Badang

Badang is a Malaysian legendary strongman, belived to have live in the 14th century.

Story

It was said Badang got his strength from a demon, whom he saved. The demon granted him superhuman strength, instead of property. With that, Badang could uproot trees as easily as he could.

A story was told that there lived a boy called Badang in a place called Saluang on the island of Temasik, present day Singapore. Badang was a slave. His master was Orang Kaya Nira Sura. Badang did not mind working hard. Badang spent his days working in the fields and clearing the jungle. When he was not working in the fields or clearing the jungle, Badang liked to go fishing. He cast his nets along the sea bed every evening and gathered the net the following morning.

The story goes that one morning Badang saw that there was only fish bones and heads in his net. He threw away the fish bones and heads. He took the net home, cleaned and dried it ready for the next day.

That evening he cast his net along the sea bed again. The next morning he went to gather his net. The net felt very light when he pulled it. When it was all out of the water there was only fish bones. Badang was very angry. Badang decided to sleep on the beach that night to catch the thief. He took a small log of wood for his head, a mat to sleep on and an old sarong to cover himself. He also took a parang to protect himself. Badang fell asleep quickly. The fresh air and the soft sound of the waves against the rocks lulled him to sleep. Badang had a strange dream. He dreamt that he was very strong. So strong that he could lift a boat with all its load. He dreamt that he lifted a great big rock and threw it into the air. The rock travelled many miles and landed at the mouth of a river. In his dream Badang was very rich. He lived in a palace and had many servants waiting on him. His mother, father and sister wore fine clothes and lived with him in the palace. He also dreamt that he swallowed something that came out of the mouth of an ugly beast. A beast so big and ugly that Badang shook with fear and woke up.

Badang opened his eyes. He could not believe what he saw. There was the Beast in his dream. It was taller than the house that Badang lived in with his family. It had long, matted hair on its head reaching to its waist, a beard that was wide, long and matted covering his hairy chest. There was also hair on his shoulders, arms and legs. The Beast had a pair of horns and tusks. The tusks protruded from its upper jaw. In the dim light its eyes shone like that of a wild animal, flashing and red.

The Beast made its way to where Badang laid out his net. The Beast pulled the net in. The net came through the water easily. It was a good catch. Badang could see from where he was the shinny fishes wriggling in the net. There were some large fishes which would have made his mother very happy. Within minutes the Beast had eaten all there was in the net. The Beast picked the largest fish first. He twisted the fish heads, threw them into the net and tore the raw flesh off the bones and threw the bones into the net too. When all the big fish were gone he gulped the smaller ones in one large mouthful. He gave a big burp and walked off to a nearby knoll and was soon fast asleep. After seeing the Beast stealing his catch, Badang became very angry. His anger overcame his fear. He grabbed his parang and crept up to the sleeping Beast. He used his now empty net as a rope to tie the Beast’s long hair. He secured it to a rock.

With his parang ready to strike Badang woke the Beast. The Beast turned out to be a gentle frightened creature. The Beast feared for its life and begged for mercy. He promised to grant Badang any wish if he spared his life. Badang agreed on condition that the Beast could grant him great strength and wisdom.

The Beast agreed but explained that strength and wisdom came from gems(geliga) he kept in his stomach. If Badang wanted great strength and wisdom he would have to swallow the gems. The Beast gave a small cough and brought up two pieces of red gems like rubies from his stomach. He gave these to Badang. Badang swallowed the gems.

True to the Beast’s word Badang gained strength and became very wise. Badang still worked in the fields. He cleared the jungle. With his new strength Badang was able to bring a big harvest to his master. With his wisdom Badang showed his master how to be a very successful farmer. His master was so grateful that he freed Badang and his family from slavery.

News of Badang’s great strength and wisdom soon spread. His reputation came to the attention of Seri Rama Wira Kerma, the King of Temasik. Badang was summoned to the court of Seri Rama Wira. The King wanted to test Badang’s strength and wisdom.

The King asked Badang to design a large boat. The King ordered his men to build the boat. When the boat was completed, a thousand men could not push it. The King asked Badang to push the boat. Badang pushed it like a toy into the sea. It was a magnificent boat. The King was proud of it and proud of Badang. He invited Badang and his family to live in the Palace. Badang became the King’s advisor and commander in chief.

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.