The well of Mahsuri said to be a place where Mahsuri regularly took water. I'm too tired to write longer on Mahsuri so let my just copy this lock stock and barrel from another site ya...
An interesting aside about Langkawi's development comes from the well known legend of Mahsuri, a beautiful young maiden who was wrongly accused of committing adultery and sentenced to death.
The story begins sometime in the late 18th century during the reign of Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Shah 1762-1800. A merchant by the name of Pandak Maya arrived on Langkawi looking for new opportunities and while he was there his wife gave birth to a baby girl who grew up to become the extraordinarily beautiful Mahsuri. Sometime around 1815 Mahsuri came to marry the son of a local chieftain. The husband, a certain Mat Deris, was quite jealous of his wife's beauty and falsely accused her of adultery.
Pregnant at the time, Mahsuri was convicted and condemned to death. She would be stabbed in the heart with a Keris (a dagger with a wavy blade common to Malaysia and Indonesia). Legend has it that after she was stabbed and lie dying she cursed the island, that it not prosper for seven generations. Furthermore, witnesses claim that her blood ran white and that proved her innocence.
Whether one believes the legend or not, a few years after her death the Thais invaded Langkawi and laid waste to the island and seven generations or so did pass before the government began its program to develop tourism and build an airport and it is only now that the inhabitants of Langkawi are beginning to prosper.
How the name 'Langkawi' came about depends on who you ask. Basically there are two versions of the story. The first claims that the island used to be inhabited by eagles and rich with marble. Combining the Malay word for eagle "helang" with Sanskrit word for marble is "kawi", you get "helangkawi".....
The second version, from Tun Mohamad Zahir in his book, "The Legends of Langkawi" the names originates completely from Sanskrit; combining the words "Langka" meaning beautiful and "Wi" meaning many. Thus many beautiful islands....
OK... Now that you know the story, it is easier to go on... The well is situated in a tourist complex dedicated to the legend of Mahsuri, within the padi fields not far from the mosque of Ulu Melaka where I spent the night...
Actually I did take plenty of pictures of Ulu Melaka including that of the mosque and an ancient tomb nearby simply known as Makam Purba (ancient tomb). I did spent some moment in the dark alone lying with the tombstone as my head-rest hoping that I will get some sort of mystical revelation for the night.
Well, I did get a revelation as told earlier in this story. The problem is, I arrived at the Mahsuri tourist complex after a rather long walk the next day only to discover something went wrong with my digital camera and all the pictures taken were wiped out!
Luckily, I've uploaded earlier pictures into my laptop as can be seen in Lots of walking in Langkawi . Then I have to make do with the pictures taken later and that is among the pictures shown here...
The tomb of Mahsuri, at least that's what the authorities say... There are locals who claim, the original tomb was located somewhere else while the one above is built for the sake of tourism!
Saw this nice view of a padi field and Gunung (mount of) Matchincang further up in the background...
There, the town of Kuah with a giant statue of an eagle. Why built it? Well, you have to study the legend of Garuda, a giant bird to understand the reason along with its relation to Langkawi's early history... Go google... Don't expect me to spoon-feed everything...
The tallest mountain (or hill) in Langkawi, the 700 metre of so tall Gunung Raya which marks the central part of the island...
No comments:
Post a Comment