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STORIES · THE MAHĀBHĀRATA · Southeast Asia · regional retelling

Arjunawiwaha: Arjuna in 11th-century Java

Variant

Airlangga's court poet turned Arjuna's tapas into a political allegory, and it is still performed in Bali.

Mpu Kanwa wrote the Javanese kakawin for King Airlangga (about 1030). Arjuna meditates on Indrakila, gods test him with seven apsaras and Indra as an old brahmana. He defeats Niwatakawaca and marries each apsara. The moral is to stay in the world to serve others.

Who: Arjuna, Indra, Niwatakawaca

Bound to

Shiva the hunter gives Arjuna the Pashupata same-story-other-version

Places: East Java, Bali

Where this comes from

• regional-literary · Wikipedia: Arjunawiwaha

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