RamayanaMalaysia Art and Culture It was probably after 1612 an English sea captain brought a valuable manuscript from the Malay world to England, subsequently acquired by the powerful Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud as a gift to Bodleian Library, Oxford in 1633 along with over 1300 manuscripts. Today, it is known as a gem of Malaysia art and culture, the oldest extant copy of Malay version Ramayana, the "Hikayat Seri Rama". Described by English scholars as a Malay literary work of " a Hindu prose narration with a few Islamic adjustments here and there" ...at the onset, successive copies gradually omitted more and more "unislamic beginning" of the saga. Another aspect of "adjustment" applies to names. For example, Dewata Mulia Raya or Greatest Divinity in Hindu has been replaced with Allah Ta'ala, the heroine Sita Devi becomes Siti Dewi. Probably the adaptations make it more appealing to the locals. Maxwell's "Cerita Seri Rama" and Shellabear's edition of "Hikayat Seri Rama" are among the many collection of Ramayana's stories published in Malaysia. Children get simplified versions as school texts before and during early days of independence at a time when Malay books are scarce.
Shadow play is an important part of Malaysia art and culture before TV invasion. There is a script version of Ramayana tailored for the folk theatre --" Hikayat Maharaja Wana". More transformations on the stage. Names of main characters are not only Islamized, localized, they even vary from story to story! Don't worry...Tok Dalang the puppeteer always uses the same puppets. To be double sure there is no confusion, the main characters always have their "fixed colours": Rama is dark green, Sita is yellow, Laskhsmana is red, Hanuman is white and black for the evil Ravana. The priority of Rama's adventures are reversed. I was imagining the most exciting part of a handsome hero fighting a grotesque demon but a Malaysian wayang kulit performs mostly his minor, later adventures. This could be due to the fact that even the roles of main and minor heroes are reversed as well! Though the epitome of male virtues, Rama was at times perceived to be weak, while his younger brother Lakhsmana courage and decisiveness are featured more prominently to Malay audiences.
Chinese has contributed their part to Malaysia art and culture, don't they? I was looking at different illustrations of Rama's loyal servant Hanuman when I came across one version where Rama as portrayed with fair skin being hugged by Hanuman with white fur. I was immediately struck by their similarities with the monk Tang Seng and that Chinese monkey king Sun Wu Kong. In fact, it is believed that Ramayana inspired part of the Chinese epic, Journey to the West. Well, enough with this other example as we have discussed the Ramayana impact on Bahasa Malaysia...
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