Manuscript

Hikayat Sri Rama: The Battle to Reclaim Dewi Sinta

Hikayat Sri Rama is included in the group of stories adapted from the Ramayana stories into Malay. This saga contains the story of Sri Rama trying to reclaim his wife, Dewi Sinta, who was kidnapped by Rahwana. This manuscript is stored in the National Library and was copied by Muhammad Bakir on December 17, 1896.

At the beginning of the story, Maharaja Destarata moved his royal city to Mandu Puranagara to avoid the embarrassment of not having a child. He tried to have children by praying and asking to Maharesi for instructions, until finally he had five children.

Meanwhile, his other siblings left the palace to go to seek knowledge from Begawan Nila Purba. At that time also, in the country of Drawati Purwa, a competition was held to fight for Dewi Sinta, the son of Maharesi Kali. Sri Rama followed the competition and fought with the other kings' children who also participated in the competition.

The fight was won by Sri Rama. He then married Dewi Sinta. When Sri Rama was about to return to Mandu Puranagara, he was stopped by the king's four sons who wanted to take his wife. The four sons of the king could be defeated, but he also had to deal with Maharaja Puspa Rama who was offended because his name was used by Sri Rama.

Maharaja Destarata, who heard the news that his son was going to fight with the powerful King Puspa Rama, advised Sri Rama to retreat. Sri Rama refused so that great battles and fights were inevitable. Maharaja Puspa Rama finally surrendered because he was hit by Sri Rama's powerful arrow. Puspa Rama realized that Sri Rama was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

At the end of the story, Sri Rama tried to take back Dewi Sinta who was taken away by Maharaja Rahwana to his country, Kalengkapuri. Sri Rama asked for help from Maharaja Sugriwa and Hanoman to fight and pick up Dewi Sinta in the kingdom of Kalengkapuri. War between the two sides is inevitable. The Kalengkapuri army and its ministers were defeated. Maharaja Rahwana met Sri Rama on the battlefield. Sri Rama's powerful arrow managed to cut off one of Rahwana's ten heads. Finally, Rahwana died when he was hit by Sri Rama's powerful sword. His body cut into pieces and fell on top of a large rock.

The saga of Sri Rama is written on lined paper measuring 31 x 19.5 cm. The manuscript is 403 pages long. Original page numbering is written in Arabic numerals 1-400. Each page contains 18 lines.

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