Differences between Rāmāyana in Sanskrit and Kekawin Ramayana in Old Javanese:A comparative Study between Sanskrit and Old Javanese Literature

Abstract

Rāmāyaṇa is ancient great epic which narrates the story of Rama and Sīta. It was written in India by a Hindu sage named Valmīki. This great epic was written in Sanskrit, which most of scholars predicted in about 7th to 4thcenturies BC. In Hindu tradition, it is considered to be the first poem (adi-kāvya), which consists of nearly 24. 000 verses which divided into seven chapters. This great epic is very well-known and has been rewritten into many languages in various versions. In Indonesia, Ramayana is very well-known story survived from ancient period. There are some adaptations of Ramayana available in Indonesia, such as Kekaw in Ramāyaṇa in Old Javanese, Ramakavaca in Balinese, Hikayat Sri Rama in Melayu and Serat Rama Keling in Modern Javanese. Besides that, some scenes of Ramayana are carved on balustrades wall in Candi Prambanan (9th century) and Candi Panataran (14th century). Comparing to the Sanskrit or Indian version of Rāmāyana, Kekawin Ramayana which was written in Old Javanese language is shorter and has some different narrations. The first half of Kekaw in Ramayana is similar to the original Sanskrit version, while the latter half is very different from original version. The Kekaw in Ramayana which was written in about870 A.D., has been modified by the author identified as Poet Yogiswara. One of recognizable modification is the inclusion of indigenous Javanese guardian gods which called Punokawan, such as Semar, Gareng, Petruk and Bagong. Besides that, there are little changes of the characters and places. For examples, Walin become Subali, Sita became Sinta, Lanka became Alengka, Rawana became Rahwana, etc. In Sanskrit version, at the end of the story, Rama and Sita separated, but in the Javanese version, Rama and Sinta lived together happily in the Ayodyā. The separation between Rama and Sinta has been omitted, because the author wanted to show that Rama as ideal husband. This present research paper intends to display the differences between Rāmāyaṇa in Sanskrit and Kekaw in Ramayana in Old Javanese. This study is based on available texts both in Old Javanese version and Sanskrit version. Finally, from this research we come to know how the Kekaw in Ramayana differs from the original Sanskrit Rāmāyaṇa