Ramayana the World Over

While attending the International Ramayana Festival held in East Java last year in the small hill town of Panda An, I was more than ever struck by the fact that India had the most glorious ground than any other country in the world. While, in the modern world, the great progress of science and technology has captured the admiration of all, India’s name and glory are still recounted far beyond its frontiers because of her spiritual message, which is, in fact, the essential ingredient of the culture of the land.

Ramayana-a living tradition

It is remarkable to see how Ramayana, the most ancient all epic stories, rendered into great poetry in the Sanskrit language by the sage Valmiki, has lived through many vicissitudes of history–particularly in the Eastern world. Perhaps many of us in India have been under the impression that Ramayana is indeed a story only for India. In fact, there are many in the South, who are not even conscious of its real impact on the rest of India. But, there is no doubt that the story of Ramayana is such that one can never be tired and which lends itself to every aspect of life. Therefore, it has been the object of interest for the painter, the sculptor, the poet, the musician, the dancer and many others who have interpreted the story in a thousand different ways. India is pervaded by this story of Sri Rama, in plays, in musical discourses, folk-dances and many other art forms like the puppet-shows. But to find it to be a living tradition in so many other Eastern countries is really  a great wonder to all of us.

International Ramayana Festival

From what I have learnt by attending the International Ramayana Festival, I discovered that Ramayana was even rendered into Jataka stories by the Chinese very early after the Christian era. In fact, according to Prof. Lokesh Chandra, Director of the International Academy of Indian Culture, even in Siberia, the Ramayana is well-known. In modern days the story of Ramayana is gradually being presented in dance form in Kathakali and Bharata Natyam in Western countries bythe artists who go out from India. A time might come when there might be some inspired people, who will find this story worthwhile for the presentation of India’s spiritual message in the West. In this way, India’s contribution is unique and can never die, whatever be the current state of ourcivilization.

The Ramayanas that I saw and heard about in East Java were the Ramayana of Burma, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Bali, East Java, Djakarta, Solokarta, Sumatra and Sunda. It was indeed a remarkable experience to see how in the form of dance and dance-drama, the great story was not only depicted, but how well the artistic tradition is preserved, particularly in these South Eastern countries. Amongst them, of course, the country that has a very short tradition and was, therefore, more modern in presentation was Malaysia. But, there were certain unique features in regard to each one of these.

Ramayana in Burma

The presentation of Ramayana in the Burmese version was, of course, done in the Burmese style of dancing. But the story is similar to the Bengali version,* where the hero seems to be Ravana and so the Ramayana story is called the story of Maharaja Ravana. But, here, of course, the conception is that Sita was the daughter of Ravana, and though the dance-drama was performed both in temples and palaces, and in the villages, the most important part of it is the inspiring character of Rama and the story’s ethical value. The Costumes were unique in the old Burmese style, for, as one of them remarked, Rama, though he was born in India, is a person of the world and his story is the story of the people of the entire world, and, therefore, Rama, who was born in India, is no more Indian, but is a Burmese as he has been adopted into that land. In the same way, we can find that Ramayana is adopted in a fashion by each country as if it is its own.

The Burmese version is also interesting, because they accept the appearance of Maya Sita. As in the Adhyatma Ramayana and some other Indian Ramayanas, Ravana does not abduct the real Sita at all but only a Maya Sita. Again, when the Nagastra is used, it is not only Lakshmana but Rama also, who was overcome, and Hanuman comes to help them. But there is no bringing of Sanjivi or anything like that. In the actual presentation, a well is held between Sita and Ravana and Ravana sees her only through this veil of Maya. The greatest importance is placed not on the divine nature of Rama but on the ethical value of the story and its aesthetic emphasis on beauty.

In Thailand

In the Thai version, originally it was called Ramakien, which is the earliest version of the Rama legend in Thai literature, the music is mainly instrumental with very little of singing. From the point of view of production, the Thai production is very similar to the Cambodian. But there is one small variation in the technique in that the Thai production brings in slightly more properties on to the stage and also makes many poses and postures, which are sculpturesque and beautiful. The costumes are gorgeous and they have symbolic colours as in the Cambodian. But the Cambodian has the, special feature of exquisite and most delicate foot movements and greater grace. The remarkable point was the fact that the finest characters of Rama and Lakshmana were depicted in these countries by women, because these characters are of such refinement that they have to express their gestures not with power and crudity of man but with the delicate grace of women. Because of this, even in the war between Rama and Ravana, Rama’s arrows, which destroyed Ravana, are so delicately shot and used with such grace and beauty that one might think that it was a flower arrow rather than an arrow that kills.

Of course, the characters are identified by their costumes and their masks, and every character has his own style of movement including the gestures.

Cambodian Ramayana

In the Cambodian or Khmer version of the Ramayana, there are certain traditions which are very, very true to our ancient ideas of the dance.

The important thing in these countries is that the performing art is a living art, which has never lost its tradition as it has in India. Unfortunately, in India, due to so many foreign invasions and lack of understanding and support by the foreign rulers, most of our arts were discouraged and have nearly died out. Leaving aside the stage presentation, there are no other presentations of the Ramayana like the recitation, harikathas, songs, concerts, poems, etc., in which we excel so wonderfully.

In Indonesia

The most remarkable country as far as the preservation of the performing arts, particularly Ramayana is concerned, is Indonesia. Though I saw six different versions of the Ramayana in the same country by different troupes who were all expert dancers and for centuries had kept up the tradition, there was an immense amount of creative imagination expressed in these. In the Indonesian version, I would say the chief keynote was the beauty of the presentation with wonderfully charming traditional costumes, exquisite music of the Gamelang and the extraordinary delicacy and grace of movements. I saw different versions of Jatayu and it was very difficult for me to say which was the most beautiful. Perhaps I might say, to me the favourite was the Djogjakarta version. All the monkeys used masks and Hanuman was a great hero who was depicted with wonderful beauty.

One of the most impressive things that I found was the large number of artists participating in the Indonesian performances. Sometimes, there were hundreds on the stage and each one knew his place and moved in the most harmonious way, forming excellent floor patterns. It is very difficult to see such a large number of artists. In the ballet from Djogjakarta, the Agnipravesam of Sita was beautifully shown. Agni was represented by about 20 girls who used beautiful yellow and orange scarves. One of the specialities of Indonesian dance is the way they manipulate scarves. It is part of their technique and they do it with very remarkable grace. At first I could not understand what these 20 girls represented. Then it became obvious that they were all supposed to be Fire Devas. When Sita prepared to enter the fire these 20 girls started to move the scarves in such a way that they looked like flames. It was beautifully done. Of course it was clear that starves were being used. But they were most suggestive and was not meant to be exact. It was wonderful for me to note the beauty of the costumes and the colour schemes. And I must confess that in these respects these countries, especially Indonesia has outshone India by far.

Another impressive scene was Hanuman setting fire to Lanka. In the Balinese version, Rakshasas come with torches in order to set fire to Hanuman’s tail. But he plays around them in such a very clever way and somehow manages to capture the two torches and goes flying round setting fire to everything.

The Balinese version had the most vigorous movements, while the East Java Hanuman was the most striking. The interesting thing about all these is the fact that in none of these dance forms was there any accompaniment in the way of singing the songs or the verses as we do in India. In short, there was no Vachika Abhinayam. There were songs here and there and the tune of some of the songs even resemble some of our ragas. They do not have a raga system of music while they have names of different melodies and special songs which represent different emotions like sorrow, happiness, heroism and so on. The Gamelang is a very elaborate accompaniment with a large number of instruments, gongs, etc., and it is played somewhat like our Jalataranga, and it is exquisitely beautiful to the ear. Another feature which seems so different from India is the lack of facial expression. Satvika Abhinaya
is the speciality of Indian dances, particularly the South Indian. But you cannot say that Abhinaya is lacking, because they had plenty of expression in their movements.

Though there is no Abhinaya in the face, the feeling was conveyed somehow by movements and you felt sad when Sita was sad.

In other countries

It is also known that the story of Ramayana had spread even into Tibet and that manuscripts had been found there and that from Tibet the story had spread even to Mongolia and Siberia. When one sees these productions of the Ramayana–some, perhaps with religious significance, some without any religious significance but still inspiring to the people of the country; one realises that not only has India been able to give a great message to the world, but also that today India has to learn from these countries, to realise that the precious gift which inspires others, should not be lost in our country, as it is being lost today, owing to our unfortunate imitation of Western ideas and values which are only of temporary value. It is for this realisation that the first International Ramayana Festival has given a fresh impetus and, I hope it will be such that the spiritual message of India will once again be sounded in our country and that we shall once again study great epic of Valmiki, Tulsidas, Kambar, Arunachala Kavi and other great writers and poets.
–COURTESY ALL INDIA RADIO, MADRAS

* The hero of the story of Ramayana in Bengali is Rama and not Ravana. The author seems to be misinformed on this point.