Page 65 - Hikayat-Patani-The-Story-Of-Patani 1

56 HIKAYAT PATANI
or as one of the many officials who according to part V fought for the
position of bendahara during the reign of Marhum Kalantan. He was
apparently never considered a true bendahara of Patani by the official
traditions as represented by the other parts of our text. He is not
mentioned elsewhere either — with one, perhaps significant exception
which will be discussed below.
It may be possible, however, to establish some kind of chronology for
this bendahara on the basis of what our text itself says. According to the
story of A, doctor Cau Hang came to Patani during the reign of Mar­
hum Bungsu, i.e. Manzur Syah, who reigned from 1563—1572. He was
by then a married man with children. Now the bendahara of Cerak Kin,
with whom part IV deals later on, is a son of Cau Hang’s daughter by
his official wife. This daughter may have been bom either before Cau
Hang arrived in Patani, or in any case not much later, in view of the
details given in the text. It is plausible that her son Alung An, the later
bendahara Cerak Kin, was bom, say, before 1610. So he may have been
bendahara any time between 1640 and 1680, and perhaps earlier but
certainly not much later.
So if the genealogy as given in the text is trustworthy — and in view
of its detail and completeness it appears to be very reliable — we would
then have to account for a 17th century bendahara of Cerak Kin, who
was not the official bendahara of Patani, but who nevertheless had much
power and influence; he seems to have acted as a more or less in­
dependent ruler, a non-Malay temporarily usurping the power in Patani
most probably in the latter period of the rule of Raja Kuning (Marhum
Besar). Even though he was not originally a Malay, it is remarkable
that his main officers bear typically Muslim names.
This fragment dealing with the grandfather Cau Hang may in fact
have been written by someone who was making an effort to legitimize
his position, at the same time linking his story with well known traditions
about elephant doctors in the southern part of Thailand (see below).
Obviously the author of part IV was well acquainted with this benda­
hara, both in view of the fact that he was in a position to include his
detailed genealogy and of the way in which he spoke of the rule of the
bendahara: the story is an unrestrained eulogy of this ruler under whom
Patani flourished and under whom its inhabitants were as happy as they
had ever been. In fact, no Patani ruler is spoken of in such terms of
praise in any part of our text. The ending of this part is also in absolute
contradiction with the pessimistic ending of both parts II and III.
The abovementioned determination of an approximate date for the