This left the field open for the two main Hindu sects to consolidate their The Buddhists and the Jains completely lost their influence and more or less disappearedįrom the scene. With big and small temples devoted to either Sivan or VishNu. Movement fully engorged with the heart rendering devotional poems of the n^AyanmArkaL andĪzhvArkaL. It is not Valmiki Ramayana, but it is a grander poem.' Kambaįor almost 400 years the Thamizh people were literally under the spell of the Bhakthi Bentley said of Pope's Iliad', 'It is a pretty poem, but you must not call it Homer.' Of Kamban's Ramayana we should say reversing the language, He has merely taken the story immortalised by the Aryan sageĪnd, though he has followed it closely enough in all its details, has written an entirely original poem. Volume.I spoke of Valmiki's work as the original of Kamban's Ramayana. Truth of my contention and with a desire to know more of the poet than what he will see exhibited within the pages of this And I hope to make the impartial reader rise from the study of this monograph with a conviction of the It is an opinion that has grown slowly with the years and after deep and careful study. This is not the language of mere patriotic enthusiasm. It is, however, my purpose in this book to make an attempt to prove that in the Ramayana of Kamban the world possesses an epic which can challenge comparison not merely with the 'Iliad' and the 'Aeneid', the 'Paradise Lost' and the 'Mahabharata', but with its original itself, namely, the 'Ramayana' of Valmiki. Worthy to take rank with the greatest names in literature. "It is not easy to convince the literary world at this late hour of the day that there is, unsuspected by the greater part of it, a Tamil poet who is தக்கை இராமாயணம் - with Commentary by Na Ganesan Ramavataram will stand favourable comparison with the Mahabharata, Patriot, would claim for Kamban's Ramavataram an 'individuality'ĭistinct from Valmeeki's. Lovers of Tamil who have not been entranced by its beauty ofĮxpression, richness of imagery and ethical grandeur. Literature and an exemplary literary masterpiece. Story in six books, is both a landmark in the history of Tamil Kavicakravarti Kamban's Ramavataram, Rama's
Poets of this sacred land to retell Rama's glorious life in their History, legend and a poem unmatchably sublime, supremely artisticĪnd magnificently dramatic." Valmeeki, the adikavi, has inspired the Mahayogi Sri Aurobindo has declared, "The Ramayana is at once "The Ramayana is not a mere 'story' nor is it a mere 'epic poem'. Kamba Ramayanam: An English prose rendering - H.
* R.K.Narayan: The Ramayana � A Shortened Modern Prose Sections contains approximately 12,000 verses of the epic.
The Kandams areįurther divided into 123 sections called Padalam (படலம்). Into six chapters called Kandam(காண்டம்) - Bala Kandam (Chapter:Ĭhildhood பால காண்டம்), Ayodhya Kandam (Chapter: Ayodhya அயோத்யா காண்டம்),Īranya Kandam (Chapter: Forest ஆரண்ய காண்டம்)Kishkinta Kandam (Chapter: Kambar and the Kamba Rasam polemic of polymath Anna - Sachi Sri Kantha, 15
Ramayanam: A Study in English - V.V.S.Aiyar