DURING the fasting month of 1818, Thomas Stamford Raffles entered the interior of the Minangkabau region in search of the Kingdom of Pagaruyung.

Legend had it that this kingdom flourished before the arrival of Islam, but following the arrival of the Portuguese there in 1648 was never heard of again. Pagaruyung lived on as a kind of fairytale kingdom, and does so even today.

The story goes that Raffles found practically no traces at all. All he