How the Lion became a Singapore symbol.

Here Mel, the Singabites culture guru tells us about how Singapore got its name.

The legend of Singapore’s lion.

If you are a local here in Singapore, Sang Nila Utama will sound very familiar. Sang Nila Utama was the first person to discover Singapura. (or Singapore). As a result he is very important in Singapore culture.
There are many versions of Sang Nila Utama’s story. The one that I learned in history class was that Sang Nila Utama was a prince from Srivijaya ruling house. He saw this island, Temasek. He and his men stopped their boat and alighted wanting to tour this piece of land. While on exploration, they saw an unfamiliar animal. The then Prime minister explained that it was a lion. Singa was a translation of Lion in Indo-Malay language.

I had a conversation with my grandmother. Now, bear in mind, that my grandma is about 83 years old this year. She started her story by saying, “Dulu, nenek pergi sekolah dorang bagi baca Sejarah Singapura”. Translated, “Back in the days, I went to school and they read us the history of Singapore or Singapura”..
According to her Singapore culture books, Sang Nila Utama went hunting with his crew. He then spotted the famous island, Temasek. (which is present day Singapore). People travelling along the island had already seen the fierce creature. They avoided Singapore as much as possible.
So when travelling along Singapore, Sang Nila Utama spotted the fierce creature. He and his crew were all armed ready for an attack. At one point they were only metres away.
After a short staring game, the creature went away. It was then that Sang Nila Utama named the creature, “Singapura”. “Singa” as we known lion and “Pura” means pretend in Malay. Which implies that the Lion was trying to play pretend.
She went on to say that this story was popular in Malay Culture classes. The students also learned the stories of Hang Jebat and other historic Malay figures. She said that Sang Nila Utama was only given that name after he named “Singapura.” His actual name was Parameswara.
This is only a Malay culture version of the story. On other culture versions, the word, “Singapura” meant “City of Sea Lions” in Sanskrit. While some believe that Sang Nila Utama is a myth.
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