Wayang Kulit - Shadow Play in Java: the search for the Self

It all began the day Bima heard about superior knowledge, Sastra Jendra Hayuningrat Pangruwating Diyu, which Drona said that it could turn giants into humans. Bima asked Drona to teach him Sastra Jendra, to which Drona replied that Bima would not understand it unless he drank the Tirta Pawitra (the Water of Life) first.

However, Drona accidentally revealed a secret, which mesmerized Bima and made him thirsty to understand it. Bima learned that he could not comprehend this sacred knowledge unless he found the water of life. His mystical journey led him to the isolated South Sea, where he faced terrifying waves and fought a dragon as he crossed the ocean world. Finally, reaching the South Ocean, Bima ventured deeper inside and found himself stranded in a sea of despair and fear. He does not know what to do.

He begins to drown and slowly dives into the deep ocean. Amid this deep ocean, in which he was about to die, he suddenly wakes up. He could not believe what he saw. Bima meets Dewa Ruci, the thumb-sized Lord, who is an incarnation of his spirit. Bima was told to enter Dewa Ruci’s left ear. The story does not tell the end, but the universal story only begins.