Hikayat Patani

The Hikayat Patani, or Story of Patani, is a tale that chronicles the history and legends of the Sultanate of Patani, a small Malay-speaking kingdom located on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula. These stories date to as early as the late Fifteenth Century, but were most likely first recorded at various times between 1690 and 1730 by as many as six different authors (the sections outlined below were first established in Teeuw & Wyatt's analysis) and written in Jawi script. The story survives in a number of original manuscripts, the earliest transcribed by Abdullah Menshi in 1839, and held in the Library of Congress.

Sections of the Chronicle

Part One: Stories of the Inland Dynasty The first section, which includes pages 1-74 of the 1839 manuscript, details events during the reign of the Inland Dynasty, which ruled Patani from its foundation, as early as the mid-fourteenth century, until its fall in the Seventeenth Century. The tales are essentially an account of the rajas, in succession. No explanation is given for the emergence of the tradition of female rulership, so one must assume the authors of the chronicle thought the matter irrelevant.

Part Two: Stories of the Kelantan Dynasty This section, comprising pages 74-78 in the 1839 manuscript, tells of the rise to power of Raja Bakal and the succession of kings until the fall of Alung Yunus. These stories possess a style that indicates the authors were contemporary to the events they describe. Once again, the stories concentrate on the deeds of the rulers of Patani, though this section is filled with the succession conflict and declining economic realities evident in the region after 1688. Two dates are given for the rulers below, the first based upon Teeuw & Wyatt's chronology and the other from al-Fatani (see references below).

Part Three: Bendaharas of Patani This section gives a brief account of the bendaharas (prime ministers or royal treasurers) who served the rulers of Patani.

Part Four: Datuk Cerak Kin This story tells of the elephant doctor Cau Hand and his descendants, including the Bendahara Datuk Cerak Kin, who appears to have been a particularly powerful bendahara. A Thai version of the Hikayat Patani, which continues events after 1729, claims that Datuk Cerak Kin succeeded Alung Yunus to the throne of Patani, but did not survive long.

Part Five: Datuk Sai This story tells of the activities of Datuk Sai and the struggle between various contenders for the throne during the Kelantan Dynasty.

Part Six: Laws of Patani This section, among other things, details how the royal orchestra is supposed to perform during important royal ceremonies. This section fully exhibits the sacred power of the text itself.

References

A. Teeuw & D. K. Wyatt. Hikayat Patani: The Story of Patani. Bibliotheca Indonesica, 5. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1970.

Ahmad Fathy al-Fatani. Pengantar Sejarah Patani. Alor Setar: Pustaka Darussalam, 1994.

David K. Wyatt, "A Thai Version of Newbold’s 'Hikayat Patani'." Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 40, no. 2 (1967): 16-37.

Francis R. Bradley. The World of the Hikayat Patani. M.A. Thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2006.

Ishii Yoneo, ed. The Junk Trade from Southeast Asia: Translations from the Tosen Fusetsu-gaki, 1674-1723. Data Paper Series, Sources for the Economic History of Southeast Asia, no. 6. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1998.