Raucous cheers of victory were heard from the Maespati troops. They saw that Rahwana had been bound to death at Sumantri’s hands. The Alengka army began to lose confidence and they were ready to flee if their king died. Rahwana was evidently losing his wits about how he could overpower his opponent.
The giant king unleashed his ultimate power. He stamped his feet on the ground and suddenly became a 10-headed giant as big as a mountain. From his body, several arms grew, the hands holding various weapons. Every stomp of his feet created a swell in the ground. He growled, his voice thundering. It was truly blood-curdling. Anyone would be scared.
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The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (141)
Without being ordered, the warring legions from both Maespati and Alengka retreated. The battlefield was left to Rahwana and Sumantri. In front of the giant as big as a mountain, Sumantri looked like a tiny speck of a creature.
Sumantri shuddered in shock and was instantly overcome with fear. Now he was really battling death. He saw that the face of the demon of death was truly terrible. His eyes bulged out, red and blazing with wrath. His swaying hair was long and had sharp ends. The teeth were pointed like rocks in the ocean. The fangs stuck out like long swords. His hands were moving about, ready to grasp.
But had he not been aware that he no longer distinguished between life and death? Was he not aware that by experiencing mortality, death would offer his rebirth?
Sumantri was truly faced with a frightening and terrifying face. Daunted by such a terrifying death, he saw no way to escape. Wherever he ran, death would certainly catch him. But he soon realized that if death had come for him, there was no point in avoiding it. He just gave himself up. It was up to death where it would take him. He knew that death must lead him to face his mortality. But had he not been aware that he no longer distinguished between life and death? Was he not aware that by experiencing mortality, death would offer his rebirth?
He suddenly smiled in peace, because he saw Jatisrana appear on the other side of death, where affectionate Sukrosono had been waiting for him for a long time. It was not death anymore that he saw, but Jatisrana. Death was no longer seen as a lethal force that would end his life, but the gate to happiness in a place he imagined as Jatisrana.
And when he said, full of hope, "I am coming," death’s face changed. Its sharp fangs became arches that led to a flower garden. Its pointed teeth became the seeds of the beautiful, shimmering kaustubha [divine jewel] cucumber. Its red eyes became the rays of the evening sun, inviting him to rest in peace. Its menacing and preying hands were the tendrils of the gadung [three-leaved yam] that gave him a handhold while enjoying the flower garden. And its hair, which was as hard and pointed as coconut spears, fell down in curved rainbows strung with tanjung [medlar] flowers.
There, the sky was clear. Behind the red clouds seemed to be a voice calling for him. He felt he could fly there with lotus wings as fast as light. The bright straw and red medinilla grew there to blanket the land. In the courtyard, a temple of wungu flowers rose up, emitting a purplish red light, providing shade and shelter. When dusk came, the beautiful buzz of the garengpung [cicadas], called the birds home.
That was when all came to a standstill. There was no point going on living just to fight. Kemuning [jasmine], nagasari [cobra saffron], bana, and champaca, fell with the leaves of the tanjung flowers, giving off a fragrance.
Sumantri was being carried away into a twilight where the flowers fell, and he felt himself dying along with them. He felt death welcoming him gently. No cruel voice was heard. Instead, death seemed to be embracing him with affection.
In the blooming twilight, he realized that what he had pursued with all his ambition did not give him the slightest happiness. In times of difficulty, he used to be happy because he was sure he could achieve his aspirations. The blooming twilight now awoke him to the realization he would not have been happy, even if he had pulled a thousand energies in pursuing his ambition. And death whispered in his ear, “Only one thing will make you happy, and that is to let go of your life that has made you so tired because of the burdens of ambition.”
The more he grew eager to approach the voice, the more he felt it was time for him to return to Jatisrana.
And his ears sharpened so he could hear better. Behind the clouds of the blooming twilight, a voice was calling to him. He recognized the voice as the one that had been familiar to him with since his birth in Jatisrana. The more he grew eager to approach the voice, the more he felt it was time for him to return to Jatisrana.
Feeling so, he gathered his strength to face Rahwana, a peerless, mountainous giant. But he was not at all afraid. He no longer saw Rahwana as a sinister, mortally threatening giant, but as mortality’s path back to Jatisrana. And death was no longer seen as having an overpowering grip, as he recalled the gentle voice calling out him in the blooming twilight. The twilight welcomed him onto the battlefield to face Rahwana. It was impossible to delay the battle, even though night would begin to fall soon.
Rahwana, too, felt the urge to finish the battle right away. He was determined to eliminate Sumantri as soon as possible. It would be easy to destroy Sumantri as darkness fell. So, he growled out for the night to come, but night arrived with the moon. Death snuck into the light of the moon and reflected it, so that those who wished to die did not have to pass through the darkness.
Sumantri could now easily see who the enemy was that he was about to fight. It was not the 10-faced giant but death, which he must face with love. He would surrender to that mortality so deserving of love, not to the vengeful Rahwana.
(This article was translated by Musthofid)
