Akar Nusa
A small fishing village at the mouth of a river. A man under a tree watches a mouse deer push a dog into the water. He takes it as a sign.
The story
The Malay Annals (Sejarah Melayu) say a prince from Palembang reached the island of Temasek (Singapore) and became king of Singapura. The Portuguese writer Tome Pires tells a different version: that Parameswara came from Palembang and took the throne of Singapura. Both agree that the ruler left Singapura and moved north.
He passed through Muar and other places before reaching a fishing village at the mouth of the Bertam River. Tradition says the mouse deer legend, and the tree that gave the town its name.
Parameswara built a port. The Orang Laut (sea people of the straits) patrolled the waters and guided ships to him. In 1405, the Ming Emperor Yongle sent an envoy, Yin Qing, and the new port gained a powerful friend.
Scholars generally accept that the Parameswara of Chinese and Portuguese sources and the Iskandar Shah of the Malay Annals are the same person. Whether he became a Muslim is not known; Pires says his son did, late in life, while the Annals place the change in a later reign. We leave that question open, as the sources do.
Where you can still see it today
Walk Melaka's old town and its museums. The mouse deer is on Melaka's coat of arms.
What DNA can tell, and what it cannot
DNA cannot tell if you are descended from a king; most people from a given time have many shared ancestors. A region estimate can only show Southeast Asian links. Our lines B4 and R9 are told as part of the region's story, not as royal. DNA does not decide race, religion or bumiputera status.
