Kecak ‘The death of Kumbhakarna’ play in Ubud

In a temple next to the Ubud palace, a performance depicting a story from the Hindu epic Ramayana is offered in an open air courtyard. About 500 tourists were in attendance when I went.

It was a 4 act play followed by a fire dance.

The story was that, Ravana, the demon king from Lanka abducts Sita, the queen of Ayodhya. Rama, her husband, and his helpers including the monkey brigade, create a bridge to Lanka and march to kill Ravana.

Ravana goes to Sita where she is kept captive and shows her a fake severed head of Rama and tries to bewitch her.

Sita grieves for her husband, feels hopeless, and drawing a dagger to stab herself. Another character, Tijata, stops her reminding her not to believe in Ravana's sorcery.

The monkey king, Hanuman, arrives to tell Sita about the arrival of Rama and his army to kill Ravana and free her.

As the battle begins, Ravana's son, Meganada arrives and uses his powerful weapon, Nagapasa to ensnare Rama, Laksamana and their entire amy in the grip of 170 warriors. When Rama quietly invokes the gods for help, the mighty bird Garuda, arrives to help Rama. After almost being defeated, Rama resumes the fight and with the assistance of Laksamana, Rama destroys Meganada.

The death of Meganada forces Ravana to send his brother, the giant Kumbakarna, to the battle. Kumbakarna furiously beats and kills thousands of the monkeys and smashes their General Sugriwa to the ground. With the help of Hanuman, Sugriwa awakes from his unconsciousness and bites Kumbakarna'a nose and face. Hurt and humiliated, Kumbakarna furiously attacks Sugriwa and his army, while Rama and Laksamana shoot the giant with their powerful weapons and cut his arms and legs. At the end, Kumbakama falls on the ground dead. Rama chants a mantra to release the soul of the heroic giant Kumbakarna to heaven.

The next performance was the Sanglyang, a God inspired trance dance, the function of which is to protect society against evil forces.

The horserider is lulled into a trance by the repetitive sounds of the gamelan suara (Voice music) after which, he is able to walk over hot embers via the dynamic sounds and his trance state.

It was amazing to see the performer in his trance state walking on embers. After the performance, he sat on the side and many attendees gifted him with some Indonesian money.

The performance was beautifully done, it had a cast of over 200 including some small children. The costumes were colorful. There was some comic relief and audience participation sought for the chanting.