New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have been delighted today to see the Ramayana being performed at the opening ceremony of the 31st ASEAN Summit.
Turns out, Hindu influences and folklore arrived in the Philippines around the 9th or 10th century AD, say Indologists Juan R. Francisco and Josephine Acosta Pasricha. The Philippines’ famous dance ‘Singkil’ is based on the Ramayana. It is a folk dance of the Maranao people of the island nation’s Lake Lanao.
The Ramayana in the Philippines is called ‘Maharadia Lawana’ which means ‘King Ravana’.
