Malay Annals/Chapter 15
THE Raja of China heard of the greatness of the Raja of Malaca, and sent an embassy thither, and directed the embassador to present to the raja a pilu deeply laden with needles, and also silks, gold-cloth, and kin-canbs, or kinka-dewonga, with a great variety of curious articles, such as are nowhere else to be met with. After they had arrived in Malaca, Sultan Mansur Shah ordered the letter of China to be brought up with the same honours as had been conferred on that of Siam. He then received it by the hand of a bentara, in the public hall of audience, and delivered it to the khateb, who read it according to its diction.
This letter is dispatched from beneath the sandals of the feet of the King of Heaven, to be placed above the diadem of the Raja of Malaca. "Verily we have heard that the Raja of Malaca is a great raja, for which reason we have desired his friendship and attachment, because we are also descended from Raja Secander Zulkarneini, and of the same extraction as the Raja of Malaca. There is no raja in the universal world greater than me, and it is not possible to enumerate the number of my subjects, but the pilu which I send you contains a needle for every house in my empire."On hearing the purport of this letter the raja smiled, and having emptied the prahu of theneedles, he loaded it with sago-grains, and appointed Tun Parapati Puti, the younger brother of the bandahara Paduca Raja, to conduct the ambassador back to China.
Tun Parapati Puti set sail, and how long was his voyage, till he arrived in the land of China ; and the Raja of China commanded the letter of Malaca to be brought up in state, and caused it to be left at the house of the head mantri named Li-po, till it was almost morning, when Li-po with all the mantris and head-men entered into the palace of the raja, and Tun Parapati Puti entered along with them ; and there came an innumerable flock of crows which entered along with them.
When they arrived at the outer gate, Li-po, and all the chiefs who accompanied him stopped, and the crows also stopped along with them, and sounded the great gong to give notice, which yielded a prodigious noise. After which the door was opened, and Li-po with all who accompanied him entered, and the flock of crows also. They then approached another gate, and stopped and sounded a gong in the same manner as before, after which they entered. The same process was repeated till they had passed seven doors.
When they reached the interior, the day was up, and they were all sitting arranged in their several places, in the hall of audience. This hall was one league in length, and it was not roofed in. From the great access of persons, though the persons were closely jammed knee to knee, there was no place left vacant ; and all those who attended were solely para-mantris and hulu-balangs, and the crows extending their wings overshadowed the whole assembly.
After this was heard the roaring of thunder, with thunder-claps, and lightning flashing to and fro, and then the Raja of China came forth, his form reflected like shadows in a place surrounded with mirrors, which appeared to be in the mouth of a snake (naga.) As soon as they beheld the Raja of China, all who were present bowed their faces to the ground, and saluted the Raja of China, without lifting up their faces again. A man then read the letter of Malaca, and the Raja of China was highly pleased with the contents. The sago was then brought before the raja, and the raja of China asked how it was made. Tun Parapati Puti replied that it was made by rolling it up into grains, and that the raja of Malaca had sent him a grain for every person in his dominions, till the prahu had been loaded, for so great is the number of the subjects of our raja that it is impossible to count them.
The raja of China said, "of a truth the raja of Malaca is a powerful raja, his subjects are in truth very numerous, and no wise inferior to mine. It will be very proper for me to connect myself with him." Then the China raja said to Li-po, "Since the raja of Malaca is so powerful as to have these sago-grains rolled up by his people, I in like manner am determined to have the rice which I eat husked, and no longer to be beaten." Li-po replied, "very well, Sire,"and that is the reason why the raja of China does not eat beaten rice unto the present time, but only that which is peeled from day to day.
The raja of China has at his meals, fifteen gantangs (each gantang five catty) of husked rice, one hog, and a tub of hog's lard. When Tun Parapati Puti presented himself before him, he had ten rings on his ten fingers, and whosoever of the Chinese mantris viewed them eagerly, he took one of them off and presented it to him, and the same to the next person, who viewed them attentively, and so on constantly, whenever he presented himself before the China raja.
The raja of China one day asked him what food the Malaca men were fond of, he replied, kankung greens (convol-vulus repens) not cut, but split lengthwise. The raja of China ordered them to prepare this mess according to the direction of Tun Parapati Puti; and when it was ready, he sent for Tun Parapati Puti, and all the Malaca men, and they all eat of it, taking it by the tip of the stalk, lifting up their heads, and opening wide their mouths, and thus Tun Parapati Puti and the Malaca men had a full view of the raja of China. When the Chinese observed this proceeding of the Malaca men, they also took to eating the kankung greens, which they have continued to the present time.
When the monsoon for returning arrived, Tun Parapati Puti asked permission to return. The raja of China, judging it proper to ally himself with the raja of Malaca, since he had sent to pay his respects to him, said to Tun Parapati Puti, "desire the raja to pay me a visit, in order that I may marry my daughter, the Princess Hong Li-po, to him." Tun Parapati Puti represented, "Your son, the raja of Malaca, cannot possibly leave the kingdom of Malaca, which is surrounded with enemies; but if you would do a favour to the raja of Malaca, permit me to conduct your daughter, the Princess, to Malaca."
Then the raja of China ordered Li-po to prepare a fleet to conduct the Princess to Malaca, consisting of a hundred pilus, under the command of a high mantri, named Di-po. Then the raja of China selected five hundred daughters of his para mantris, of great beauty, whom he appointed to be handmaids to the Princess. Then the Princess Hong Li-po, and the letter, were conducted on board the vessels, and Tun Parapati Puti set sail with them for Malaca.
When they reached Malaca, the Sultan Mansur Shah was informed that Tun Parapati Puti had returned, and brought with him the Princess of China, at which he was greatly delighted, and went himself to receive the Princess to the isle Pulu Sabot. Having met her with a thousand tokens of respect, he conducted her to the palace, and the Sultan was astonished to behold the beauty of the Princess of China, and said in the Arabic language, "0 fairest of created creatures, may God the Creator of the world bless you."
Then the Sultan directed the Princess Hong Li-po to be converted to the religion of Islam, and after she was converted the Sultan espoused her, and had by her a son named Paduca Maimut, who begat Paduca Sri China, whose son was Paduca Ahmed, who begat Paduca Isup. All the daughters of the Chinese mantris were likewise converted to Islam, and the raja appointed the hill without the fort for their residence, and the hill got the name of Den-China, or the China residence, (in Siamese;) and the Chinese formed a well at the foot of this China hill. The descendants of these persons are denominated beduanda China, or the Chinese personal attendants.
Sultan Mansur Shah bestowed an honorary dress on Di-po, and all the rest of the mantris who had conducted the Chinese Princess; and when the monsoon for returning arrived, Di-po asked permission to return, and Tun Talani and the mantri Jana Petra, were directed to attend the ambassador to China, and the Sultan again sent a letter to the raja of China, on account of his becoming connected with him by this marriage. Then Tun Talani sailed away for China, when a violent storm arose, and carried him with the mantri Jana Petra, to Burne. When the Sangaji of Burne was informed of this circumstance, he sent to call them into his presence, and Tun Talani and the mantri Jana Petra were brought before him.
Then the raja of Burne said to the mantri Jana Petra, "what is the stile of the raja of Malaca's letter to the raja of China ?" Tun Talani replied, "I, his servant, (sahaya,) the raja of Malaca, to the Paduca y father, the raja of China."The raja of Burne enquired, "does the raja of Malaca send this humble salutation to the raja of China, as an inferior?" Tun Talani remained silent, but the mantri Jana Petra pushed forward and said "No, Sire, he does not greet him as an inferior, for the meaning of (sahaya) the word used in the address, signifies slave in the Malayu language, and of course the phrase 'Sahaya Raja Malaca dulang kapada Paduca Ayahanda Raja China,' signifies "we the slaves of the raja of Malaca, humbly salute the Paduca our father, the raja of China. Then said the raja of Burne, "does the raja of Malaca send a humble salutation to the raja of China ?" Tun Talani was again silent, and the mantri Jana Petra pushed again forward and said, "No, Sire, he does not send a humble greeting to the raja of China, for the phrase Sahaya Raja Malaca denotes all of us here, who send the greeting, not the raja of Malaca," on which the raja of Burne remained silent.
When the monsoon for returning arrived, Tun Talani and the mantri Jana Petra asked permission of Sangaji of Burne, to return, and the raja of Burne sent a letter to Malaca, couched in this style, "May the greeting of the Paduca Ayahanda arrive beneath the majesty of the Ayahanda."Then Tun Talani and the mantri Jana Petra returned, and when they reached Malaca, they presented the letter of the raja of Burne to Sultan Mansur Shah, and related all the circumstances which had occurred to them, to the great satisfaction of the raja, who rewarded highly Tun Talani and mantri Jana Petra, and presented them with honorary dresses, and he highly praised the mantri Jana Petra.
When Di-po and the rest of the Chinese mantris, who had conducted the Princess Hong Li-po to Malaca, returned to China, they presented the letter of the raja of Malaca, and the raja of China was highly pleased with the contents. Two days after this the raja was seized with an itch of the whole body, and ordered a physician to be called, and asked for medicine. The medicine, however, produced no effect, and whatever number of physicians attended the raja, the effect was entirely the same.
There was, however, an aged physician, who presented himself to the raja, and said, "Sire, Sir Kopea, this disease of yours is sent by the visitation of God, and is not to be cured by remedies, for the cause of it is particular." The raja asked, "what is its cause ?" The physician answered, "it is a judgment on account of the raja of Malaca's sending you a salutation as an inferior, and it cannot be cured without Your Majesty's drinking the water which has washed the feet and face of the raja of Malaca."When the raja of China had heard this opinion, he ordered a messenger to be sent to Malaca, to ask the water which had bathed the face and feet of the raja of Malaca.
The ambassador sat out and reached Malaca, made his application to Sultan Mansur Shah, and the letter from China was read in the public hall by the khateb. Then the water was delivered to the ambassador, who was honoured with a dress according to his rank; and having received a letter to the raja of China, he set out on his return. As soon as he arrived, he delivered the letter of Malaca with the water, of which the raja drank, and in which he bathed himself, when the itch totally disappeared from his body, and he was cured.
Then the raja of China vowed that he would not suffer himself to be so saluted by the raja of Malaca, and that no such practice should be admitted between their posterity. After this a friendly intercourse on equal terms, subsisted for a long period between the raja of China and the raja of Malaca.