The following is my answer to a Quora
question: “Why
is Singapore nicknamed Lion City?”
Singapore is from “Singa Pura”,
which is Sanskrit for “Lion City”. According
to legend, Singapore was founded by a Palembang prince from the Sri Vijaya
Empire, named Sang Nila Utama. He came,
slept under a tree, and was awakened when he encountered a lion. All this, despite the fact that there is no
historical or palaeozoological evidence that there ever was a species of lion
on this tropical island. I would
speculate that it was the habit of the Chola and the breakaway Sri Vajaya
Empires to name important cities “Naga Pura”, meaning “Dragon City”; and
“Singa Pura” was a reactive name to that, denoting its political
importance.
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