Sidi Ali Ghiyat oed’dir — also Sidi Ali Ghiyatuddin — was the envoy dispatched by the elders of Pasaj to the court of Sjahroe’n Noewi to recover the captured sultan Malikoe’t-Tahir of Pasej-Samudra, in chapter VIII of the Sadjarah Malajoe. His three embassies — each bearing a fabulous golden gift — and his final, successful request for the sultan’s return are the closing movement of the Sjahroe’n Noewi chronicle episode, and the principal instance in the Sadjarah Malajoe of an Pasej religious figure conducting diplomacy by bedekte taal.
The three embassies
After Awi Ditjoe’s capture of the radja of Samudra and his humiliation as “tender of chickens”, Sidi Ali Ghiyat oed’dir and the elders of Pasaj fitted out a ship, bought Arab merchandise (for “in those days the people of Pasaj understood Arabic”), and dispatched Sidi Ali — dressed in Arabic clothes — to the court of Sjahroe’n Noewi.
His first embassy presented a tree of gold, with gemstones as fruit, worth a bahara of gold; on being asked “what is your desire?”, Sidi Ali answered “Nothing”. The king was much pleased but wondered what they wanted. The second embassy presented a chess-board of gold with gemstone pieces, again worth a bahara of gold; the king again offered to grant their wish; Sidi Ali again declined. The third embassy, presented as the monsoon turned and the time to return came, presented two golden ducks — a drake and a female — on a golden bowl of water, that swam, dived, and chased each other. Astonished, the king asked: “tell me now frankly, what is your desire?” Sidi Ali answered: “from your grace we ask for our king, the tender of the chickens, back”. “The radja of Pasej? Good, I give him back to you”, the king answered — “because he is a Muslim”, Sidi Ali added, “we address this request to you”. The king then graciously returned sultan Malikoe’t-Tahir to Sidi Ali, who brought him back to Samoedra.
Significance
For AcehWiki, Sidi Ali Ghiyat oed’dir is the principal Pasej religious envoy of the Sadjarah Malajoe’s Sjahroe’n Noewi episode — the figure whose three embassies recover the captured sultan, and whose Arabic dress and speech attest the Pasej sultanate’s Arabic-Islamic orientation in the pre-Atjehnese age. His use of bedekte taal — the fabulous golden gifts that, in De Roo de la Faille’s reading, encode the older Hindu-Buddhist sacred geography — is also the principal instance of a Pasej diplomat employing the veiled-language register in the chronicle.
See Also
- Awi Ditjoe
- Sjahroe’n Noewi
- Pasej-Samodra
- Sultan Malik at-Tahir of Pasej
- Sadjarah Malajoe
- Bedekte taal
- Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java
Source
Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java, by P. de Roo de la Faille (Den Haag: Maart 1954), chapter “Over Sjahroe’n Noewi”, pp. 24-25.
Sidi Ali Ghiyat oed’dir — also Sidi Ali Ghiyatuddin — was the envoy dispatched by the elders of Pasaj to the court of Sjahroe’n Noewi to recover the captured sultan Malikoe’t-Tahir of Pasej-Samudra, in chapter VIII of the Sadjarah Malajoe. His three embassies — each bearing a fabulous golden gift — and his final, successful request for the sultan’s return are the closing movement of the Sjahroe’n Noewi chronicle episode, and the principal instance in the Sadjarah Malajoe of an Pasej religious figure conducting diplomacy by bedekte taal.
The three embassies
After Awi Ditjoe’s capture of the radja of Samudra and his humiliation as “tender of chickens”, Sidi Ali Ghiyat oed’dir and the elders of Pasaj fitted out a ship, bought Arab merchandise (for “in those days the people of Pasaj understood Arabic”), and dispatched Sidi Ali — dressed in Arabic clothes — to the court of Sjahroe’n Noewi.
His first embassy presented a tree of gold, with gemstones as fruit, worth a bahara of gold; on being asked “what is your desire?”, Sidi Ali answered “Nothing”. The king was much pleased but wondered what they wanted. The second embassy presented a chess-board of gold with gemstone pieces, again worth a bahara of gold; the king again offered to grant their wish; Sidi Ali again declined. The third embassy, presented as the monsoon turned and the time to return came, presented two golden ducks — a drake and a female — on a golden bowl of water, that swam, dived, and chased each other. Astonished, the king asked: “tell me now frankly, what is your desire?” Sidi Ali answered: “from your grace we ask for our king, the tender of the chickens, back”. “The radja of Pasej? Good, I give him back to you”, the king answered — “because he is a Muslim”, Sidi Ali added, “we address this request to you”. The king then graciously returned sultan Malikoe’t-Tahir to Sidi Ali, who brought him back to Samoedra.
Significance
For AcehWiki, Sidi Ali Ghiyat oed’dir is the principal Pasej religious envoy of the Sadjarah Malajoe’s Sjahroe’n Noewi episode — the figure whose three embassies recover the captured sultan, and whose Arabic dress and speech attest the Pasej sultanate’s Arabic-Islamic orientation in the pre-Atjehnese age. His use of bedekte taal — the fabulous golden gifts that, in De Roo de la Faille’s reading, encode the older Hindu-Buddhist sacred geography — is also the principal instance of a Pasej diplomat employing the veiled-language register in the chronicle.
See Also
- Awi Ditjoe
- Sjahroe’n Noewi
- Pasej-Samodra
- Sultan Malik at-Tahir of Pasej
- Sadjarah Malajoe
- Bedekte taal
- Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java
Source
Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java, by P. de Roo de la Faille (Den Haag: Maart 1954), chapter “Over Sjahroe’n Noewi”, pp. 24-25.