Ramayana Novel by Nyoman S. Pendit Review

Resouces: Ramayana (Indonesian Edition): Pendit, Nyoman S.: 9786020318615: Amazon.com: Books

 

Ramayana Novel Review by Nyoman S. Pendit

Title : Ramayan

Author : Nyoman S. Pendit

Year : 2006

Synopsis

The Ramayana tells the story of the life of Rama, a prince of the Kosala kingdom, the crown prince of the kings Dasaratha and Kausalya, as well as the older brother of his three younger brothers Baratha, Laksmana and Saturguna. It is said that Rama is someone who upholds dharma or virtue and is a person who has perfect qualities and is a role model for his brothers and others. He is also a dutiful son to his father and mother, it is said that he even accepted orders to exile for fourteen years in the forest in order to fulfill his father's promise to one of his wives, Kaikeyi and to give up his right as the successor of the king to his younger brother Bharata. Ramayana is also famous for the story of saving Sita, Rama's wife, from Ravana's clutches which led to a battle between Rama's troops, which consisted of the Wanara (monkey-man) troops from the Kiskenda kingdom and the giant Ravana army from the Alengka kingdom. 

Review

Ramayana is a classic Nusantara legend adapted from Indian classical literature with the same title, in this novel Nyoman S. Pendit tries to re-present the classic Ramayana story with his own storytelling style and tries to display it in a shorter way but without reducing the content of the Ramayana story itself. This novel itself is divided into 39 parts or chapters, whether this is done just to emphasize the storyline or just to make writing easier, because the Ramayana storyline is famous for being long, but in fact this makes it easier for readers, because readers can follow the story easily, without having to sway oscillates in a fairly long overall storyline, and can always easily return to certain parts if you forget an important point without having to re-read the whole story from the beginning.

As it was written that the Ramayana is a classic Nusantra legend adapted from Indian classical literature, so in the story there are many variants of the story, ranging from the Indian classic version, Hindu version, wayang version, Javanese version, to other versions, so don't be surprised if while reading this novel you find some differences, both small and large, with the Ramayana story that you may have heard elsewhere. In this novel, the Ramayana story that is raised tends to take from the Hindu version, because many of the contents of the novel highlight Hindu teachings, both in processions or procedures for worship and prayer, as well as teachings in the form of philosophy according to Hindu teachings.

Although the popularity of the Ramayana story in society and in the world is about the kidnapping of Sita by Ravana and the war between Wanara and the Giant, in this novel I found things that were more interesting. In one story, it is told that King Dasaratha will appoint Rama as his successor, but at the time of the coronation ceremony of Rama as the successor of King Dasaratha, he gets a protest from Kaikeyi, one of his wives. Kaikeyi took his promise to king Dasaratha as a young man who promised that if he could give birth to a man, his son would be his successor. Finally, King Dasaratha experienced mental turmoil, on the one hand he wanted to see Rama as his successor but on the other hand he could not break his promise to his wife, finally to fulfill his father's promise to one of his wives, Rama was willing to give up his throne to his younger brother Baratha, who was Kaikeyi's biological son. and spent fourteen years in exile with his wife Sita and his younger brother Laksmana.

This is interesting because it is told that Kaikeyi's actions were solely based on his love for his son, Baratha, and not because of the feeling of getting rid of Rama, let alone making other people miserable. This becomes interesting because it is very relevant to our daily lives, because there are not a few bad consequences or suffering caused by a decision or action that is actually based on good intentions. This reminds us to think carefully before we make a decision, because even though the decision is based on good intentions for us, it doesn't necessarily mean it will be good for others as well. 

Besides that, another interesting thing is the reason why Sita was kidnapped by Ravana. It is said that Sita asked Laksmana to catch a golden deer that happened to be passing by their exile hut, but Laksmana refused on the grounds that he knew that it was a trap of giants who wanted to harm them and warned Sita, Rama who also knew about it, kept quiet. But Sita kept on whining and forcing Laksmana to catch the deer, because she couldn't stand it finally Rama went to catch the deer, long story short they heard a scream similar to Rama's voice from the forest, then Sita panicked and asked him to go and immediately help Rama But again Laksmana refused, arguing that it was a trick of the enemy, but Sita didn't believe it and instead accused him of nonsense, then Laksmana was annoyed that he finally left Sita alone. And that's when Ravana appeared and kidnapped Sita.

Basically this event symbolizes the law of cause and effect or in Hinduism it is better known as karma, a person will get a reward for the things he has done, good and bad depending on his actions, and it can happen immediately or take a long time to become a reality. . But that's not what's interesting, I think what's interesting is the innocence of Sita herself and her desire to catch the golden deer. Because in my opinion there is no difference with lust, and what's interesting is, in general, those who pursue or follow their passions will get the consequences, or karma. But in this story, it is not only Sita who has to bear the burden, or the consequences of her lust, Rama, Laksmana, even in the next story, the wanara also suffer the consequences by fighting against the giant army.

This is in line with what often happens around us, sometimes we do something excessively just to fulfill our lust, whether it is intentional or not. But those who receive the rewards of our lust are not only ourselves, but those who are near us are also affected by the rewards.

This novel is highly recommended for those who like stories of legends and myths, which contain supernatural beings or events, but still have life lessons in them.