Watch Indonesian Ramayana ballet in pics

New Delhi: Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country with the ethnic group Javanese in majority. The group of islands has been a trade hub and the local rulers have traded with China and India since the 7th century. Local rulers gradually absorbed Hindu and Buddhist traditions. The influence of Hindu and Buddhist tradition and culture is visible in their art forms. The Prambanan temple in Indonesia is a 9th century Hindu temple dedicated to the 3 main Gods of Hindus- creator (Brahma), Preserver (Vishnu), destroyer (Shiva). It is a UNESCO World heritage site with the towering 47 metre high temple building. Ramayana is depicted in bas-relief in several parts.This story is shown by the Ramayana Ballet, regularly performed at full moon at Trimurti open air theatre in west side of the illuminated Prambanan complex.The interesting fact of the extraordinary show is that all the two hundred artistes are Muslims.The Ramayana ballet tells the story of a legendary epic, presented in a series of graceful dance movements accompanied by gamelan music – an orchestra of traditional Javanese instruments.The ballet brings together different aspects of traditional Javanese culture with dance, drama, music and costume all on display. Performers do not speak during the dance. The only storyteller comes from the sinden, a female singer who describes the story through Javanese song.The prambanan temple in YogyakartaThe story of Ramayana tells the heroic tale of Lord Rama and his loyal wife Sita. It is an epic story, a metaphor about the triumph of good over evil.The Ramayana has two endings, and these are played alternately on different occasions. In the first, princess Sita is saved and is happily restored to her husband, Rama. In the second version, - most probably the original one – Rama suspects Sita's chastity when she returns. To prove that she has remained faithful to her husband, Sita asks to be burned alive. If she has lied, she will die, if not, she would remain unharmed. After being burnt, a living Sita emerged from the flames. Thus, it is a happy ending after all.The ballet is performed at the foot of the magnificent temple, with the rising full moon as its backdrop. Described as a ‘must see' this is a beautiful performance that draws in dance, drama and music onto one stage. The sparkling Prambanan temple is all lit up providing a spectacular backdrop. This is an enormous production with a cast of over 200 involving professional dancers to schoolchildren. The graceful dancers perform in their incredibly bright and intricate costumes. Here we present you some more pictures of this spectacular dance ballet