Sunday 21 February 2016

Temasek to Singapore

Temasek means "Sea Town" in Old Javanese.
Singapura means "Lion City" in Sanskrit.

Legend has it that Seri Teri Buana (Sang Nila Utama) and his men was on an exploration around the Malay Archipelago when they spotted an island with white sandy beach from a high point in Tanjong Bemban, Bintan. They set sail for the island, enduring rough storms, before finally landing at the beaches of Telok Blangah and went inland to hunt for wild animals. Suddenly, he saw a strange animal with an orange body, black head and a white neck breast. It was a fine-looking animal and moved with great speed as it disappeared into the jungle. He asked his chief minister, Demang Lebar Daun, what animal it was, and was told that it probably was a lion.

Seri Teri Buana was pleased with this as he believed it to be a good omen—a sign of good fortune coming his way. Thus, he decided to build his new kingdom in Temasek. He named the kingdom "Singapura", meaning the "Lion City".

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References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Singapura

Background on Melaka

The founding of Melaka comes from two differing sources - Sejarah Melayu and Suma Oriental. Both accounts share similar information, yet the founder of Melaka in each accounts are two different people separated by five generations, with Sejarah Melayu relating the story of Iskandar Shah, a descendant of the legendary Sang Sapurba as the one who started it all after fleeing Temasek to escape the Majapahit attack, while Suma Oriental tells of Parameswara, a Palembang prince that escapes a Siamese attack and finds his way to Melaka.

Sabri Zain mentions that "You can see that the early history of the peninsula is not an exact science and you can sympathise with the poor modern historian who has to consolidate and reconcile such differeng accounts.

The Sejarah Melayu's . . . main theme was to laud the splendour, greatness and superiority of the Melaka Sultanate - and it was written at a time when the Johor court, successors of the Melaka Sultan, were being attacked by Portugese and Achinese. The Sejarah Melayu was probably an attempt by the Johor court to overcome its sense of lost fortunes by regaining the past glories of a mythical golden age.

That said, one must also remember that (Tomé) Pires himself intended the Suma Oriental to serve as a reference book for the new Portugese masters of Melaka and, as such, while apprearing more 'authentic', could not have been completely free of bias against their vanquished foes."

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References:
http://www.sabrizain.org/malaya/parames1.htm