Mahsuri: The Pride of Malaysian History.

Makam Mahsuri was a local Malaysian heroine who lived about 200 years ago. The legend is that she was was a beautiful girl who married the son of a village headman and Chief of Langkawi Rumours started that she was being unfaithful to her husband with a traveling poet. While her husband was away, her Mother-in-Law raised the village against her and the tied her to a tree to try and kill her.

None of the sword of daggers used against Mahsuiri caused her any wound and the villagers were baffled but still they tried. Mahsuri realised that only her death would appease them so she told them that the only weapon that could harm her was her Father's keris (ceremonial sword). This was fetched and used to kill her.

The villagers noticed that the blood flowing from her was white and an indication of her innocence. As she died she laid a curse on the island stating that it would 'not prosper for seven generations'. It did follow that the island then began to suffer much misfortune being invaded by Siam, and later the population fell significantly. Fortunes for the island began to improve from the 1980s as tourism began thrive.

As a young man Tunku Abdul Rahman, who later became Malaysia's first Prime Minister tried to locate her grave pay his respects. Islanders did not know where it was but he searched and sometime later found what he believed to be her grave in undergrowth. There is though no proof of this fact, however the site was restored and became a tourist attraction. Around the tomb a model village has been built in the way it would have been in her lifetime.

Her descendants were traced to Phuket in Thailand in 2000 and it was discovered that the eighth generation direct descendent of her was born in 1980, as fortunes for the island began to improve.

The Mahsuri Mausoleum or the Makam Mahsuri was set up in honor of Mahsuri beautiful princess of Langkawi who was accused of Adultery by her mother in law two hundred years ago. The legend goes that the mother in law was jealous of the beauty of her daughter in law and thereby ordered her extermination much before the arrival of her son, who was away at war. It is said that while Mahsuri was executed with the help of a special dagger, but her blood was white, which proved her innocence. In the course of her dying Mahsuri cursed the island so that it would remain barren for seven generations. The seven generations has passed and fortunately, it is now seen that Langkawi is a flourishing Tourist destination.

The Mausoleum houses a Kedah traditional house, Mahsuri's well, Mahsuri's tomb and an aviary. As a mark of reverence, Tourists open their shoes while entering the Mausoleum.