Tun Ledang Shah

Tun Ledang Shah (1234–1463) was a mythical character (who was probably based on a real person) in the ancient Malay history who was assumed to live during the 13th century Srivijayan Empire till the 15th century Sultanate of Malacca. His real name was Sang Ledang.

Born in Palembang in 1234 into a poor family, he gained high status after learning the ancient black arts from Raja Rai or Raidashir – who was arguably the brother to King Ardashir I of Persia. As the result, he could cheat death by drinking Srivijayan royal blood. In 1377, he followed the crown prince of Srivijaya, Parameswara to Temasik when Palembang was overran by the army of Majapahit. Already a powerful warrior during his time, he helped make Malacca one of the successful empires in the region as soon as it was established in 1402. Parameswara and his family owed so much to Tun Ledang Shah that they promised him to give him blood for every 25 years.

When the sultans of Malacca converted to Islam, he was disfavoured and shunned because of his dark arts and was relieved from his command as the Grand Admiral of the Malacca fleet by Sultan Muzaffar Shah (1446–1456). His position was taken over by Tun Hamzah Datuk Bongkok who in turn, was succeeded by the famous Hang Tuah. During the reign of Sultan Mansur Shah (1456–1477), he was sentenced to death by the sultan for committing adultery with one of the sultan's wives. He was killed by Hang Tuah in 1463 after living for more than 200 years.

Tun Ledang Shah was considered a myth and his existence was never recorded in the Malay history due to his black magic arts (necromancy). Only in 1998 when an ancient book called 'Hikayat Raja Raja' was found in one of the museums in Lisbon, Portugal that his existence came into light. The book was written by Sri Nara Diraja Tun Ali and only a few parchment of pages survived. It is believed much of the book was destroyed during the Portuguese invasion of Malacca in 1511.