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Of
A Woman Wronged…
Once upon a time, there lived in Langkawi, a childless
couple, Pandak Maya and Mak Andam, who prayed for
a child. Their prayers were answered when they had
Mahsuri, a sweet delightful child who grew into a
beautiful young woman.
Being such a beauty, she had many suitors but she
soon married a warrior in her village. Their idyllic
lives were disrupted when her husband went off to
defend their village against attackers. A travelling
poet arrived at the village and Mahsuri was said to
have allowed him to stay at her house. This soon gave
rise to the vicious gossip that Mahsuri was a faithless
wife.
Another version claims that Mahsuri's mother-in-law
was jealous of her while others say that a spurned
suitor was behind the treachery. Yet another version
says that the village headman was so enamoured of
Mahsuri, that he tried to make full use of her husband's
absence to his advantage. Needless to say, his wife
was not amused and plotted to have Mahsuri punished
and done away with. Hence, she accused Mahsuri of
being an adulteress, an offense puni Despite her parents'
pleas and the cries of her child at her skirts,Mahsuri
was dragged away and tied to a tree. Vehemently protesting
her innocence, she begged for mercy, but the villagers,
under the influence of the headman's wife, gave her
no quarter. The people really should have believed
her when all the spears that they threw at her fell
harmlessly at her feet. They were baffled but still
convinced that Mahsuri was guilty of wrongdoing. They
would not release her no matter what. shable by death.
 Finally,
Mahsuri, having resigned herself that only her death
would appease them, told them how they could kill
her. She would only die by the blade of the ceremonial
sword kept at her home. Someone was sent to fetch
it and legend has it that the sky became overcast
and there was thunder and lightning as Mahsuri was
fatally stabbed. It is said that Mahsuri bled white
blood, symbolising her innocence and purity, and with
her dying breath, she laid a curse on Langkawi and
its inhabitants, proclaiming that they would know
no prosperity nor progress for seven generations.
Soon after her death, Langkawi was attacked by the
Siamese. To prevent the invaders from getting the
upper hand, the villagers poisoned their wells and
burnt their padi fields, which effectively put an
end to their food supply and means of income for the
coming year. The evidence of this burning can still
be seen today, two hundred years later, as charred
and blackened rice grains surface from the ground
especially after it rains heavily. Do you not think
it strange that the rice grains have not turned into
soil after so long? Some things have to be seen or
experienced firsthand to be believed.
The village headman and his sons were killed fighting
the Siamese and neither was his wife spared an untimely
death. As for Mahsuri's family, they left Langkawi
and settled in Thailand. No one knew much about what
had happened to them until the year 2000 when the
Kedah government located them on the island of Phuket.
They were invited to Langkawi for a visit and to see
if they would like to make the island their new home.
The time for Mahsuri's seven generation old curse
to end was at hand and it was hoped that with the
arrival of her descendants, Langkawi could finally
put its sad past behind and move forward towards prosperity
and progress. Coincidence or not, one of the two siblings
who are of the seventh generation descendants, is
a young and pretty fourteen year old girl named Aisyah
who bears a striking resemblance to Mahsuri as depicted
in a portrait painted quite some time ago. The family
has since returned to Phuket as they have not yet
been able to make the all important decision of becoming
Malaysian citizens and resettling in Langkawi. |
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