Ram mandir consecration: From Thailand to Cambodia, how Ramayana spread across Asia

The consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya was held today (22 January), with the idol of  Ram Lalla finally being unveiled. The temple town was thronged by VIPs, saints and devotees to witness the inauguration of the grand temple.

Decked with lights and flowers, Ayodhya is buzzing with energy and spiritual fervour to mark the grandiose event presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The temple is expected to be open to the general public from Tuesday (23 January).

The opening of the Ram Mandir has put focus on the Hindu deity’s life captured in  Ramayana. The epic is not just popular in India and its neighbour Nepal. It has also spread to many Asian countries and even beyond the continent. Ayodhya also has ties to Korea.

Let’s take a closer look.

Thailand

The Ayutthaya kingdom (1351 to 767) of Thailand is considered to be named after Ayodhya of the Ramayana. The ancient city is linked with ‘Ramakien’, the Thai version of the Hindu epic, as per the news agency ANI.

The Ramayana was brought to Southeast Asia by Buddhist missionaries.

As per a UNESCO article on Ayutthaya, “When the capital of the restored kingdom was moved downstream and a new city built at Bangkok, there was a conscious attempt to recreate the urban template and architectural form of Ayutthaya…to emulate the perfection of the mythical city of Ayodhaya.”

The name of King Ramathibodi, who is believed to be the first monarch of the Ayutthaya kingdom, is reportedly influenced by the epic.

King Rama I, the founder of the reigning Chakri dynasty of Siam (present-day Thailand), also adopted the name Ramathibodi when he ascended the throne in 1782. Since then, all kings of Thailand have borne the name Ram. Vajiralongkorn, the current constitutional monarch, is known as Rama X.

Korea

As per legend, South Korea has historical ties with Ayodhya, considered Lord Ram’s birthplace.

Queen Heo Hwang-ok of Korea is believed to be a princess of Ayodhya, who travelled to the East Asian nation in 48 AD to marry Korean king Kim Suro.

She was born Princess Suriratna in Ayodhya to King Padmasen and Indumati, the rulers of the ancient kingdom of Kausala, a region extending from present-day UP to Odisha, reported Indian Express.

As per the website of the Indian Embassy in South Korea, her story finds mention in Samguk Yusa (Heritage History of the Three Kingdoms), a 13th-century collection of legends, folktales, and historical accounts from the three kingdoms of Korea — Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla.

At 16 years of age, the princess is believed to have taken a long sea voyage to Korea with her brother Monk Jangyu from the ancient land of ‘Ayuta’ to marry Kim Suro, the king of Geumgwan Gaya in south-eastern Korea.

King Suro had founded the ancient Karak kingdom. As per a 2018 report in the BBC, the royal couple had 10 children.

Over six million people, or 10 percent of the South Korean population, trace their lineage to Heo Hwang-ok, belonging to clans such as Gimhae Kim, Heo and Lee, noted Indian Express.

There is a memorial for the Indian princess in Ayodhya on the west bank of the Saryu, which was inaugurated in 2001. India and South Korea had signed an agreement in 2000 to develop Ayodhya and Gimhae as sister cities.

Nepal, Cambodia and other Asian nations

Janakpur in Nepal is considered Goddess Sita’s birthplace. India and Nepal are working together on the Ramayana circuit, which was envisaged by the Indian government to cover major pilgrim sites related to the Ramayana, including Nepal’s Janakpur.

According to Santosh N Desai, former Assistant Professor of Asian History and Religion at St John’s University, New York, the Ramayana spread from India to other parts of Asia in “the early centuries of the Christian era” along three routes, “by land, the northern route took the story from the Punjab and Kashmir into China, Tibet, and East Turkestan; by sea, the southern route carried the story from Gujarat and South India into Java, Sumatra, and Malaya; and again by land, the eastern route delivered the story from Bengal into Burma, Thailand, and Laos. Vietnam and Cambodia obtained their stories partly from Java and partly from India via the eastern route.”

Built in the 12th Century by King Suryavarman II, the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia has murals depicting the Ramayana.

The Hindu epic is still an important part of many Southeast Asian countries, where it remains famous through plays, dance dramas, puppet shows, and so on. However, there are some differences in the tale of Lord Ram in these nations from the Indian version. In the countries where the Hindu epic was popularised by traders from south India, their version is more similar to the Tamil epic Kamban Ramayana and not Valmiki’s Ramayana, as per Indian Express.

In Reamker, the Cambodian version of the Ramayana, a mermaid princess Suvannamaccha falls in love with Lord Hanuman. The Hikayat Seri Rama of Malaysia has a soft spot for Ravana or Maharaja Wana. The Malay version’s roots can be traced to popular oral versions of the epic found in southern India.

In Laos, “Phra Ram is considered a previous incarnation of Gautama Buddha…Hapmanasouane, the Lao Ravana, is considered the previous incarnation of Mara, the demon that tried to impede the Buddha’s ascent to enlightenment,” as per an article published by the University of Washington’s Center for Southeast Asia and its Diasporas.

In Java, the Javanese deity Dhayana and his sons are part of the story, reported Indian Express. Indonesia’s biggest supermarket chain is named after Ramayana. A ballet on the epic is a popular dance form in Indonesia, as well as Laos and Thailand, as per Rediff.com.

The Ramayana has also reached China but the characters are in a Buddhist setting, with variations in time and place. The country’s Dai nationality could have been the first to incorporate Ramayana (Lang ka sip ho and Ta Lamma versions in Dai) in its folk tradition with mostly similar characters, according to The Sunday Guardian report. 

Beyond Asia

The Ramayana has also travelled to Africa and the Caribbean due to girmitiya migration in the 19th century. It was during this time that waves of people were sent from British India as indentured labourers to countries like Fiji, Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, etc.

Most of these labourers, who were from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, brought their culture and religion along with them to these nations. A big part of this culture included Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, written in Awadhi, reported Indian Express. 

Mauritius is known as the land of the Ramayana. When the girmitias arrived in the country in 1834, they carried verses of the Ramcharitmanas and the Hanuman Chalisa with them. “Over the years, a typically Mauritian brand of Ramayana chanting has evolved, giving Ramayana in Mauritius a distinct tradition, over the last 180 years,” according to Mauritius Times. 

With inputs from agencies