Malayan Literature: Comprising Romantic Tales, Epic Poetry and Royal Chronicles
General
Malayan Literature: Comprising Romantic Tales, Epic Poetry and Royal Chronicles
Malay literature -- Translations into English
Padouka Sri Maharadja reigned some time still and then died. He had as
successor his son Padja Is Keuder Chah, who married the daughter of
Toun Parapatih Toulous, and by her had a son named Radja Ahmed Timang-
timanganga Radja Besar Mouda. This young prince was handsome and well
formed, without equal in those days. When he was of age his father
married him to the daughter of the King Salamiam, King of Kota-
Mahlikie, who was named Kamar-al-Adjaaib, a princess of unrivalled
beauty. King Is Keuder Chah had a _bendahari_, or major-domo, named
Lang Radjouna Tapa, of the race of ancient inhabitants of Singapore,
father of a very beautiful girl in the court of the King. The other
court ladies calumniated this young woman, and the King in a rage
ordered her to be impaled in the corner of the marketplace.
Lang Radjouna Tapa was extremely wounded by the treatment of his
daughter. "If in truth my daughter had offended," said he, "you might
have simply had her killed. But why dishonor us thus?" On this he wrote
a letter to Java saying, "If the Batara of Madjapahit wishes to attack
Singapore let him come at once, for I will give him entrance into the
fortifications."
When the Batara of Madjapahit had read this letter he caused to be
equipped 300 junks and a great quantity of other boats. A hundred
thousand Javanese embarked, crossed the sea, and attacked Singapore. At
the end of several days King Is Keuder commanded his major-domo to
carry rice for the rations of the troops. Lang Radjouna Tapa answered,
"There is no more, my Lord." For he wished to betray him. At daybreak
he opened the gates of the fortifications and the Javanese entered.
Inside the town there was a frantic combat. So many people were killed
on each side that blood flowed like water. From this came the marks of
blood which are seen to this day in the Plain of Singapore. The natives
ceased their struggle and King Is Keuder escaped, descending from
Salitar to the Moara coast. By the will of God, the house of Lang
Radjouna Tapa was overturned, the storehouse for rice fell to pieces,
and the rice was changed to earth. The _bendahari_ himself and his wife
were changed to stone, and these stones are still found in the ditch at
Singapore. After this victory the Javanese returned to Madjapahit.
On arriving at Moara, King Is Keuder halted at nightfall. Now there
came a multitude of iguanas, and, when day dawned they saw them
gathered in a crowd near the halting-place. They killed them and threw
their bodies into the river. But at night, iguanas again came in mass.
The next morning the Singaporeans killed them, but that night as many
more arrived. So that the place became putrid from the multitude of
their bodies. The quarter is still called Biaoak Bousok, or "Putrid
Iguanas."
King Is Keuder Chah set out and came to another place, where he built a
fort. But all they constructed by day was overturned by night. And the
place still bears the name of Kota-Bourok, or "Ruined Fort."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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