Thread by @uglyluhan

Came across this thread on the Hikayat Seri Rama. Coincidentally the 5th International Ramayana Festival recently concluded in Delhi. I thought this might be a good time to look at the Ramayana legend in Southeast Asia

https://twitter.com/ikramibnsidik/status/1175806708163067905?s=19

Most of you will have heard of the Ramayana. Despite its significance to some religions, it is not a religious story of gods but rather a heroic epic about a prince saving a maiden. The Asian answer to the Odyssey, in terms of cultural importance

This thread won't be about the story itself, but if you're not familiar with the plot, it tells of the prince Rama who's exiled from his kingdom. He leaves with his consort Sita and his brother Laksmana

They encounter various challenges and enemies, the most important being Sita's abduction by Ravana, ruler of Lanka. With the help of the divine monkey Hanuman, Rama rescues Sita

The age and historicity of the Ramayana are debated by historians. It was long believed that the story is based on an Indo-Aryan migration into Sri Lanka, but this has been called into question so I won't get into it

historicalrama.com

Like the semi-legendary Malay hikayats, it is commonly assumed that the Ramayana (meaning "Rama's Career") is a heavily mythologised biography of an actual ruler. The story is traditionally credited to the sage Valmiki

The Ramayana is part of what gives South Asia its sacred geography, which has lead to some controversies. The demolished Babri Masjid was said to have been built on the ruins of a shrine commemorating Rama's birthplace

indiatoday.in/news-analysis/…

The cities Lahore and Kasur in Pakistan are said to have been founded by and named after Lav and Kusa, the sons of Rama. As one might expect, this is vehemently denied by most Pakistanis who prefer a Perso-Arab etymology

travel-culture.com/pakistan/lahor…

In 2005, there was a proposal for a shipping channel that would cut through Rama's Bridge, the chain of shoals between India & Sri Lanka. What's interesting is that even many non-Hindus opposed it. Preserving the bridge was a matter of pride for Indians

https://twitter.com/uglyluhan/status/1147403761028980744?s=19

Within India itself, versions of the Ramayana exist in all the country's major languages, and several religions. From a Hindu perspective, it contrasts an ideal Hindu society with that of the raksasa or demons

Valmiki validates the caste system through the concept of karmic retribution, but also presents the social classes as interdependent, with each having a valid role but greater austerity being necessary for the upper classes

In other words, the higher you are on the social ladder, the more disciplined you're supposed to be. In Valmiki's view, this strict restraint is part of their legitimacy. A ruler who didn't show restraint would be brought down. Raja adil raja disembah, raja zalim raja disanggah

An extreme example of this is when Sita undergoes the ordeal of fire (agni pariksa) because of rumours that she didn't remain faithful during her abduction. Rama knows that she's been faithful, but as an upholder of dharma, he can't ignore the public

While Hindu versions emphasise Rama as an incarnation of the god Vishnu, Buddhist versions instead show him as a bodhisattva and one of Buddha's past incarnations (which itself is canonical within Hindu tradition anyway)

The Indian Buddhist version, the Dasharata Jataka, takes no interest in the ideal social structure but instead serves as a discourse on the impermanence of worldly existence, eg. when Rama doesn't mourn his father's death

threeroyalwarriors.tripod.com/id9.html

It does not include Sita's capture, or the battles. It also characterises Rama and Sita as biological siblings, unlike the Valmiki version where she was an adopted daughter of the king and thus not related to Rama by blood

Buddhist versions of the story reached China and Khotan (in today's Xinjiang), where they were embellished with more "exciting" details from other versions. A similar adaptation exists in Tibet, though it doesn't appear to have any Buddhist motifs

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.117…

The Jain retellings of the Ramayana are younger than the Hindu-Buddhist ones, and draw from several sources while incorporating the authors' religious themes. The most famous Jain version is the Paumacariya by Vimala Suri

livehistoryindia.com/snapshort-hist…

The Paumacariya is interesting in its sympathetic portrayal of the antagonist Ravana. He's not simply an evil king, but a tragic figure. Despite adhering to non-violence (ahimsa), his abduction of Sita is destined to lead to his downfall

boldsky.com/yoga-spiritual…

Several Jain versions don't describe the vanara as monkeys, nor do they refer to Ravana's people as demons. Instead, all the supernatural beings are vidyadhara (bidadara in Malay, the male form of bidadari) who acquired powers through cultivation

chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/V…

Both the Tibetan tradition and at least one Jain adaptation represents Sita as Ravana's daughter, which explains her mysterious birth in earlier versions

livehistoryindia.com/amp/story/snap…

The Ramayana has been hugely influential in both South and Southeast Asia. It has inspired devotional hymns, dance-drama, and art. Almost every country in SEA has their own version, and in each case, it is one of their main epics and/or literary works

blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-afri…

The earliest known evidence of the Ramayana in Southeast Asia comes from Cambodia, where a 5th-century ruler arranged for it to be recited daily at the royal shrine. The Khmer version is called Reamker from the Sanskrit Ramakerti meaning "Rama's glory"

Cambodia was formerly Hindu before adopting Buddhism, and this is evident in the written Reamker. It characterises Rama both as Vishnu's avatar and also as a bodhisattva

The Reamker is performed both through ayang (shadow puppetry) and lakhon khol (classical theatre). Both the words ayang and lakhon are, of course, of Javanese origin (from wayang and lakon)

Myanmar is the only country in Southeast Asia that shares a border with India, and the Ramayana was known in Myanmar since the Bagan era, where both Buddhist and Hindu depictions of Rama are represented

Passed down orally at first, the Burmese Ramayana was probably first written down between the 16th-18th centuries. The oldest surviving literary version of the story in Myanmar is the Rama-Thagyin ("Rama's ballad") of the 1700s

The Rama Thagyin lead to the development of other literary adaptations in Myanmar, notably the Maha Rama ("Great Rama") and the Loik Samoing Ram (the Mon version). The Burmese versions emphasise karma and Buddhist values

For example, Ravana develops his villainous personality after tasting the juice of a creeper plant called arthavati. Sita was originally a gandharva (a kind of celestial nymph) who he tried to seduce

Laksmana also developed the ability to turn invisible through celibacy, by not looking at the face of a woman for twelve years. Anyone wanna try it?

Now for Laos. There are several Lao versions:

Phra Lak Phra Lam of central Laos

Pommachak of northern Laos

Gvay Dvorahbi in the Yuan language

Rama Jataka from the Lao community of Thailand

Phra Lak Phra Lam simply means "Laksmana and Rama", the word 'phra' being a Khmer-derived title of respect for nobility and holymen. Note here that Laksmana's name comes first, indicating his importance

thaoworra.blogspot.com/2009/09/lao-li…

The Ramayana was the inspiration for a few place-names in Thailand. The kingdom of Ayutthaya was named after Ayodhya. The province of Lopburi derives its name from Lavpuri, the city founded by Rama's son

The Thai literary version of the story is called Ramakien, also from Ramakirti. It's enacted through shadow puppetry, mask plays and theatre or lakhon

The Ramakien is derived mainly from oral sources, particularly the Malay wayang kulit from Srivijaya, in addition to the Sanskrit, Tamil, Bengali and Hindi literary versions

Just gonna keep testing until this works...

OK finally. Tweets weren't working for a while there. Hopefully no more interruptions. So as I was saying ..

In Java, the story was considered the adi-kakawin, the foremost among over 100 court poems within a 1000-year period. There are many Javanese versions of the Ramayana, recorded in both Old Javanese and New Javanese

The earliest known version is the Ramayana Kakawin. The story wasn't confined to the courts though. Later Javanese versions among commoners included the Serat Rama Keling. Yes it really was called that, back when Keling wasn't offensive

https://twitter.com/uglyluhan/status/1116916862212694017?s=19

The Ramayana reached Java through both oral and textual Indian sources, particularly the Ravana-vadha written of Bhatti in the 7th century. It remains an important source for wayang kulit and wayang wong performances across Indonesia

The Filipino Ramayana is interesting because of how different it is from all the others. Recall that the Philippines never had a Hindu or Buddhist majority, remaining entirely animist before the introduction of Islam and Christianity

Indian influence in the Philippines came mainly via Malays and Indonesians. Examples include Sanskrit-derived words like Bathala (from 'betara') and the horse-headed tikbalang probably based on the Indian deity Hayagriva

medium.com/@omehra/sanskr…

Written in the Maranao language of Mindanao, the Philippine Ramayana is called Maharadia Lawana, meaning "Maharaja Ravana". Though loosely inspired by the Malay version of the story, it is otherwise very different, and often reflects local culture

The swayamvara or competition for choosing Sita's husband was originally an archery contest, with Rama being the only one able to lift Shiva's bow. In the Philippines it was a game of sipa, the Filipino name for takraw

Of course I saved the Malay versions for last, so I could go into more detail. The sources of the Malay Ramayana have been researched since the 1800s, and it appears to draw from both India and Indonesia, particularly the Panji cycle

https://twitter.com/uglyluhan/status/1092334817247617024?s=19

As elsewhere, there are a few traditions of the Ramayana in Malay. These are the oral version of the storyteller (penglipur lara), the theatrical version of the puppeteer (dalang), and the literary epic (hikayat)

The wayang kulit version is known as Cerita Maharaja Wana ("Story of Maharaja Ravana"). It's part of the basic repertoire of Wayang Siam, and appears to combine Malay and Thai elements, but also has similarities to the Javanese, Lao, and Khmer adaptations

Laksmana is prominent in the Malay versions, as with the Phra Lak Phra Lam of Laos. In Cerita Maharaja Wana, he's a wise ascetic in contrast to the petulant Rama. He's also intersex, a sign of his role as a celibate sage

https://twitter.com/uglyluhan/status/1092338739685187586?s=19

Cerita Maharaja Wana follows the pattern of traditional Malay romances: separation, wandering through the forest, overcoming challenges, and finally reunion

https://twitter.com/uglyluhan/status/1101121016737091584?s=19

The Ramayana was of course known to Malays since Hindu-Buddhist times, but some adaptations were altered after the introduction of Islam. This included both oral and textual retellings

Penglipur lara were the professional storytellers of Malay society. Their art was an adaptive one, as each would have out their own spin on the story over time. One example was recorded in Perak, 1866

In this version, all the place names are completely changed and localised. Rama is the king of Tanjung Bunga (in Penang??) instead of Ayodhya. Both he and Sita are given the Muslim title of khalifa

The textual Malay version is the Hikayat Seri Rama, hikayat being a form of literary epic meant to be read out loud. It was written during the Islamic era in Jawi script, some time before the 17th century

The Hikayat Seri Rama is a long and comprehensive work. Like other hikayat, it reflects the values and customs so treasured by the upper class such as martial contests, righteous warfare, and absolute loyalty to the king. Just like Hang Tuah

While its pre-Islamic themes are evident, the HSR doesn't include the same Hindu-Buddhist philosophies as earlier versions. It's a tale of heroism. The characters were the superheros of their time, held in high regard even by the authors of the Hikayat Aceh and Sulalatus Salatin

One unusual characteristic of the Hikayat Seri Rama is that all the main characters are related. This is often the result of unnatural births and pregnancies, some of which do occur in versions from India and Indonesia. For example..

Vali and Sugriva are the results of Dewi Indera's adultery with a dewa (deity) and a mambang (elemental spirit). Hanuman has a son named Hanuman Tuganggah after a fish swallows a drop of his perspiration

https://twitter.com/uglyluhan/status/1147407147338088448?s=19

Recall that when Malay manuscripts were copied, details were often added, removed, or altered in the process. A good example is the Sejarah Melayu in which the word "Melayu" was added into certain parts to emphasise the ethnic group

https://twitter.com/uglyluhan/status/1064457251530797056?s=19

This is the case with the Hikayat Seri Rama as well. An earlier version explicitly states that Rama is the incarnation of Vishnu. This was later excised so that it just mentions Rama's otherworldly skin colour, thus only indirectly alluding to Vishnu

Going by this evidence, it's been suggested that the extant Jawi version may have been written as early as the 14th century with a less Islamic theme, before it was later adapted into its current form

Whatever the case, the Hikayat Seri Rama as we know it gives us a glimpse into the early Malay-Muslim worldview which corresponds to other legends of the time. That is, it manages to keep the original Hindu story but reframe it within a more acceptable Islamic narrative

For example, it never denies the existence of other gods, nor does it paint them as evil jin out to confuse the people. The gods can be benevolent but their guidance is no longer necessary because Allah aka Dewata Mulia Raya is supreme above them

https://twitter.com/uglyluhan/status/1107928113017556993?s=19

To the Malay mind, the events of the Hikayat Seri Rama happened in the distant past, during the time of the prophet Adam. If it all sounds like monolatry, that's because it kind of is. And if you don't know what monolatry is, here you go

dictionary.com/browse/monolat…

After examining all the different Southeast Asian versions of the Ramayana, we can make a few observations. For one, the SEA versions are more closely related to each other than to those of India, which is no surprise

And of all the Indian retellings, several Southeast Asian versions seem to have a greater similarity to the Tamil versions than any other, indicating the strong South Indian influence

scribd.com/document/19010…

Several versions in both India and SEA include Ravana in the title. The story commonly begins with his backstory, explaining the source of the conflict. Despite being the villain, there was something popular about him

Exploration of Ravana's other side has continued even into the modern age, with plays, books and TV series that focus more on him than the heroes themselves

Rama on the other hand can be brash and in some versions has to be kept in check by Laksmana. Rama is described as handsome and effeminate, the archetypal Asian prettyboy hero 

https://twitter.com/uglyluhan/status/1092337566555099136?s=19

In a few Southeast Asian languages, certain qualities were compared to characters from the Ramayana. A beautiful girl was like Sita, and arched eyebrows were like Rama's bow

Another aspect of Southeast Asian culture that's been influenced by the Ramayana is martial arts. Techniques of tomoi and entire systems of silat are named after Rama

https://twitter.com/uglyluhan/status/1082595123018399746?s=19

A Hanuman form exists both in silat and in Indian martial arts

In some versions of the story, Sita tried to kill Ravana with a knife. In Silat Pattani, the weapon of the Sita form is the concealed kerambit. The techniques are suitably deceptive and hide the fighter's intentions

But for all its significance in Malay culture, the Ramayana gets little attention from most Malays today. It's now considered a relic of jahiliyyah that's best ignored and forgotten. A certain someone has made a career of romanticising Muslim conquerors instead

When MDeC came out with their Saladin cartoon, they were asked why this particular figure was chosen for a series. The response is that he is a "Muslim hero" and that a local setting might not less global appeal

Now I'm not saying that Malaysians shouldn't do stories set elsewhere, but Saladin is hardly the pan-Islamic figure that he's being made out to be. Even Muslim Malays wouldn't have heard of him until modern times. Most Malays were still Hindu-Buddhist during Saladin's era

I remember during the series' promotion when a guy told the primarily Chinese audience that Saladin is "like an Islamic Guan Gong". This ludicrous idea has no basis in history or fact. Malays were never telling stories of Saladin or performing plays about him. He was unknown

If they wanted something that could be marketed globally, why didn't they even consider the Hikayat Seri Rama? If we're honest, we know why a local story of Hindu/Indian origin would never be adapted locally, certainly not in favour of a Middle Eastern setting

But just look at neighbouring countries. Thailand, Cambodia, even Indonesia continue to adapt and hold the Ramayana as their own, proudly advertised to tourists. It's not considered a foreign intrusion. It's about time we did the same

And since I have a thing for alternate name-forms, here's an incomplete list of characters in the Ramayana whose names were altered in Malay