The Putri of Mount Ophir
This short note by M. Lister records the Johol Dato’s account of the legend of Putri Gandaria, the spirit of Mount Ophir (Gunong Ledang), and compares it with an earlier Portuguese-era version.
Summary
The Dato’ of Johol describes Putri Gandaria as an ugly old woman who lives on Mount Ophir and carries a cat and a bag of saffron. She appears to boatmen on the Gemencheh River, grounds their boat, and upon being taken aboard, glides it free; when she lands she gives each man a piece of saffron that turns to gold, after which she and her cat vanish. Meeting her is a sign of good luck, not misfortune. She can transform her cat into a tiger to devour anyone who disturbs her (p. 165).
Lister then cites two passages from Godinho de Eredia’s “Account of Malacca” (translated by Léon Jausen), which describe the Putri of Gunong Ledang as a beautiful young woman in silk, dwelling in a cavern on the summit, and as a sorceress who transforms women into tigers and birds. Lister concludes that the Dato’s version is the aboriginal form, while Godinho de Eredia’s represents a “civilized Malay” adaptation influenced by Arabic storytelling conventions (p. 166).