ofthe SAME TREE

as between fellow rulers. The occasion of Majapahit’s invasions of Pasai was
therefore used to emphasize how the justness of a cause would determine
the outcome.
The Javanese campaigns against Pasai, if they ever occurred, 22 would have
been sometime in the second half of the fourteenth century during the height
of Majapahit’s power under Hayam Wuruk and his famous minister, Gajah
Mada. It was a period of Majapahit expansion and was likely the reason for
Adityawarman’s decision to move his court into the safety of the Minang kabau
highlands. Pasai could have been a target because of its commercial success.
In the Suma Oriental, Pires comments that the establishment of Melaka at the
turn of the fifteenth century had little impact on Pasai “because of the large
number of people who were there.” There were few traders “from the east,”
but many from Gujarat, southern India (Keling), Bengal, Pegu, Siam, Kedah,
and Beruas. 23
In the Sejarah Melayu, Pasai is regarded with great respect as a center
that rivaled Melaka in trade, heroes, and Islamic learning. 24 Nevertheless, the
author of the Sejarah Melayu could not resist depicting the ruler of Samudera/
Pasai as being duped by the Siamese and made to tend the ruler’s fowls. 25 By
the middle or late fifteenth century Melaka had obviously surpassed Pasai as
a trading emporium, for Pires mentions that with the defeat of Melaka “Pase
[Pasai] will return to its former state.” 26 This, however, was not to be. Pasai as
an independent power only survived Melaka, its principal rival as the center
of the Malayu world, by some thirteen years and was absorbed by its northern
neighbor Aceh in 1524.
Another northeast Sumatran coastal polity that appears in the historical
sources is Aru. Unlike the other polities, however, little is known about its
government or society, and it is often depicted as a land primarily devoted
to piracy. According to Pires, Aru was a large kingdom, more extensive than
any of the others mentioned north of it, including Pasai, and its ruler was
“the greatest king in all Sumatra.” Pires estimated that there were some one
hundred boats at the disposal of the ruler of Aru and even more if required,
and that these boats were built for speed rather than for carrying cargo. The
description of Aru’s fleets and their activities resemble tasks the Orang Laut
had performed for Sriwijaya and Melaka. Aru’s officials and subjects conducted
raids and presented a certain percentage of their booty to the ruler,
although he himself sponsored some of these expeditions. Melaka was one
of the major targets of Aru raids, which Pires attributes to a long-standing
“quarrel” between these two polities. 27 What was really at issue, as in the past,
was control of the sea lanes to determine the leading entrepot in the Straits of
Melaka.
114 Chapter 4