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We know[1] that Éseukanda Muda conquered, among other littoral Malay States, Johor (1613) and Pahang (1618), thus gaining for Acheh an authority over the Malay Peninsula which was only. balanced by that of the Portuguese, who had settled at Malacca a century earlier. It is also known[2] that the prince in question made several attempts to drive out these rivals of his power from Malacca. For instance, he attacked that port in 1628 with a fleet of gigantic proportions, considered relatively to the development of Acheh. All his efforts were however unsuccessful, though he succeeded in harassing the Portuguese to a considerable extent.
Curious fiction.That the Achehnese legend should collect the various phases of Meukuta Alam's attack upon Malacca into a single naval expedition of fabulous dimensions, need cause us no surprise. But it sounds more strange that they should definitely describe the chief enemy of the Achehnese as a Dutchman[3] and allude to him not only as ruler of Malacca, but also occasionally by way of variety as the "ruler of Guha", which latter name refers to Goa the chief settlement of the Portuguese in India. This may possibly be explained by the fact that later on the Portuguese disappeared entirely from the field of vision of the Achehnese, while the Dutch came to be to them the representatives of all danger that threatened them from Europeans. Purely Achehnese character of the poem.But it would manifestly be an endless task to continue explaining all the details of this legend. Imagination runs riot throughout the whole, but the method of expression is thoroughly Achehnese; the thoughts which the poet puts in the mouths of his characters and the scenes which he has lavishly embroidered on the framework of his story, are all derived from the everyday life of the Achehnese people.
Contents of the epic.The poem begins with the first tokens of enmity on the part of Si Ujut, a son of the raja of Malacca, against his benefactor Éseukanda
- ↑ F. Valentijn, pp. 7 and 8 of the "Beschrijvinge van Sumatra," which appeared in the 5th Volume of his Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën.
- ↑ See Veth's Atchin, p. 74.
- ↑ The Achehnese are not as a matter of fact, like the Javanese for example, accustomed to describe all Europeans as "Dutchmen" (Ulanda). They give Europeans the general name of kaphé ("unbelievers"), and for closer definition use the names of their nationalities (Inggréh, Peutugéh, Pranséh etc.). The Dutch are honoured with the epithet of "labu-planters" (Ulanda pula labu) because, say they, in every country of the Archipelago where the Dutch have established themselves, they have first asked the native ruler for a small piece of ground for the cultivation of labu (pumpkins) and subsequently laid claim to all the ground over which this quick-growing plant had spread.
