The Legend of Sangkuriang
The legend of Bandung begins here...
(According to the story of Sundanese Folk)
From passion, desire, love, and angry of Sangkuriang, The Eruption
of Mountain Tangkuban Parahu, until now become a city...
Here is the short story...
There is a kingdom in Priangan Land. Live a happy family, a
father in form of dog (his name is Tumang), a mother (her name
is Dayang Sumbi), and a child call Sangkuriang. Tumang is demigod
possessing magic powers.
One day, Dayang Sumbi asked her son to go hunting in the nearest
jungle and she wanted some deer liver or venison. So Sangkuriang
went hunting with his lovely dog, Tumang, to please his mother.
After hunting all day with empty-handed, Sangkuriang began desperate
and worried. Think shortly, Sangkuriang took his arrow and shot
his dog. Then he took the dog liver or flesh and carried home.
He gave dog liver or flesh to his mother. Soon Dayang Sumbi
fine out that Sangkuriang lied to her. She knew Sangkuriang
had killed Tumang. So, She angry and hit Sangkuriang head. Sangkuriang
got wounded and scar. Sangkuriang cast away from their home.
Years go bye, Sangkuriang had travel many places and on one
day, he arrived at a village which is used to be his home. He
met a beautiful woman whom actually his mother and felt in love
with her.
Their love grew naturally and one day, when they were discussing
their wedding plans, Dayang Sumbi suddenly realised that the
profile of Sangkuriang's head matched that of her only son's
who had left twenty years earlier. How could she marry her own
son? But she did not wish to dissapointed him by canceling the
wedding. So, although she agreed to marry Sangkuriang, she would
do so only on the condition that he provide her with a lake
and a boat with which they could sail on the dawn of their wedding
day.
Sangkuriang accepted this condition and built a lake by damming
the Citarum river. With a dawn just moment away and the boat
almost complete, Dayang Sumbi realised that Sangkuriang would
fulfill the condition she had set. With a wave of her supernatural
shawl, she lit up the eastern horizon with flashes of light.
Deceived by false dawn, the cock crowed and farmers rose for
the new day.
With his work not yet complete, SangkuriaNg realised that his
endeavor were lost. With all his anger, he kicked the boat that
he himself had built. The boat fell over and, in so doing become
the mountain TANGKUBAN PARAHU (in Sundanese, TANGKUBAN means
upturned or upside down, and PARAHU means boat). With the dam
torn asunder, the water drained from the lake becoming a wide
plain and nowadays became a city called BANDUNG (from the word
BENDUNG, which means Dam).