, the sultan walks through the interior while his servants walk through the lower level (“dari bawah rumah”). He declares himself jolly pleased with the quality of the work, but when he goes to the kitchen (“penanggahan”) he finds that one of the wooden cross-​beams is darker and smaller than the others. He asks what the cross-​beam is made of, and he is told it’s made of the ibul palm. The sultan murmurs, “Hmm, it seems like the Bendahara was a bit cincai here.” And then he goes home, accom­panied by a court eunuch (“sida-​sida”) named Tun Indera Segara.

Tun Indera Segara then goes to tell the Bendahara: “Oooo, the king was pissed off just now because one of the cross-​beams was too small!” When the Bendahara hears this, he is galvanised into action and orders a cross-​beam of the mightier kulim wood to be made that is a cubit–wide and a finger-​span in length. The cross-​beam is completed and the Bendahara personally goes to the kitchen to hammer it into place. When the construction sounds reach Sultan Mansur Syah, he asks, “What’s going on?” And Tun Indera Segara says, “It is the Bendahara, personally hammering in the new cross-​beam, because Your Majesty had said that the previous one was too small.” The king is mighty happy to hear this and orders robes of honour to be brought to the Bendahara. And so the palace is completed, and everyone involved in it is also given robes of honour; and Sultan Mansur Syah moves in.

After some time, with the will of Almighty God, the palace catches fire, and flames appeared on the roof. Sultan Mansur Syah and his queen, his family and the women-​attendants flee from the palace, leaving their possessions behind. No one has time to take anything with them. The zinc of the palace roof melts from the fire, and the molten zinc starts to stream down like heavy rain. One of the people who can brave the molten-​zinc rain to retrieve property is Tun Muhammad the Swift (“Tun Muhammad Pantas”), who can make two or three trips in the time it takes others to make one. And that is why he is called Tun Muhammad Pantas. Another bloke is called Tun Muhammad the Camel (“Tun Muhammad Unta”) because the load he can carry is two or three times heavier than those of any other man. And that is why he is called Tun Muhammad Unta, not because he smokes:

All the property of the palace is rescued; not much is damaged by fire. But the palace itself burns to the ground, and the fire dies out. Sultan Mansur Syah gives awards to all those who rescued his possessions. Some are given robes of honour, some are granted titles, and some are given gold-​plated keris (“bersalut”) or swords. The king then asks the Bendahara to build another palace and audience-​hall, and the Bendahara gets together a crew of men for the job. In an example of job special­isation, each task is handled by men from a different territory: the men of Ungaran and Tuhal build the main part of the palace, the men of Bentan Karangan collect the materials, the men of Pancur Serapong build the audience-​hall… and it goes on and on. When it is completed, it is even more awesome than the one that burned down. If that previous one was awesome, this one is FRICKIN’ awesome. So the king rewards everyone involved in its construction, and he moves in for good.

Seri Nara Aldiraja had several (“dua tiga”) children by Tun Kudu: the son Tun Tahir is the eldest, the second is a daughter named Tun Shah, and the youngest is a son named Tun Muzahir, who is very good-​looking (“terlalu baik rupanya”). When Tun Kudu dies, Seri Nara Aldiraja marries again. His new wife is a Malay girl and gives him two children: a son named Tun Abdul, who is an outrageous fop (“terlalu olahan”) and a daughter named Tun Naja.

When news reaches China of how great the king of Melaka is, the Raja of China sends envoys to Melaka, and as a gift to accompany his letter he sends a shipful of needles. When the ship reaches the port, the king orders the letter to be brought to him with due ceremony. The letter is received by a herald and read aloud by a khatib, and it goes: “This letter from His Majesty the Raja of Heaven is sent to the Raja of Melaka. We hear that the Raja of Melaka is an amazing guy, and we desire to make an alliance with him. There are no rajas in this world greater than me, and no one knows how many people live in my kingdom. We have asked for one needle from each household in China, and those are the needles that fill up the ship now at your port!”

When Sultan Mansur Syah hears the words of the letter, he smiles. He then orders the ship to be cleared of the needles and filled instead with fried sago. Tun Perpatih Putih, younger brother of Bendahara Paduka Raja, is sent as an envoy to China. He sets out and, after a long voyage, he arrives. The Raja of China orders the letter from Melaka to be brought in a procession, but the procession is stopped at the house of the Chief Minister, whose name is Li Po. When it’s almost dawn, Li Po and the big chiefs go to the palace to present themselves to the Raja of China, and Tun Perpatih Putih accom­panies them. A whole bunch of of crows (the proper way to say this is: a murder of crows) follows them in. When they arrive at the outer gate, Li Po and the chiefs stop; and so do the crows. Then the gong of summons is sounded like thunder, and everyone passes through the gate. This happens at each of the seven gates. And when it is day-​time, they finally enter the palace and take their seats in the audience-​hall; there are so many people presenting themselves in the hall that their knees press against each other. The crows then spread their wings, acting as a roof for them. To the dramatic sounds of rolling and crashing thunder, with the added visual effect of lightning-​strikes, the Raja of China enters.

The Raja of China emerges, but he is only slightly visible from the glass of the mouth of the dragon that he is sitting on. Everyone in the hall bows down, and no one dares to lift his face. The letter from Melaka is read out and the Raja of China is pleased to hear it. And the fried sago is brought to the Raja of China, who asks how it was made. And Tun Perpatih Putih replies, “The king of Melaka commanded each of his subjects to roll out a single grain of sago, until there was enough to fill up a whole ship. That should give a clue about how many people there are in Melaka!” And the Raja of China says, “This Raja of Melaka seems like an amazing king; he must have as many subjects as I do. I might as well marry my daughter to him.” He turns to Li Po and says: “If the Raja of Melaka can get his subjects to roll out grains of sago, then I must have something even more special! In the future, all the rice that I eat must be husked, grain by grain, rather then be pounded.” Li Po replies, “Very well” — and this is why, until today, the Raja of China does not eat pounded rice but rice husked grain by grain.

Whenever Tun Perpatih Putih presents himself before the Raja of China, he wears rings on all his fingers. If a Chinese chief admires the bling-​bling, he would take out a ring and give it to him, and he would repeat the process with the other chiefs; this happens everyday when he presents himself to the Raja.

One day, the Raja of China asks Tun Perpatih Putih, “What do Malays like to eat?” Tun Perpatih Putih answers, “We Malays like kangkung, which shouldn’t be cut across but split to preserve its length.” The Raja of China is intrigued and asks for kangkung to be prepared this way. After it is cooked, it is served to Tun Perpatih Putih and the other Malays. When they eat it, they hold the kangkung by the tip of the stalk and they look upwards (to eat it), and this is how they finally manage to get a good look at the Raja of China’s face.

Soon, it is time to return. The Raja of China commands Li Po to bring the princess to Melaka. Li Po does so, and when the fleet is almost ready the Raja sends 500 young noblemen and a high-​ranking chief to escort the princess, Puteri Hang Liu, together with a few hundred beautiful maidens. Tun Perpatih Putih seeks the Raja’s leave, and the Raja’s letter is borne in procession to the ship, which then sails home.

After a long voyage, they arrive in Melaka. Word reaches Sultan Mansur Syah that Tun Perpatih Putih has arrived, bringing with him a princess from China. The king is thrilled to bits and and asks for her to be received with great ceremony by all the chiefs and war-​chiefs. And when the princess reaches the palace, Sultan Mansur Syah is gobsmacked (“terlalu hairan”) to see Puteri Hang Liu — presumably because she’s so beautiful, rather than because she has some shocking physical defect. He asks her to embrace Islam. When this is done, he marries her; and by her, he has a son named Paduka Mimat, who then has a son named Paduka Seri Cina, who then has a son named Paduka Ahmad, who then has a son with the truly unfor­tunate name of Paduka Isap.

And all the 500 Chinese noblemen who were brought with Puteri Hang Liu take up residence in the place that is named Bukit Cina, which is what it’s still called today. They are the ones who made the well in Bukit Cina, and their descendants are known as “biduanda Cina” (the Chinese yeomen). Sultan Mansur Syah gives yet another one of his robes of honour to the Chinese chief who accom­panied her to Melaka, and the chief then bids leave to return to China.

Sep 3, 2010 – 2:09 AM | By Amir Muhammad | Posted in Blog Post | Comments (910)

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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