The Sang Kancil Story of Malacca

The official emblem of the state of Malacca shows two light brown mouse deers on each side of the tree of Malacca.

This depiction is rather problematic. Because, if the emblem is meant to commemorate the brave Sang Kancil, as encountered by Parameswara in the Sejarah Melayu, then the color of the animal is probably not correct.

If you follow the Malay classic carefully, the Sang Kancil mentioned is not light brown but white. The relatively new The logo was unveiled when Malacca was declared Historical City on April 13, 2003logo of the City Council of Malacca, however, correctly show the two mouse deers in white.

On the other hand, the Sang Kancil story purported to explain the founding of Malacca could be a story modified from a folk-tale from Sri Lanka. This fact was first noted by R. O. Winstedt (1922) Two Legends of Malacca, Journal of Straits Branch of Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 85, p. 40. I was in the Za'ba Memorial Library, around February 2010, looking for materials related to Bukit Cina, Malacca, when I accidentally chanced upon the article.R. O. Winstedt, a pioneer in the systematic study of Malay history. He served one term as the general advisor to the Ibrahim of Johor was son of Sultan Abu Bakar or the great grandfather of the reigning Sultan Ibrahim IsmailSultan Ibrahim of Johore. In the 1922 article, Dr. Winstedt mentioned that there exists a similar Sinhalese legend of the founding of an Indian city called Kandy, in Sri Lanka.

Kandy, a city which about 9-hour away from Malacca by flight, was contemporaneous with Malacca. It was founded some 30-40 years before Malacca. Possibly the story was brought to Malacca by Sinhalese traders and got woven into the fabrics of Malay history.

In the founding story of Kandy, a basket-mender discovered a strange phenomenon where a small rabbit was chasing after a dog. He reported this event to a King, and the King thought that the place was a good victorious ground. Eventually, the King built his capital there and named it after the Rock of Tranquility, Seṇ-kaḍa-gala.

In the 1922 article, Winstedt wrote:

. . .near Bertam Kiver, when a white mouse-deer kicked his hunting dog into the water. He chose this spot where mouse-deer were valiant for his new settlement and named it Melaka after a tree (Phyllanthus pectinatus of the Order Euphorbiaceae) against which he was leaning at the time of the incident. . .

The two stories are so strikingly similar and you can compare the corresponding characters in the two stories in the list below:

	Malacca	Kandy
Discoverer	Parameswara	Basket-mender
Marker	Tree of Malacca	Rock of Tranquility
Attackee	Kancil	Rabbit
Attacker	Dog	Dog

The founding legend of Kandy referred by Dr. Winstedt can be found in: Henry Parker (1914) Village Folk-tales of Ceylon, Vol. II, p. 3. The complete page is reproduced below:

And most recently, I found the passage (see Ahmat Adam (2019) Hikayat Raja-Raja Pasai, SIRD, Petaling Jaya, p. 71):

. . . Maka dibawaknya anjing seekor perburuan bernama Si Pasai itu . . . Maka bertemu ia dengan seekor pelanduk duduk di atas ia pada suatu tanah yang tinggi . . .
Maka tatkala itu dilihat oleh pelanduk anjing itu mendapatkan dia. Maka anjing itu pun hundurlah. Maka tatkala dilihat oleh pelanduk anjing itu undur maka lalu pelanduk kembali pulak pada tempatnya. Maka tatkala dilihat oleh anjing pelanduk itu kembali pada tempatnya maka didapatkanya pelanduk itu oleh anjing, lalu ia berdakap-dakapan kira-kira tujuh kali. Maka sanda baginda melihat hal kelakuan anjing dengan pelanduk itu.

And the passage continues:

Masuklah baginda sendirinya hendak menangkap pelanduk itu ke atas tanah tinggi itu. Maka pelanduk pun lari; maka didakapnya juga oleh anjing itu. Maka sabda baginda kepada segala yang ada bersama-sama dengan dia itu, “Adakah penahnya kamu lihat pelanduk yang gagah sebagai ini? Maka pada bicaraku sebab kerana ia diam pada tempat ini. Itulah rupanya maka pelanduk itu menjadi gagah." Maka sembah mereka itu, sekalian, “Sebenarnyalah seperti sabda yang maha mulia itu." Maka fikirlah baginda itu: Baik tempat ini kuperbuat negeri anakku Sultan Malik ut-Tahir kerajaan. . .

Up to now, you must have noticed some parallels in the way mouse deers are described in Sejarah Melayu and Hikayat Raja-Raja Pasai. In the story, the King later ordered the construction of a palace on the high ground on which the mouse deer was sighted.

The death of Si Pasai the dog coincided with the completion of the new palace and the King ordered to have Si Pasai buried on the same spot. And to commemorate the dog, the new country was named Pasai:

Maka dinamai baginda akan nama anjing, nama negeri itu. Maka dititahkannyalah anakenda baginda Sultan Malik ut-Tahir kerajaan dalam negeri itu. Dan ayahanda Sultan Malik us-Salih itu diam di Samudera Darussalam juga.

And here is a summary of the three stories:

Pasai	Malacca	Kandy
Mĕurah Silo	Parameswara	Basket-mender
Pasai the Dog	Tree of Malacca	Rock of Tranquility
Mouse deer	Mouse deer	Rabbit
Dog	Dog	Dog

Since the founding of both Kandy and Pasai predate Malacca, one can safely conclude our version is borrowed from them (or at least shared the original source with them).