Long dismissed in official school history textbooks in Singapore as mere myth, the history of Old Singapura in the 14th century is emerging from the mists of time and legend, thanks in large part to archaeological discoveries. These discoveries were made both long before 1984, and since 1984 when the first major discoveries on Fort Canning Hill were made under the stewardship of Dr John N Miksic (who has latterly been joined by other archaeologists – Dr Goh Geok Yian and Mr Lim Chen Sian – see World of Temasek webpage).
We know from various accounts that there once existed of an old Malay port kingdom in Singapore of some importance and significance in Malay history, and that this port kingdom existed before the founding of the kingdom of Melaka in 1400AD, and is touted as its predecessor.
This early port kingdom of Singapura existed during the transition of the major power centre of the Malays in the Straits of Melaka from an earlier centre in Palembang in southern Sumatra (where Malay rulers adopted and cultivated Buddhism and Saivism) to a later centre in Melaka (where Malay rulers converted to Islam).
In particular, we hear the most detailed accounts about this kingdom from a Malay text known popularly as “Sejarah Melayu” (or “Malay Annals” – actually this name is a pseudo-title coined by Sir Stamford Raffles. The text’s actual title is “Sulalatus Salatin, iaitu Perturunan Segala Raja-Raja” or “The Genealogy of the Rulers, that is, The Descent of the Kings”). This text, the Sulalatus-Salatin / Sejarah Melayu, is replete with numerous colourful and very detailed legends and anecdotes about various places in Singapore, some seemingly apocryphal.
A substantial portion of the text of Sulalatus Salatin / Sejarah Melayu (the “Malay Annals”) indicates that the author, or the source materials upon whom the author drew, were connected very intimately with the Singapore landscape.
According to the “Sulalatus-Salatin / Sejarah Melayu” and other sources (and by comparing across sources), in the 14th century (around 1290s to circa 1380s or 1390s) Singapore was a port ruled by a line of Sumatran Malay kings who were allied to the chief of Bintan. This line of kings established their palace on the hill known as Bukit Larangan (Forbidden, ie Royal Hill), today known as Fort Canning Hill.
Several contemporaneous accounts (ie also from the 14th century, most famously that of Wang Dayuan who came to Singapore in 1330s/1340s) as well as later testimonies of ruins and various findings, all point to the extent and shape of Old Singapura.
British accounts from 1819 and the 1820s tell of ruins of the old city walls, a moat/ditch, brick terraces and pillar bases on the Royal Hill.
Perhaps the single biggest and most substantial artefact is a very large stone inscription at the mouth of the Singapore River at Tanjong Singapura (Fullerton Hotel today), the so-called Singapore Stone.
Sufficient archaeological remains have now been unearthed to unequivocally inform us that 14th century Old Singapura is in no way a myth. Various enigmatic artefacts have also come to light (see “Artefact Highlights” section in this webpage), such as the famous cache of East Javanese Majapahit-style gold buckle and jewellery/ornaments.
Plate 40 in Cheryl-Ann Low Mei Gek, “Singapore from the 14th to 19th century,” in Early Singapore 1300s-1819: Evidences in Maps, Texts and Artefacts, ed. Miksic, John N.; Cheryl-Ann Low Mei Gek. Singapore: Singapore History Museum, 2004.
The artefact shown here, a Javanese-style statuette in lead dubbed the “Headless Horseman” – is particularly interesting for its rarity of iconography/form and material. Read more about this rare artefact here.
Revisiting the Singa Sighting in Temasik, circa 1290s
This article revisits the actual narrative of this intriguing episode in the founding myth of Old Singapura. Did the Malay source claim unequivocally that it was a lion that was sighted, or is there more to the story that our current literal understanding has obscured?
A closer look at the political and cultural-religious contexts of the 14th century allows us to understand the full significance of this allegorical event — that in fact the renaming of Temasik as “Singapura” was an act of defiance against a contemporary overlord in Java… Read on
The passage concerning the actual sighting in the Sulalat us-Salatin (Sejarah Melayu)
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