langkawi - Island of Legends
Around 300 AD there was a sea captain called Merong Maha Wangsa, who was a descendant of Alexander the Great and a Hindu. He believed that if he could unite the power of Rome with the power of China then he would be able to create an immense and powerful trading nation in its own right. The Malay peninsular was already trading goods from Rome with silk from China and the taxes that were collected, and the economic activity generated by the trade for local economy of Kedah was substantial. Maha Wangsa managed to convince the Emperor of China at the time that a union between a Chinese princess and the Roman emperor's son would allow the two empires to police the Malay peninsular and benefit from the revenues created from the exchange of trade. Goods were not taken by a single transporter in those days but by many short legs, with buying and selling at each junction. Ships that came into Sri Langka had their cargo taxed and paid port dues. Any King of Kedah would have that same rights.
So the Roman prince sailed towards Kedah where the princess waited for him. A cockatoo told an eagle who relayed the message to a Garuda (half man half eagle) who decided to put a stop to the marriage. The Garuda decided that the union of Rome and China would not be to their advantage and so it kidnapped the princess and hid her on a cave in Langkawi called Gua Cerita (Cave of Legends). The cave is about 50 feet up a cliff with a backward overhang and once the ladder was removed she wouldn't have been going anywhere.
The Garuda swore that if the marriage went ahead he would kill himself. He attacked the Roman fleet and summoned a great wind. The Merong Maha Wangsa got help from the Jentayu, a mythical sea bird. The fleet was scattered and the Roman prince's ship wrecked on Langkawi. Fate would of course have it that the two should find eachother and the marriage went ahead. Merong Maha Wangsa sailed on and founded Langkasuka, the mythical lost kingdom of the Malay peninsular. He invited the prince and princess to become regents and he administered the mystical kingdom of gold.
What of the Garuda? He killed himself as promised - in an inferno of flame.
So the Roman prince sailed towards Kedah where the princess waited for him. A cockatoo told an eagle who relayed the message to a Garuda (half man half eagle) who decided to put a stop to the marriage. The Garuda decided that the union of Rome and China would not be to their advantage and so it kidnapped the princess and hid her on a cave in Langkawi called Gua Cerita (Cave of Legends). The cave is about 50 feet up a cliff with a backward overhang and once the ladder was removed she wouldn't have been going anywhere.
The Garuda swore that if the marriage went ahead he would kill himself. He attacked the Roman fleet and summoned a great wind. The Merong Maha Wangsa got help from the Jentayu, a mythical sea bird. The fleet was scattered and the Roman prince's ship wrecked on Langkawi. Fate would of course have it that the two should find eachother and the marriage went ahead. Merong Maha Wangsa sailed on and founded Langkasuka, the mythical lost kingdom of the Malay peninsular. He invited the prince and princess to become regents and he administered the mystical kingdom of gold.
What of the Garuda? He killed himself as promised - in an inferno of flame.
