Hikayat Hang Tuah (Jawi: حکاية هڠ تواه) is a Malay work of literature that tells the tale of the legendary Malay warrior, Hang Tuah and his four warrior friends - Hang Jebat, Hang Kasturi, Hang Lekir and Hang Lekiu – who lived during the height of the Sultanate of Malacca in the 15th century.[1]
The author is unknown and it has been accepted that it was written and compiled by several different authors from the 17th century to the early 18th century.[2] The writer Kassim Ahmad argued that each writer aimed to adapt the tale to suit the society in which they lived during that specific period of time.[3] Hikayat Hang Tuah was first published by the Methodist Publishing House, Singapore in 1908[4] and was listed in UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme International Register in 2001.[5][6][7]