Pulau Besar 3: Time to move on...

I'm supposed to have dinner soon so let me just be brief with this ya... As it is, I've explained a lot in Pulau Besar 2: Why so many long tombs? So there should be no problem in following the brief narration for the following pictures...

This are the long tombs or graves situated in a particular section of Pulau Besar known as Makam Tujuh Beradik (literally tombs of the seven siblings). Stories vary to who they really are... Some said they are a group of adventurers whose ship capsized here, some said they are not actually siblings but still related to each other, cousins and such.

For information this is one of the favourite area for those seeking favours through spiritual means to converge at. Suffice to say, some resort to means which practically look like voodoo and black magic to 'communicate' with hidden powers permeating this area... That is why the Islamic religious department of Melaka decided to tear down some of the buildings around as some the practices were said to have gone so much to contravene what is accepted in Islam...

This route up the hill leads to an area known as Makam Seribu, literally translated as the 1,000 tombs. The words should explain it all, it's just there's no tombstones to mark the alleged existence of so many tombs. But some claim, if the weather is right and one's intentions are pure plus it could just be your lucky day, one could see so many tombstones marking the graves just rising out of nowhere.

As to how there could be 1,000 tombs or more here, it is not beyond logic. Pulau Besar is the biggest island off the coast of Melaka and ancient Melaka, at least within the regions of 500 years ago was said to be biggest city in the Malay Archipelago. Thousands of ships were moored at Melaka harbour at any one time and some 84 languages were said to be spoken at its market. So Pulau Besar naturally serves as a temporary harbour for traders and visitors waiting their turn to moor at the very busy Melaka harbour. It is logical that some died out of any reason like old age, disease or simply any natural causes while being nearby at Pulau Besar and thus they were buried there.

But as Pulau Besar is said to be home to many tombs belonging to warriors and religious figures, the explanation given by locals was that the tombs belong those who fought for Islam after Western colonialisation began to set in in this part of the world starting 16th century AD. After Melaka was seized by the Portugese in 1511 and then the Dutch in 1641, several attempts were made to free the city from the colonialists...

Among those who fought the Westerners were the forces of Aceh and Johore. It is natural, there's bound to be casualties in war and battle and some were believed to have been buried at Pulau Besar, being the nearest most convenient place to do so.

Hmm... Time is really running out for me. My friend must be waiting for at his place for dinner and I've promised to be brief here. It's just sometimes the story-telling got the better of me, so there. Anyway, above is part of Pulau Besar which visitors should find rather idylic...

The Sultan Ariffin Sheikh Ismail tomb complex...

Sheikh Ismail's tomb. Just look at the length!



This is one of the tombs on the coastal route... Forgot whether this one belongs to Tok Janggut or Tok Putih. For explanation, read Pulau Besar 1: Enter the 'big' island! again...

The above grave seen from another perspective. Now it does look really long...

Part of Pulau Besar seen as I took the walk towards the jetty to leave Pulau Besar.

Here, I'm already in the city of Melaka, going through a street called Jalan (the road of) Sayyid Abdul Aziz, named after the person said to convert the first king of Melaka to Islam sometime in the 1400s...

Part of Melaka Sentral, the main station for inter-city bus. Here is where I got the bus back to Kuala Lumpur. Enough for now, take care!