Ch. 9–5: How the Sultan of Melaka Got His Elephant Back

The last part of the chapter begins with Sultan Mansur Syah sending Tun Telanai and Mentri Jana Putera as envoys to China to give obeisance (“kirim sembah”) to his father-​in-​law, the Raja of China. Tun Telanai and Mentri Jana Putera set sail for China but, with the will of Almighty God, they encounter a big storm which drives them off course to Brunai. The two envoys then present themselves to the Raja of Brunai. And the king asks, “How does the letter from Melaka to China sound like?” And Tun Telanai replies, “Sahaya (the servant) the Raja of Melaka, presents obeisance to the Raja of China.” And the Raja of Brunai asks, “Hang on. Is the Raja of Melaka sending obeisance to the Raja of China??” And Menteri Jana Putera replies, “Erm, that’s not true. The word ‘sahaya’ in Malay means servant, and the senders of the obeisance are we, the servants of the Raja of Melaka, not Your Majesty’s elder, the Raja of Melaka himself.” And the Raja of Brunai is silent.

The time comes for them to leave. Tun Telanai and Menteri Jana Putera present themselves to the Raja of Brunai, who gives them a letter for the Raja of Melaka, which reads: “Your Majesty’s son sends obeisance to his royal father.” So Tun Telanai and Menteri Jana Putera return to Melaka, where they tell Sultan Mansur Syah everything that happened. The king is pleased to hear their account, and bestows upon them robes of honour, with special commend­ations for Menteri Jana Putera (probably for his face-​saving reply in Brunai).

Sultan Mansur Syah then commands Bendahara Paduka Raja to invade Pahang. The Bendahara sets out, accom­panied by Tun Bija Aldiraja, the Laksamana (Hang Tuah), Sang Setia, and a few other warriors, a fleet of 200 in all, big and small. (Why couldn’t they just travel overland? Melaka and Pahang are just side by side!) After the voyage, the men of Melaka do battle with the men of Pahang. (Pahang used to be a big state under the influence of Siam; it is now ruled by Maharaja Sura, a cousin of Lord Bubunnya.) After the battle goes on for some time, the will of Almighty God decrees that Melaka defeats Pahang with ease. The Pahang soldiers run for their lives, and Maharaja Sura escapes upriver. The Bendahara tells Seri Bija Aldiraja, the Laksamana and all the Melakan warriors to chase him.

Seri Bija Aldiraja spends time during this pursuit to also indulge in hunting wild buffaloes (“kerbau jalang”) and jungle fowl; he stops to set traps at every good stretch of river sand he comes to. And his men say: “What’s going on? We seem to be on a different mission from the other teams. Everyone else is chasing Maharaja Sura in earnest, but you seem to be fooling around and hunting animals. If the other chiefs catch him first, they will be rewarded and we will get nothing.” And Seri Bija Aldiraja replies, “Ah, what do you young people know? Maharaja Sura is firmly in my sight. He’s all mine. How can he get away from me?”

Meanwhile, Maharaja Sura has been in the wilds for three nights with no food or water. So he goes to an old woman’s house and asks for “rice for Maharaja Sura.” The old biddy thinks to herself: “I heard that this king is being pursued by Seri Bija Aldiraja and his men. If they find out he is sheltering in my place, I’m done for! So I should go tell Seri Bija Aldiraja.” So she tells Maharaja Sura: “You wait here, Your Highness. I’ll go get some vegetables.” And she goes to the shore, intending to tell all the Melakan men who are in pursuit of Maharaja Sura. But all of them had gone far ahead, leaving only Seri Bija Aldijara behind. So the crone meets Seri Bija Aldijara and spills the beans. Seri Bija Aldiraja then orders his men to surround the house where Maharaja Sura is hiding. Maharaja Sura is captured and brought to Seri Bija Aldiraja.

Seri Bija Aldiraja presents Maharaja Sura to Bendahara Paduka Raja, but the captive king isn’t tied or fettered in any way. And the Bendahara similarly treats Maharaja Sura as he would a ruling prince. The Bendahara orders for Maharaja Sura’s riding elephant, whose name is Iyu Kanyang, to be sent to Melaka. When the entire search party gathers, the Bendahara returns to Melaka with Maharaja Sura.

Back in Melaka, the Bendahara presents Maharaja Sura to Sultan Mansur Syah. The king of Melaka is so thrilled that he presents robes of honour to not only the Bendahara but the other warriors. For capturing Maharaja Sura, Seri Bija Aldiraja is rewarded the most: he gets umbrellas, ceremonial drums, clarinets and trumpets; only the kettledrums (“nagara”) are withheld. When Seri Bija Aldiraja travels to leave Melaka, the ceremonial drums are beaten (“dinobatkan”). The king commands him to take up residence in Pahang, and so Seri Bija Aldiraja becomes the new ruler of Pahang.

Maharaja Sura is delivered by Sultan Mansur Syah to Bendahara Paduka Raja, still in an unfettered state. The Bendahara then delivers him to Seri Nara Aldiraja, who locks him in a cage at the end of his public hall. But although Maharaja Sura is a prisoner, he is allowed a mattress and pillow; and his food is brought to him in a proper setting, by servants who present themselves to him with some protocol.

One day, while Seri Nara Aldiraja is having an audience in his hall, Maharaja Sura says, “Even though I was captured by Seri Bija Aldiraja in my home state, I was treated as if I were a ruler. When I was passed to the Bendahara, I was still treated that way. But when I am brought to you, old man, I’m treated like a prisoner.” And Seri Nara Aldiraja replies: “Hey, Maharaja Sura! You may be royalty but you can be a bit clueless. Seri Bija Aldiraja is a mighty warrior who could capture your entire state; how could you have escaped from him? The Bendahara is powerful and has many men; what chance did you have against him? I. on the other hand, am a poor old geezer, and if you were to escape I would be bitch-​slapped by the king. That’s why you have to be caged.” And Maharaja Sura replies (sarcastically?), “Excellent! You are a most worthy servant.”

After Maharaja Sura is in prison for some time, he looks outside and sees his elephant Iyu Kanyang being brought for a bath. Maharaja Sura calls the elephant to him. The elephant comes over and Maharaja Sura sees that one of its nails is missing. And he says, “This is the first time I have really looked at my elephant. No wonder I lost my kingdom!” (I suppose this means: If I can’t even take care of an elephant, how could I take care of a whole state?)

One day, Sultan Mansur Syah’s own elephant Kancanci goes missing. Did it just fly away?

No, it did not. The master of the elephants (“panglima gajah”), Sri Rama, searches but in vain. Whenever the beast is spotted in a marsh or jungle, it would evade capture. Sri Rama tells all this to Sultan Mansur Syah, who says, “Find out if anyone in this kingdom is well-​versed in the matter of elephants.” And he is told: “Maharaja Sura knows a lot about elephants.” So the king tells Maharaja Sura to recover the elephant. When Maharaja Sura is told this, he replies, “Hmmm. I might be able to help, but I need to be released first.” When this is conveyed to Sultan Mansur Syah, the king commands Maharaja Sura to be released. After this is accom­plished, the elephant can be captured! (What actually happens, although the manuscript doesn’t spell it out, is that someone had placed a spell that made the elephant impossible to capture. What Maharaja Sura did was to cancel this spell, and for this a special elephant skill (“ilmu gajah”) is needed.)

Then Sultan Mansur Syah instructs all the young noblemen of the court to learn elephant magic from Maharaja Sura. It is the standard practice of the king: whenever there are nearby experts in elephants, horses or weapons, young men of the court would be sent to seek knowledge from them.

Sultan Mansur Syah marries the sister of Seri Nara Aldiraja (how many wives does he now have?) and they have four children. Two of them are sons, one of whom is Raja Ahmad. Seri Nara Aldiraja falls ill and thinks he will soon die, and so he gets Bendahara Paduka Raja to meet him. Seri Nara Aldiraja tells the Bendahara: “I’m going to die from this illness. My children are still young, and so I entrust them first to Almighty God and then to you, as they are already like your own kids. All that I can leave them are four chests of gold, each of which requires four men to carry. I leave these matters for you to handle.” Then he breathes his last and returns to God.

Sultan Mansur Syah comes to the funeral of Seri Nara Aldiraja, which the king commands to be complete with ceremonial umbrellas, drums, clarinets, trumpets and kettledrums. After the burial, the king returns to his palace in a state of mourning.

Seri Nara Aldiraja’s young children all go to stay with Bendahara Paduka Raja. The son named Tun Tahir succeeds his father as Seri Nara Aldiraja and is put in charge of the treasury (as Penghulu Bendahari). The younger son Tun Muzahir is given the title Seri Zahiraja and is put in charge of public security (as Temenggong). Another son of his, Tun Abdul, is by a different mother and is a total fop: he takes three days to trim his nails; he only rides horses in the shade; and he spends as much time choosing his outfits as others would take to cook several pots of rice. He might be the manuscript’s first metro­sexual.

Sep 4, 2010 – 12:04 AM | By Amir Muhammad | Posted in Blog Post | Comments (791)

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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