Hindu epics in the spotlight in Bali

By I Wayan Juniarta

JIMBARAN, Bali (JP): Dozens of literary scholars from at least 12 countries are holding an international conference and festival on the ancient Hindu epics the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

The three-day meet, starting from Sept.13, is being hosted by Bali's Udayana State University. At least 50 academics are presenting their latest ideas and findings on the two influential and enduring tales.

A first conference on the epics was held in Malaysia last year.

Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri is scheduled to officially open the conference on Thursday (today Sept. 14).

The speakers include Minati Kar, a professor from India, who will present a paper entitled Sri Khrisna and Gita -- the Celestial Song. Indonesian professor Partini Sardjono Pradotokusumo will speak on The Old Javanese Ramayana Kakawin: A World of Feminism.

In a public lecture, Malaysian professor Rajantheren will deliver a paper on The Rama Story in Tamil Tradition, while Dr. Chirapat Prapandviadya of Thailand will speak on Common Elements for Ethical Teaching in The Mahabharata and Buddhist Literature.

There will be three art performances: a Bharatanatyam dance from India, a leather puppet Wayang Kulit show and Cak Ramayana from Bali, which will feature other dramatic and aesthetic versions of the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Most of the conference activities will take place in the newly finished Udayana University auditorium on the top of Jimbaran hill, some 27 kilometers south of Denpasar.

Udayana University has recently shifted its campus to Jimbaran hill. The old campus was in Denpasar, the provincial capital of Bali.

Conference organizing committee chairman I Gusti Ngurah Bagus, the professor of the University of Udayana, said the conference was a good chance for scholars to share their expertise on the subject.

"In this historic moment at the end of the 20th century, the world is facing a great challenge of increasing its conscience, dignity and universal humanistic values. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata can be both the source of those values, and the tools to spread those messages," he said.

He said that the epics, which originated in India, had spread widely and influenced civilizations across Asia. New plots, characters and interpretations have been added by local authors and the stories have been enriched in the process.

"The additions are local authors' efforts to adapt the epics to their local situation and context. The epics have also been transformed into local literary art forms, such as geguritan, songs, in Bali," a Balinese literary scholar Ketut Sumarta said.

In the course of history, Sumarta explained, the adaptation process had strengthened the bond between the epics with the local people, and they did not perceive the epics as "imported" literary products.

"Most Balinese and Javanese people treat and regard the epics as a part of their own culture," he said.

In Bali, the Ramayana and Mahabharata have been prime sources of inspiration for poets and authors, choreographers and dancers, and sculptors, painters and puppeteers.

"It is like owning an eternal pond (of inspiration). No matter how much water you take, the water level never decreases," choreographer Swasthi Widjaja said.