Abstract
Among specimens of traditional Malay literary polemics, or rather, “wars of books”, we find an interesting group of texts of the mid or late seventeenth century, which narrate how an Acehnese embassy was dispatched to Ottoman Turkey to obtain “large cannons”. Remarkably, alongside literary pieces composed in Aceh, this group also includes the Turkish episode of Hikayat Hang Tuah ( HHT ), the epic created in Johor which describes the epoch of the Malaccan sultanate. However, HHT is a double-layered work in which Malacca not infrequently stands for Johor, whose relations with Aceh were more often than not hostile. HHT ’s author covertly polemicizes against Acehnese literary works, striving to prove that Malacca (read Johor) allegedly established diplomatic relations with the Ottomans earlier than Aceh. HHT also attempts to show that its mission to Istanbul was much more successful than Aceh’s and that it completed the recognition of Malacca/Johor across the entire political space from China to Turkey. Yet, the political and literary agendas of HHT ’s author differ radically. In the former, the forces of repulsion hold sway, which leads HHT to depict the triumph of Johor in its rivalry with Aceh. In the latter, on the contrary, the forces of attraction dominate. For this reason the Turkish episode in HHT borrows the plot of Acehnese works, constructs its portrayals of Istanbul from a mosaic of Acehnese sources, and resorts to the grand Acehnese literary style of the “gold-and-jewel” variety. Keywords: traditional Malay literature, Hikayat Hang Tuah , Malacca, Johor, Aceh, Turkey, Istanbul, the Ottomans, Acehnese embassy, political agenda, palimpsest, war of books, gold-and-jewel style
Highlights
Among the fairly numerous pieces of traditional Malay literature which tell of various things Turkish–real, imaginary and altogether mythical–or unfold their plots against Turkish backdrops, there is an interesting group of works united by a historical event that in its time marked the first face-to-face encounter of the Malay world with Ottoman Turkey
After two years in Aceh, Lutfi arrived in Istanbul on a return mission, bringing a royal letter in which, having asked once again for military assistance, Alauddin suggested that Aceh should be granted the status of a vassal-state under the Ottoman suzerainty
The author’s idea of using Bustan’s portrayal of the Acehnese garden for a representation of the Ûsküdar garden, its Turkish counterpart was felicitous. Both were surrounded by walls with beautiful gates, both stretched along the water, both were arranged asymmetrically and embellished with pavilions, kiosks and fountains of every sort and kind, both were planted with innumerable varieties of flowers, fruit trees and vegetables
Summary
Among the fairly numerous pieces of traditional Malay literature which tell of various things Turkish–real, imaginary and altogether mythical–or unfold their plots against Turkish backdrops, there is an interesting group of works united by a historical event that in its time marked the first face-to-face encounter of the Malay world with Ottoman Turkey. HHT’s author may have known at least one episode from Lada Secupak 2 incorporated in the Acehnese epic Hikayat Meukota Alam.12 According to the latter, the embassy took an extremely long time to reach Istanbul, since the envoys lost their way in the ocean and wandered about for two years, living on rice and the pepper that had been sent to the sultan as a present; yet, after their arrival in Istanbul, the sultan received them without delay (Sabil, 1932:4-6).
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