X X 11

done and how he has approached these problems there will be no question of want of
fidelity to the original.

As far as the present work is concerned, Dr Hande, having regard to the

difficulties, features and problems referred to above, has concentrated his attention on
the story as told by Kamban and to the extent I have been able to go through parts of
them, there has not been any omission of any relevant or important material in the
story as told by Kamban though some of the imageries and allusions, in the use of
which Kamban has been liberal, might have been omitted, lest the inclusion of them
should make certain actions and events essential to the understanding of the story,
vague and ambiguous.

It is remarkable that Dr Hande whose mother tongue is Kanarese and who had
studied Ielugu as his subject in his scholastic career, has taken the trouble of going
through Kamban's Ramavataram in Tamil and giving the same in English in prose
form. It is not surprising that he has taken nearly eight years to complete the entire
work having regard to the precautions that have to be taken in such a difficult and
delicate task of avoiding omissions in any verse referring to events, occurrences and
ad|ectives that may affect the substance or detract from the basic objective and purpose
of the poet's work.

Dr Hande by this devoted work of his, has earned the gratitude of all students of
karrhan, because barring the short prose version by Shri R K Narayan, no one to my
knowledge, has attempted a systematic rendering of Kamban's Ramavataram into
English even in such a running prose form.

\o,H. lustice Sundaram Road,

Mvlaporv, Chennai - 600 004.
tVtober, l * * M M ISMAIL
 PREFACE

It was w ith a great deal of nervous hesitation and hum ility that I ventured to
render K am ban's Ram avataram , an epic of 10,000-odd, 4-line stanzas, into English
prose. I w as inspired to attem pt this, over eight years ago, after reading a couple of
English translations of V alm eeki's Ramayana.

My effort is not a verbatim translation of the w ork of K am ban, the em peror of

Tamil poets, but only a free rendering in English. In fact, I have abridged five chapters
of BALA KANDAM w hich describe the m arch of D asaratha's entourage from Ayodhya
to M ithila and also a few portions of YUDDHA KANDAM.

A fter delving deep into K am ban's w ork, I am convinced that exposure to it, is a
m ust for every lover of Truth and literature, irrespective of his or her creed or
nationality. Vice and virtue, filial duty, fraternal love, loyalty, friendship, m arital
fidelity and m ore, have been splendidly dealt w ith by the poet in his eternally relevant
divine m asterpiece.

K am ban's poetic genius lies in his brilliant use of rhym e, alliteration, sim ile and
epithet; all of w hich he skilfully blends, m aking a recitation of his w ork an
audio-visual treat. So musical are the w ords and so vivid the im agery! W hile it is
im possible to reflect the poetry of such an original in a prose translation, especially
into English, I have tried my best to do justice to his unque sim iles and apt epithets.
I have even resorted to archaic w ords or usages, at times, to this end.

W herever I have w anted the reader to pause and internalise a concept, or a

sentim ent, I have italicised the text. If the reader derives as m uch from this book, as
I did from w riting it, I w ould consider my labour of love am ply rew arded.

With boundless pleasure I dedicate this book to the people of Tamil N adu w ho
have show ered their love on me so profusely all these years.

H V HANDE
 XXV

KAMBAN THE POET

Kam ban w as born in the ninth century in Therazhundur, a village in T hanjavur

district. The greatest of the poets who w rote in Tamil and enriched its literature,
K am ban hailed from a fam ily w hich had Lord N arasim ha (w ho em erged from a
Kam ba or pillar) as its fam ily deity. Kam ban was also called Kam ba N attazhw ar, as he
revived the greatness of Tamil through his w ork Kamba Ramayanam . Som e believe
that because he tied to him self the elephant know n as Rama w ith the rope o f his
devotion, he resem bled a pillar (Kam ba), and therefore cam e to be know n as K am ban.
A few believe that he was so nam ed because, as an infant, he was found lying near the
pillar of a temple. Kam ban's narration of the incarnation of Lord Tirumal (M ahavishnu)
as Ram a, is not a translation of V alm eeki's Ramayana, but an original retelling of the
story of Rama.

K am ban w as a great scholar in Tamil as well as Sanskrit. Extolled as K avicakravarti

(the em peror o f poets), he rendered the Ramayana into nectarous verses in Tamil. He
had the grace of Lord N arasim ha and Kali Devi. Legend has it that Kali Devi used to
hold a lamp to light the place, w hile he w rote the Ramayanam . Sarasw ati, the goddess
of learning, is believed to have sat before him , apprising him each day of the approach
of dawn as he was too engrossed in writing to notice anything.

Great poets have observed that even a life of unbounded happiness in this w orld
or in heaven w ould not give the pleasure equal to that obtained by reading Kamba
Ramayanam .
 IN SALUTATION

The poetry created by Kamban - a constant worshipper o f Lord Rama - is o f such

pristine purity that it stands out as a monumental epic, bringing glory to Tamil. There
is nothing in this world that is difficult to accomplish for a person who falls at the feet
of Poet Kamban, because it was he who dispelled the darkness of ignorance from the
m inds ot poets through his Rdmdyanam. Let us worship Kamban whose poetry
sik (. essfullv binds the elephant' known as Rama, an 'elephant' which even the Devas
or the Siddhas, or for that matter, even Lord Siva or Lord Brahma could not bind.

/et us keep the sacred anklets of that great Kamban on our heads because he spread
the drome name of Rama everywhere, and was also responsible fo r making the
Tamil ^peaking people take to reading Ramayana with avidity. Whether one ruled with
all the wealth available in this world, or enjoyed oneself in the cool shade of the
karpaga trees in the celestial world, one would not attain the mental satisfaction
obtained bv reading the Rdmdyanam written by Poet Kamban. It was given to Sage
Valmeeki to listen to the narration of Sage Narada and reproduce the great adventures
ot Kama, the incarnation of Lord Mahavishnu, in Sanskrit verse; but then it was given
to Kamban of Therazhundur of the Chola kingdom to conclude the singing o f Rama's
life in the great language of Tamil. In days of yore, Lord Mahavishnu gave the nectar
ot immortality to the Devas by churning the ocean of milk with the Mandara
mountain l ike Mahavishnu, the great Kavicakravarti Kamban gave the nectar of
Ramayanam to mankind by churning another ocean of milk, namely Tamil, with his
tongue The arangetram* of Kamba Rdmdyanam was done at the Srirangam temple in
an assembly of potis, under the auspices of the philanthropist, Sadayappan** of
Tiruiynnainallur. on the day o f the Uttara star, in the month ofPanguni, in the eight
hundred jnd seienth year of Sdlivahana saka.

/Vv>t.'mv m public tor the first time

V.rt kjmban >nyuently refers to the name of his benefactor, the philanthropist Sadayappan of
hru;rnnuindllur in Kamba Ramavanam