# Hikayat Maharaja Rawana

- Link: https://writersworkshopindia.com/2026/08/20/hikayat-maharaja-rawana/
- Published: 2026-08-20T18:51:37+00:00
- Author: shuktara

5/5 - (1 vote)

**Translator:** Harry Aveling[⌊A sample cover of the book: black 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/2026/08/Hikayat-Maharaja-Ravana-1.jpg)
**
Pages:** 102 **Year of Publication:** 2026 **Price:** ₹500 / $16 (USD) **ISBN: **
978-81-995932-0-6 (9788199593206)

_**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 at Monash University, and Asian
Studies at 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. Most recently, **Writers Workshop** has
published his translations of the _**[Hikayat Seri Rama: The Malay Ramayana](https://writersworkshopindia.com/books/hikayat-seri-rama-the-malay-ramayana/)**_(
2020), _**[Traces](https://writersworkshopindia.com/books/traces/) **_by André Nayer(
2022), and [**_Hikayat Pandawa Lima: A Malay Mahabharata_**](https://writersworkshopindia.com/books/hikayat-pandawa-lima/)(
2024).

_**About the Book**_
 This is the third book in Professor Aveling’s series of translations
of the Malay renditions of the _Ramayana_ and _Mahabharata_. In his introduction
to the book, he writes:

“It has been estimated that there are over 300 versions of the _Ramayana_…

This book adds a new _Ramayana _epic from the Malay world. It may have come to Brunei
from the empires of Srivijaya (South Sumatra, 7th-13th centuries) and Majapahit (
east Java, 13th-15th centuries), both of which carried Indian culture throughout
the archipelago. The Malay version may also have derived from Melaka (1400-1511),
which had a rich literary tradition. It is clear that the Rama story was also well
known among the kingdoms in the Sulu Sea (Juan Francisco 1969) to the northeast 
of Brunei…

**The State and Warfare**
 The text presented here starts in mid-sentence, and lacks
both the beginning and ending of that whole Rama narrative. The story of Siti (Sita)
Dewi’s kidnapping by Maharaja Rawana is not told. She first appears in the context
of Hanuman’s bringing her a message from Sahirama (Rama).There are no stories of
her birth, their marriage, her early time with Rama, her testing by fire, or her
final return into the earth again.

The text derives from a barely Islamic environment. It contains neither poetry nor
philosophy. Sahirama is descended from Bisnu (Vishnu) but is not treated as a god.
Instead he is respected as a superior being, who implicitly unites two religious
traditions. On his mother’s side, he is the grandson of Bisnu. On his father’s side,
he is also the grandson of the Muslim Prophet, Adam, who is greatly revered in the
_Hikayat_.”

 

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