1699, Johor: While her husband, Admiral Laksamana Megat Sri Rama, was away at sea defending the kingdom from pirates, the heavily pregnant Dang Anum stayed behind in the capital. One day, a penghulu (village headman) passed by with a jackfruit harvested from the Sultan’s highly restricted royal orchard. Experiencing intense pregnancy cravings, Dang Anum begged for a taste. The headman took pity on her, cut out a single slice, and gave it to her.

When the jackfruit was served to the young Sultan Mahmud Shah II, he immediately noticed it had been cut. Incited by jealous palace officials who claimed that a commoner eating before the king brought immense shame upon the crown, the Sultan flew into a rage and summoned Dang Anum.

Terrified for her life, Dang Anum pleaded for mercy, explaining that she had only eaten the slice to satisfy the intense cravings of her unborn child.

Refusing to believe her and demanding immediate proof, the tyrannical 24-year-old Sultan ordered her abdomen to be cleaved open right there in the palace. According to historical fables, when her womb was cut open, the fetus was discovered with the piece of jackfruit in its mouth. Both Dang Anum and her unborn child died instantly.

The palace guards kept the horrific murder a close secret. When Megat Seri Rama returned victorious from his military expedition, he was met not with celebration, but with the news that his entire family had been brutally slaughtered by the king he served.

Devastated and enraged, Megat Seri Rama ambushed the Sultan on a Friday afternoon on September 3, 1699, stabbing him to death while the ruler was being carried in a royal palanquin to Friday prayers, earning the late ruler the title Sultan Mahmud Mangkat Dijulang - 'Sultan Mahmud who died while being carried on a royal litter'.

Because the Sultan died without a surviving heir, his death ended the Malacca royal bloodline that stretched back centuries. His Bendahara (chief minister), Abdul Jalil, subsequently assumed the throne as Sultan Abdul Jalil Shah IV, ruling over Johor and Pahang in what is now Peninsular Malaysia, as well as territories in the Riau Archipelago.