I have spent a lot of time in my life in Langkawi. Langkawi is a beautiful, tropical island in the North East of Malaysia. It is right on the border with Thailand. Langkawi has beautiful beaches, the oldest rainforest in the world and two tall mountains right in the centre. The tallest of these is called Gunung Raya.
One evening, while sitting on Gunung Raya, watching the sunset with a friend, I asked them to tell me a local story. This is the story that he told me… the legend of Mahsuri.
The Legend of Mahsuri
In the late 17th century, in a small kampung (village) in Langkawi lived a woman named Mahsuri. Mahsuri was famed around the island for her beauty; she had thick, luscious hair, soft skin and a warm, friendly smile. She lived an idyllic life under the palm trees with her husband, Wan Darus (a strong warrior), and their children.
But one day their peaceful life was broken. The Siamese army was invading Kedah, the kingdom that Langkawi was a part of. Wan Darus was sent away to fight, leaving Mahsuri without her husband. But Mahsuri made the best of the situation.
One day, whilst wandering through the village, she came across a young man she had never seen before. So, friendly as she was, Mahsuri greeted him. She soon found out that his name was Demeran. He was a wandering minstrel.
Mahsuri and Demeran hit it off right away. They became firm friends and would sit together in the shade of the palm trees. He would recite poetry for her, regale her with tales from far away and sing for her.
All the time, the eagle-eyed and jealous Wan Mahora, wife of the village chief, was watching. She had always been jealous of Mahsuri’s fame and beauty. So, knowing exactly how villages work, she started talking to her friends about Demeran and Mahsuri. And they started talking to their friends, who started talking to their friends.
Very soon, what had started out as a simple “don’t you think that Demeran and Mahsuri spend a lot of time together?” became full accusations of adultery from the villagers.
Adultery: a sin punishable by death.
Mahsuri was dragged out of her house by the village elders, where she was tied to a tree and left out in the blazing heat for several days whilst they discussed her punishment. She spent this time crying out and pleading her innocence, desperately trying to make the villagers and the village elders believe her.
But try as she might, the elders and the village chief thought that they knew better and eventually decided that she must be executed. So, on the day of the execution, the villagers all came out to watch. The chief slashed at her with swords and daggers, but try as he might, not one of the swords or daggers from the villagers would pierce her skin.
“That proves it… she’s guilty!”
“A witch, she’s a witch”
“Kill the adulterer”
The village men screamed. And so, resigned to her fate, and knowing that only death would prove her innocence, Mahsuri spoke, “Use my father’s ceremonial dagger”.
Someone was sent for the dagger and it was brought to the chief. He pulled it up high and stabbed Mahsuri through the heart. Sure enough, the dagger went in. As he pulled it back out, white blood poured from the wound. At that moment, white birds from all over the island filled the sky and surrounded her body so the villagers could no longer stare.
At that moment, everybody, from the smallest child in the village to the village chief himself, knew Mahsuri was innocent. But it was too late. Mahsuri was drawing her dying breath. Under her dying breath, she muttered,
“For this injustice, there shall be no peace and prosperity on this island for a period of seven generations”.
The Mahsuri curse.
All the villagers looked at each other with regret, and fled back to their homes, waiting for the Mahsuri curse to come true.
And sure enough, several days later they received the news that Kedah had been conquered. The Siamese army was crossing the water to conquer Langkawi. The villagers burnt their rice fields to keep the army at bay but still, the Siamese conquered. After that, for seven generations long, Langkawi faced misfortune after misfortune, from torrential rains to failed crops and constant invasions. People always knew that this was the Mahsuri curse.
At the end of the 20th century, after seven generations of suffering under the Mahsuri curse, the Langkawi authorities had had enough. And so, they searched across Malaysia and Thailand to find the descendants of Mahsuri. In a small fishing village in Phuket, they came across Wan Aishah Wan Nawawi.
Wan Aishah visited the tomb of Mahsuri in the year 2000, and as she was standing at the marble plaque that marks the tomb, Langkawi felt a little lighter. Afterwards, the grass grew a little greener, the trees a little more luscious and the fish were easier to catch. Finally, visitors came, and tourists and the island finally began to prosper. The Mahsuri curse was finally broken!
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