Mount Ledang ( ms, Gunung 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 (topography), summit area, and ...

in the Gunung Ledang National Park located in

Tangkak District The Tangkak District is a district in western Johor, Malaysia, bordering Malacca to the west. The district also shares a 2 kilometre border with Negeri Sembilan to the northwest. The district capital and largest city is Tangkak Town. Geogra ...

Johor Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. The summit is located next to the

tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...

of Tangkak, Jasin and Tampin Districts, respectively located in the states of Johor,

Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...

and

Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Nogoghi Sombilan'', ''Nismilan'') is a state in Malaysia which lies on the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It borders Selangor on the north, Pahang in the east, and Malacca and Johor to the s ...

. Standing at 1,276 m (4,186 ft), it is the 64th highest mountain in Malaysia and the highest peak in Johor.

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 ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was ba ...

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

Old Javanese Old Javanese or Kawi is the oldest attested phase of the Javanese language. It was spoken in the eastern part of what is now Central Java and the whole of East Java, Indonesia. As a literary language, Kawi was used across Java and on the island ...

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

Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages in ...

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

Legend of Mount Ledang

There is a popular Malay 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. 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 (; ar, سلطان ', ) 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 ...

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 ( ms, Kesultanan Melaka; 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, Parames ...

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

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

guru, Adiputera.

In poetry

A traditional Malay ''

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

'' makes the mountain proverbial:

However high is the trunk of the

betel The betel (''Piper betle'') is a vine of the family Piperaceae, which includes pepper and kava. The betel plant is native to Southeast Asia. It is an evergreen, dioecious perennial, with glossy heart-shaped leaves and white catkins. Betel plan ...

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

Etymology

Legend of Mount Ledang

In poetry

See also