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The Scriptures of Hang Tuah

Saturday, 25 February 2012 14:14

by Guru Scott McQuaid

The cultural town of Melaka (Malacca) is famous in Malaysia for being the trading hub of Asia during the 16th century, opening Melayu’s spice trade to the West and bringing much wealth and foreign culture to the island. For many visitors today the town is a historical center, filled with market stools, old China town’s art shops, ancient mosques, chinese temples and a reconstruction of Melaka’s palace. But there is another domineering presence in this town, a figure that is celebrated on every road, building, sign post, art canvas and many tourist products. This figure is Malaysia’s most famous warrior known for his ferocious silat, his keris skills and his loyalty to the Sultan. This warrior is Hang Tuah.

The Hang Tuah tales are chronicled in the semi historical Malay annals of the Sejarah Melayu as well as the more romantic scriptures from the Hikayat collections. I shall retell the stories as documented in the Malay scriptures before analyzing factors that will open a debate which will hopefully broaden this topic and further the results in this ancient myth or legend.

The story begins in the 15th century during the reign of the Sultan Mansur Shah, the sixth sultan of Malacca that some scholars believe was a descendent from Sumatra ruling the state from 1459 to 1477. Mansur Shah implemented a policy of expansion during his reign, with many territories in the Malaysian Peninsular and eastern Sumatra under his rule. Relations between Melaka and Sumatra strengthened when the provinces of Bintan Siantan and Inderagiri were given to Melaka as dowry for the Sultan’s marriage to the princess of Majapahit.

The Sultan’s admiral (laksamana) Hang Tuah was instrumental in Melaka’s victories. He became the Sultan’s constant aide, accompanying the king on official visits to foreign countries.

During a visit to Majapahit, a famous Indonesian warrior named Taming Sari challenged Hang Tuah to a keris duel. One source notes that the Indonesian warrior forged a keris which he named after himself while another tale documents that it was literally hand moulded by the famous Guru Sang Adi Putra. The warrior Taming Sari was once a disciple of guru Adi Putra who also trained Hang Tuah. Back then it was common practice that any great warrior seek the skills from many mentors. Long before Taming Sari went to study under guru Adi Putra, the guru was said to have been meditating in seclusion in a cave. Suddenly a source of molten iron appeared in front of him, so he took it in his hand and by his shakti (human energy power), he pressed and shaped the iron forming a keris that he named Taming Sari. Years later, once the student Taming Sari finished his training under guru Adi Putra, the guru told him about the keris and the coincidental naming and then lent the keris to his student. Taming Sari was told to carry the Taming Sari keris but mysteriously the knife was not meant to be given to him permanently and he did not return the keris to his master as promised. This keris had served him well in previous battles and the blade had become an entity of power and folk magic, with word saying that whoever possessed this keris would become invincible.

The Jawa warrior Taming Sari was the senior of Hang Tuah but they had never met before. Hang Tuah learnt about Taming Sari and his famed keris from their mutual guru. He knew that the keris was a key factor to winning the fight, for the bearer of this keris would be invincible. The grand event attracted many spectators to witness this match between two mighty warriors. As the fight commenced Hang Tuah seemed to be no match against the Majapahit warrior Taming Sari. The fight depicts that Hang Tuah was always under attack; he was only able to act defensively. But Hang Tuah was said to be waiting for the right opportunity to capture the famed keris. He continued to defend and eventually found an opening disarming Taming Sari. The empowered keris fell from his hand. Hang Tuah gave his own keris to the Java warrior deceiving him and those watching as a gentleman's gesture. He then retrieved the keris named Taming Sari from the ground. The keris knives had been switched with new handlers, Hang Tuah became more aggressive, attacking more frequently, and with only a short amount of time since the keris exchange, Hang Tuah stabbed the Majapahit warrior Taming Sari killing him almost instantly. Hang Tuah followed the adat (tradition) protocol by presenting the keris to his Sultan that in turn presented it back to the Majapahit king who politely refused. The Melaka Sultan then honored Hang Tuah with the knife. Once Hang Tuah returned to Melaka, he climbed Mount Ledang to return the keris back to his teacher and rightful owner. It is then that Guru Adi Putra officially made the keris belong to Hang Tuah.

Hang Tuah would be given further responsibilities as ambassador, acting on behalf of the Sultan when traveling to allied countries.

A story from the Hikayat Hang Tauh scriptures tells the tale of the warrior being sent to Pahang with the task of persuading the already engaged princess Tun Teja to forget her previous commitment and become the Sultan’s companion instead. The document continues to note that princess Tun Teja fell under the impression that Hang Tuah himself had come to persuade her to marry him and not the Sultan. She agreed to elope with him to Melaka and it was only during the voyage home that Hang Tuah revealed his deception to Tun Teja. The Sejarah Melayu annals carry a different account of this tale, claiming that it was another warrior named Hang Nadim who deceived the princess.

The most famous story of Hang Tuah is the tale of his fight with his closest childhood companion, Hang Jebat. Hang Tuah’s deep loyalty and popularity with the Sultan was known throughout the kingdom, but rumors started to circulate about the warrior having an illicit affair with one of the Sultan's stewardess (dayang). The Sultan felt betrayed and insulted, so he sentenced Hang Tuah to death without trial for the alleged offense. The death sentence was never carried out, however, because Hang Tuah's executioner, the Bendahara, went against the Sultan’s orders feeling that Hang Tuah was sentenced unjustly and so he hid Hang Tuah in a remote region of Melaka, protecting the town’s hero.

Hang Jebat heard of the unjustly murder of his childhood friend, so he seeked to avenge his friend's death. Hang Jebat's revenge allegedly became a palace killing spree or furious rebellion against the Sultan depending on which source you read. However, it remains consistent that Hang Jebat wreaked havoc onto the royal court, and the Sultan was unable to stop him, as none of the Sultan's warriors dared to challenge the more experienced battle veteran Hang Jebat.

The Bendahara then informed the Sultan that the only man able to stop Hang Jebat was Hang Tuah and that he was still alive. The Sultan immediately told the Bendahara to recall Hang Tuah from his hiding place and the warrior was given full amnesty by the king and instructed to kill Hang Jebat. The keris duel between the two warriors Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat is legendary illustrated in many paintings around Melaka’s art community. The fight is said to have lasted seven grueling days and eventually Hang Tuah was able to kill Hang Jebat.

The two main sources of this Hang Tuah story differ on the details of his life. According to the Hikayat Hang Tuah pages, it was Hang Jebat who avenged his friend's death, only to be killed by the same friend, but according to Sejarah Melayu records, it was another warrior named Hang Kastur who invaded the palace who eventually fell in battle to Hang Tuah’s keris. These documents are unique in that they constitute the only available account of the history of the Malay Sultanate in the 15th and early 16th century, but the dramatic Hang Jebat story remains the more popular.

Hang Tuah continued to serve Melaka after the death of his friend Hang Jebat. As Hang Tuah progressed in his years, the warrior was ordered by the successive Melaka Sultan to court a legendary princess on the Sultan's behalf.

The Puteri Gunung Ledang (Princess of Mount Ledang) was so named because she resided on Mount Ledang at the Melaka-Johor border. Some scholars documented this Princess as being Sumatran from the Minangkabau region. According to the legend, the Princess met with Hang Tuah, and only agreed to marry the Sultan if he satisfied a list of requirements, or pre-wedding gifts. The list included a golden bridge linking Melaka with the top of Mount Ledang, seven trays of mosquito livers, seven jars of virgins' tears and a bowl of the Sultan's first born son's blood.

Hang Tuah knew the tasks would not be fulfilled, and was said to be so overwhelmed that he failed his Sultan that he flung his Taming Sari keris into a river and vowed only to return to Melaka if it resurfaced, which it never did. He then simply vanished into thin air.

Another version of this story is that he himself fell in love with the princess and that they fled to Sumatra and were never seen again. Recently an article was published online on a Malaysian website about traces of Hang Tuah’s blood DNA being found in Ridu, Sumatra.

Melaka’s records state that Hang Tuah lived until old age and his body is said to have been buried in Tanjung Kling in Melaka, where his tomb can still be seen today.

The debate of Hang Tuah’s existence is never ending. In my opinion, I don’t doubt that there was in fact a warrior named Hang Tuah as most legends have basis in something real. King Arthur’s existence is still being disputed in England, stories of him and the knights of the round table are in question, archeologists are still digging for his Avalon.

If we focus on the popular tale of the Hang Tauh and Hang Jebat story, this actually raises many questions, such as why wouldn’t Hang Tuah or his executioner the Bendahara tell Hang Jebat that he was still alive. This way the close friend Hang Jebat and the three other warriors could arrange a safe passage out of Melaka for the wrongly accused warrior. And if the two warriors did face each other in the palace surely Hang Jebat would be happy to see his brother alive and would have no interest in dueling his close friend to death. Just as Hang Tuah had deceived the Sultan with his own death, surely he would help to fake Hang Jebat’s death and smuggle him out of the city. As for the epic seven day keris duel, I think most people will agree that this segment has been glamorized to the ridiculous. An actual keris duel would be over very quick more like seven seconds and if the two skillful warriors took their time it would still last no longer than twenty to thirty seconds. Like most myths there seems to be huge voids in the story.

We have to consider many factors when looking at this warrior. Firstly, in the old days people took liberties when writing history; anything documented back then was generally to convey a great kingdom and ruler. The Sejarah Melayu scriptures are said to have been edited many times and probably were altered to suit the ruler of the day which explains why there are so many versions of the Hang Tuah story.

When visiting the museum of Melaka, it documents that Melaka was founded as a city in 1403 or thereabout. It tells of Sultan Mansur Shah (1456-1477), accompanied by Hang Tuah, visiting Majapahit when Gajah Mada was its prime minister. This is when the famed Majapahit warrior Taming Sari challenged Hang Tuah to a public duel. But Javanese records show that Gajah Mada, and his presidential aid, Taming Sari lived much earlier, between 1290 and 1364. This disparity is difficult to explain and this is the reason why historically the events mentioned in Sejarah Melayu annals are disputed. The Javanese records of Nagarakretagama do not mention Hang Tuah at all.

Today a version of the Taming Sari keris exists as a part of the royal regalia of Sultan Azlan Shah in the Perak state of Malaysia. The legend of the this famous keris tells two stories, one being that Hang Tuah gave the keris to one his senior soldiers Tun Mamat to be returned to his Sultan after he failed to bring back the Princess from Mount Gunung Ledang. The alternative version to Hang Tuah's failure to return with the princess is that he threw the keris into the river. Hang Tuah vowed he would only return to Melaka when the keris re-appeared, much like the English legend of King Arthur's excalibur sword. Both stories have Hang Tuah walking away and mysteriously disappearing. The keris itelf, many believe, is lost forever.

The Taming Sari keris is unique in that it was meant to be made of twenty-one different types of metal, supposedly metal leftover from the forging of the bolts of the holy ka'aba. For those of you unsure of the holy ka'aba, it is a cuboid shaped building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is the most sacred site in Islam. Now how the metal used from the ka'aba come to be in Majapahit and used by the Jawa warrior Taming Sari to forge a keris seems a stretch of the imagination; not impossible but certainly unlikely. The keris knife is shrouded in spiritual meaning and non more so than the Taming Sari. It is said that Hang Tuah's blade would fight for him. With wild tales of the keris leaping out of its sheath, flying through the air to attack the assailant.

Some Indonesians believe that the keris was actually possessed by the Javanese warrior Taming Sari. As one story notes him as the original forger of the blade that he named after himself, it is said that his dying spirit became a part of the blade and this helped Hang Tuah to become as dominant in combat as he is noted as being in Malay history. There is little to discuss on this topic, as a reader you will no doubt fall into one of the following two categories; those that look to the heavens and those that look to the earth.

The knife's sheath was said to be covered in gold leaf, making it classified as a keris gabus. In modern day the Taming Sari keris is referenced for the style of keris blade; it has a leaf style pattern down the long sleek straight blade and is worn by royal heads of state as a symbol of power.

There is speculation to Hang Tuah’s ethnicity; some believe he was not Malay but actually Indonesian from Java.

Findings from The Federal Association of Archaeology & Research of Michigan, USA reveal that DNA analyzed of Hang Tuah and his warrior brothers including Hang Jebat and Hang Lekiu confirm that Hang Tuah was not Malay but Chinese. An Islamic Chinese much like the famous China Admiral Cheng Ho.

Melaka was a protectorate of China during that time and the Emperor of China sent the Sultan of Melaka yellow gifts as a token of his sovereignty. Hang Tuah and his four warrior brothers were believed to be sent to help protect Melaka and its Sultan from the Siam kingdom (Thailand).

The Sultans of Melaka were directly descends from Parameswara, from Indonesia who fled to Tamasek (Singapore) and then eventually to Melaka.

The Melaka Sultanate family eventually spread and became the Sultanate of the other Malay states of Perak and Johor. Therefore, the Sultanate royal court and the aristocrats of the Malay sultanates are actually foreigners from Sumatra and Java. Hang Tuah and his friends were the protectors of the Indonesian aristocratic Parameswara family who came to Malaya around 1400 AD and claimed sovereignty of the land.

The Malaya chronicles of Hang Tuah tell the tale of the warriors and his four comrades traveling from China as a part of the royal escort of Chinese Princess Hang Li Po. This is our first introduction to Hang Tuah and his band of warriors, so if they were Malay why haven't we heard of them until their arrival from China.

This Chinese princess was said to be the fifth wife of of Sultan Mansur Shah, however it is disputed whether Hang Li Po ever existed since she was never recorded in the Ming Chronicles of ruling Chinese Ming dynasty nor in the genealogical record of the imperial house of Zhu (Royal Ming Dynasty family). In addition the Ming decorum of rites, governed by the ministry of rites in the matter of bestowing the title princess always used two characters followed by the title 'Gong Zhu' - a title denoting blood-relation to the Emperor.

The claim of the Ming princess converting to Islam is also disputed as the conversion of any aristocratic member of the Ming court to a foreign religion or belief was forbidden.

Another questionable point to this story is the dates of this princess Hang Li Po. Some scriptures state she reigned as princess in the Tianshun Empire from 1457 to 1464, while others state that she was a princess in the court of the Yongle Emperor from 1402 to 1424.

There is speculation that the princess was merely a beautiful maid in the imperial house who was then picked to assume the role of a princess. This information could be viable as these types of hand-picked princesses were usually sent to far away kingdoms that are not significant to the emperor and therefore were not declared in the history books. This kind of practice was common throughout China history.

Another Chinese influence to the Hang Tuah debate is his name. 'Hang' is an unusual surname or even name for a Malay. Chinese names start with the surname first, and given names last. But Malay names start with the given names first and the father’s name is carried last. There is no surname in traditional Malay, there is no surname to carry forward to the next generation.

If we examine the genealogy of Hang Tuah, the writings of the warrior note Hang Mamat was his father, yet we do not see a Malay name transmission, we see a name being carried forward. It is also noted that the placement of the name that is carried forward is in front. This indicates that the surname is “Hang”. It is the transmission of Chinese names. The same is seen in Hang Tuah’s son Hang Nadim.

Before Hang Tuah and his band of four warriors each carrying the Hang name, there were no documented Malays with this name during this period.

The big debate in Malaysia is not so much about Hang Tuah's existence as it is to do with what style of silat he practiced. Naturally, any Malay school of silat would like to be related to the famous warrior, but there seems to be no real indication to what preference of silat he may have studied.

Many Malaysian’s believe that Hang Tuah learned ‘Bersilat’ which is a very basic style that exists in two forms. The first is silat pulot that is purely for exhibition at weddings and other ceremonials and back then for state visits. The other element is known as silat buah (fruit) which comprises of the techniques and forms used in real combat.

This silat art is listed as emerging in the 15th century but again there is no hard evidence to support this. The origins of Bersilat are said to come from Indonesia and it was introduced to the Melaka court by a religious teacher from Northern Sumatra.

The story goes that Hang Tuah and his warrior friends journeyed great distances to seek out Bersilat, traveling to mount Rundok to train under Maha Guru Adi Putera. It is also noted that Hang Tuah continued his studies in Majapahit in the mount Winara vicinity practicing with Maha Guru Persanta Nala. Because these stories are merely folklore there is no other evidence to support these instructors' names and locations.

The techniques and traditions listed in Bersilat are basic ingredients of almost every silat system practiced today, so it is possible that Hang Tuah learned the very raw basics of silat. Some say the warrior studied Gayong silat which would explain the advanced keris fighting techniques and again Gayong has all the elements listed in Bersilat only with much more. But the actual full development of the Gayong style was not structured during this period although it may have existed in its raw form under another name.

A Melaka street historian recently told me that Hang Tuah practiced a style called ‘Listari’ which later formalized into Silat Lincah. The style of Silat Lincah favors evasion with follow up sweeps, locks and chokes that do not relate to dueling techniques used with a keris.

However, the name of Silat Lincah was originally Silat Tarah; the word tarah means to sever or cut off which makes sense in relation to keris combat. But practitioners of Lincah note that the name of the art was changed because it sounded too violent and so they chose Lincah meaning quick and agile. So this claim that the term Listari later became known as Lincah doesn’t really apply. Also Silat Lincah is not known for its keris fighting and that's what Hang Tuah is most famous for; he was said to be a master at keris dueling in the palace courts as this style of combat was for noble skilled warriors not unlike the fencing style from France.

In truth, Hang Tuah probably would have learned various silat and combative systems and they would have been family systems of silat. Almost all silat styles came from families that had handed down the techniques from generation to generation and over time each practitioner would have shifted their focus to certain aspects of the art, evolving it and adding other fighting influences. They would then rebrand the art using their name or village name and sometimes the name of an animal.

This practice continues today, many martial artists learn a system of combat that they later mix with another style or strip away segments of the art they fill are not needed and focus on other parts. They then call it a new name, claiming themselves as the founder of the system, to which in theory they are.

So Hang Tuah’s silat style is wide open for debate, but as I stated earlier there is always some truth within a myth or legend and the fact that this warrior is always associated as being a keris fighter definitely tells us that he had some experience in silat as this blade is directly linked to the pencak silat fighting arts.

Hang Tuah remains an extremely popular Malay legend, embodying the values of Malay culture at the time, when allegiance and loyalty were paramount above all else.
Although the tale's of Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat historical accuracy remains disputable, the legend of the tragic friendship between Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat represents a paradox in the Malay psyche about loyalty and justice, and this remains a point of debate among students of Malay history and literature.

Hang Tuah is famous for quoting the words "Takkan Melayu Hilang Di Dunia" which literally means "Malays will never vanish from the face of the earth" and nor shall this legendary figure.

Exclusive publication for blacktrianglesilat.com, 2012. All rights reserved.