By Kambar (Kavichakravarthy Kamban)
Translated in English by P. R Ramachander
Kamba Ramayanam-Aranya Kandam 1 (Padalam 2)
2. Sarabangan pirappu neengu padalam(The chapter on death of Sarabanga)
( Rama then goes to meet Sarabanga. At that time Indra had come to take Sarabanga to the land of Brahma. The sage refused as he only wanted to attain salvation by merging with God. Rama enters there at that time. Indra prays to Rama .Sarabhanga and his wife enter the fire and get salvation. In Valmiki Ramayana , Sarabanga did not want to go to Brahmaloka because he wants to meet Rama. After meeting Rama he directs him to the hermitage of Sutheeshna and attains salvation. There is no mention of Sarabanga ‘s wife in Valmiki Ramayana )
2587. Along with Sita who was like a flowering branch of Kurava flowers ,And Folded Kongu buds , they reached the place where ,Sage Sarabhanga was doing penance in the forest ,With a smell of honey from the well grown maramara plantsAnd reached that place when the night was about to fall.
2588. When those two holding a red spear walked that way ,And reached that place , Indra with thousand eyes ,Which were looking like a fully open flowers even at that night time,Reached that hermitage in that forest.
2589. That Indra was greatly lustrous like the combination,Of the light radiating from the ornaments of Deva maidens,Who walked like swan and the spread of the streaks of lightning.
2590. Indra was one whose eyes which were like bees enjoyed ,The prettiness of the flower like eyes of peacock like deva maidens,And whose ears enjoyed the honey like music,Which flowed from the Veena of Narada called the Mahathi.
2591. He had the fame of performing one hundred Aswamedha,Sacrifices as per the rules given in the scriptures ,And one who wears the golden heroic anklets which is saluted,By all the devas except Lord Vishnu, Shiva and Lord Brahma.
2592. That Indra with his wife who was like Goddess Lakshmi,Sitting on a red lotus rode on the white tall elephant Iravatha , Who creates scare and has great rut flow from three different spots ,And is similar to Lord Shiva who sits on the great mountain spread like silver.
2593. That Indra had the white Royal umbrella which appeared,To be the huge lustrous heaven taking the shape of an umbrella ,And made the moon whose cool rays spread and shine everywhere, shy and ,Loose its luster feeling that, there was no need of him any more?
2594. That Indra who was near to the huge elephants in eight directions,Which had the clear gum of rut and who in very many close battles, Defeated the Asuras who have lost their speed and determination And had obtained and great fame and had the white chowries looking up.
2595. That Indra who was similar to Goddess Lakshmi, who lives,In the very famous chest of Lord Vishnu who holds the holy wheel,Who is an expert in war, and who is having a very lustrous crown ,Which gives a place to stay of the sun god travelling,On a chariot with one wheel and has red coloured rays.
2596. Indra was one who wore armlets which shine like the,White teeth of cool smile of Goddess Vijayalakshmi .And who had greatly lustrous shirt which shines,Like the red Manikhya gems which shine by its rays.
2597. Indra who shines like a rainbow which shines like ,Luster of several thousand very good quality Manikhya gems ,And the luster emanating from the collection of old ornaments ,Which all join together and rises up together.
2598. Indra was the one with a sword which were like the,Eyes of Deva maidens , which had fought with fishes and became victorious,And had a flower garland which had the divine scent of honey ,Which did not have any match in the entire world.
2599. Indra has the weapon called Vajrayudha which has a small tip,Similar to the end of paddy and which could not be destroyed,By Ravana who was wearing gem garlands which shine,Like the very lustrous sun , when it was thrown at him for gaining victory.
2600. Indra went and stood before Sarabhanga’s hermitage and there,He was received by the sage of great penance and taken inside,And did all that was necessary to be done to a guest and asked,“Why have you come here?” and that Indra ,Who was wearing the non spilt golden anklets spoke as follows.
2601. ”Oh sage of great penance who has a golden colour matted hair,Realizing that the great penance done by you is greatly rare ,Lord Brahma has summoned you to go to his world ,And so please depart so that you can go to that land.”
2602. ”Oh sage who is like my father , that Lord Brahma ,Who has created all the living beings of the world ,Has given you the great chance of living in his land,And that land has been attained only by the penance which cannot be destroyed,And if you come there. Lord Brahma would receive you.”
2603. ,”You are greatly old and know that , the Sathya loka ,The land of Brahma is better than all other worlds ,Even without my telling you and so please .Come there with your wife “ and when Indra told like this,The great sage said, “I cannot agree for that.”
2604. ”oh lord whose fame cannot be described properly by words ,Would I attain the positions which are not stable due to,The temporary karma ?I do not like to attain that inferior position,As you know that the rare penance that I did has passed through many eons.”
2605. ”Oh Lord who wears sturdy anklets, What you have said ,Is not something that should be talked aboutAnd is a state t hough achieved is considered as not achieved, What is the need to talk more?And I understand that because you have come my life has come to an end.”
2606. ”Oh Indra who owns the heaven, I would attain that salvation,Which is not for a short period, which does not shift me from one place to another,That which does not reduce over time, which does not go on increasing,Whose form does not change and that which cannot,Be destroyed even if all the five elements perish.”
2607. When the sage was telling like this , those valorous ones,Who hold a strong and great bow , knowing the reason ,For the tumultuous sound there , stood there and thought ,“What are the things that are happening here”?”
2608-2609. Having seen the rocking Iravatha elephant with,Four tusks which shine like big diamonds and ,By that , understanding that the king of devas,Has come to this world and is with the sage of great penance,Rama made the Sita who is like a deer and his younger brother ,To wait in that garden which is full of flowers , and ,Reached inside the hermitage like a bull and like a big lion.
2610. That king of the devas seeing the fruit of all Vedas ,Standing on this earth who has eyes which were like lotus ,And was looking like a black sun and looked at him,With great depth using all his one thousand eyes,
2611. Seeing him he was pained to see him in that forest,And saluted that leader of men , leader of all Brahmins,By his head which regularly saluted him ,By falling on the earth and catching his feet with his long arms.
2612. Seeing Rama who by destroying his enemies in the battles filled with flags ,By teaching him meaning of the limitless words of the sea of Vedas By daily leading in the very good path of great Dharma daily,By giving wealth, by granting salvation , by becoming an armour,Without others realizing it , by becoming the soul , by becoming the eyes,By becoming true penance , by becoming the endless true wisdom,He forgot himself , stood near him and like one,Who did not know his greatness started praying to him.
2613. ”Oh light which stands mixed and not mixed in everything,Oh Lord who is the friend of all sages who have got rid of all attachments,Oh Lord who is the store house of all graces which helps one to cross this life,Oh Lord who can be understood by the proper behavior as per the Vedas,Oh Our father who has come here as per your assurance to us,When we came and prayed your holy feet for protecting from our enemies,Is it proper that your lotus like soft feet is touching this rough earth of the forest?”
2614. “Oh god of all devas who sleeps in the big ocean of milk ,You do not have enemies nor friends , no difference between ,Light and darkness nor have you anything above or below you ,You do not have youth nor old age, you do not have beginning , middle and end,By time you do not have anything before you or after you.When your old state is like that , if you do not carry the big bow ,And do not walk giving pain to your red feet and not protect us,Will bad name come to you? Is there anything that ,You get out of doing these acts? Nothing, is it not?”
2614. ”Even if the four faced Brahma born in the lotus from your belly,Who measures all these faultless worlds , measures you ,For several eons without stopping , your greatness cannot be measured.Oh Lord whose great good characters never diminish over time,In the earlier days making the earth as the pot , the sea water as the cool curd,The big Mandhara mountain as the churner you churned ,Making your lotus like hands pain and gave the nectar ,Which came out of it to all the devas , and were not,The asuras who churned with us your slaves?”
2615. ”Oh Lord who was one in the beginning , split from that to several later,Became intelligence , soul and the body and becoming that,Which is to suit the conditions at the time of the final deluge,Later taking the form of various worlds you became ,The matchless new growth of the very great wisdom ,Oh Lord who completely solves the problems of people like us,You save the people who do good acts and destroy ,Those who do sinful deeds , Is it not true that ,Even those ever unstable sins were also created by you?
2617. ”Oh Lord , who is our father , in earlier days due to the trick played ,By the very strong limitless illusion , mixing with those whose wisdom was jaded ,Losing the normal wisdom we said to you, “That you are not the ultimate God”,And also , “You are God” , when we were suffering with sorrow,And due to the our past good karma , Those seven primeval sages ,Crossed the fire and took an oath that, “all the worlds were,Situated within you” and you cleared our doubt ,Who were not knowing who was the ultimate god.”
2618. That Indra who had the long golden crown after praying ,Rama in this way and many other ways , saluted him,And understanding clearly what was happening there ,He looked at the sage who was equal to him and told,“Please be kind enough to give leave for me to go “.
2619. Understand the state of the mind of Indra by his divine eyes,The sage received the God of all devas Rama and that Rama who came like that,Saluted his feet , the sage shed tears of love and ,They all entered the hermitage of that great saint.
2620. After welcoming both Sita as well as Lakshmana and ,Wishing long life To Rama whom Sarabanga understood ,As That God who does yogic sleep on the ocean of milk,After visiting that sages home , just before the deluge.
2621. And there Rama as well his lady , with the eye of the deer,Listened to the words of Dharma as told by Sarabanga,And they stayed awake till that night came to an end.
2622. That Sun who had blowing luster and the light which shines,For the sake of spreading his light in to all the four directions,Spread countless rays which were like the sharp swords,Exposed to sun light and using that collection of his rays ,Started removing the blanket of darkness covering the world.
2623. ,At that time that sage Sarabanga took a clear decision to give up,His life in front of Rama by entering in to the fire , and as per Sastras,Built up a burning fire and asked Rama , “Please give me leave.”
2624. That Rama who held the strong bow seeing that able ,Cultivator of Vedas asked, “what do you want to do?,Please tell me” that sage said “Oh consort of Lakshmi ,I wanted to enter the fire so that I get salvation ,And so please give me leave “ , then Rama told.
2625. ”Oh sage who is wearing the matchless hide of a deer on his chest.Why are leaving your soul as soon as I reached here?” , thenThat sage who due to his strength of penance destroyed,The power of God of love who has a fish flag,Due to the joy in leaving his body told the following words.
2626. ,”Oh heroic one , I am one who has done various ,Types of penances and I knew that you would be coming to this place ,And as per my fate both types of my karma has vanished and due to that,You came here to give your blessings to me ,Now I have nothing more left.”
2627. “Oh strong one , Indra came here and told me ,“I have given you, life in Brahma loka till it is destroyed ,And so please stay there.” But I did not want to live there ,And I would try my best to attain that salvation which never ends.”
2628. That sage who knew the Vedas which did not talk of rules ,And had the highest knowledge of that ultimate God,Said, Because of that grant me that salvation” and then,Along with his wife entered the burning fire and attained salvation.
2629. Lord Brahma who sits on the scented lotus flower ,Devas, sages and others who were able to know ,What is going to happen in future , were able to,Understand the good and bad Karma by their wisdom,And were able to attain the salvation they want at the end.
2630. if we know that the amount of greatness one attains,Just by thinking about Rama who was the one who swallowed,All globes and all the words without any one knowing it ,Is beyond the possibility of estimation ,can any one ,Say how much greatness that person attains ,Who is able to see that God himself before his death?
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About Kavichakravarthy Kamban
Historians place him in the 9th century CE, But surely Kamban belongs to the third great wave of Tamizh literature that started with the Sangam period (dated before the Common Era), followed by the widespread impact of Bhakti literature of the Alwars (vaishnavite saints) & Nayanamars (shaivaite saints). Kamban Authored Ramanaya in Tamil…Known as Kamba Ramayanam..
Kambar has been the milestone for the Tamil scholars that none had reached. He was also known as “Kamba Naatazhvar” at his time. Many Tamil authors from the modern world have written the books on the poet Kamban.
FAQs
Kambar or Kavichakravarthy Kamban (1180–1250) was a medieval Tamil poet and the author of the Ramavataram, popularly known as Kambaramayanam, the Tamil version of the epic Ramayana.
Valmiki Ramayana and Kamba Ramayanam are two versions of Ramayana written in the Sanskrit and Tamil languages respectively. … Kamba Ramayanam is originally called as Ramavataram. Although Valmiki Ramayana is the original version of the story of Rama, Kamba Ramayana is believed to be based on the work by Valmiki.
The Kamba Ramayanam, is a Tamil epic that was written by the Tamil poet Kambar during the 12th century. Based on Valmiki’s Ramayana (which is in Sanskrit), the story describes the life of King Rama of Ayodhya.
The book is divided into six chapters, called Kandam in Tamil. The Kandams are further divided into 123 sections called Padalam (படலம்) in Tamil. These 123 sections contain approximately 12,000 verses of the epic.