Kakawin Ramayana

Kakawin Rāmâyaṇa is a kakawin, the Javanese form of kāvya, a poem modeled on traditional Sanskritam meters.It is believed to have been written in Central Java (modern Indonesia) in approximately the late ninth or early tenth century, during the era of Mataram Kingdom.

[1]: 128  According to its latest English translator, Stuart Robson: "the Old Javanese Rāmāyaṇa was written between 856 and about 930, with the likelihood that the last section was added in the period 900-930.

One of the many major changes is the inclusion of the all-powerful Javanese indigenous deity dhayana Guardian God of Java Semar (in Balinese literature known as Twalen) and his misshapen sons, Gareng, Petruk, and Bagong who make up the numerically significant four Punokawan or "clown servants".

[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Literary scholars hold that the textual source of the Old Javanese kakawin Rāmâyaṇa might have been the Sanskrit poem Rāvaṇavadha or Bhaṭṭi-kāvya by the Indian poet Bhaṭṭi, between the 6th and 7th century AD.

One day an ascetic named Wiswamitra requested that Dasaratha help him to repel a demon attack on his hermitage.

In the hermitage, Rama and Laksmana destroyed the demons and proceeded to the Mithila country where a swayambara was being held.

Rama, Sinta and Laksmana were made to leave the palace, and, grieving intensely, king Dasaratha died.

During their stay, a female demon called Surpanaka saw Laksamana and fell in love with him and disguised herself as a beautiful woman.