Indian Epics and Their Presence in Southeast Asia
Indian epics, particularly the Ramayana and Mahabharata, have significantly influenced the cultural and literary landscapes of Southeast Asia.
May 31, 2025 Yatharth Ladna
Yatharth Ladna
"I am a student and researcher rooted in the interwoven narratives of culture, history, and identity. My academic journey began with a degree in History Honours, followed by my pursuit of Indonesian Language, which shaped my structural understanding of society. Over time, my interests found a more focused direction in the Indigenous traditions and cultural practices of Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia. My research seeks to uncover the layered relationships between traditional Indigenous worldviews and the postcolonial cultural revivalism taking place across the region. In this context, I am especially fascinated by how cinema in Indonesia becomes a mirror of society, both reflecting and shaping social realities. The political undertones of post-Suharto cinema, the religious and moral symbolism in popular films, and the rise of independent cinema as a vehicle for marginalized voices are core areas of my study. I explore how Indigenous identities in Indonesia are preserved, negotiated, or sometimes silenced through visual storytelling. From the animistic roots of tribal communities in Kalimantan to the syncretic traditions of Bali and Java, I aim to understand how cinematic language adapts to and resists dominant cultural discourses. Film becomes not only an art form but also an archive of resistance and memory, capturing the tension between modernity and ancestral traditions. Through my academic work, I aspire to contribute to the decolonization of knowledge by amplifying the narratives of Indigenous communities and exploring how Southeast Asian cinema can be a powerful tool of cultural continuity and social change.