Reading Nature in The Raja Indara Pitara Folktales: A Literary Ecological Study of Human and Environmental Harmony

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_25How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Literary Ecology; Keraf Environmental Ethics; Raja Indara Pitara Folktale

Abstract

This study aims to examine the representation of nature and ecological ethics that show the human-environment relationship in the folktale of Raja Indara Pitara using the environmental ethics perspective by A. Sonny Keraf to map the ecological imagery, moral practices and value horizons offered in the folktale text. The data contained in this study are in the form of narratives, dialogues, and monologues sourced from the folktale book “Raja Indara Pitara” written by Rahmawati. This study was a literature study using a qualitative descriptive method. With a literary ecology approach (ecocriticism), data analysis was carried out by conducting a close reading of the text. This study used a coding scheme based on nine principles of environmental ethics according to Keraf (2010). The results of this study indicate that the Raja Indara Pitara folktale contains 1) ecological harmony, which is seen through the attitude of respect for nature, shown by the characters of King Burinaga and King Indara Pitara, 2) the principle of human responsibility and integrity as guardians of nature, 3) the principle of cosmic solidarity: nature as partner of life in which forests, seas, chickens, birds, snake, shrimps, fireflies, ants, forest, trees, and rain are not just backgrounds, but ethical subjects that guide the actions of the characters and show cosmic solidarity, 4) the principle of compassion and concern for all creatures is seen from Bhangke-bhangkele’s caring attitude towards Indara Pitara, mutual help between King Burinaga and the Eagle, Indara Pitara’s caring for La Upa, snakes, and sparrows, 5) the principle of no harm to nature, namely Indara Pitara does not kill but only threatens when protecting a fallen tree from a snake’s attack, 6) the principle of simple living in harmony with nature shown by Indara Pitara in his daily life with grandmother Bhangke-bhangkele and her chicken, and 7) the principle of justice and ecological democracy is seen when two sparrows quarrel over a wooden branch inherited from their ancestors, Indara Pitara mediates fairly without taking sides. From this study, it can be concluded that the Raja Indara Pitara folktale represents seven ecological harmonies through the principles of Sonny Keraf’s environmental ethics. This story teaches us that the harmony of humans and nature is guided by moral values, solidarity of creatures, and spiritual ecological awareness.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Fina Amalia Masri
AU  - A. B. Takko Bandung
AU  - Dafirah Dafirah
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/04
TI  - Reading Nature in The Raja Indara Pitara Folktales: A Literary Ecological Study of Human and Environmental Harmony
BT  - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Linguistics and Cultural Studies (ICLC-6 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 309
EP  - 318
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_25
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_25
ID  - Masri2026
ER  -