[3] The details of Sang Sapurba stories are mainly composed of folklore and legends, and thus his historical existence is debated and disputed by modern historians.
On ascending the hill in the morning they found that their rice crops had transformed the grain into gold, the leaves into silver, the stalks into golden brass.
Proceeding further, they came across three young men, the eldest of whom was mounted on a silver white bull and was dressed as a king, while the two younger, his brothers, bore a sword, a lance and a signet that indicated sovereign power.
Then out of the mouth of the bull there issued a sweet-voiced herald, who at once proclaimed in Sanskrit language, the eldest prince to be a king bearing the title of 'Sang Sapurba Trimurti Tri Buana'.
[6][7] The newly installed sovereign afterwards descended from the hill of Seguntang into the great plain watered by the Palembang river, where he married Wan Sendari, the daughter of the local chief, Demang Lebar Daun, and was everywhere accepted as ruler of the land.
"[8][9]At a later date Sang Sapurba is said to have crossed the great central range of Sumatra into the Minangkabau Highlands, where one of his warriors, Permasku Mambang, slew the great serpent Saktimuna using his legendary sword, Cura Si Manjakini, and was made the king of a grateful people and the founder of the long line of Princes of Minangkabau.
During the reign of Mansur Shah of Melaka (r. 1459–1477), an heir apparent named Raja Muhammad whose mother was a captured princess of Pahang, was banished for committing murder and went into exile.
In 1636, the Achehnese installed a prince from Siak to the throne of Perak following the demise of Sultan Salehuddin Shah (r.1630–1635) in exile in Aceh.
The new Sultan who reigned as Muzaffar Shah II (r. 1636–1654) also claimed descent from a branch of Sang Sapurba dynasty in Siak.