# Hikayat Seri Rama: The Malay Ramayana

- Link: https://writersworkshopindia.com/2020/12/07/hikayat-seri-rama-the-malay-ramayana/
- Published: 2020-12-07T19:19:08+00:00
- Author: shuktara

4.1/5 - (9 votes)

**Translator:** Harry Aveling[⌊A sample cover of the book: dark red coloured handloom sari with gold embossed nameplate and lettering for the title and author's name. The border of the sari lines the right hand margin of the cover.⌉](https://writersworkshopindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/The-Malay-Ramayana-1-scaled-1.jpeg)
**
Pages:** 288 **Year of Publication:** 2020 **Price:** Rs 900 / $30 **ISBN: **978-
81-946740-6-1 (9788194674061)

_**About the Translator**_
 Professor Harry Aveling (PhD, Malay Studies, National
University of Singapore; Doctor of Creative Arts, University of Technology, Sydney)
holds honorary appointments in Translation Studies, Monash University, and Asian
Studies, La Trobe University, both in Melbourne, Australia. He has translated extensively
from Indonesian and Malay, and co-translated from Hindi. In 1991 he received the
Anugerah Pengembangan Sastera (Literary Development Award) for his “commitment to
the international understanding of Malay literature”. His previous publications 
with **Writers Workshop**, India, include _**Arjuna in Meditation: Three Young **_**
_Indonesian Poets_** (1976); _**The Mastadon and the Condors**_ by W. S. Rendra (
1981); **_The Interior Landscape of the Heart: Tamil Poetry from Malaysia and Singapore_**(
1981), with Dr R. Dhandayudham; and **_Koong, The Story of a Pigeon _**(1986) by
Iwan Simatupang.

_**About the Book**_
 In his introduction to the book, Professor Aveling writes:

‘The Indian epic known as _The Ramayana_ exists on a grand scale. “Just a list of
languages in which the Rama story is found makes one gasp,” wrote A. K. Ramanujan
in his famous essay on three hundred _Ramayana_s. These languages include “Annamese,
Balinese, Bengali, Cambodian, Chinese, Gujarati, Javanese, Kannada, Kashmiri, Khotanese,
Laotian, Malaysian, Marathi, Oriya, Prakrit, Sanskrit, Santali, Sinhalese, Tamil,
Telugu, Thai, Tibetan.” (1991: 24. The figure of 300 is commonly ascribed to Bulcke
1950).

There are translations into English of many of these different versions of the _Ramayana_,
including some from Southeast Asia – Thailand (Olsson), Laos (Sahai), Burma (Toru),
and Java (Robson), but none of the Malay _Hikayat Seri Rama_, “The Story of Seri
Rama”. The translation offered here is based on an edition of the Malay manuscript
from Acheh in north Sumatra, presented in 1633 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
William Laud (1573-1645), to the Bodleian Library at Oxford, where Laud was Chancellor.
The date makes it perhaps the oldest Malay manuscript to have survived to this day.’

Reviews of the book can be read in _[The Hindu](https://www.thehindu.com/books/rama-of-adams-family-arshia-sattar-reviews-hikayat-seri-rama-the-malay-ramayana-translated-by-harry-aveling/article34105801.ece)
_and [Boloji](https://www.boloji.com/articles/52575/hikayat-seri-rama-a-review).

_**Contents**_

_Introduction_ / 9
 _References_ / 19 _Select List of Major Characters_ / 22

**Part One: Rawana — God’s Subject**

**Chapters**
 1 Rawana Meets the Prophet Adam / 27 2 The State of Indera Puri Nagara/
32 3 The Chronicle of Maharaja Balikasha / 37 4 How Maharaja Rawana Made Peace between
Minister Shaksha of Indera Puri Nagara and Maharaja Balikasha of Biru Hasha Purwa/
63

**Part Two: Rawana — Rama’s Enemy**

**Chapters **
 5 The Dispute over Sita Dewi / 81 6 The Story of Berma Raja Di-Raja/
105 7 Maharaja Rawana Kidnaps Sita Dewi / 106 8 Belia Raja and His Brother Sugriwa/
115 9 Seri Rama Meets Belia Raja / 119 10 Seri Rama Refuses the Kingdom / 129 11
The Monkeys Fight the Raksasas / 143 12 Sita Dewi in Langkapuri / 162 13 Seri Rama
Wages War on Maharaja Rawana / 171 14 Seri Rama Is Kidnapped by Patala Maharayan/
182 15 Laksamana Fights Inderajit / 201 16 The Death of Mula Matani / 227 17 The
End of the Story of Maharaja Rawana / 243 18 Seri Rama Founds a New Kingdom / 250
19 Seri Rama’s Sons / 262 20 Seri Rama’s Rule / 268 21 Weddings / 273 22 Seri Rama
Leads a Penitential Life / 281