Puteri Santubong dan Puteri Sejinjang

Siapa yang tak kenal dengan dua orang yang sangat penting bagi negeri Sarawak ini sehinggakan ada lagu rakyat khas yang mengisahkan tentang mereka.  Saya telah terjumpa dengan beberapa versi berkaitan dengan lagenda mereka berdua ini di sebuah laman web.  Berikut adalah versi-versi tersebut.

VERSI 1

Mengikut lagenda, Puteri Santubong & Puteri Sejinjang sebenarnya adalah 2 orang puteri Sultan Brunei yang telah melarikan diri bersama 7 orang putera mereka, selepas ayahanda mereka (Sultan Brunei) telah dibunuh oleh satu komplot sekitar abad ke-18.


Memandangkan dalam pelarian 9 orang “Putera & Puteri” ini ingin menuju ke Tanah Melayu yang terpaksa menyeberangi Laut Cina Selatan, maka saudara-saudara lelaki mereka telah sepakat meninggalkan 2 orang saudara perempuan mereka di satu kawasan dekat dengan Kuching kini, iaitu di Bukit Santubong.

Orang-orang Sarawak (Dayak) yang selalu ke kawasan bukit tersebut merasa hairan dengan kehadiran 2 puteri cantik yang belum pernah ditemui mereka, dan menganggap kedua-dua puteri itu “Turun Dari Kayangan” dan merupakan “Penjaga Gunung Sarawak” (yang muncul dalam lirik lagu Puteri Santubong).

Kedua dua puteri ini pada mulanya hidup aman tetapi lama kelamaan menjadi musuh kerana masing masing mempertahankan kecantikan mereka dan mengaku mereka paling cantik di dunia. Kerana bergaduh, seorang daripada mereka telah berpindah ke sebuah bukit lain diberi nama Bukit Sejenjang.

Perbalahan Puteri Santubong dan Puteri Sejenjang akhirnya membawa kepada kematian apabila kedua duanya saling berbunuhan antara satu sama lain. Maka lahirlah lagenda Puteri Santubong dan Puteri Sejinjang yang kita dengar sehingga ke hari ini.


VERSI 2:

Puteri Santubong & Puteri Sejinjang adalah merupakan puteri-puteri Sultan Brunei yang telah melarikan diri bersama 7 orang saudara lelaki mereka kerana ayahanda mereka (Sultan Brunei) telah dibunuh oleh satu komplot sekitar abad ke-18.

Memandangkan 9 orang putera & puteri ini dalam pelarian ingin menuju ke Tanah Melayu yang memaksa mereka menyeberangi Laut China Selatan, maka saudara-saudara lelaki mereka telah bersepakat untuk meninggalkan 2 orang saudara perempuan mereka, Puteri Santubong & Puteri Sejinjang di satu kawasan yg kini terletak di Kuching.

Kedua-dua puteri tersebut akhirnya mencari tempat perlindungan di sebuah gunung yang kini dikenali sebagai Gunung Santubong. Dan kerana berlaku perbalahan di antara dua beradik tersebut, maka Puteri Sejinjang telah mencari tempat perlindungan lain di sebuah gunung yg bertentangan dengan Gunung Santubong iaitu Gunung Sejinjang.

Bagi orang-orang Dayak di Sarawak yang selalu ke kawasan dua gunung tersebut mula berasa hairan. Mereka berfikir akan dari mana datangnya kedua-dua gadis tersebut yang mereka tidak pernah temui sebelum itu di kawasan tersebut. Mereka menganggap kedua-dua puteri tersebut telah 'Turun Dari Kayangan' (seperti yang terdapat di dalam lirik lagu Puteri Santubong - "anak dak dewa turun kayangan".

Sementara itu, 7 orang bersaudara (putera-putera Sultan Brunei) itu pula dikatakan meneruskan pelayaran mereka sehingga ke Pulau Pinang. Setelah mendarat dan berjalan untuk mencari tempat tinggal, sesampainya di suatu kawasan di Pulau Pinang, burung bayan yang mereka bawa dari Brunei telah terlepas. Maka dari situlah kawasan di mana burung bayan mereka terlepas mula dikenali sebagai Bayan Lepas.

Kini, keturunan dari 7 orang putera Sultan Brunei itu masih menetap di kawasan tersebut dan sebahagiannya telah berhijrah ke negeri-negeri lain di Semenanjung Malaysia ini. Cuma keturunan mereka ini tidak lagi memakai sebarang gelaran atau panggilan di depan nama mereka seperti Pengiran atau Datu. Mungkin 7 orang Putera tersebut tidak mahu lagi mengunakan gelaran tersebut agar kumpulan komplot yang membunuh ayahanda mereka itu tidak akan dapat menjejaki mereka dan keturunan mereka lagi. Namun, keturunan 7 orang putera tersebut kini masih percaya yang mereka sememangnya adalah dari keturunan Sultan Brunei. Cuma apa yang mereka hairan dan musykilkan ialah mengapakah nenek-moyang mereka terpaksa melarikan diri dari Brunei hingga sejauh ke Pulau Pinang?!.

VERSI 3

Long time ago, in a kingdom called Kayangan (heaven), lived two beautiful princess, Puteri (princess) Santubong and Puteri Sejinjang. Puteri Santubong was famous for her weaving skills, for she made the most beautiful cloth in the Kayangan. Puteri Sejinjang was known for her pounding rice. All the rice she pound became the most tastiest rice. Puteri Santubong liked to weave cloth at night when the air was much cooler, while Puteri Sejinjang liked to pound rice in the day, when the air was windy and bright.

One day, two villages, Pasir Kuning (Yellow Sand) and Pasir Putih (White Sand) were having a fight. The fight became worsen each day. When the King of Kayangan saw that the fight couldn’t cease itself, he send Puteri Santubong and Puteri Sejinjang to the two villages. Puteri Santubong was send to Pasir Kuning, while Puteri Sejinjang was send to Pasir Putih. The King of Heaven asked them to bring peace to the villages. Because of their undeniable talents, both villages were so busy making money from cloths and rice, they have no time to fight. So, Pasir Kuning and Pasir Putih came to piece at the end and both became prosperous. Meanwhile, both princess became best friends with each other.

But the friendship didn’t last long. Because of their beauties many suitors from near and far tried to get their hands on both of the princess. But none caught the princesses’ hearts, till they met Putera Mahkota (Crown Prince) Serapi. He was so handsome, that both the princess felt in love with the prince at the same time. Both tried to catch the prince’s eyes with their beauty and talents, but in the end, he was in love with both of them (what a jerk!). He asked for their permssion to make them both as his wives. Santubong and Sejinjang couldn’t accept the offer. They believe that only one of them was suitable to be his wife. They started to quarrel till one of them gave up. But none ready to surrender.

After they exhausted enough bad words to use, they became violence and started to hit each other. Sejinjang took a pounder (alu lesung) next to her and hit Santubong’s cheek till it crack. Even though she was hurt, Santubong hit back using her belidak, a tool for her to weave cloths. The belidak hit Sejinjang’s head. Because of the heavy and sharp tool, Sejinjang head’s broke into million pieces and scattered in the sea to become Pulau Kerak (Monkey Island), Pulau Satang, Pulau Talang-Talang, Pulau Lakir, etc..... Santubong then died because of her blood lost.

The King of Heaven, who was angry with both of them for fighting over an immortal, cursed them. Santubong was turned into Gunung (Mountain) Santubong, while Sejinjang’s body turned into Gunung Sejinjang. The crack on Santubong cheek can still be seen until today. Sejinjang however become merely a hill after her upper portion including her head was scattered by the belidak.


VERSI 4

Cerita legenda ini berasal dari Sarawak. Boleh juga dikatakan cerita asal usul gunung Santubong dan gunung Sejinjang yang terdapat di Sarawak sehingga hari ini. Konon ceritanya pada zaman dahulu kala di sebuah negeri Sarawak terdapat dua buah kampung yang berjiran tetapi sentiasa bermusuhan; Kampung Pasir Kuning dan Kampung Pasir Putih.
Bagi menamatkan permusuhan tersebut, Dewata Mulia Raja mengutuskan dua orang puteri kayangan bersaudara pupu turun ke bumi dan memimpin penduduk kampung berusaha menuju kearah kemakmuran. Puteri Santubong memimpin Pasir Kuning, Puteri Sejinjang pula Kampung Pasir Putih. Mereka sendiri telah bersumpah tidak akan bermusuhan sesama sendiri dengan terikut-ikut dengan perangai penduduk yang dipimpin. Kedua-dua kampung mulai mengecap kemakmuran. Kain tenunan Puteri Santubong begitu unik dan dapat dijual dengan harga yang mahal. Sementara tanaman padi di Kampung jiran begitu subur dan menjadi.

Kemasyuran Kampung Pasir Kuning memikat kehadiran orang dagang, termasuklah Putera Serapi dari Matang yang segak itu, akhirnya bercinta dengan Puteri Santubong sementara Panglima Putih sakit hati kerana pinangannya ditolak. Kampung Pasir Putih dibakar oleh Sang Bualang kerana kecewa cinta ditolak Puteri Sejinjang. Puteri itu lari ke istana Puteri Santubong, bersua Putera Serapi lalu jatuh cinta. Bibik permusuhan lantaran cemburu telah membawa kepada perkelahiran kedua mereka. Akhirnya, kerana langgar sumpah mereka bertukar menjadi gunung.


VERSI 5

The legend is about the love triangle between the two friends who were both princesses from heaven, Puteri Santubung and Puteri Sejinjang who were living where Sarawak is now, as commoners. Puteri Santubung was a paddy thumper and her friend Puteri Sejinjang was a weaver while both were the guardian of the mountain. Big jobs for these ladies, but they were so powerful and had magical powers too.

Unfortunately, they both had a crush with the same man, the handsome prince, Putera Jaya, who hailed from outside Sarawak. Putera Jaya being the heart-throb of both the beautiful princesses has the soft spot on Puteri Sentubung. Being in love, the princess had forgotten about her friend and more importantly her "career" as the paddy thumper resulting in chaos and hungry people in the land.

Their exchange of angry words turned into quarrel very so often. It was just Puteri Santubung, who forgot her duties, now both had forgotten their responsibilities to the people now. Once, people had little food and natural disasters because of Puteri Sentubung's neglect. Now, in addition to the former, the people now live naked because Puteri Sejinjang no longer provided clothes for them. Furthermore, many fell ill as they had to bear living naked and hungry.

They fought a couple of time but never as bad as their last one when they really had a physical and thunderous fight ( now imagine : Xmen).

Puteri Sejinjang started the great fight - it was told that people suffered great thunderstorms lasted for days because of the fight. Puteri Sejinjang, due to her anger, swung her hand very hard and fast that it landed squarely on Puteri Sentubung's face and displaced Puteri Santubung 's jaw and bled Puteri Sentubung's mouth - a fatal blow to Puteri Sentubung's beauty. (That is according to this legend, why the Santubong mountain today has a dent on the higher part of the mountain - a physical manifestation of the "great slap" by Puteri Sejinjang on Puteri Santubung's face.)
To counter the offensive, Puteri Sentubung took a daggered pole and threw it towards Puteri Sejinjang. The pole hit right at Puteri Sejinjang's head and shattered it subsequently. And this marked the end of Puteri Sejinjang's life. ( Again, according to this legend, if one passes by <span>Mount Santubong</span>, one can see a group of small islands right beside Mount Santubong. These are Pulo Kerak (Isles of Monkey), a remnant of Puteri Sejinjang. )
Puteri Sentubung won the battle but she regretted her misdeed as she had killed her very own bestfriend and the only true friend she had.

The man they were fighting over, Putera Jaya, soon deserted Puteri Sentubung once he learned about the killing.  (Bad guy.. for someone who started all the clashes between the two princesses.) She later turned to the mountains to see the people but the people rejected her as well as she had kind of dumped them last time she was in love. She tried to get support from her father but he despised her for what she had done. As the King, her father chose justice over mercy towards her. Because she had neglected her jobs, many lives were lost and nations destroyed; because she had abandoned her friends, she had sown hatred and enmity inside the heart of a sincere friend.

In the end, she died a dishonorable death. The heaven cursed her to become a mountain - Mount Santubong, as a lesson for all people to see the dire consequence of arrogance and neglect of friendship. While Puteri Sejinjang was condemnable of her jealousy and hatred, her faults was not as great as Puteri Santubung's. That is why Pulo Kerak (the Isles of Monkey) are relatively hidden from eyesights by towering Mount Santubong itself that can be seen many miles away..
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Note:

The song was in a Malay Sarawak accent with a number of words being used only by Sarawakian. It is slightly different compared to the standard Malay language.

The story may not be very logical and has the elements of paganisme, but some of the morals of the story we can extract are never fight over a man, value your friendship and keep committed to your main responsibility. As this is a myth,  the story may bring different reaction to each of us. The paganisme is a common element in many Malay legends which was passed throughout the centuries, but as the people learn more about religion and science,  and Islam was introduced in Malaysia, in the 1200s century, the story is not taken seriously and became a topic to kick off conversation with the locals.
(http://thoughtstreasuretrove.blogspot.com/2009/02/blog-post.html)


VERSI 6.

Sarawak is famous for 2 princesses: PUTERI SANTUBONG and PUTERI SEJINJANG

There are a number of local legends about Gunung Santubong. One of these tells of how the mountain came to be and where its name came from. Like many legends, there are several versions of this one. According to one version, the mountain was formed when mythical Princess Santubong was speared by her jealous sister, Princess Sejinjang. Falling over, she gave the mountain its distinctive profile, like a pregnant belly.

According to the other version of this story, the two princesses lived in the heavenly kingdom Kayangan. The Crown Prince fell in love with both of them, but they refused to be joint wives. The King of Kayangan banished the princesses to earth, where they became Gunung Santubong and the nearby Gunung Seijinjang.

Source: There are a number of local legends about Gunung Santubong. One of these tells of how the mountain came to be and where its name came from. Like many legends, there are several versions of this one. According to one version, the mountain was formed when mythical Princess Santubong was speared by her jealous sister, Princess Sejinjang. Falling over, she gave the mountain its distinctive profile, like a pregnant belly.

According to the other version of this story, the two princesses lived in the heavenly kingdom Kayangan. The Crown Prince fell in love with both of them, but they refused to be joint wives. The King of Kayangan banished the princesses to earth, where they became Gunung Santubong and the nearby Gunung Seijinjang.

Source: There are a number of local legends about Gunung Santubong. One of these tells of how the mountain came to be and where its name came from. Like many legends, there are several versions of this one. According to one version, the mountain was formed when mythical Princess Santubong was speared by her jealous sister, Princess Sejinjang. Falling over, she gave the mountain its distinctive profile, like a pregnant belly.

Source: www.virtualmalaysia.com/destination/gunung%20santubong.html