The Prambanan Ramayana - Episode 1

Hey guys, today I am going to start telling you about the ancient epic Ramayana carved in the Prambanan temple of Indonesia. The Prambanan temple has more than a hundred different scenes of the Ramayana story and the reason for me doing this is to document the Ramayana This is the very first carving of the Prambanan Ramayana. Can you tell me where Rama is? Interestingly, Rama or any of his relatives are not even carved here and this is not even planet earth. Instead, the story of Ramayana starts in the heaven showing Lord Vishnu sitting on a giant snake. Unfortunately, his face has been destroyed but we may be able to recreate that using photoshop. How do we know it is Lord Vishnu? Because he is holding a chakra and a conch and on the left side you can see his mount Garuda, the eagle like vehicle of Vishnu waiting for his command and on the right you can see five figures sitting in front of him and asking for his help. What do they want? They want Lord Vishnu to come from the heaven to planet earth and save them from an evil demon called Ravana. Ravana has been terrorizing kings, saints and commoners and these five have come to persuade Vishnu to come to earth and destroy the demon. Will Vishnu accept this? Vishnu decides to help them and gets born as a human being on earth and that baby is Rama. Now this is not how Indian Ramayana starts. This is not even how Indonesian Ramayana starts. Indian Ramayana was written by Valmiki and the Indonesian version is called the Kakavin Ramayana. But what we see here is the Prambanan Ramayana. This is different from all other Ramayanas. I call this Prambanan Ramayana, which deviates from everything, just like this opening scene here. But why did he carve this as the first scene of Ramayana? Both Indian Ramayana and Indonesian Ramayana start the text by talking about King Dasaratha, who was Rama's father. So why didn't the sculptor carve the king and decide to carve Lord Vishnu instead? Because back then, Hindus were very devout. Even today, many Hindus start everything by worshiping God. So the sculptors did not want to start the story by carving a human. So they have started this endeavor by carving Lord Vishnu as a form of prayer. Now, it is interesting to see how Indonesian sculptors envisioned the heaven or where Lord Vishnu lived. What they are showing us is the sea of milk. Vishnu is sitting on this giant snake, which appears to be angry, and it is showing its fangs, and its hood is wide open. You can see how there are plenty of fishes in the ocean, and even they don't seem to be happy. You can see some crabs here, and notice how they are all raising their pincers, because they are also getting angry. And look at this crab, this part is destroyed, but it appears as though it is trying to bite this guy's leg. Why are all these animals unhappy? Because they don't want their beloved master to leave this heavenly place and go to earth and suffer. They all love Lord Vishnu. Now, there is one more fascinating detail here. Look at this conch. Notice that it has wings, it is a flying conch, but we will talk about this later. And who are these 5 men? Why 5? The implication is that these are 5 elements called Panchabhuta, earth, fire, water, air and space, and they are unable to take Ravana and his atrocities as he is destroying the planet. So, it is time for God to come and save the planet. Now, immediately to the right, you can see what is happening on earth. You can see this king and his queen having a good time in their palace. Who are they? They are the potential mom and dad of Rama. They are going to make Rama. But here, it is not very imaginative, they are just showing the king and the queen eating something, right? You can see that the king is holding something in his palm and has given some of it to the queen. The queen is also holding it in her hand. And if you see here, you can see a pot full of something and the sculptor is even showing us what it is. It is a semi-solid rice desert called Kheer. If you haven't studied Ramayana, this carving will make no sense for you. You will say Rama's mom and dad are sitting in the palace and eating. No, according to Ramayana, the queen did not conceive Rama naturally, because Rama is not human. So, the king gives a magic rice pudding to the queen and only after she eats it, she becomes pregnant. This is an important scene showing Rama's conception on earth. And now on top, you can see two crows. Why are they carved here? Did the sculptor just carve a couple of crows to fill up the empty space on top? No. Without this greedy crow, there is no Ramayana. This crow is distracted, but the other crow is ready to swoop in and eat the rice pudding. Crows do this all the time, right? But you know what happened? As the queen was eating the pudding, this crow snatched some of it and flew away. And while it was flying, some of the pudding dropped into the mouth of a woman. So, what happens to her after she accidentally swallows it? She gives birth to Hanuman, the famous monkey god who plays a key role in Ramayana. Again, this backstory is also not mentioned in Ramayana texts, but Indonesians believe this and even some Indians believe this. It is mentioned in a site called Tiny Ramayana. So, you can see how every little detail is carved meticulously. Everything has a meaning. The more you see, the more you understand. In this carving, we can see the king and his three wives talking to another man. Who is he? This is a saint who wants to take Rama and his brother Lakshmana to the forest because he is being harassed by a demon. He thinks only Rama and Lakshmana can kill the demon and he is asking the dad's permission to take these two boys to the forest. While these two wives seem to be more friendly, you can see that this woman is not happy. She seems unhappy and seems to be twitching her fingers, a sign of unrest. Why? Because she has her own son and she is starting to see that her son is being sidelined. Only Rama and Lakshmana are given importance. The saint is not asking for her son to come and slay the demon. This is a very important detail, because we can see that a power struggle is going to emerge in the kingdom. The king and these two wives are unaware of this, but somebody sitting right next to the king is plotting to take over the kingdom. Here you can see Rama and his brother Lakshmana have gone to the forest with the saint to slay the demon. Rama is holding the bow, but there is no arrow carved, which means he has released the arrow. And notice this demon crying in pain because the arrow has hit her chest. She is actually a demoness or a female demon called Tadaka. And you can see her pointing to her enemy Rama. But ancient builders have used some laws of physics here. Can you tell me what it is? They are showing us the physics behind projectile motion. Rama is holding the bow and is shown releasing the arrow, but he did not release it horizontally, he is releasing it into the sky at a 45 degree angle. Why? Because the demon is located at a longer distance. If your target is close by, you shoot directly, but if your target is hiding at a distance, you have to use the laws of projectile motion. Because gravity is going to make the object follow a parabolic path, right? And look at the angle the arrow made, almost a 45 degree angle. Because if Rama shot the arrow straight, the arrow would not have reached the target. So he used projectile motion. When we see this in the movie Predator, we are shocked that the alien understood projectile motion. But here, ancient builders definitely understood this law of physics, right? Because look at this guy, this is the brother of Rama, he is not using projectile motion, he is holding his arrow straight and he has hit this demon in his thigh. And look at the angle of the arrow, it is almost straight or horizontal. Why? Because these two are much closer to each other, he does not have to use projectile motion and calculate the angle, because the target is very close to him. A very fascinating detail that ancient builders did understand science and physics in a very practical way. Now again, this is not in the original Ramayana, but this demon is only hit in the thigh, so he is not going to die. And his name is Maricha. Remember Maricha, because he comes back and plays a crucial role later. Sometimes it is better to finish off your enemies, rather than letting them go. So what happens to Maricha? Did he learn his lesson? No, he comes back with his brother to harass the saint and his disciples. I think there is definitely some body shaming going on here. Demons are always overweight, unkempt and ugly, while the good guys are always fit, well groomed and good looking. This not only applies to these two demons on the far right, and these three figures fighting them, the central figure being Rama, see how good looking, fit and well groomed he is, but this also applies to the saint and his disciples on the far left, they are also thin and well groomed. What are these three doing here? They are doing a ritual called Yagya. In front of them, you can see a raised platform, and inside this raised platform, you can see firewood, and on top, there is a fire burning. These Hindu rituals are performed even today. Remember, these carvings are about 1200 years old, but the same tradition is still followed even today. When someone buys a house, or if there is a wedding ceremony, and even on auspicious days, you will still see the same rituals being performed. If the saint raised his right hand, he could ring that bell hanging from the ceiling. Such a brilliant little detail showing that such bell ringing existed during these rituals. Okay, so let's go back to the question I asked you earlier. What happens to Maricha? This carving shows Rama killing Maricha's brother. You can see that Rama's arrow has struck him in his belly and he is on the floor, and Maricha is shown alive, again on the top here. He is shown holding a dagger and a shield, and Rama's brother is shown with a sword. Now, Rama has already released the arrow and has killed Maricha's brother. But what is he going to do now? Look at Rama's assistant, he is pulling out an arrow and is giving the arrow to Rama. Will Rama at least kill Maricha this time? No, he makes a grave mistake here. He does not want to kill Maricha. Instead, this arrow is a special asra or weapon. It is mentioned as Vyabhya in Indonesian texts. It created strong winds and blew Maricha to a distant place. Now Vyabhya is just a distortion of Vyabhya Astra, named after the wind god Vayu. This is a very important carving, not because Rama has successfully saved the saint and his rituals. Actually, Rama made a grave mistake by letting Maricha go. Remember, Rama gave Maricha a chance the last time. Rama only hit him in his in the last carving. This is not because Rama missed his body. Rama was a master archer who never missed a target. So, he intentionally did not kill Maricha the last time, hoping he would learn his lesson and not harm people again. But Maricha has again showed up to harass the saint and his hermitage. So, Rama must have understood that Maricha is incorrigible. He is not going to repent and correct himself. Rama should have finished him off, just like he slayed his mother and brother. But he lets him go. But Rama will pay a huge price for this mistake, and Maricha will appear one more time to ruin Rama's life. What is happening in this carving? Who is Rama killing with this arrow? Why is it going into the sky? This is not a battle scene, it is in fact a romantic scene. You can see this beautiful woman enamored by the bravery of Rama. This is Sita, or Sinta according to Indonesians. Somehow, Sinta sounds better, like ringing a bell, right? She is a princess and you can see her father, the king here, in a strange posture. Now what is he doing? Now, this king wants to get his daughter married to a great man, but Sita herself is no ordinary human. When she was a child, she was able to lift this bow, which nobody was able to lift. The bow is considered the bow of Lord Shiva, and no one was able to move it, but Sita was able to move it easily. So, whoever wants to marry Sita, must be able to lift this bow and shoot an arrow from this bow. Kings and princes from many kingdoms had come to take part in this competition, and everyone failed to lift this bow. And you can see Rama successfully shooting an arrow from the bow and Sita absolutely loves it. Her father is also ecstatic after seeing this, and you can see the onlookers pointing at Rama's feet in disbelief. This act confirms that Rama is going to marry Sinta in the next scene. But there is a very important detail here. Rama's brother is shown lifting the bow. This is a strange twist, this is not mentioned in Indian Ramayana, but you can see how his brother is lifting the bow up. Why? According to Indonesians, Rama was very reluctant to take part in this competition. He had come to this event straight from the hermitage or ashram of the saint. He did not get the approval of his parents and had not even informed them. Legend has it that since Rama was sitting quietly, the courtiers laughed at him, thinking he was a coward. Rama never cared about others, he had an internal moral compass, so he just sat there motionless. However, his brother could not bear the ridicule, and he made the first move here. He showed lifting up the bow which forced Rama to hold it and shoot the arrow. This raises an important question. How could his brother lift the bow of Lord Shiva? If so, why was he not chosen as the groom? Now, his brother is only doing this because he could not tolerate the courtiers ridiculing Rama. But this innocent act would raise suspicion in the mind of Sita later. A lot has happened behind the scenes. Here, Rama and Sita are married and are walking towards Rama's hometown. You can see that Rama and Sita are really close, they really like each other like a bee and a lotus. Now, after Rama broke the bow, Rama's father was immediately informed, and he rushed to see the wedding. You can see Rama's father here, and you can see three male figures. These are the three brothers of Rama. Actually, Rama and Sita were not the only ones who got married that day. All three brothers of Rama were also married to the sisters and cousins of Sita. They are all walking home after the wedding. But there is an odd detail here. This guy is wielding a sword, and this guy, what is he holding in his hand? That's right, he is pulling out an arrow. They are getting ready for a fight. Why? These two lovers are the only ones who are not paying attention to the oncoming danger. Who is the danger? This figure, the tallest of all of them. Notice how he is shown taller than Rama and everyone else, even though he is not wearing a crown. He is not clean shaven like the warrior Rama. He is shown with a beard and a mustache, and shown with no ornaments. He is shown only wearing Rudraksha beads and has no ornaments at all. A stark contrast to the warriors. Who is he? His name is Rama, Parashurama. Now who is Parashurama? He is also an avatar of Lord Vishnu, but he belongs to the priestly or Brahmin caste. He confronts warrior Rama and challenges him to a duel. His clan is full of strange saint like warriors. Look at this guy's face, while the other guys look serious looking for a fight, this guy with a large mustache in the last, seems quite happy to see Rama. But there are two strange figures. One is this little person stuck between these two clans. Who is this little guy? More importantly, what is he wearing in his neck? This is not an ornament. Is he wearing an ID tag? Is it a large ID tag? No, I think this is a neck pouch. This is definitely a neck pouch. Whoever patented the neck pouch in the last few decades, needs to know that such a thing existed 1200 years ago. You can clearly see a string going around his neck, and there is a large square pouch. But the question is, what is inside the pouch? Look at his right hand, as soon as he sees the enemy clan, the little guy puts his hand immediately on the pouch. That means, something important must have been inside, right? Passport? Documents? Money? What was inside? But there is an even stranger guy in this carving. He is on the ground here, trampled by these men. Who is he? It appears from his hand gesture, as though he is begging for help. Can you tell me who this is? So, what was the challenge? Parashurama insults Rama with sarcastic remarks, taunting him to a fight. He loudly asks if this little boy really killed several demons. He then asks Rama if he had really broken the bow of Shiva, and if that's true, can he use the bow of Vishnu? Parashurama gives his own bow to Rama and challenges him to use the bow. Rama however, was able to lift and draw this bow back with ease. Parashurama was humiliated by how casually Rama handled the bow. Then Rama asks him where the arrow should hit. He says, should I aim for Parashurama's heart? Parashurama then realized that he could be dead the next minute, and then wanting to live, tells Rama to send the arrow to heaven. According to Indonesians, Parashurama actually becomes a part of Rama after this incident. You can see that his body is not there, and he is getting merged with Rama. Parashurama was always an avatar of Vishnu, but he hadn't been humble enough to realize that he was a God. He had been arrogant until this moment. The sculptor has masterfully shown this. Can you find the difference between this Parashurama and this Parashurama? In the first carving, there is no halo, you don't see the divine circle around his head. In the second carving, as he becomes humble, see how a halo has emerged around his head. A valuable lesson for all of us to stay humble. And look at this guy, I cannot get enough of this guy, he can have his own TV show. He used to root for Parashurama until he saw Rama, but now he is so happy to see Rama shooting the arrow into the heaven, and is even holding the quiver for Rama. This whole scene is quite divine where everyone has reached a blissful, happy state, except for this monkey. The arrow has narrowly missed the monkey's head, and she is quite angry about this. She is growling at Rama, not because she could have died, but because she does not want to make her baby an orphan. Look at her back, yes there is a baby monkey perched on her back, and had the arrow hit the mother, both of them would have died. But look below, there is one more animal that we really need to talk about. No, not this snake coming out of a bush, this animal. It looks like a ball, but look carefully, you can see the scales on it, it is a pangolin. Yes, Indonesia and India have these scaly ant eaters, and they look quite fancy as they walk, but they get even more fancy if you threaten them. They roll up into a ball. Here you can see its head, its leg and a long tail that goes around. And right next to the pangolin, you can see these 3 umbrella shaped structures. What are they? Mushrooms, right? Why are they carved here? What is their significance? Here, they have all reached home, a rich palatial atmosphere is shown. We can see the newly wed couple Rama and Sita sitting together, and you can see that they really love each other. Ancient texts compare Sita and Rama to a lotus and a bee, always attracted to each other. To the left of them, you can see two youngsters observing them, you can see the curiosity in their faces. Now, look at the top, you will see two birds on the left kissing each other, and on the right side, you will see two birds observing them. These two birds symbolize these two figures, and these two birds symbolize these two kids. Birds and humans exhibiting the same behavior, romancing and observing side by side. Now, you can see a variety of food stacked next to the couple, this is still the tradition amongst Hindus. The first night where the couple get married, the whole room is stacked with fruits and desserts. On the bottom left, you can see sweets. On the top, you can see these apple like fruits, but apples did not reach Indonesia until the last few centuries. These are wood apples, also called as Kavista in Indonesia. Next to it, you can see watermelons, and on the right corner, you can see mangoes. You can see how these fruits are all kept in coir bags. Today, we can still see such coir bags being used in Indonesia, pretty much with the same design. Underneath these fruits, you can see plenty of coconuts and bananas as well. And underneath all this, you can see a mystery box. I wonder what is inside that box? This is a million dollar question. What is that box hiding? Some kind of ancient text, or an ancient device or something? No, I guarantee you that there are some nuts, like chestnuts or walnuts or at least peanuts in the box. Why am I saying this? Because, see right next to it, a squirrel is trying to open that box. This is very unnatural. Squirrels are crazy about fruits. Looking at all these fruits, it should act like a kid in a candy store. Now, normally a squirrel or a chipmunk would have started biting every fruit here, but the squirrel has not touched a single fruit. Why? Because if there is one thing squirrels like more than fruits, it is nuts. The squirrel is able to smell the delicious nuts inside the box, but is not able to open it and is desperately circling the box. Now, didn't the royal family have pet cats or dogs to catch these squirrels or chipmunks? What kind of pets did they have during ancient times? The squirrel itself is a pet squirrel. Look at its neck, it has a bell tied to its neck. So they know that the squirrel would venture into the couple's room and eat the nuts, which is why they put these nuts securely inside the box. These details are not written in Indonesian Ramayana, in Indian Ramayana or in any Ramayana around the world. This is coming out of the mind of ancient sculptors. The person who carved this perhaps had a pet squirrel in his home and has carved these details from his personal experience. We have gotten quite distracted because of the squirrel, the most important detail in this carving is actually on top. Here you can see Rama's father who is suddenly shown in a slouchy position. His face immediately starts to show signs of aging and he is looking at the scepter, the royal staff, which is the sign of authority over the entire kingdom. Suddenly all his four sons have gotten married and he feels like an old man wanting to retire and give the kingdom to the oldest and the noblest son Rama. Interestingly, he is also being observed by some youngsters, their fingers show that they are fidgety and anxious. What's going to happen next? Okay, so you have seen the first episode of Prambanand Ramayana, I will post the second episode soon. I am Praveen Mohan, thanks a lot for watching, don't forget to subscribe, I will talk to you soon. Bye.