Yama Zatdaw
Perhaps the tale hangs as it does, upon the seas and on ancient mariners, merchants, priests, pilgrims and voyagers who set forth on journeys along the Maritime Silk Routes transmitting literature, knowledge, language, religion and culture. Even as early as the first century, India was connected via maritime traffic to parts of Southeast Asia to ancient Burma, Siam and Java.
Thus the Ramayana epic travelled to Myanmar, becoming Yama Zatdaw or Yamayana. Within the old temples of Bagan, stone sculptures of Ramachandra once stood and Hanuman’s tale entered the country well before 1527. Wars with neighbouring Siam caused the Yama Zatdaw to be influenced by the Siamese kingdom of Ayutthaya and elements of the Thai Ramakien were incorporated.
Pure Burmese literature and music added a local twist to the epic, with U Toe’s Yama yakan (Rama’s Song, 1784), Yama Pyazat ( ballet, 1789) and Kalay Yama Wuthtu (Rama’s Youth, 1800).
The ethnic Mon version Loik Samoing Ram in 1834 by Buddhist monk Uttama had Mon episodes unlike any other version. And what of Hanuman? His identity remained intact, keeping his wits about him, just as his fellow monkey did in The Monkey’s Heart, a Burmese folk tale.