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The Fanged King: Part 2
2010/06/22
By Siti Nurbaiyah Nadzmi
Fisherman Ishak Mat, 40, was sceptical about the whole epic.
"I've never heard anyone wailing from the top of the hill".
Hashim Yahya, 81, a blind fisherman from Kampung
Pulau Sayak, believes Raja Besiong is a Kedah ruler.
"I don’t care what other clever people think".
Datuk Dr Wan Shamsuddin Yusof, chairman of the
Kedah History Association, said from the historical
point of view Raja Besiong never existed.
MANY believe Raja Besiong did not die. Some say he befriended demons who took him away. Some say he repented and became a holy spirit in the forests of Gunung Jerai. Some believe he wailed night after night, repenting his sins but never resting in peace. They say his spirit haunts his prison, now called Bukit Penjara.
At the foot of Bukit Penjara, about 80km from Tok Wan’s house, fisherman Ishak Mat, 40, was sceptical about the whole epic. "I've never heard anyone wailing from the top of the hill".
He had been born in Kampung Bukit Penjara (which the Post Office also recognises as Kampung Bakar Arang and Kampung Pantai Merdeka) and lived there all his life, in a house at the foot of Bukit Penjara.
“I climbed the hill when I was a kid, maybe 25 years ago,” Ishak said. “There were three deep wells, which people said were the prison of Raja Besiong, but I think they looked more like a chamber for many prisoners. They wouldn’t build three wells for just one person, right?”
From the top of the hill, Ishak said, one could see the mouth of the Sungai Merbok, the entrance to the ancient Kedah entrepot, the Bujang valley. But there was no track up to those wells any more, and no one had been up there for a long time.
Over the centuries, the story of Raja Besiong became interwoven with threads drawn from Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, the oral tradition of Tok Selampit, and folklore.
Thus, while Tok Wan says that “Baling” is derived from the Siamese “Ban Ling”, which means “Monkey Village”, others insist it was named after the route of the king took into exile.
Pak Ngah, or Hashim Yahya, 81, a blind fisherman from Kampung Pulau Sayak, relates that Raja Besiong had fled from from Kota Aur in Kota Kuala Muda to Pantai Merdeka, where he put a curse on the beach such that “no king of sovereignty shall set foot on this land”, before proceeding to the hinterland of Bujang Valley towards Pattani.
“Raja Besiong is not a myth,” said Pak Ngah. “He was a Kedah sovereign, but his demonic behaviour, probably influenced by jinn, caused the people to turn against him.”
Pak Ngah said it was an accepted norm in the olden days for people to associate themselves with supernatural powers as a form of status. To Pak Ngah, the story of Raja Besiong, hardly known now among the younger generation, was an important piece of folklore.
“It is about sovereignty and justice,” he said, “a grim reminder of an unjust king. I don’t think he was a myth. He was a Kedah ruler. I don’t care what other clever people think.”
On his escape from the palace, the king stopped to rest at Kuala Ketil, and brooded gloomily over what he had done. He tried to pull out his fangs but couldn’t. He tried again in Kuala Pegang and Pulai, but it was only in Baling that Raja Bersiong succeeded.
He flung away the fangs with all his might, and they zinged through the air across what now is called Kampung Weng Dalam and Kampung Weng Luar. (The “Weng” is pronounced as wing so as to mimic that sound, apparently.)
The fangs flew with such force that they sliced a hill in two, where Kampung Bukit Sebelah is today. That is where stories like this part ways permanently with reality.
Datuk Dr Wan Shamsuddin Yusof, chairman of the Kedah History Association, said from the historical point of view Raja Besiong never existed.
People’s imaginations were fired by the stories of Tok Selampit, the traditional story tellers who travelled from town to town telling stories by adding and editing parts to keep the audience engrossed.
Tok Selampit stories, Wan Shamsuddin said, could not be termed as historical facts.
“My first posting as a teacher in 1948 in Sekolah Kuala Kupang, Baling brought to me one of the last surviving Tok Selampit, by the name of Mak Mah, or Halimah.
“She told me the tale of Raja Besiong and how these places were named after the route he took when he was banished from his palace.”
Wan Shamsuddin said the Tok Selampit version of Raja Bersiong had become a fantastic concoction of myth and folklore, far removed from any shred of truth.
“We can’t find an original version of Tok Selampit story anymore. What’s left is a mixture of folklore and what the people want to believe.” Wan Shamsuddin shook his head. “Let the story rest. Raja Besiong is not real. He is the figment of people’s imagination.”
But such a great tale can never be buried. In 1968, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra al-Haj inspired Malay movie stalwart Jamil Sulong to film the the folklore. "Raja Bersiong" became Shaw Brothers’ most ambitious project to date, costing RM750,000 in technicolour.
In 2008, the Petronas Performing Arts group opened the year with an elaborate dance drama on the Fanged King. Earlier this year, TV3 in its “Lagenda” slot screened Siong, a series loosely based on the lore.
But above all, Raja Besiong is immortalised in the classical writing of Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa. The entire third chapter of the book is dedicated to the Fanged King or his real name, Raja Ong Maha Perita Deria. |
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The Fanged King: Part 3
2010/06/24
By Siti Nurbaiyah Nadzmi
Philologist Datuk Dr Professor
Siti Hawa Salleh, who has done a
comparative study on Kedah history
and Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, said
it was almost impossible to prove or
disprove the existence of Raja Besiong.
“Can anyone prove Raja Besiong did not
exist? On the other hand, can anyone
prove he existed? I doubt it.”
The Kedah Public Library Council has a collection
of rare editions of Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa by
Pustaka Antara 1965 with a preface by Arenawati.
There is also the University Malaysa Press 1968
edition compiled by Siti Hawa Salleh, and a 1898
stone imprint photocopy of R.J. Wilkinson’s compilation
of the handwritten Jawi by Muhammad Yusuf Nasru’l-din.
The cover of Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa,
the 1898 stone imprint of R.J. Wilkinson’s
compilation of the handwritten Jawi by
Muhammad Yusuf Nasru’l-din. This is a photocopy
of the imprint housed by the Kedah Public Library
Council in Alor Setar.
Kedah History Association’s Datuk Wan Shamsuddin
speculates the ogre princess described by Hikayat
Merong Mahawangsa as Raja Besiong's mother,
might have been an aboriginal woman.
The Al-Tarikh Salasilah Negeri Kedah
by Muhammad Hassan bin Dato' Kerani
Muhammad Arshad, first published in
1927. This edition is published by Dewan
Bahasa dan Pustaka.
HIKAYAT Merong Mahawangsa, a historical epic of the Kedah rulers commissioned during the reign of Sultan Rijaluddin Muhammad Shah (1625-1651), has a chapter on Raja Besiong.
According to the epic, Merong Mahawangsa, the first ruler of Kedah, sent his four children to open new kingdoms. The eldest was crowned Raja Siam; the second prince shot a silver arrow and became Raja Perak; the third, a princess, became Raja Pattani; the youngest, Raja Seri Inderawangsa, lived with Merong Mahawangsa in Kedah.
When Raja Seri Inderawangsa ascended the throne he married a “gergasi” or “ogre” princess, against his father’s wishes. The Kedah History Association’s Datuk Dr Wan Shamsuddin Yusof speculates that she might have been an aboriginal woman.
They bore a son, Raja Ong Maha Perita Deria, who is named in the epic as “Raja Besiong” (translated from Jawi script without the “r”). “The book described him from young as ‘kahar’ (a rogue) and he never outgrew that even when he became the ruler and took a Malay wife,” Wan Shamsuddin said.
“When he was asked to quit killing people for their blood, he shrugged them off saying that the spinach broth was simply too delicious to quit.”
The Al-Tarikh Salasilah Negeri Kedah by Muhammad Hassan bin Dato' Kerani Muhammad Arshad, published in 1927, is more “historical” than the magical realism of Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa (which, in Chapter Two, describes Raja Kampar transforming himself into a tusked wild boar, a venomous black cobra, and a ferocious tiger).
The Salasilah names the first ruler of Kedah as Maharaja Durbar Raja I, but concerns itself with nothing earlier than the ninth ruler, Maharaja Durbar Raja II, who embraced Islam and called himself Sultan Muzaffar Shah I (1136-1179).
Philologist Datuk Dr Professor Siti Hawa Salleh, who has done a comparative study on Kedah history and Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, said it was almost impossible to prove or disprove the existence of Raja Besiong.
“Can anyone prove Raja Besiong did not exist? On the other hand, can anyone prove he existed? I doubt it.”
Although Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa was written in an epic style and filled with romance, magic and adventure, the writing is based on ancient Kedah history as far back as the second century.
“There are many things that we do not know about the Kedah ancient history,” Siti Hawa said. “Even the al-Tarikh cannot date the first Kedah king.”
Siti Hawa said much remained unknown of ancient Kedah history, especially on the lifestyle and culture of the people. “Perhaps the killings were influenced by an ancient sect where human sacrifice was an important holy ritual.”
Such rituals, she explained, are described in an old text, Maha Sutasoma. A young person would be sacrificed on an altar. A monk would stab the heart with a dagger, and the blood was collected and drunk. The heart was cut out and eaten by the person who wished to be purified.
Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, although an important text, is not readily available in bookstores. The copies available at Yayasan Karyawan are leather-bound collectors’ editions.
The Kedah Public Library Council has a collection of rare editions of Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa by Pustaka Antara 1965 with a preface by Arenawati. There is also the University Malaysa Press 1968 edition compiled by Siti Hawa Salleh, and a 1898 stone imprint photocopy of R.J. Wilkinson’s compilation of the handwritten Jawi by Muhammad Yusuf Nasru’l-din. |
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The Fanged King: Part 4
2010/06/25
By Siti Nurbaiyah Nadzmi
These candis, unearthed in the Bujang Valley, were
reconstructed as exhibits at the The Lembah Bujang
Archeological Museum, in Merbok.
Could this be where Raja Besiong collect the blood of
his victims? While many believe this is a sacrificial altar,
but archeologists at the Lembah Bujang Archeological
Museum have confirmed it to be the pillar base of a temple.
A full view of the pillar base, believed to be the sacrificial altar.
These are tools used by the local workers to press
sugarcane juice. Sugarcane molasses was used to
cement the terracotta bricks, in temple constructions.
Kedah and Perlis National Archive director
Shafie Awang says there was no known
correspondence between the ancient Kedah
kingdom with others before the 17th century.
“Papers, unless kept in a controlled humidity
and temperature, naturally decay,” he said.
The oldest documents archived in Malaysia are letters
by Sultan Abdul Hamid from 1882 to 1943, recognised
by Unesco on its Memory of World Register.
WHILE many believe some ruined forts in Kedah belonged to Raja Bersiong, and that an altar at Sungai Batu Pahat in Merbok was where his victims were killed, there is no archaeological evidence for any of it.
The Bujang Valley, a sprawling 224sq km area stretching from Merbok to Sungai Muda, is filled with hundreds of Hindu and Buddhist candi (temples), signifying a vibrant entrepot spanning more than a millennium between the third and 14th centuries before the Malaccan Sultanate emerged.
Merchants from China, India and Arabia traded ceramics, glass beads, spices, and aromatic woods for the locals’ repair services and forest products.
These temples are built using imported materials and technology -- terracotta, laterite and granite bricks cemented together using a mixture of eggs and honey (though the merchants soon found more cost-effective material in sugarcane molasses instead).
The area forms a historical complex at the Lembah Bujang Archeological Museum. These candis were unearthed from various areas in the Merbok area and reconstructed at the museum.
One archaeologist, who wishes to remain anonymous, suggests that Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa was contemporaneous with that period in Lembah Bujang, but archaeology has not so far corroborated the stories in that document.
He says the locals were experts in timber structures, which would not stand the test of time as long as the terracotta, granite, and laterite temples of Lembah Bujang.
"It is difficult to prove the existence of the kings mentioned in Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa based on Lembah Bujang archeological find," he said.
The lack of written evidence also suggests that Lembah Bujang was not so much a city as an international trading hub.
Kedah and Perlis National Archive director Shafie Awang says there was no known correspondence between the ancient Kedah kingdom with others before the 17th century.
“Papers, unless kept in a controlled humidity and temperature, naturally decay,” he said.
At present, the oldest documents archived in Malaysia are letters by Sultan Abdul Hamid from 1882 to 1943, recognised by Unesco on its Memory of World Register.
“We are continuously looking for ancient documents on ancient Kedah history,” Shafie said.
The historians have made a firm stand that Raja Besiong is but a character from an epic and a story adored by romantics, but many Kedahans believed the king’s blood runs in its people.
At her food stall tucked away in a village between Bukit Selambau and Jeniang, Mak Chu (not her real name) wipes her hands on her apron and bends down behind her counter to extract out a tightly rolled piece of paper.
It is a genealogy chart filling the breadth of ten sheets of A4 paper taped together.
“I am the seventh generation of Raja Bersiong,” said Mak Chu proudly.
Raja Besiong had at least two wives, she explains: a Malay and a Pattani. Mak Chu’s father was descended from the Malay lineage, and had travelled to Pattani as a trader.
There he had married another descendant of Raja Bersiong, of the Pattani lineage. Years later, they moved back to Kedah and raised the Fanged King’s seventh generation.
When war broke out between Kedah and Siam in 1821, the princes of various lineages fought over the throne. Those not favoured were hunted down, and their families retreated deep into the hinterlnd of Kedah, discarding their titles to live as commoners.
Mak Chu said they still feared repercussions if the truth be told. “It is not true that Raja Bersiong is a myth,” she said. “He was once the ruler of Kedah.” |
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pernah bace kat satu blog nie ckp yg raja bersiong nie sebenarnyer islam n bernama raja sulaiman... die jadi ketagihan darah sebab mak die @ bini die nie puteri batak (dah lupe ar antara dua tu ar).. so die gi makan darah orang2 cina manchu yg ditugaskan untuk membina brahman indera aka balai besar (katenyer lah) huu wallahualam... xpasti tapi kalau betul lah raja bersiung nie dah islam, maknanyer Islam dah sampai awal dah di Kedah.. peh!! {:2_66:} |
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The Fanged King: Part 4
2010/06/25
By Siti Nurbaiyah Nadzmi
These candis, unearthed in ...
amazed Post at 10-7-2010 16:52 
Candi Batu Pahat ni dari rumah tokwan aku boleh jalan kaki jah |
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Dapat gak tgk citer raja bersiong kat youtube
nak tgk kat TV RTM jgn harap lah, dah lama kena banned agaknya.. pasai raja bersiong suruh rakyat sembah tuhan baru, pasai tu kot |
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Up,
+ 1 Credit
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Up
+ 1 Credit
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byk mana versi yg kluar pasal raja bersiong ni.. bru aku tau rupe2 nye dia ni keturunan merong mahawangsa  |
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byk mana versi yg kluar pasal raja bersiong ni.. bru aku tau rupe2 nye dia ni keturunan merong mahawangsa |
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klau betul cite raja bersiung ..memang lahanat raja bodoh 2..tuhan dah bg kuasa dia salah guna.dia ingat sape bayar gaji dia n tanggung makan anak bini dia?sume tu duet cukai rakyat tau.semoga dia ditempat kan di sisi iblis,firaun ,serta mahluk terlaknat yang laen ,amin.semoga raja laen mengambil pengajaran dan iktibar dari cite raja bersiong lahanat ni. |
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klau betul cite raja bersiung ..memang lahanat raja bodoh 2..tuhan dah bg kuasa dia salah guna.dia i ...
areenarena Post at 27-4-2011 03:51 
memang raja ni berkuasa sebelum kedatangan Islam pun.Dijatuhkan oleh pembesar dan rakyatnya sendiri dengan dibantu oleh seorang pendekar yg bernama Kampar. |
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Reply 72# sayapghaib
dekat belakang sek men kebangsaan siong baling kedah nun ada sebijik bekas istana dan ade kubur lama. org tempatan kata itu makan raja bersiong. tak tau sahih ke dak. nanti aku balik kampung aku snap gambaq sekeping dua bawak mai masuk sini. |
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Reply 74# winamp05
Makam Islam ke tak.Kalau makam Islam rasanya bukan Raja Bersiong sebab zaman Raja Bersiong ialah zaman sebelum kedatangan Islam ke Kedah.Kalau ada penganut Islam masa tu pun rasanya secara kecil-kecilan contohnya yg dibawa oleh pendakwah Syeikh Alirah Syah itu.Kemungkinan Islam yg bermazhab Syiah itu dibawa dari Perlak Sumatera. |
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Reply 75# sayapghaib
kene cek balik sebab batu nisan dari batu sungai yg diukir. lagi satu kubur lama berdekatan situ jugak dengan batu nisan motif acheh.
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Reply sayapghaib
kene cek balik sebab batu nisan dari batu sungai yg diukir. lagi satu kubur ...
winamp05 Post at 9-5-2011 11:03
Kalau bermotif Acheh mungkin milik Raja atau kerabat mereka yg dah Islam.Sultan Muhammad yg memerintah Kedah(1201-1236) iaitu cicit kepada Sultan Muzaffar Syah pernah berpermaisurikan puteri kepada Sultan Samudra Pasai(Acheh Awal).Sebuah makam di Pasai yg bertulis Kedah Pasai Ma adalah milik puteri kepada Sultan Muhammad ini. |
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ok berbalik dengan kisah Raja Bersiong....
Raja Bersiong ada buat perjanjian dengan Jin (Syaitan) atau tersalah makan.... sampai boleh ketagih darah..... (kurang jelas pasal apa kejadian ini berlaku) |
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Reply sayapghaib
kene cek balik sebab batu nisan dari batu sungai yg diukir. lagi satu kubur ...
winamp05 Post at 9-5-2011 11:03
harus korek kubo dia n scan taring dia{:2_72:} |
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Reply 79# areenarena
camna nak scan.Dalam kisahnya dah sebut yg Raja tersebut dah cabut siongnya dan buang.Jadi takde la siong tersebut. |
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Post time 10-7-2010 04:46 PM
