Versions of Ramayana in South East Asia

Cultural exchanges between India and South East Asia date back to antiquity (from 300 BC to 15 th century) and were principally aided by merchants and pilgrims from India who carried Hinduism and Buddhism, and later Islam along with their associated literature to those lands. Over centuries Ramayana has been a principal focal point of cultural exchange between the nations. Gradually, as the Epic became embedded into the life and culture of the Southeast Asian peoples, they created their own versions that reflected their own social aspirations and ideological concerns. As a result, there are literally hundreds of versions of the story of Rama in India alone, apart from similar adaptations in Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, and even Japan. Each version takes a different approach to the basic narrative and characters. For instance, in India, Thailand, Indonesia, and Cambodia, royalty associated themselves with Rama and looked on him as ‘ideal’, whereas in South Asia, Sri Lanka that is historically considered to be the ancient Lanka, Ravana is eulogized.

Folklore singers and artists played a very important role in popularizing and modifying Indian literary works in Southeast Asia and it was the most popular and effective way of propagating Indian culture. The artists who popularized these were called ‘dalangs’ and contributed to the process of adaptation of these epic works outside their countries of origin. This was the beginning of the formation of new texts like Seri Rama (Malaysian adaptation of Ramayana) and RamKer (Ramayana Khmer) in Cambodia which are considered as some of the highest literary works of Southeast Asia.