Demon Ravana and eagle king Sadayu battle in dance performance at Yogyakarta
About this photograph
- Creator
- Margery H. Freeman
- Date created
- Unknown
- Location
- Yogyakarta, Indonesia
- License
- This photograph copyright ©2006. Terms of use
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The demon king Ravana and the eagle king Sadayu battle in a dance performance at Yogyakarta in July 1986. Here Sadayu’s outstretched right wing hits the back of Ravana who, while standing hunched after the blow, swings his sword across his own chest back toward Sadayu. The moutached Ravana dancer is dressed in royal batik along with a red crown and an ornamental red print cloth.
Sadayu is the son of the mythical bird Garuda, who is the mount of the Hindu god Vishnu. Sadayu also is an ally of the kingdom of Ayudhya. He fights the demon Ravana when he sees him abducting Rama’s wife Sita.
The eagle king Sadayu is winning in his battle with the demon Ravana until he boasts that he is afraid of nothing except the gods Vishnu, Siva, and the powerful ring worn by Princess Sita.
This statement gives Ravana the idea to take Sita’s ring and throw it at Sadayu as a weapon. The ring hits Sadayu’s wing and wounds him severely. Sadayu manages to fly into the forest and take the ring back to Rama and Laksman before he dies, telling them how Ravana has kidnapped Sita and will take her to the demon island of Lanka.
