Hikayat Hang Tuah
V.I. BRAGINSKY
HIKAYAT HANG TUAH: MALAY EPIC AND MUSLIM MIRROR
SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON ITS DATE, MEANING AND STRUCTURE Hikayat Hang Tuah (the epic of Hang Tuah), one of the pinnacles of Malay classica1 literature, described as early as the eighteenth century by F. Valentijn as a 'very rare gem', still remains a largely mysterious work which allows of opposed interpretations.1 The study of Hikayat Hang Tuah as a work of literature and, hence, as a research object of the science of literature, was launched by A. Teeuw in articles which described the system of its characters in their quite complex interrelationships. More importantly, perhaps, Teeuw has indicated ways of studying this hikayat as a work which, though heterogeneous in terms of its components, possesses a single structure and meaning based on a fundamental conception in medieval Malay culture of the relationship between the ruler and his subjects that is favourable for the state (see Teeuw 1960; 1961; 1964). While supporting Teeuw's main ideas, the present author hopes to develop these somewhat further and, perhaps, to add to them some ideas of his own. So far the problem of dating Hikayat Hang Tuah remains unsolved. In a series of interesting articles on this hikayat, B.B. Parnickel asserts that the romance acquired its present shape in the sultanate of Johor, during the 'golden thirty years' of its history (1 640- 1670s), so that its account of the valour displayed by Laksamana Hang Tuah might have redounded to the glory of his very distant successor in that function, Laksamana Abd al-Jamil, the most powerful courtier in Johor at that time (Parnickel 1962:148-9). Parnickel correctly observes that the tale reflects some of the events which took place in Johor during the 17th century, and that in some of its episodes the äuthor is appareritlystriving 'to project the present into the past' (Parnickel 1962:150): The study on the history of Johor by the
1
.
See, for example: Ahrnad 1964; de Josselin de
HIKAYAT HANG TUAH: MALAY EPIC AND MUSLIM MIRROR
SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON ITS DATE, MEANING AND STRUCTURE Hikayat Hang Tuah (the epic of Hang Tuah), one of the pinnacles of Malay classica1 literature, described as early as the eighteenth century by F. Valentijn as a 'very rare gem', still remains a largely mysterious work which allows of opposed interpretations.1 The study of Hikayat Hang Tuah as a work of literature and, hence, as a research object of the science of literature, was launched by A. Teeuw in articles which described the system of its characters in their quite complex interrelationships. More importantly, perhaps, Teeuw has indicated ways of studying this hikayat as a work which, though heterogeneous in terms of its components, possesses a single structure and meaning based on a fundamental conception in medieval Malay culture of the relationship between the ruler and his subjects that is favourable for the state (see Teeuw 1960; 1961; 1964). While supporting Teeuw's main ideas, the present author hopes to develop these somewhat further and, perhaps, to add to them some ideas of his own. So far the problem of dating Hikayat Hang Tuah remains unsolved. In a series of interesting articles on this hikayat, B.B. Parnickel asserts that the romance acquired its present shape in the sultanate of Johor, during the 'golden thirty years' of its history (1 640- 1670s), so that its account of the valour displayed by Laksamana Hang Tuah might have redounded to the glory of his very distant successor in that function, Laksamana Abd al-Jamil, the most powerful courtier in Johor at that time (Parnickel 1962:148-9). Parnickel correctly observes that the tale reflects some of the events which took place in Johor during the 17th century, and that in some of its episodes the äuthor is appareritlystriving 'to project the present into the past' (Parnickel 1962:150): The study on the history of Johor by the
1
.
See, for example: Ahrnad 1964; de Josselin de