My Memorable in Bali and Cultural Beyond Journey Pt. 4

Today I will continue writing about the culture of Balinese Legong traditional dancing drama and its next famous storyline that usually performs. From the previous posts, I tried to introduce some storylines from Ramayana like Legong Jobog and the story about the two kings who turn into monkeys by the cause of the powerful magic with the sad ending when they forget their old identities and fight together, Later to Legong Lasem that focuses on the triangle love story in Ramayana on the part of Majapahit King when the gigantic bird tried to rescue the princess from King Lasem's kidnapping between the battle with the prince to win her heart and ended up by finally killed it which led the following events for the kings to lose the battle to the prince, and another storyline from Balinese folktale like Legong Kuntul with the story of the white herons. As we look into each repertoire, each Legong storyline involves deeply all around the island's beliefs, religion, and culture that focuses on Hinduism. As we will see more details in the next example of the Legong storyline, I will introduce you in today's blog post.

Another fascinating Legong storyline I have come across is Legong Semaradhana, the story about the god of love. It is the part of the story when the god Siwa is in deep meditation at mount Meru. But must wake up to fight the demon Nilarudraka by his favorite son Semaradhana himself. The god of love undertakes this dangerous task to wake his father out of meditation. However, before going to the mission, he takes leave of his wife Dewi Ratih, so she is in regret. It ends when Siwa burns Semara to ashes. Beyond this part, a story continues to conclude this story arc to move forward on another chapter in the Hindu epic folktale. The examples of this storyline performance I found on YouTube are attached below. The video copyrights belong to the owners.

Next time, I will try to introduce more storylines of Balinese Legong dance drama. So then we can move to other topics on this traditional heritage after we already look into some more examples of Legong's repertoire. So don't miss rechecking my blog.