Traces of the Ramayana and Mahabharata in Javanese and Malay Literature

Local renderings of the two Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata in Malay and Javanese literature have existed since around the ninth and tenth centuries.

In the following centuries new versions were created alongside the old ones, and these opened up interesting new directions.

They questioned the views of previous versions and laid different accents, in a continuous process of modernization and adaptation, successfully satisfying the curiosity of their audiences for more than a thousand years.