Ramayana Characters in the Kelantan Malay Shadow Play

This historic publication provides the most through documentation of wayang kulit Kelantan (a Malay shadow play from the Ramayana tradition) shaped by centuries of the cultural exchange and perfomance innovation. Drawing upon years of research, fieldwork, and interviews with master puppeteers, this work examines how various versions of the Ramayana (Javanese, Thai, and the Malay oral folk narrative, Hikayat Maharaja Wana) Penetrated into Kelantan's Shadow play, not through written texts but through living theatre traditions such as wayang kulit Melayu and Nang Talung. The result is a rich and dynamic performance heritage, where names and stories of the characters shift through improvisation, invention and artistic necessity.