The Hikayat Patani: The Kingdom of Patani in the Malay and Thai Political World

This paper looks at the Hikayat Patani as a mimetic text. It tries to capture Patani‘s power relations with neighbouring kingdoms. From the perspective of mimesis the text expresses similarity with Ayutthaya even as it describes the Patani sultan and sultana’s rebellions against Ayutthaya. In relation to the surrounding Malay kingdoms and fiefdoms the text expresses Patani’s superiority. In relation to Johor it fractures mimetic similarity. Building upon previous works on the Hikayat Patani, this paper offers some interpretations of the text that have been overlooked by previous scholars.