Bringing ‘La Galigo’ Home

For more than 25 years, Nurhayati Rahman has poured all her energy and attention into La Galigo, an ancient epic from South Sulawesi.

KOMPAS/RENY SRI AYU

Nurhayati Rahman

Nurhayati Rahman, 60, beamed when director general of culture Hilmar Farid of the Culture and Education Ministry said that the government, through his directorate general, would fund the publication of La Galigo, volumes 4-12. Hilmar made the announcement at the 40th anniversary commemoration of noted publisher Penerbit Obor on Sept. 26, 2017 at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) in Jakarta. “Finally, we don’t need to search for any more sponsors,” Nurhayati said.

The announcement brought Nurhayati to tears. For more than 25 years, she has poured all her energy and attention into La Galigo , or I La Galigo, an ancient epic from South Sulawesi. It is the longest literary work in the history of the world, longer than the Mahabharata or Homer’s Odyssey. La Galigo has 360,000 stanzas while the Mahabharata only has 156,000.