Parameswara, thought to be the same person named in the Malay Annals as Iskandar Shah, was the last king of Singapura and the founder of
Malacca. According to the Malay Annals, he ruled Singapura from 1389 to 1398. The king fled the island kingdom after a Majapahit naval invasion in 1398 and founded his new stronghold on the mouth of Bertam river in 1402. Within decades, the new city grew rapidly to become the capital of the Malacca Sultanate. Portuguese accounts however, written a hundred years after his death, suggest he was from Palembang in Sumatra and usurped the throne of Singapura; he was driven out, either by the Siamese or the Majapahit, and went on to found Malacca.
A depiction of Parameswara
A keramat erected on Fort Canning Hill to memorialise Iskandar Shah, the last Raja of Singapura commonly identified with Parameswara due to commonalities in their biographies.
Depiction of Parameswara (with a perched cartoon cat) by Singaporean artist Foo Swee Chin in the educational graphic novel Parameswara and Temasek: The Sacking of Singapore distributed by the Singapore Bicentennial Office.
The Malay Annals, originally titled Sulalatus Salatin, is a literary work that gives a romanticised history of the origin, evolution and demise of the great Malay maritime empire, the Malacca Sultanate. The work, which was composed sometime between the 15th and 16th centuries, is considered one of the finest literary and historical works in the Malay language.
The frontispiece of a Jawi edition of the Malay Annals
