The Cultural Values in Hikayat Raja Pasai

The Malay world consists of various cultural heritage inherited by our ancestors which include arts, literature, customs, and language. Cultural heritage can be defined as a process that constitutes certain values from the past into the present. The older generations had preserved all kinds of cultural heritage for the future generation to appreciate them. They even go to the extent of writing great literature handwritten to ensure that their history and customs will reach us. Some famous literatures that can be found in the Malay region are Hikayat Raja Pasai, Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, Hikayat Amir Hamzah, Tuhfat An-Nafis and others.

This great literature certainly portrays a lot of cultural values that are still practiced by the current generation. Further in this paper, we will discuss the cultural values that can be found in Hikayat Raja Pasai that still exist today.

Discussion

The famous William Morris defined cultural heritage as anything that can be looked on as artistic, picturesque, historical, antique, substantial or any work that educated, artistic people would think it worthwhile to argue about (Cloonan, 2015).

Considering all the perspectives highlighted by William Morris, therefore, Hikayat Raja Pasai is known as one of the most precious cultural heritage in the Malay world. Cloonan (2015) added that heritage is also defined as embracing that which can be passed from one generation to the next and following generations. Hence, Hikayat Raja Pasai is considered as a cultural heritage because it was passed down from one of the earliest generations of the Malays to another generation until it reaches us today.

Get quality help now

RhizMan

Verified

Proficient in: Cultural Heritage

4.9 (247)

“ Rhizman is absolutely amazing at what he does . I highly recommend him if you need an assignment done ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

The cultural values that can be found in Hikayat Raja Pasai are adat meminang, loyalty to the kings, and adat cukur jambul.

Adat Mining

The first cultural value that can be found in Hikayat Raja Pasai is adat meminang. Adat mining is a custom practiced by asking for a hand in marriage. According to Norhuda Salleh (2014), adat mining comes from the word pinang which is a fruit that can be found in the Malay region. A man who has the intention to marry a girl will send representatives to ask for the girl’s hand in marriage. This custom takes place after adat risk. Adat risk happens when the male representatives visit the girl’s place. The spokesperson from the man’s side will offer a pantun to the woman’s side. The spokesperson from the woman’s side will accept and reply to the pantun. Accordingly, the spokesperson for the man will deliver his intentions in the very best speech.

Adat mining is portrayed in Hikayat Raja Pasai when Sultan Malikul Saleh instructed his minister to visit the ruler of Perlak, taking with him ladies who knew the words to use in marriage negotiations (Jones, 2013). He was interested to make the Princess of Perlak his wife. Upon arriving at Perlak, they presented the king of Perlak the gifts and ornaments they had brought from Samudera. The minister spoke in his best words delivering Sultan Malikul Saleh’s proposal and the king of Perlak and all his men were delighted. Sultan Malikul Saleh’s minister returned to the palace to report to him. Sultan Malikul Saleh chose Puteri Ganggang to be his wife and send the minister to ask for her hand in marriage. In the end, Sultan Malikul Saleh and Puteri Ganggang married each other.

Loyalty to The Kings

The next value that can be found in Hikayat Raja Pasai is loyalty to the king. In this powerful literature lies the obedient and loyal Malay subject towards its king. The kings have ultimate power which Rogayah A. Hamid and Mariyam Salim (2006) clarified that the Sultan are famously known and believed as the shadow of God. The Malays are very much obedient to the king that they will obey his every word. To strengthen this, Jones (2013) stated that Anthony Milner emphasis the Malays owed their primary allegiance to a royal personage, not to a defined state or an ethnic or religious unity. Those who go against the king will be considered as Dhaka, a Malay term that means a great disobedient that deserves punishment.

To relate this with the content of Hikayat Raja Pasai, when Merah Silau embraced Islam, all his citizens embraced Islam as well. They were willing to do that because of their obedience towards the king. On top of that, the citizens during that era were so obedient towards the king to the extent that they even obeyed to however wicked the king is. According to Hussain Othman (2009), Sultan Ahmad was a wicked king that orders his servants to help kill his own son, Tun Beraim Bapa. This is because he wants to take revenge on his son that stopped his passionate dreams of his own daughters.

His servants obediently followed his plans to trap Tun Beraim Bapa when they brought him to a picnic. Despite being conscious of his father’s plan, Tun Beraim Bapa still adhere to his father’s instructions by catching all the fishes that he demand since Sultan Ahmad was the ruler of the kingdom. In the end, Tun Beraim Bapa lost it due to the poison that his father put in his food. Sultan Ahmad also killed his other son, Tun Abdul Jalil with the help of his servants because he was envious that Puteri Gemerencang fell for him. Today, the Sultan still has a strong power and is still the ruler of the country. This is even stated in our country’s constitution that puts the Sultan in the highest hierarchy. The Sultan is still considered as the most respected royal in the country until this day.

Adat Cukur Jambul

The third value that can be found in Hikayat Raja Pasai is adat cukur jambul. This custom is held seven days after a baby is born. According to Syed Mahadzir (2009), during this ceremony, the baby will be put at the center of the ceremony and welcomed by the male guests with selawat which a salutation upon the prophet Muhammad is. People in the ceremony will take turns to cut the baby’s hair and put them into a coconut. On this day the baby’s head will be totally shaved. The coconut and hair will then be buried in soil. Accordingly, the ceremony will be celebrated with a huge feast. Sometimes, this custom will be accompanied by other customs. Muhammad Ashsubli (2018) supported this by saying that customs such as giving the baby’s name, Makkah, and other Malay customs are sometimes held together with cukur jambul.

In Hikayat Raja Pasai this custom can be found when Sultan Malikul Saleh’s baby was born. When Princess Ganggang gave birth to their handsome firstborn named Malikul Tahir, Sultan Malikul Saleh held festivities for a straight seven days and all of them enjoy eating and drinking to their hearts’ content. Then the infant prince would have his head shaved. This occasion is known as majlis cukur jambul. In this great literature, this custom is accompanied by the custom jejak Tanah. On that day, all the chiefs and ministers assembled and greatly feasted themselves. To relate this as a value that has been constituting from the past to present, people nowadays still practice these customs to express gratitude for getting offspring.

Conclusion

As conclusion, Hikayat Raja Pasai constitutes values from the past to present such as adat mining, loyalty to the kings, and adat cukur jambul. These heritages should be preserved so that the Malays should not lose their identity. Modernity is important, however, preserving our heritage is equally important to ensure that the future generation knows their roots. To continue preserving our culture and heritage, we should constantly do researches and study this great literature. Students should be exposed to the importance of preserving our culture and heritage by making it compulsory in the syllabus of every field of education. On top of that, other efforts that we can take to enhance the current and future generation’s awareness of the importance of preserving the Malay culture and heritage are holding forums, spreading messages through social media, and preserving the museums. Therefore, the Malay world will always have its own identity secured by the existence of various cultures and heritage.