Many traditional art performers from various parts of Indonesia gave their best performance in Nusa Dua Fiesta 2008. One of the 5-star performances in Nusa Dua Fiesta 2008 was Ramayana Performance Hanoman Obong performed by Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur, Prambanan and Ratu Boko from Central Java. The theme of this Ramayana performance is Hanoman Obong (the burning of Hanuman), a popular theme for shadow puppet and Sendratari (opera) performance in Java.

Since Ramayana is a long epic, the story of Hanoman Obong usually begins with the exile of Rama, Sita (His wife) and Lakhsmana (His brother). The King of Alengka, Rahvana fell in love with Sita and kidnapped and brought her to Alengka with the help of a demon, named Marica. In his search for Sita Rama enlisted the help of the vanaras (monkeys). A group of vanaras sent on a search mission reached the southern seashore. Upon encountering the vast ocean, every vanara began to plead his inability to jump across the water. Hanuman too was saddened at the possible failure of his mission, until the other vanaras began to extoll his virtues. Hanuman then recollected his own prowess, enlarged his body and jumped across the ocean. Hanuman then entered Lanka and found Sita. Hanuman’s conveying the message of Rama to Sita.

After meeting Sita, Hanuman began to gradually destroy the palaces and properties of Lanka. To subdue him, Ravana’s son Indrajit used the Brahmāstra. Even though Brahma had blessed Hanuman with immunity against the astra, Hanuman, out of respect to Brahma, let himself be bound by the weapon. Brought before the court of Ravana, Hanuman used the opportunity to assess the strength of Ravana’s army.

As a punishment to Hanuman, Ravana ordered his tail to be lit. As the attendants attempted to wrap cloth around his tail, Hanuman began to lengthen his tail. After frustrating Ravana’s attendants for a while, Hanuman allowed his tail to be lit, but escaped from his captors while his tail was on fire. He then burnt down much of Lanka before heading back to Rama.

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