Hikayat Aceh
The Hikayat Aceh is a 17th-century history of the Aceh Sultanate, which is located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. Written in Malay in the Arabic script it chronicles and eulogizes the Acehnese Sultan Iskandar Muda. The Hikayat Aceh is an indispensable tool for all interested in the history of Aceh and its exceptional political, cultural, and religious traits.
The narrative of Sultan Iskandar Muda is told against the global background of Chinese, Portuguese, and Ottoman-Turkish influences and relations in the world. It is set in a context where also Southeast Asian regions like Siam, Cambodia, and Johor play a role.
It is also though by Russian linguist, Vladimir Braginskiĭ, That the Hikayat Aceh were influenced by Mughal dynasty historiography, as he found out the literal structure similarities of Hikayat Aceh with Mahfuzat-i-Timuri, as the former has shared the similar theme with the latter about the lifetime and exploits of the protagonist of Mahfuzat-i-Timuri, Timur. Braginskiĭ also found the similarities in structure of both Hikayat Aceh and Mahfuzat-i-Timuri with Akbarnama manuscript.
Manuscripts
Only three manuscripts are still in existence. Two are kept in Leiden University Libraries, Leiden, the Netherlands, and one in the National Library of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.On 18 May 2023 these three manuscripts were inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register affirming their world significance and outstanding universal value.