Mount Ledang (; historically also: Mount Ophir) is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

located in

Tangkak District The Tangkak District is a district in western Johor, Malaysia, bordering Muar District to the south, Segamat District to the northeast, and Jasin District, Malacca to the west. The district also shares an 11 kilometre border with Tampin Dis ...

Johor Johor, also spelled Johore,'' is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. It borders with Pahang, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan to the north. Johor has maritime borders with Singapore ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. The summit is located next to the

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

of Tangkak, Jasin and

Tampin Tampin is a town in Tampin District, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, which borders Pulau Sebang town in Alor Gajah District, Malacca. It is situated at the southern tip of the longest mountain range in Malaysia, the Titiwangsa Mountains. Tampin ...

districts, located in the states of Johor,

Malacca Malacca (), officially the Historic State of Malacca (), is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, southern region of the Malay Peninsula, facing the Strait of Malacca ...

and

Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Nogoghi Sombilan'', ''Nismilan''), historically spelled as Negri Sembilan, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia which lies on the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, wes ...

, respectively. Standing at 1,276 m (4,186 ft), it is the 64th highest mountain in Malaysia and the highest peak in Johor. Mount Ledang is the centrepiece of Gunung Ledang National Park.

Etymology

There are a few popular opinions regarding the origin of the mountain's name. The attested version is Javanese during the period of the

Majapahit Majapahit (; (eastern and central dialect) or (western dialect)), also known as Wilwatikta (; ), was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia based on the island o ...

empire named the mountain as ''Gunong Ledang'', which means 'lofty mountain', from

Old Javanese Old Javanese or Kawi is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language and the oldest attested phase of the Javanese language. It was natively spoken in the central and eastern part of Java Island, what is now Central Java, Special Region o ...

word ''ledang'' meaning 'show-off'.Kamus Dewan 4th Editio

Retrieved 2013-09-27 Another source (unattested) said that the Chinese seafarers plying the

Straits of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, long and from wide, between the Malay Peninsula to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connecting the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pa ...

called it ''Kim Sua'' meaning the 'golden mountain', likely from the

Hokkien Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...

or Teochew words: ''kim'' (金) meaning gold and ''suann'' (山) meaning mountain.

In Malay folklore

Mount Ledang is one of the most celebrated mountains in

Malay folklore Malay folklore refers to a series of knowledges, traditions and taboos that have been passed down through many generations in oral, written and symbolic forms among the indigenous populations of Maritime Southeast Asia ( Nusantara). They include ...

, notably the Legend of Gunung Ledang. It is a folklore which told of a princess with magical powers who resided on the mountain. She was wooed to be the wife of the then Sultan of

Sultan Mahmud Shah Sultan Mahmud Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah (died 1528) ruled the Sultanate of Malacca from 1488 to 1511, and again as pretender to the throne from 1513 to 1528. He was son to Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah. As a monarch, he was kno ...

. However, she set seven impossible conditions for him as a means to reject his proposal. The conditions were: :* A bridge of gold for her to walk to Malacca from the mountain, :* A bridge of silver for her to return from Malacca to the mountain, :* Seven large clay jars of virgin's tears, :* Seven large clay jars of betel nut juice, :* Seven trays filled with hearts of fleas, :* Seven trays filled with hearts of mosquitoes, and :* A bowl of the blood of the Sultan's young son. Some versions of the legend say that the

Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

was not able to fulfill any of these requests, while others say that he was able to fulfill the first six requests (thus causing the ruin of the

Malacca Sultanate The Malacca Sultanate (; Jawi script: ) was a Malay sultanate based in the modern-day state of Malacca, Malaysia. Conventional historical thesis marks as the founding year of the sultanate by King of Singapura, Parameswara, also known as I ...

) but could not fulfill the final request which would have required him to kill his son. Yet another version says that the Sultan approached his sons sleeping body and as he drew close with a dagger in hand the image of the Princess appeared before the Sultan and said to him that she could not possibly marry a man willing to wound his own son before vanishing, never to be seen again. The point of the story is that the Sultan was either too proud or too blind to realise that the conditions were the Puteri's way of turning his proposal down. Folklore has it that the gold and silver supposedly found on the mountain are attributed to; and a testament to this story. Hang Tuah and his companions were also learning their

silat Silat is the collective term for a class of martial arts from the Nusantara and surrounding geocultural areas of Southeast Asia. It is traditionally practised in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Southern Thailand, Southern Philippi ...

martial arts here on the top of this very mountain with a

guru, Adiputera.

In poetry

A traditional Malay ''

pantun ''Pantun'' ( Jawi: ) is a Malayic oral poetic form used to express intricate ideas and emotions. It generally consists of an even number of lines and is based on ABAB rhyming schemes. The shortest consists of two lines, known as the in Mal ...

'' makes the mountain proverbial:

However high is the trunk of the

betel Betel (''Piper betle'') is a species of flowering plant in the pepper family Piperaceae, native to Southeast Asia. It is an evergreen, dioecious vine, with glossy heart-shaped leaves and white catkins. Betel plants are cultivated for their lea ...

-nut tree,
Higher is the smoke of fire.
However high is Mount Ledang,
Higher are the hopes of the heart.

References

External links

Tourism Malaysia - Gunung LedangGunung Ledang Resort
{{coord, 2, 22, 24, N, 102, 36, 28, E, type:mountain_region:MY, display=title

Ophir Ophir (; ) is a port or region mentioned in the Bible, famous for its wealth. Its existence is attested to by an inscribed pottery shard found at Tell Qasile (in modern-day Tel Aviv) in 1946, dating to the eighth century BC, which reads "''go ...

Tangkak District

Etymology

In Malay folklore

In poetry

See also

References

External links