Gunung Ledang, also known as Mount Ophir, is said to be the home of the legendary Princess 'Puteri Gunung
Ledang' once wooed bythe Sultan of Melaka (Malacca). The Sultan wanted to marry her but she set
impossible conditions for him. She asked him to build a golden bridge and a silver bridge linking his palace in
Melaka to the mountain. The princess also asked the Sultan to bring her seven jars of virgin’s tears, seven trays
of the hearts of mosquitoes and a bowl containing the blood of the Sultan’s son, all of which the Sultan could not
fulfill!
Legend has it that the princess eventually
married one Nakhoda Ragam, a hero whose name
unfailingly struck
terror into the hearts of those who had dared to oppose him. However, this hero was later to die at the hands
of his princess-wife. Ragam was fond of tickling the Princess’s ribs. One day, in an uncontrollable burst of
anger, the Princess stabbed her husband in the breast with a needle she was handling. Thereafter, the
Princess returned to Mount Ophir and vowed never to set her eyes on another man. Ragam’s boat, not long
after, was crushed during a storm and legend has it that the debris of the wreck was transformed into the
present six islands off Malacca. It was claimed that the boat’s kitchen became Pulau Hanyut, the cake-tray
Pulau Nangka, the water-jar Pulau Undan, the incense-burner Pulau Serimbun, the hen-coop Pulau Burong,
and the honeymoon cabin of Ragam and the Princess became Pulau Besar.
Ancient history points to the mountain being the site of rich gold deposits, luring traders from as far as
Greece and China. The name ‘Ophir’ itself is thought to have originated from the Hebrew language. In the 14th
Century, the Chinese seafarers plying the Straits of Melaka called it ‘Kim Sua’ meaning the ‘Golden
Mountain’. The Javanese during the period of the Majapahit empire named it ‘Gunong Ledang’, which means
‘mount from afar’.
