Hikayat Raja-Raja Pasai a revised romanised version of Raffles MS 67, together with an English translation, both prepared by A.H. Hill.
The period covered by Hikayat Raja-Raja Pasai opens with the break-up of the maritime empire of Srivijaya. The story is not concerned with the events which led to the collapse of Srivijaya; namely, the southward expansion of T'ai power through the Malay Peninsula which began about A.D. 1280 and the rise of the empires of Singosari and Majapahit in Java (see, e.g., Coedes, 1948: 332-36). In 1292 Kertanagara, the ruler of Singosari, sent an expedition against Malayu: also, according to the Nagarakertagama, against Borneo and the Malay Peninsula. The purpose of the expedition, it has been thought, may have been to establish outposts to repel an attack from China (see, e.g. Berg, 1950: 198-202). Meanwhile a rebellion undermined Kertanagara's position in his own kingdom. He was put to death shortly before Kublai Khan's forces reached Java.
The circumstances in which the Mongol invasion was repelled after the fall of Singosari and Kertanagara's son-in-law founded a new dynasty at Majapahit, are not fully understood
(Berg, op. cit.: 481-520). By the end of the thirteenth century Malayu was left as the only independent kingdom of importance in Sumatra. In the next century Majapahit grew into a maritime empire whose power was felt on both sides of the Straits of Malacca.