Chronicle
The Genealogy of Kings
Sulalatus Salatin
Tun Seri Lanang · 1612
Synopsis
The chronicle makes the Malay rulers descend from Alexander the Great, three of whose descendants appear on the hill of Bukit Siguntang, near Palembang. One of them, Sang Nila Utama, founds Singapura; later, a banished king settles at the spot where a mouse deer stands up to his hunting dogs: it will be Malacca. The narrative then follows the glory of the sultanate, its embassies, its conversions and its great servants, the bendahara Tun Perak and the warrior Hang Tuah.
Context
On 13 May 1612, Raja Abdullah commissions the bendahara Tun Seri Lanang to gather and rewrite the accounts of the origin of the Malay kings. Shortly afterwards, Aceh sacks the Johor capital, Batu Sawar, and carries the court off into captivity: Tun Seri Lanang completes his work in exile. The text survives in some thirty manuscripts, and Raffles's is held to be the oldest. John Leyden translated it into English, published in 1821. The chronicle combines a first, legendary part, which founds the sovereign's legitimacy, and a second closer to history.
Who it is for
A long chronicle, mixing genealogies and lively accounts that can be read on their own; several English translations exist, including a recent one from Penguin.
Prizes and reception
Inscribed in 2001 on UNESCO's Memory of the World register, and regarded as one of the finest works, literary and historical, of the Malay language.
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