Strong footprints of Indian culture along the island nations across Southeast Asia in the first millennium and so on suddenly came alive in Calcutta drawing rooms when the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Mumbai collaborated with Ramayana Ballet Prambanan and TWC to live stream a scintillating performance of Ramayana Ballet from the 1,100-year-old Prambanan Temple in Jogjakarta. As one witnessed this premiere over Zoom on the evening of September 5, one realized the tremendous potential of Indian soft power along this region.
For someone initiated into this field thanks to the International Ramayana Festivals hosted by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in recent years, which also takes the Saarc nations into account, this presentation by Ramayana Ballet Prambanan was distinguished on three counts. First, it was a full-length presentation spanning two hours, unlike the curtailed episodic excerpts that we are used to. Second, although based on Kakawin Ramayana, the Javanese version of the epic, it was remarkably close to the Valmiki text. It followed the narrative trail recorded in the low-relief sculptures on the Prambanan walls. As Hanumana, expectedly, stole the show, Ravana, who came running down the staircase of the two-tier stage, looked less demonic and Rama, less heroic. Furthermore, Sita’s trial by fire was enacted in full detail, not to mention the amazing pyrotechnics.
Third, it was performed live by a thoroughly professional 79-member ensemble including 59 actors in ornate headgears and costumes. With the magnificent temple dedicated to the holy trinity of the Hindu pantheon illuminated in the backdrop and the performance taking place in a demarcated arena, it was an eclectic blend of age-old tradition and cutting edge technology (optimum use of psychedelic lights, for example). As the moving images taken by multiple cameras streamed in, and the music and the movements took hold of the senses, the sweep of the Aryan epic in the collective unconscious began to manifest in different ways.
Supported by a live band of musicians who played the cymbals and kettle drums with equal felicity, one was overjoyed to discover that xylophones have taken over the soundscape and vocals pushed to the background.
