LEGEND OF THE MOUNTAINS
Gunung Raya & Gunung Mat Chincang
There are two well known mountains in the heart of Langkawi Island,
Gunung Raya and Gunung Mat Cincang. Added to the two and appearing
to separate them is a hill called Bukit Sawar.
If you look hard at Gunung Mat Cincang located at 700m above sea level,
you can actually see it is smiling to its 850m high neighbour, Gunung Raya
(the island's highest mountain).
According to folklore, these two mountains together with Bukit Sawar (Sawar Hill), a smaller mountain, were all human beings at one time with respective names of Mat Raya, Mat Cincang and Mat Sawar. Such good friends they were that they all shared the same martial arts 'guru.'
As the story goes, Mat Cincang's daughter was engaged to Mat Raya's son.
With this Mat Raya planned a grand feast to celebrate the engagement of
his daughter to Mat Cincang's son. Unfortunately, the young man was caught flirting with another maiden at the party, an indiscretion that resulted in a raging battle between the two childhood friends. During the fight everyone became violent and pots and pans were flung at one another. A big pot of gravy was broken and the contents spilled on the ground.
The spot where the gravy spilled is known as Kuah (gravy in Malay), Kisap (or 'to seep in') became the name of the village where the gravy seeped through the land and where the pot was broken as became known as Belanga Pecah (broken pot). A cauldron of hot water was also spilled on the ground and the spot is known as Air Hangat Village (Hot Water Village) . Where the engagement ring was flung became known as 'Tanjung Cincin' or Cape of the Ring. The straits now separates Langkawi from Terutau Island in Thailand.
The fight between the two families went on until it was intervened by Mat Sawar. who eventually was able to stop the fight. Both Mat Raya and Mat Cincang apologised for the damage incurred. In remorse, they chose to be transformed into mountains, immobile and benign. Soon, Mat Sawar followed suit. If you look at the two mountains today, you will notice that little Mat Sawar Hill is wedged in between, probably to prevent another fight between the two. The marriage turned out to be a prosperous one, for Mat Raya's son turned over leaf and became a devoted husband.
