Parameswara (king)

The name Parameswara is found in Portuguese sources such as Suma Oriental, and written Paramicura or Parimicura.[3] Parameswara is a Hindu name derived from the Sanskrit word Parameśvara (Sanskrit: परमेश्वर), a concept literally meaning the "Supreme Lord". The word "parama" meaning "the supreme" is added to Ishvara as an intensifier. Parameśvara is also one of the names of Lord Shiva. However, the name Parameswara is not found in the Malay Annals, which give in some detail on the kingdoms of Singapura and Malacca. Rather it gives the name Iskandar Shah as the last ruler of Singapura and founder of Malacca. Iskandar is Persian for "Alexander", after Alexander the Great, and Shah the Persian title for a king. It is conjectured that the Iskandar Shah of the Malay Annals may have been the same person as Parameswara based on commonalities in their biographies.[4]

The Ming Chronicle (Ming Shilu) recorded that the consort of Parameswara known as Bā-ér-mí-sū-lǐ (八兒迷蘇里) ('Parameswari') attended a banquet together with the king Bai-li-mi-su-la ('Parameswara') in the Ming court.[5] It is more likely that 'Parameswari' ("Supreme Lordess") referred to a title rather than a given name as evidenced by its application in the Malay Annals to Sang Nila Utama's mother-in-law, Queen Parameswari Iskandar Shah, and is in fact still in use today in the form of "Permaisuri" ('Queen') in the Malay language. Therefore, the name Parameswara is also believed to be a small part of a longer regnal title which was something common among Malay royals until the present day. Apart from Parameswara the founder of Malacca, Abu Syahid Shah, the fourth Sultan of Malacca, was also titled "Raja Sri Parameswara Dewa Shah".

It is believed that Parameswara was a Hindu as indicated by his Hindu name. The Persian moniker Iskandar Shah used in the Malay Annals, as well as the confusion as to whether Parameswara and Iskandar Shah in different sources refer to the same person, led to the conjecture that Parameswara had converted to Islam and took a new name. In the year 1409, when he was sixty-five, he was said to have married a Muslim princess of Pasai and adopted the Persian title Iskandar Shah.[18] However, the 16th-century Portuguese writer Tomé Pires explicitly mentioned that Parameswara was succeeded by his son, named Chaquem Daraxa or Megat Iskandar Shah, and that only the latter converted to Islam at the age of 72. The Chinese History of Ming also considers Megat Iskandar Shah to be the son of Parameswara.[3] This son is referred to in the Malay Annals only as Raja Besar Muda. According to the Malay Annals, the third king Muhammad Shah was the first Muslim ruler of Melaka, having converted after a dream. Scholars believe both Parameswara and his son were given the same title, the elder called Sri Iskandar Shah and the son Megat Iskandar Shah.[19] Based on Malay, Portuguese, and Chinese writings, Christopher Wake concludes that Parameswara never adopted Islam but was posthumously given the title Iskandar Shah.[19] While there are differing views on when the Islamisation of Melaka actually took place, it is generally agreed that Islam was firmly established in the court by the reign of Muzaffar Shah.[20]

The relation with Ming China started in the early 15th century[21] when Parameswara embarked on several voyages to visit the Yongle Emperor. In 1403, the first official Chinese trade envoy led by Admiral Yin Qing arrived in Malacca. Later, Parameśwara was escorted by Zheng He and other envoys in his successful visits. Malacca's relationships with Ming granted protection to Malacca against attacks from Siam and Majapahit and Malacca officially submitted as a protectorate of Ming China. This encouraged the development of Malacca into a major trade settlement on the trade route between China and India, Middle East, Africa and Europe.

In 1411, Parameswara and his wife together with 540 officials from Malacca went to China to pay homage to the Yongle Emperor (r. 1402–1424). Upon arriving, a grand welcoming ceremony was held with sacrification of animals. The historical meeting between Parameswara and the Yongle Emperor was recorded accurately in the Ming chronicle:[22]

You, king (refer to Parameswara), travelled tens of thousands of li across the ocean to the capital, confidently and without anxiety, as your loyalty and sincerity assured you of the protection of the spirits. I (the Yongle Emperor) have been glad to meet with you, king, and feel that you should stay. However, your people are longing for you and it is appropriate that you return to soothe them. The weather is getting colder and the winds are suited for sailing South. It is the right time. You should eat well on your journey and look after yourself, so as to reflect my feelings of concern for you. Now I am conferring upon you, king, a gold and jade belt, ceremonial insignia, two "saddled horses", 100 liang of gold, 500 liang of silver, 400,000 guan of paper money, 2,600 guan of copper cash, 300 bolts of embroidered fine silks and silk gauzes, 1,000 bolts of thin silks ...

Tributes that Malacca paid to Ming included: agate, carnelian, pearl, hawksbill, coral, crane beak, golden female crane beak, suit, white cloth, Western fabric, Sa-ha-la, rhino horn, ivory, black bear, black ape, white muntjac, turkey, parrot, pian-nao, rosebush dew, su-he oil, gardenia flower, wu-ye-ni, aromatic wood, incense sticks, gold silver incense sticks.

Map of 15th century Malacca and its contemporaries.

Within decades after its foundation, Malacca grew into an international trading port and heralded the golden age of Alam Melayu. 80 languages were reportedly spoken in Malacca. Malacca became an important port in the far east during the 16th century. It became so rich that the Portuguese writer and trader Tome Pires said "Whoever is lord of Malacca shall have his hands on the throat of Venice."[23] The new Malay sultanate emerged as the primary base in continuing the historic struggles of its predecessors, Singapura and Srivijaya, against their Java-based nemeses. By the mid-15th century, Majapahit found itself unable to control the rising power of Malacca that began to gain effective control of Malacca straits and expands its influence to Sumatra. The Malay Annals records that, at the height of its power, following the accession to the throne of Sultan Mansur Shah in 1459, Malacca's territory covered much of the Malay peninsula as well as the Riau-Lingga islands and parts of the east coast of Sumatra namely Indragiri, Kampar, Siak, Rokan, Haru and Siantan. Malacca was still looking to expand its territory as late as 1506 when it conquered Kelantan.[24]

The prosperity of Malacca as an international port changed the entire Maritime Southeast Asia and its success was admired by kings from neighbouring kingdoms. As a major entreport, Malacca attracted Muslim traders from various part of the world and became a centre of Islam, disseminating the religion throughout the Maritime Southeast Asia. The process of Islamisation in the region surrounding Malacca gradually intensified between the 15th and 16th centuries through study centres in Upeh, the district on the north bank of the Malacca River. Islam spread from Malacca to Jambi, Kampar, Bengkalis, Siak, Aru and the Karimun Islands in Sumatra, throughout much of the Malay peninsula, Java and even Philippines. The Malay Annals even reveals that the courts of Malacca and Pasai posed theological questions and problems to one another. Of the so-called Wali Sanga ('nine saints') responsible in spreading Islam on Java, at least two, Sunan Bonang and Sunan Kalijaga, are said to have studied in Malacca.[20] The expansion of Islam into the interiors of Java in the 15th century led to the gradual decline of Malacca's long standing foe, Hindu-Majapahit, before it finally succumbed to the emerging local Muslim forces in the early 16th century. Ultimately, the period spanning from Malaccan era right until the age of effective European colonisation, saw the domination of Malay-Muslim sultanates in trade and politics that eventually contributed to the Malayisation of the region.

1. Malay Annals - a Malay literature compiled by Tun Sri Lanang in 1612.
2. Suma Oriental - written by Portuguese Tom Pires after the Portuguese conquest of Malacca in the early 16th century. Other Portuguese sources such as those given by Afonso de Albuquerque also mentioned Parameswara.[8]
3. Ming Shilu (Chinese: 明實錄)[25] - also known as the Veritable Records of the Ming dynasty, has a comprehensive 150 records or more on Parameswara (Bai-li-mi-su-la 拜里迷蘇剌) and Malacca. The translation work was contributed by Dr.Geoff Wade, a senior researcher in the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.[21]

• 28 October 1403: eunuch Yǐn Qìng 尹慶 was sent to Malacca.[26]
• 3 October 1405: Bai-li-mi-su-la, the native ruler of the country of Malacca followed the Imperial envoy Yin Qing and visit the Ming court to offer tribute.[27]
• 16 February 1409: envoy A-bu-la Jia-xin 阿卜剌賈信 sent by Bai-li-mi-su-la visit Ming court and offered tribute of local products.[28]
• 4 August 1411: Bai-li-mi-su-la, on banquet in reward him on visit to Ming court.[29]
• 14 August 1411: Bai-li-mi-su-la, and his wife, children and attendant ministers, a total of over 540 persons, visit Ming Court.[30]
• 17 August 1411: A banquet was conferred upon Bai-li-mi-su-la and his consort Bā-ér-mí-sū-lǐ 八兒迷蘇里 and others in the Interpreters Institute.[5]
• 5 October 1414: Son of the king of the country of Malacca, Mǔ-gàn Sā-yúgān-dí ér Shā 母幹撒于干的兒沙 visit Ming court and memorialised that his father Bai-li-mi-su-la had died. And the Imperially commanded that Mǔ-gàn Sā-yúgān-dí ér Shā should inherit his father's title as king.[31]

• Strait of Malacca
• Orang Laut
• Moken
• Hang Tuah

• A. Samad, Ahmad (1979), Sulalatus Salatin (Sejarah Melayu), Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, ISBN 983-62-5601-6, archived from the original on 12 October 2013
• Ahmad Sarji, Abdul Hamid (2011), The Encyclopedia of Malaysia - The Rulers of Malaysia, 16, Editions Didier Millet, ISBN 978-981-3018-54-9
• Asmah, Haji Omar (2004), The Encyclopedia of Malaysia: Languages & Literature, Editions Didlers Millet, ISBN 981-3018-52-6
• Cortesao, Armando (1990), The Suma Oriental of Tome Pires, 1512–1515, Laurier Books Ltd, ISBN 978-81-206-0535-0
• Miksic, John N. (15 November 2013), Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300–1800, NUS Press, ISBN 978-9971695743CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Sabrizain, Sejarah Melayu - A History of the Malay peninsula, retrieved 6 November 2012
• Taylor, Nora A. (2000), Studies on Southeast Asia (Studies on Southeast Asian Art: Essays in Honor of Stanley J. O'Connor), 29, Southeast Asia Program Publications, ISBN 978-0-87727-728-6
• Tsang, Susan; Perera, Audrey (2011), Singapore at Random, Didier Millet, ISBN 978-981-4260-37-4
• Wade, Geoff (2005), Southeast Asia in the Ming Shi-lu: an open access resource, Asia Research Institute and the Singapore E-Press, National University of Singapore, retrieved 6 November 2012
• Windstedt, Richard Olaf (1938), "The Malay Annals or Sejarah Melayu", Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, The Branch, XVI

• The history of spices is the history of trade
• Parameswara at Sejarah Melayu
• Malacca Genealogy by Christopher Buyers
• Beyond the Monsoon
• Genealogy of Malacca Sultanate
• The Travels Of Marco Polo
• The Golden Chersonese and The Way Thither. Isabella L. Bird
• Parameswara at National Library of Malaysia
• Article by Muzaffar Tate in Star Online 1999