13. The Singapore Stone & the 14th Century Strongman

Legend has it that there once was a boy named Badang, who acquired strength during an encounter with a genie. News of this boy’s prowess spread across the region and the ruler of India sent the strongest man in his Kingdom, Wadi Bijaya, to challenge Badang in a competition. A few tasks were assigned to the 2 men in order to determine who the stronger man was. The last task of these was a rock throwing contest. A rock of about 3metres high & 3metres wide was to be thrown from this spot of the hill and the man who could throw it further would win the final task. Wadi could only lift the rock up to his knees, while Badang managed to not only lift the rock, but throw it all the way to the mouth of the Singapore River!

Did Ah Gong know of this legend?

In 1843, however, the rock, now known as the Singapore Stone, was blasted to make way for developments at the Singapore River. Inscriptions had been found on the Singapore Stone but the text remains undeciphered till this day.

Here, we are being blasted away!

Resource:
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_996_2006-04-05.html
http://www.worldoftemasek.com/index.php/article/archaeology