RAMAYANA

Prabu Dasarata dair Ayodhya

Wiracarita Ramayana menceritakan kisah Sang Rama yang memerintah di Kerajaan Kosala, di sebelah utara Sungai Gangga, ibukotanya Ayodhya. Sebelumnya diawali dengan kisah Prabu Dasarata yang memiliki tiga permaisuri, yaitu: Kosalya, Kekayi, dan Sumitra. Dari Dewi Kosalya, lahirlah Sang Rama. Dari Dewi Kekayi, lahirlah Sang Bharata. Dari Dewi Sumitra, lahirlah putera kembar, bernama Lakshmana dan Satrugna. Keempat pangeran tersebut sangat gagah dan mahir bersenjata.

Pada suatu hari, Rsi Wiswamitra meminta bantuan Sang Rama untuk melindungi pertapaan di tengah hutan dari gangguan para rakshasa. Setelah berunding dengan Prabu Dasarata, Rsi Wiswamitra dan Sang Rama berangkat ke tengah hutan diiringi Sang Lakshmana. Selama perjalanannya, Sang Rama dan Lakshmana diberi ilmu kerohanian dari Rsi Wiswamitra. Mereka juga tak henti-hentinya membunuh para rakshasa yang mengganggu upacara para Rsi. Ketika mereka melewati Mithila, Sang Rama mengikuti sayembara yang diadakan Prabu Janaka. Ia berhasil memenangkan sayembara dan berhak meminang Dewi Sita, puteri Prabu Janaka. Dengan membawa Dewi Sita, Rama dan Lakshmana kembali pulang ke Ayodhya.

Prabu Dasarata yang sudah tua, ingin menyerahkan tahta kepada Rama. Atas permohonan Dewi Kekayi, Sang Prabu dengan berat hati menyerahkan tahta kepada Bharata sedangkan Rama harus meninggalkan kerajaan selama 14 tahun. Bharata menginginkan Rama sebagai penerus tahta, namun Rama menolak dan menginginkan hidup di hutan bersama istrinya dan Lakshmana. Akhirnya Bharata memerintah Kerajaan Kosala atas nama Sang Rama.

Rama hidup di hutan

Dalam masa pengasingannya di hutan, Rama dan Lakshmana bertemu dengan berbagai rakshasa, termasuk Surpanaka. Karena Surpanaka bernafsu dengan Rama dan Lakshmana, hidungnya terluka oleh pedang Lakshmana. Surpanaka mengadu kepada Rawana bahwa ia dianiyaya. Rawana menjadi marah dan berniat membalas dendam. Ia menuju ke tempat Rama dan Lakshmana kemudian dengan tipu muslihat, ia menculik Sita, istri Sang Rama. Dalam usaha penculikannya, Jatayu berusaha menolong namun tidak berhasil sehingga ia gugur.

Rama yang mengetahui istrinya diculik mencari Rawana ke Kerajaan Alengka atas petunjuk Jatayu. Dalam perjalanan, ia bertemu dengan Sugriwa, Sang Raja Kiskindha. Atas bantuan Sang Rama, Sugriwa berhasil merebut kerajaan dari kekuasaan kakaknya, Subali. Untuk membalas jasa, Sugriwa bersekutu dengan Sang Rama untuk menggempur Alengka. Dengan dibantu Hanuman dan ribuan wanara, mereka menyeberangi lautan dan menggempur Alengka.

Rama menggempur Rawana

Rawana yang tahu kerajaannya diserbu, mengutus para sekutunya termasuk puteranya – Indrajit – untuk menggempur Rama. Nasihat Wibisana (adiknya) diabaikan dan ia malah diusir. Akhirnya Wibisana memihak Rama. Indrajit melepas senjata nagapasa dan memperoleh kemenangan, namun tidak lama. Ia gugur di tangan Lakshmana. Setelah sekutu dan para patihnya gugur satu persatu, Rawana tampil ke muka dan pertarungan berlangsung sengit. Dengan senjata panah Brahmāstra yang sakti, Rawana gugur sebagai ksatria.

Setelah Rawana gugur, tahta Kerajaan Alengka diserahkan kepada Wibisana. Sita kembali ke pangkuan Rama setelah kesuciannya diuji. Rama, Sita, dan Lakshmana pulang ke AyodhyaHanuman menyerahkan dirinya bulat-bulat untuk mengabdi kepada Rama. Ketika sampai di Ayodhya, Bharata menyambut mereka dengan takzim dan menyerahkan tahta kepada Rama.

Legend story

The Legend of the White Snake

The brief story of the Legend of the White Snake.

With 12 Yangliuqing woodcut paintings

"Good old man, please give us a ride!" Lady White shouted to the boatman from the bank. The young man asked the boatman to stop and let them go aboard. They thanked the young man and Xiaoqing asked him his name. He replied,"Xu is my surname. I am told that I once met an immortal near the Broke Bridge when I was a child so my father gave me the name Xian." (Xian means immortal in Chinese.)And so Lady White's wish was fulfilled. The handsome young man was indeed the little boy who had always stayed in her heart.
Because of the downpour, Xu Xian lent Lady White his umbrella to carry home. Late, whenever she looked at it, she felt a longing for Xu Xian. Xu Xian also felt hemself falling in love with Lady White. On the day he went to get back his umbrella, he asked Xianqing to act as go-between to arrage a match between Lady White and himself. Xianqing did her job well and the pair married.

After their marriage, the couple and Xiaoqing moved to Zhenjiang and set up a herbal medicine store. Lady White wrote out the prescription while Xu Xian and Xiaoqing gathered and dispensed the herbal medicine. Patients unable to pay ere given free treatment and medicine. The store quickly became well known and popular.

At the time of the Dragon Boat Festival, it was the custom for every household to fasten plants such as calamus and Chinese mugwort on the ground to drive away spirits. These were of course dangerous to Lady White and Xiaoqing, since there were spirits after all. Lady White was by now pregnant so she had even more reason for staying at home. Xu Xian decided to spend the day at home with his wife. He prepared a pot of old wine with realgar, for realgar not only drove away evil spirits but was also considered benificial to pregnant women. Under her husband's coaxing, Lady White could not find a reason to refuse the drink and she took a sip, thinking that her superior magic skills would make her immune to the power of relgar.

But she immediately was stricken ill and barely managed to get to bed. Xu Xian rushed to the bed and drew aside its curtain. Lady White was no loger there. In her place was a large white snake coiled on the bed. So great was Xu Xian's shock that he fell to the floor and died.

When the power of realgar's power faded, Lady White resumed her human form. She was heartbroken to find Xu Xian lying dead beside the bed. But she knew that the glossy ganoderma, a clestial herb on the Kunlun Mountain, could restore him to life. She flew to the Kunlun Mountain to steal the celestial herb but encountered the white crane and heavenly guards responsible for looking after the glossy ganoderma. They fought to prevent her from taking the herb and Lady White was losing the battle, when suddenly a voice commanded them to stop. It was the voice of the Immortal of the Southern End. Lady White begged him in tears to help her. Impressed by her sincerity and perseverance, he granted her the glossy ganoderma.

Lady White ground the herb and fed it to Xu Xian who soon came back to life. But he was still frightened at the memory of the snake that had appeared in his wife's place. Lady White made up a story to set his mind at rest. The snake he saw, she told him, was in fact a dragon descending from heaven. The sight was a good omen. She regretted that she was unconcious at that time, otherwise, she would have burnt some incense to the dragon. Xiaoqing added she also had seen something white resembling either a snake or a dragon and that it flew from the bed to the window and disappeared. Xu Xian's suspicions were allayed by this colorful story.