Kakawin Ramayana is an Old Javanese poem rendering of the Sanskrit Ramayana in kakawin meter. Kakawin Rāmâyaṇa is a kakawin, the Javanese form of kāvya, a poem modeled on traditional Sanskrit 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. 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." Among the Javanese, Kakawin Ramayana has always been considered the pinnacle of artistic expression. The large number of preserved manuscripts attest to its popularity and adaptation. It is the lengthiest of all the Old Javanese kakawins of the Hindu-Buddhist period of Java. Divergence The Javanese Ramayana differs markedly from the original Hindu prototype. The first half of this Ramayana Jawa is similar to the original Sanskrit version, while the latter half is divergent to the point of being unrecognizable by Indian scholars of the original Ramayana. 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". This latter, altered half of the original tale is the most popular, and it is performed in all wayang performances. Sources Literary scholars hold that the textual source of the Old Javanese kakawin might have been the Sanskrit poem or by the Indian poet , between the 6th and 7th century AD. The first half of the is more or less an exact rendering of . Synopsis Dasarata from Ayodya had four sons: Rama, Bharata, Laksmana and Shatrughna. One day an ascetic named Wiswamitra requested that Dasaratha help him to repel a demon attack on his hermitage. Then Rama and Laksmana departed. In the hermitage, Rama and Laksmana destroyed the demons and proceeded to the Mithila country where a swayambara was being held. The visitor of the swayambara was to be given the king's daughter, Sinta, in marriage. The participants were told to draw the bow that had accompanied Sinta in her birth. Not a single one was successful except for Rama, then they got married and returned to Ayodya. In Ayodya, Rama was prepared to become the