Sang Nila Utama and the Lion of Singapura

Long ago, a prince named Sang Nila Utama lived on the island of Bintan. He had married Wan Sri Bini, the daughter of the queen of Bintan, and he loved her so dearly that for a long time he was happy to stay at home.

But one day, after many months had passed, he felt a longing to go and enjoy himself at Tanjong Bemban, and he wanted to take his young wife with him. So he asked his mother-in-law, the queen, for permission.

The queen did not see the point. “Why go all the way to Bemban to enjoy yourself?” she asked. “There are no elk there, no hog-deer, no deer and no porcupines. There are not many kinds of fish in the sea, and no sea-flowers on the rocks. Here in the garden there is every kind of fruit and flower you could want.”

But Sang Nila Utama would not give up. “I have looked at every stream on Bintan until I am tired of them,” he said. “I have heard that Tanjong Bemban is a beautiful place, and I want to see it. If you will not let me go, I shall die sitting down, die standing up, die every way there is!”

When the queen saw how stubborn he was, she told him there was no need for any dying. He could go and enjoy himself. She ordered two of her ministers, Indra Bupala and Aria Bupala, to get everything ready.

So the prince and princess set off in a three-masted galley with a cabin, a couch and mosquito curtains, with boats for cooking and boats for bathing, and many more boats sailing alongside. When they reached Tanjong Bemban, they went ashore to play on the sand and gather sea-flowers from the rocks. The princess sat in the shade of a pandan tree with the noble ladies around her, laughing as she watched her attendants. One brought her an oyster, and another brought different kinds of shellfish. One picked a wild banana, one gathered leaves for a salad, and another collected seaweed to make a relish. Some decorated themselves with flowers. Others chased each other along the beach, tripped over the rattan vines, tumbled down, jumped up and raced on.

Meanwhile Sang Nila Utama went hunting with the men, and they found plenty of game. Then the prince climbed a huge, tall rock and looked across the sea. On the far shore he could see sands as white as cotton. “What sands are those?” he asked. “They are the sands of Temasek,” Indra Bupala told him. “It is a wide country.”

The prince wanted to go there at once, and the minister agreed, so they went straight on board. But halfway across, a fierce storm caught them. The ships began to leak, and no matter how hard the sailors worked, they could not bail the water out fast enough. They had to throw most of the baggage overboard. The ship reached the bay, but the water kept rising, and they threw out everything else, until nothing was left but the prince’s crown.

Then the ship’s captain came to the prince. “The ship cannot carry the weight of the crown,” he said. “Unless it goes overboard, we cannot be saved.” So Sang Nila Utama ordered the crown to be thrown into the sea. At that very moment the storm stopped, the ship rose up in the water, and the rowers pulled her safely ashore.

The prince and his followers landed on the sand and went to explore the open ground near the mouth of the Temasek river. There they saw an animal that was very fast and very beautiful. Its body was red, its head was black and its chest was white. It was strong and quick, and a little bigger than a billy goat. When it saw so many people, it ran off inland and disappeared.

Sang Nila Utama asked what kind of animal it was, but no one could tell him. At last he asked a wise chief named Demang Lebar Daun. “In the histories of ancient times,” the chief said, “the singha, the lion, is described just like that animal.” The prince was delighted. “This must be a fine place,” he said, “if it is home to so fierce and powerful an animal.”

He sent Indra Bupala back to Bintan with a message for the queen. “Tell my mother-in-law that I am not coming back,” he said. “If she loves me, let her send me people, elephants and horses, so that I can build a settlement in the land of Temasek.”

Indra Bupala sailed home and told the queen everything that had happened, and what the prince had decided. “Very well,” said the queen. “Wherever my son chooses to live, I will not stand in his way.” She sent him people, elephants and horses, more than anyone could count.

So Sang Nila Utama settled in Temasek and became its king. He named it Singapura, the Lion City, and a court poet sang his praises and gave him the name Sri Tri Buana.

About this tale

This founding legend follows chapter 3 of John Leyden’s Malay Annals, or Sejarah Melayu, published in English in 1821. Leyden spells some names differently, including “Bentan” and “Tamasak.” The National Library Board’s comparison of versions explains that the work combines royal genealogy and myth, and that the founding episode is not independently corroborated as narrated.

The name Singapura means “lion city”; the animal’s identification belongs to the legend. The later half-lion, half-fish Merlion does not appear in Leyden’s chapter. It began as a tourist-board emblem in 1964, according to the National Heritage Board’s history of the symbol; the emblem should not be confused with the later statue.

Read the original: John Leyden, trans., Malay Annals (1821), chapter 3, on Wikisource

Suggested for ages 6–8 with an adult: a founding legend with a dangerous storm and a prince’s exaggerated threats of dying if he cannot travel.

A crown lost, a new name gained

The crown is a visible sign of royal status, yet the prince gives it up to save the ship. On land, the strange animal supplies a new symbol for his proposed kingdom. The chief identifies it by reference to old histories; the characters do not independently establish what species they saw.

The settlement also needs people, animals and the queen’s cooperation. The prince’s decision alone cannot build it. Reading these details together shows how the legend combines a ruler’s signs with material help.

Signs and supplies

Put the crown, white sands, animal, settlers and horses into two columns: symbols the prince interprets and resources people supply. Explain one item that matters to both the adventure and the picture of kingship it creates.

Questions to ask

• How did the queen try to talk the prince out of going to Tanjong Bemban?
• Why did the prince throw his crown into the sea?
• Why did seeing the strange animal make the prince want to stay in Temasek?

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