By Kambar (Kavichakravarthy Kamban)
Translated in English by P. R Ramachander
Kamba Ramayanam-Aranya Kandam 4 (Padalam 10)
10. Jatayu uyir neetha padalam
Chapteron the giving up of Jatayu.
(Jatayu , the king of hawks fights a raging battle with Ravana. He breaks his chariot , kils his horses, breaks his armour his bow etc. Ravana taking Chandra hasa cuts off the wings of Jatayu,. He carries the earth on which Sita was sitting to Lanka and imprisons her in Asoka Vana in the city of Lanka. Lakshmana meets the worried Rama. They both find that Sita has been taken by some body along with the hermitage. They follow the tracks of the chariot and find Jatayu. Jatayu tells them what happened and dies. Rama perform obsequies to Jatayu . In Valmiki Ramayana, When Ravana is taking Sita , she removes her ornaments, makes it in to a bundle and puts it in the middle of five monkeys sitting on the mountain top. After cremating Jatayu Rama kills a deer , makes balls out of its flesh and offers it to the soul of Jatayu.)
3403. When Sita told him like this a sound was heard ‘Hey, Hey , how can you ,Escape from me, stop , stop” which was told by the king of Hawks,Who had sound like thunder , who had enraged eyes like burning fire ,Who had huge wings which lashed like lightning and who appeared,Like the golden mountain Meru coming flying in the sky.
3404. He came with the huge wind raised by flapping of his wings,Making very huge mountains getting uprooted and dashing,Against each other on the sky and getting powdered like dust and scatter ,And the sea hugely rising up making the earth and sea becoming same ,And causing a huge cruel wind storming all over the world.
3405. Due to that wind huge trees along with their branches ,Fell on the ground along with their tops touching the earth ,With all clouds on the top of the sky going to one side ,And with serpents closing their hoods and hiding themselves thinking that ,The famous cruel Garuda is coming on the paths of the sky.
3406. Elephants , Yaalis and other big animals , all the trees in the forest ,Bushes, and stones due to the speed of the wind raised by those two wings,Went crowded in to the sky and due to this sky and forest became difficult to make out.
3407. That very cultured Jatayu came spreading his wings in protection,And asked “You have kept the wife of that pure and great one on the chariot ,Where are you going ? Now I will hide the sky with all directions with my wings.”
3408. With an intention of preventing the going of the chariot,On which engines were fixed belonging to the uncultured Ravana ,Jatayu who had kumkum like red legs and head and neck,Which were like the reddish sky and who had a form similar,To the Kailasa mountain and who was the king of hawks came before Ravana.
3409. ,Then that Jatayu told Sita , “do not get scared “ and understanding,That Ravana has not touched her , he kept his greatly ebbing anger ,Under his control and started talking to Ravana.
3410. ”You have got spoiled along with your relations , you have burnt your life ,And destroyed it . Why did you start this unsuitable act? Assuming that you are dead,Leave Rama’s virtuous wife and go and then perhaps you would not die.”
3411. ”Oh ignorant fellow , You have committed a very big mistake ,In your mind you have thought Sita who is like mother of entire world,Oh thoughtless one , Who is left there to support you now?”
3412. “ Oh sir , Do you not know that people of your clan like Khara ,Fought with him in war and were not able to escape , Rama gave ,Their souls as feast and the God of death took armful,Of their souls and had a very great feast for himself.”
3413. “Did you desire to throw small balls made of earth ,On the cruel elephant which is coming to kill you and escape?Or even without realizing that it would cause your death,Perhaps you wanted to keep on swallowing poison and survive?”
3414. ,”All the people in the three worlds , Indra the chief of devas ,The great trinity of Gods on seeing him would shiver ,Like deer seeing tiger and not only that would any of them,Be capable of defeating that great archer Rama.?”
3415. ”In this birth because there is nothing more for you to do,To cause the death of yourselves along with your relatives and ,This would also take you to the huge hell in the next world ,Which cannot be tolerated and for whose good did you this?’
3416. “ Due to the fact that these humans are the primeval ,Root cause of the great trinity , perhaps you did not understand,To which God they should be compared and because of that ,You lost your brain and did this heinous crime.”
3417. The boons that you got due to the grace of Lord Shiva , Who rides on the bull which is expert in war andWho made the three cities burn as well other expertise in war,Are only powerful till Rama who is the truth sends arrows from his bow.
3418-3420. ”If that Rama , the son of king Dasaratha who has a bow which is bent ,Comes personally , it is extremely difficult to prevent his arrows and so ,I would take this Sita with the pretty forehead to wherever she was ,And you go away from here quickly “ When Jatayu told like this,Ravana who was the leader of Rakshasas , with spark of anger ,Coming out of his black greatly lustrous eyes and with biting lips ,Told him with anger”, Do not talk these unnecessary words , You show me those people quickly . Oh Hawk who comes against me ,Before my arrows pierce your chest and creates there a big wound, Go away from here quickly. Some times the water inside the ,Steel may come out but Sita who talks sweeter than,The juice of Sugarcane would not go away from me .Please see that.”
3421. As soon as Ravana told like this, Sita ‘s fear doubled ,And seeing the swan like Sita sorrowing , Jatayu told her ,“Oh mother , , now itself the body of this Rakshasa ,Would be made in to pieces , do not sorrow,That our lord , the son of the king has not come ,Holding his great bow in his hand .”
3422. “Do not cry shedding tears like the scattering of pearls ,Which fall on your breasts and do loose all hope , and see me ,Giving as sacrifice his ten heads to all the ten directions ,Which are like pierced fruits of Palmyra tree.”
3423. That Jatayu who came speedily flying , flapping his wings ,Making a great sound of thunder , pushed down the series of crowns of Ravana,And wanted to cut his head in to pieces by speedy flapping of the wings,Bur broke his flag which had the shape of veena and got praise from devas.
3424. That Rakshasa to whom such a great mishap has never occurred before ,Laughed ,With eyes of the red colour of molten lac and With great anger making seven worlds,Along with his eye brows he also bent his mountain like bow.
3425. When the rain of arrows from Ravana who had crescent like teeth,Approached him, Jatayu made some of them fall by the flap of his wings,Some of them he broke using the sharp claws of his and using his beak,Which made even the God of death scared he cut his bow in to pieces.
3426. On the ten strong heads of Ravana which were like numerous serpents,With huge cruel eyes , Jatayu with his sharp strong beaks neared ,Even before he took another bow and was bending it ,And rose up snatching his gem studded ear globes.
3427. , Then that Rakshasa shouted loudly and sent fourteen arrows ,Aiming at the chest of Jatayu who snatched away his ear globes ,And these did not stop there and went through the bird king and Again,He sent several lustrous arrows at Jatayu and the devas took a long breath,Thinking that Jatayu who was greatly valorous in war has fallen down.
3428. Inspite of new blood flowing out of those wounds , that the king of the birds,Who looked like a huge white cloud shining in the sky which was similar to,The White cloud which drank the streams of blood which flowed,From the body of Khara and other Asuras thinking that it is a sea and later left it all.
3429. That Jatayu who was like a white cloud , took a deep breath immediately .Became very angry and rushed and got up the rows of twenty shoulders ,By pecking in his beak and by scratching by his nails , by beating with his wings ,Cut off his armour which he was wearing on chest adorned with pearl necklace.
3430. That Ravana then sent one hundred arrows on the broad chest of Jatayu,Who broke his armour and seeing that Devas were scared and perplexed,And even before that the king of the birds , snatched the bow of Ravana ,By his teeth , making the crowd of devas shout with great joy.
3431. That Jatayu by snatching the bow of Ravana , who using his strong shoulders ,Lifted the shining silver mountain along with Lord Shiva , shined like ,The rain bow along with the huge cloud and there was no one who can,Adequately describe the great strength of shoulders of Jatayu, using mere words.
3432. , He broke the bow of Ravana who using his sword punished And won over Indra who had the chest that never retreats and had one thousand eyesBy taking it by his moth and breaking it by legs and he was the friend ,Of their father Dasaratha and who was the protector of Rama,Who broke the bow of Lord shiva who was of the red colour of fire.
3433. That Ravana who brings destruction to the world and who ,Never gets defeated by the valour of others seeing the bow,Which was suitable to his valour broken with great anger ,Took a a trident which was like the arrow that was sent by Lord Shiva ,Who has Halahala poison on his neck for destroying the three cities, And making great sound threw it at Jatayu.
3434. That Jatayu who was the king of hawks saying “do not think ,That I would not be able to bear this and now see my power”,Received the trident with three heads sent by Ravana on his chest,And the devas who were in hiding due to their fear to Ravana said“Who can do such acts now” and tapped on their shoulders and shouted with joy.
3435. That trident , like those starved of the five sense organs,Visiting the home of prostitutes , like the guests who have gone,To the homes were cultured ladies were absent and like the ladies,With soft and passionate looks approaching the matured saints,Who can see their own souls , came back not able to pierce Jatayu.
3436. Before that Ravana who lost his trident , could take another weapon with speed,Jatayu cut of the charioteer driving the chariot drawn by tall horses which hid the sky,And threw it on the face of Ravana who had great passion towards the Very virtuous Sita,Making him extremely sorrowful.
3437. Looking at Jatayu who threw the head of charioteer at him and understanding ,The power of his mind and becoming angry , Ravana took his golden mace ,And hit him with it like the flame of fire rising up and ,Then the chief of the hawks fell like a mountain on the earth.
3438. As soon as Jatayu fell on the earth, Ravana very speedily drove ,His chariot which cannot be even followed by the eye sight ,Rose up on the sky and when he did that , the soft natured Sita,Struggled like the hot embers entered in to the existing wound.
3439. Jatayu seeing Sita fading and struggling like a new born leaf,Said to her, “Oh lady who is like a swan , Do not get drowned in sorrow ,Do not fear “ and got up leaving a very deep breath and shouted,“Hey , how can you escape from me “ and again rushed ,On the chariot of Ravana with the devas making sounds of joy.
3440. That Jatayu who rushed on Ravana snatched his mace and threw it away,And killed the sixteen horses which were tied to that very speedy chariot ,Using his powerful beak which was like a very harp sword,And seeing that valorous deed , even the God of death shivered.
3441. Further Jatayu destroyed his chariot and due to his not having a bow,And since Ravana ’s arrows were useless to him like , the treasure to the miserUsing his very sharp talons he plucked the quiverWhich was tied on his shoulders which touched the sky .
3442. And then later like a Chichily bird he jumped on the chests ,As well as shoulders of Ravana and beat him with his wings and due to that ,Ravana fell down sorrowing and with a head bent fainted and Jatayu said,With great disdain “Oh your power is only this much .”
3443. As soon as Jatayu told like that , Ravana flew in to great rage ,And since he was not able to use his cruel trident and he did not ,Have any other weapon with him Telling “I would kill this Jatayu”,Took out from its sheath the sword called Chandra hasa,Which never failed to kill the enemy and threw it at him.
3444. Due to the sword which was given to him by gods and which,Cannot be stopped by any one , which would without fail cut the heads of all,And since his life span slowly decreased and got completely over ,That Jatayu who cannot be defeated by strength fell like a,A mountain on which the God of Devas threw his powerful Vajrayudha.
3445. Jatayu fell on the earth with his wings completely spread ,And seeing that the Devas ran away , the crowd of sages sorrowed,Because Sita had lost her protection and those living ,On the world of Lord Vishnu rained golden flowers on him,And the mind and body of Sita who saw it started shivering.
3446. Due to his getting defeated and then winning . that Rakshasa felt ashamed ,And shouted with joy which sound reached the sky and appreciated his own strength,And Sita who was depressed like the deer which was caught in the net ,Without seeing any way to protect herself she went on taking long breath ,Get fainted and like a creeper not having support because ,The branch on which it was spreading had got broken , she fell on the chariot.
3447”. Even Jatayu the king of hawks who said , “I am your strong protection”,Was destroyed . What is my fate now?” thought Sita and wailed like ,The female Andril bird which was greatly sorrowing due to loss of its mate.
3448. Sita was confused and wailed “ Is it proper for the good Jatayu,Who said to me , who had attained very great sorrow , “Do not get scared” To get defeated? Is it proper for this one from hell to win?Would sin win? Would Vedas became a lie? Does not Dharma exist ? “
3449. She sobbed and wailed “ Obeying me who was shameless ,You had gone away, Oh gem amongst males,,.At least please come To see Jatayu , who was a great friend of your father ,Who was like a nail of support to all those who try to stand ,In the right path of Dharma .”
3450. “Though it is my duty that nothing happens to my chastity , a bad name ,Has come to the pretty and very powerful bow of Rama , who is an expert in war ,And a bad name has also come to the clan in which I was born “telling like this she sorrowed.
3451. ”Oh Lord Dasaratha who is ruling over the lustrous heaven ,Would you help this Jatayu who followed Dharma as per books ,And who has repaid the debt of a close friend in a perfect manner” saying this she sobbed.
3452. The Rakshasa Ravana seeing the state of Jatayu who has lost his wings ,And Sita who is wailing and her very unprotected state , understanding ,That there is no one to stop him , Lifted Sita along with her hermitage, From the chariot on to his shoulders and started flying on the sky.
3453. Due to speed with which Ravana was going on the sky ,Sita whose eyes and mind were rotating , with the ,Consciousness of the mind getting destroyed ,Without able to understand any thing ,Was lying on the floor of hermitage in unconscious state.
3454. After the Rakshasa went away , the king of hawks withThe sorrow that made him loose consciousness getting slightly reduced ,With great thought was staring at the direction in which Ravana went ,And seeing that cheating Rakshasa was going with great speed ,Started telling the following words to himself.
3455. “My sons Rama and Lakshmana have still not arrived back,The fate which did not give the fame thatI removed the sorrow of my daughter in law ,Has broken the fence of Dharma and What is now going to happen?”
3456. “If only The victorious Rama and Lakshmana were here , then to Sita,With a thin waist like streak of lightning and wearing several gold bangles Such a sad state of affairs could not have happened. I am not to understand ,Their state of affairs ,Is it c cruel trick played by Rama’s step mother?
3457. ”The blue coloured Rama is none but Lord Vishnu ,Who sleeps on the bed of serpents called AdhiSesha.And so would it be possible for the very angry Rakshasa,To win over him? I think he has played a trick with his illusion .”
3458. ”My son Rama would completely uproot all the Rakshasas,After completely winning over them and reek his cruel vengeance?Ravana the Rakshasa due to the unmistakable curse of Lord Brahma who was born,Out of the lotus flower , Would be scared to touch the Queen of Rama.”
3459. After telling all these words, Jatayu who had very large wings,Thought that Sita had reached the great prison of Ravana,And thought that though my wings by which I do war have been destroyed,The great wing called Virtue of Sita who speaks sweet words ,Would never get destroyed. Thinking like this he lost his sorrow.
3460. With his pretty wings getting weak due to excess flow of blood,And with the thought that he was not able to save the very pretty Sita ,And with his mind filled with love for Rama and Lakshmana ,He started sleeping with his brain in tact.
3461. Ravana the Rakshasa speedily took the climbing plant like pretty Sita,Being scared to touch her directly , , kept her imprisoned in the ,Asoka Vana in the middle of several very cruel Rakshasis.
3462. Till now we told about activies of Ravana and now we would ,Tell about the state of Lakshmana who had gone , as per orders of Sita ,To find out the welfare of Rama who had gone chasing the golden deer.
3463. Lakshmana whose mind was paining due to heightened sorrow ,Thinking about the lonely state of the matchless Sita ,Was similar to Bharatha who had to go away from his lord and brother,And was forced to go back to the city of Ayodhya .
3464. That Lakshmana who was going speedily like ,A speed boat in a very clear sea , saw Rama ,Who was like a huge black cloud which has got down on earth,And who was like a huge forest of Lotus which had fully flowered,And his eyes became as joyous as his mind.
3465. That Rama of black colour who was worried with thought That the very scary voice of the magical deer,Would be heard by Sita who had the looks of the peacock,And due to the illusion created by the ignorance of feminine nature,She would have difference of opinion with Lakshmana and would become depressed,Saw his younger brother coming towards him.
3466. Seeing Lakshmana coming alone in spite of his telling “ Please protect Sita”,Going against his words and coming slightly depressed in search of him,Possibly thinking from the voice of the magical deer , that Rama ,Would be facing some problem, possibly sent by Sita who spoke the very harsh words ,Who had an innocent mind and would have been deceived by the lies ,Which came out from the open mouth and becoming greatly depressed by it,Though he knew about his true strength and nature, Was it done due to illusion?
3467. When Rama was thinking like this and also considering “Who can go against fate “,That young valorous hero who was carrying a pretty bow came near Rama and ,When he was saluting it He was hugged by Rama who was wearing ,A shining sacred thread and with a melting mind asked him,“What is the reason for you to come here after waiting “and Lakshmana replied.
3468. ”Due to the words which are other worldly , which was not rhyming ,With reason and which was cruel and cheating , Sita who was like a creeper,Became very sad , and when I told her that they were only the words,Of that Rakshasa with big mouth , she did not bother about that ,And becoming confused and ordered me ,” Without stopping here ,Find out its truth “ and then I told her about the great strength,Of your shoulders but she did not take it in to her mind,And became very angry and greatly depressed.
3469-3470. When she told “If you do not go in search of Rama , I will fall in fire and die,”And started running in the big forest , I became greatly scared and thinking ,That If I who am considered as a cheat does not go from there , she would,Definitely take away her life and I told her “Please do not die, it is not Dharma”,And then I have come over here and meeting you,Then the faultless Rama thought “She is not of the nature who would not die , Even If this Lakshmana had not come in search of me and what has happened cannot be prevented ,Because the true state of affairs as narrated by Lakshmana did not impress her mind,Alas, alas. , Some thing bad will happen to her when she is alone and not protected,That bad happening cannot be prevented and those who wanted to kidnap her .Wanted to separate both of us from her and have cheated us very badly.”
3471. ”Your coming away leaving Sita alone is not any mistake on your part,Because Sita who is innocent would easily get mentally upset, and along ,With great sorrow in her mind has told like that and this is the result of that.Thinking that it has been told by a very confused mind , Please remove the sorrows that has been caused by her mind ,When you told after proper thought that it was a Rakshasa and not a golden deer And prevented me , I did not change my decision and ,Decided to catch the deer and that decision of mine has spoiled me “
3472. , Becoming further depressed he further told ,”what is the use Of further delay? My sorrow would get over only if I am able to see ,Sita who is like the friendly Naganavai bird as well as the koel,And there is no other way except this. WE would walk speedily,And cover this long distance like the arrow leaving out of the bow,And would reach the garden where Sita Who is similar to the best quality gold , is there .
3473. , As per the decision when Rama ran and reached the garden and ,When he was not able to find Sita who decorates her hair with flowers ,And felt like a soul leaving the body and later did not find it,Even after a great search and stood there greatly perplexed.
3474. That Rama not able to see that divine Sita with the best made up hair,Became dejected and like one who does not have anything to help him,And like one who buried all the money earned in earth and later finding that,It was dug out and taken away by some cheats , stood there greatly perplexed.
3475. , The earth rotated , the huge mountains rotated , the thought,Of greatly wise people rotated , The waters with waves of seven seas rotated,The sky rotated , The stable Vedas broke down and rotated ,The eyes of Lord Brahma rotated and the sun and moon were displaced and rotated.
3476-3477. “Would that greatly cultured Rama , shout at Dharma .Would he shout at the culture of giving? Would he shout at ability of Devas,Would he shout at the sages, would he shout at cruelty of bad Asuras?Would he shout at the ability of Vedas?” thinking like that ,And shivering and not knowing how his great anger would end ,When at that end the countless materials were going up to down,And down to up due to the change of mood of that great one,Who has a body of blue colour and they thought that along with,The primeval God , the world also would come to an end .
3478. Then the younger brother saluting his elder one told,“We have seen marks of wheels of the chariot , we have seen,That some one was scared of touching Sita and uprooted her,Along with the land she was standing and so there is no point ,In thinking that the person was not having strength and,We should follow him before he reaches a great distance.”
3479. The faultless Rama said, “yes , that is what has to be done”,And then those two wearing the long quiver and other weapons like garland ,Went along the path followed by Ravana destroying ,The pretty mountains and the trees of the forest.
3480. They saw that after some distance the marks of the wheels,Of the chariot had vanished and it appeared that the chariot,Started flying in the sky and seeing that Rama felt like,A spear entering the wound caused by fire and became greatly upset,And asked Lakshmana, “What should we do now?”
3481. That Lakshmana replied “Oh brother who has great shoulders ,Which are prepared to enter in to wrestling , that big chariot ,Has gone towards the south and knowing that ,For an arrow let off by the bow , the sky is not very distant,I think that our standing confused and sorrowing here ,Is not going to help us in any way “ and Rama replied.
3482. ”Yes, that is what we should do” and both of them started ,Travelling towards the south and when they travelled four miles,And there they saw a mountain like thing fallen on the ground ,Possibly due to a great storm and also a cloth ,Flag which was cut in the shape of Veena.
3483. Seeing tht flag they suspected that due to the pretty Sita,Devas and others might have fought a cruel war with those kidnappers,But Rama understood that the shining flag was cut off,By the sword like beak of Jatayu and with tears ,Flowing from his lotus flower like eyes , started telling.
3484. “Oh Lakshmana , if we properly think over it , I feel,That this flag must have been cut by the beak of your father like Jatayu,Who must have come here speedily ,He must have attacked with great ferocity,And we are not able to find what happened in the middle as,He is alone and one who is extremely old and one who is weakened a lot.”
3485. “This is good because That Jatayu who is so strong that he cannot be moved,Definitely would keep on fighting with the enemy throughout the day,And by that time , we can also join along with him though it is possible,That by that time he would have freed Sita and there is no point in wasting time,Thinking about many such aspects “ Said Lakshmana to the very tall Rama said,
3486. ”It is better that we would walk in this same direction “ and like the wind,Blowing speedily on the ground they both proceeded with great haste ,Searching here and there they saw a cruel huge bow Which was broken like a broken rain bow fallen to the ground And like the huge tide which rises in the ocean .
3487. ”Oh Lakshmana , here lies the bow which is as powerful as .The Mandhara mountain which was used by Devas to churn the ocean ,And by shape it looks like a crescent of moon and see how powerful ,Jatayu must be to break such a bow by his beak “, Said Rama and stood there.
3488. Thinking like that they walked and crossed a very long distance ,And then saw a very cruel Trident and two quivers ,Each having large number of arrows which were lying ,There like a mountain and both of them were wonderstruck by seeing it.
3489. Then they walked further and there they saw the armour ,Of that Rakshasas king picked and broken by Jatayu,Which was lying with the shine of all the heavenly bodies in the sky ,And which was so huge that it was hiding the forest path.
3490. They also saw the horses with saddle and gear , which were ,Capable of running faster than wind and which were lying dead ,Hiding the entire forest, And they also saw the plae where charioteer was lying,And late they saw flesh and blood lying on the earth and shining ,Ornaments which made the place look like sky with moon and sun.
3491. Just like several lustrous solar orbits have left the sky ,And had fallen on the earth , they saw several gem studded,Ear globes and several ornaments with lots and lots of gems,And stood there with their usually shaking hands frozen.
3492. Rama said, “Oh Lakshmana There are several shoulder ornaments lying here,There are also several groups of greatly shining ear globes And several gem ornamented hair pieces are also lying here ,Our father who has lived for long and who is one without support ,Possibly fought with several lion like heroes .”
3493. When Rama , the consort of Lakshmi told like this , the lion like son of Sumithra,Said, if the tree like long shoulders and several heads were there ,To fight against our father , the one who has carried Sita to this lng distance ,Should only be one and he must most probably be Ravana.
3494. Approving the words of Lakshmana who was wearing a garland made of flower petals Rama who was speedily moving with fire sparks coming out of his powerful eyes ,Saw his father Jatayu who was like the mandara mountain established in the ocean of blood.
3495. Rama who was great and who was devoid of any bad thoughts with his red lotus eyes ,Shedding copious tears fell on his soul like father who was strong and cultured , Like ,A huge black mountain falling on the silver mountain of Lord Shiva ,Who was red like a ember of fire in colour.
3496. For more than thirty minutes he was not breathing and fainted ,Without showing off any senses and seeing that Lakshmana ,Lifted him with his pretty hands and sprinkle the water from,The stream that was coming from the cloud and then Rama ,Opened his lotus like eyes , slightly got better and spoke as follows.
3497. “Before me , who were there who were responsible for the death of their father,Earlier the matchless Dasaratha lost his life due to parting from me ,Oh my father Jatayu, you are also dead for my sake ,Alas,I who have a bad fate has become the God of death to you also.”
3498. Oh my father , for the sake of consoling the feminine Sita of her sorrow ,Caused due to golden deer , when I went behind that deer ,You without thinking about the after effects , without bothering to think about your being alone,Fought with Ravana and has repaid your debt and why should I to whom ,There are no relations become sorrowful and for what purpose.
3499. ”Due to this I have become one like dead and am not really dying now ,Because I had taken an oath that I would remove sorrows of those who are expert in Vedas,And have extended my life span. Except going like a tall tree ,I am not of any use to any body and being one with a lowly job,I do not have any desire to continue with this useless life of mine.”
3500. Instead of me protecting my wife when she was caught by a stranger,And the enemy who killed you who were a great one is standing very much alive,And you have been killed and I who carries a huge and great bow,And am carrying on my back the heavy quiver am standing here ,And I am standing like fully grown very tall tree.
3501. “In this world are there any more people who are as famous as me?Oh Bird with huge wings Oh bird whose strength of teeth is beyond estimation,I , who am holding a huge bow and am standing here without doing any thing,When the armed enemy killed you , while my wife with a bad fate was seeing it?Can any one tell that I am one with any valour?”
3502. Rama who did not have any one equal to him except himself ,Went on repeatedly telling such things and crying and ,His brother Lakshmana who was also slowly fainting andWas standing in a similar state , and then that king of Hawks,With some sensation coming back to him , breathed with sorrow ,And saw both of them who were surrounding him with opened eyes.
3503. That Jatayu who was breathing heavily not knowing the fate of Sita after he fell down,After seeing those two victorious brothers and became more composed ,And felt greatly joyous as if he has got back his two cut wings ,His own soul as well as the seven worlds and said, “I have got my bad name removed.”
3504. ,”Oh blessed people , Iam going to leave my useless body which has a bad name today,And by my blessed deeds , I have been able to see you again , come near me”Saying this with his beak using which he broke the heads of Ravana wearing a crown,Again and again and for several times smelled the heads of both of them.
3505. ”Seeing the way that Ravana was carrying Sita made me suspect that,It would only be by a trick and how is it that, you both who have faultless strength,Left Sita with sweet voice , form like a peacock and virtue like Arundathi alone ?” he said.
3506. When Jatayu told like this , Lakshmana the younger brother ,Fully related to him all the events that took place there ,Including the coming of the strong golden deer , in deatail.
3507.When the great expert in conversation told that words as per the order of Rama,Understanding that and thinking about that that king of Hawks Jatayu,Thinking that it would be better to console them without causing much mental pain,Started telling them the following very suitable words.
3508. ”Can just one person make a doll? If we do not accept, The tenet that “The sorrows and joys that come to the fameless Human beings come due to fate ,” Do we have wisdom ,To win over the strength of fate?” Jatayu asked.
3509. ” When sorrow comes due to fate , getting disturbed because of that,And getting ourselves destroyed is ignorance .For the loosing of one head,By Lord Brahma who created and differentiated the world ,What could be greater reason than fate itself?”
3510. “At the time when joy or sorrow comes , Is it true, That we can prevent them from coming to us?Lord Shiva who took the bow to destroy the three cities,Had to beg in the skull of Lord Brahma . Can this be explained by penance? .”
3511. It is true that the very angry serpents would swallow,The very sun which flowers in the sky and which has wealth of heat,And the moon which lights up the entire sky in a brilliant manner ,Has to grow every month and also disappear after that?
3512. ”Oh Lads with pretty shoulders, the suffering one gets ,And later their going away are due to fate from the earliest of times,Is it possible to count the sufferings that Indra , the king of devas underwent , Due to the curses that came out of the mouth of his teacher Bruhaspathi?”
3513. ”Oh Rama who is an expert in sending arrows, due to Sambara a Rakshasa,Who had unpreventable strength , who used to do very base deeds,Indra who holds the Vajrayudha got a bad name by losing his kingdom,And your father Dasaratha due to power of his great shoulders solved it.
3514. Oh Lord who has a spear with smell of flesh and who is like the mother,To the birds as well as irrational ghosts , the dharma which is neglected by the Asuras ,And the sorrows of the devas are the reason by which Sita with a lisping talk,Was made to part from you and so please completely destroy ,The Rakshasas who do war of illusion and who are like weeds and live happily.
3515. ” When Sita who has long hair and eyes like the split tender mango was being taken,By Ravana along with the earth that she was sitting I tried to prevent him ,By my strength to the best of my ability but at the end he cut me off by using ,Chandra Hasa, a sword given to him by Lord shiva after his penance and I fell here,This is all that has happened in this place “ said Jatayu to Lord Rama.
3516. Even before all the words of Jatayu reached the ears of Rama ,His eyes were completely filled with blood , fire like strong breath came out of him,His eye brows bent and bent further and climbed up , The shining planets,Started running away , the Globe of earth burst and all mountains were broken.
3517. With the earth starting rotating , huge stable mountains also rotated ,The waters of the sea , the wind , The sun and the moon also rotated,The heavens guarded by devas rotated , Brahma who was in his own world rotated,And it became clear that , the valorous Rama is the form of everything in the world.
3518. The entire world was perplexed not knowing “On whom the great rage,That was in the mind of Rama would fall?” and at that time with his weapons,Shining like red fire , Rama with a laugh that came out of rage started talking.
3519. ”You would see me destroying completely all the worlds with ,The eight directions as boundary and Devas who kept quiet ,Even after seeing a helpless lady who was alone being kidnapped,By a Rakshasa holding a sword and seeing you attain this state.”
3520-3521. Please see that with my prowess in archery , stars falling down,The matchless sun becoming powder and disintegrating ,The entire sky burning like fire , the fire , the sky ,And all the moving beings disintegrating ,And all the fourteen worlds which seem to be big,Nearing final destruction and would get completely burnt out ,Along with all the Planet globes by their side ,Just like the bubble in the water,
3522., The sun with its hot rays started setting behind Meru mountain,And all eight elephants which stand in directions which cannot be destroyed,Getting scared ran away , all the beings in the world became very sad,And even the very brave Lakshmana was greatly scared , Is there a limit,For fear of all others who exist in this world.
3523. , When such things were happening , Jatayu , the king of the hawks said,“Oh good natured one , Long live . Do not get even a little bit angry,Oh valorous one who cannot be defeated , the devas and sages ,Are happily living thinking that through you the asuras can be defeated,Using which of their strengths would they be able to win overRavana who has done this very cruel deed.”
3524. , You saw the valorous jobs done in defeating me by the faultless shoulders of great Valour of Ravana by the power given to him as boons,By Lord Brahma who sits on the lotus flower , Is there a need to tell more?Lord Brahma who was created from the lotus flower with stalk ,As well as other devas are working as slaves to the ten headed Ravana,And there is no body else who are doing the Dharma prescribed to them.
3525. ,In this earth which is surrounded by great oceans with very clear water,Like the ladies the devas are doing menial jobs to their enemies , is it not ?Had they not eaten the nectar which appeared in the ocean of milk ,Given to them by Lord Vishnu who once measured all three worlds,Just by his two steps , Would they be able to be alive till now?”
3526. ,”Oh lads who were holding the very strong bows in your red hands ,Because that Sita who has breasts tied by cloth was alone in the forest ,You had lost her by going behind the golden deer with horns ,And have earned a very bad name for your clan, When we think properly ,The mistake is on your part and what fault has the world done in this case.”
3527. ”And so do not get angry but remove the sorrow of your loving wife ,Who is equal to Arundathi in virtue , fulfill the wishes of devas ,Establish the Dharma as told in the Vedas and also,Remove all other ills.” Said Jatayu who was fit to join the sacred lotus like feet.
3528 .Rama who is the colour of black cloud taking the words ,Told by the divine Jatayu as the order given to him by Dasaratha ,In his mind understood, “What is use of anger on others now?” And that the only job to be done by him is to completely exterminate the Asuras ,And completely left the anger from within his mind.
3529. After Rama’s anger left him , that faultless Rama told,“Oh father , be peaceful. Is there anything else other than .What you told by your mouth , for me to do?” and asked him“Please tell me where that Rakshasa went .” and the king of the birds ,Becoming tired , and with his consciousness reducing ,Did not reply him anything and then died.”
3530. Looking with eyes at the holy feet of that valorous Rama who is difficult , To be seen by Lord Brahma who sits on the cool lotus flower and other devas,Who stands outside the Vedas and cannot be seen by the Vedas ,Jatayu attained to that land which exists even when,The great five el;ements of the world ceases to exist.
3531. When that Jatayu was getting salvation , that Rama who was the king of men,Along with his brother cried and became tired and all the trees in the forest ,AS well as the animals became completely depressed and Brahma and other devas of heaven , the serpents of the earth ,The people of the world Saluted Jatayu by raising their hands above their heads,.
3532. Rama asked , “ oh younger brother , I have lost my masculinity ,Due to the Rakshasas who do not follow Dharma and would I do ,Penance after giving up everything or would I give up my life?Please tell one of them . Due to me being born as son , the father,Who gave birth to us died and here Jatayu our father has died,And I stand still alive, What is to be done by me?”
3533. ”When Rama told like this , his younger brother Lakshmana ,After saluting Rama said, “Oh victorious one , Always,Due to the nature of fate man gets into sad states,Except for bad name? Now what is the reason for this thought ?Should we not drown in great sorrow only after completely destroying the Rakshasas?”
3534. ”My father , you being simple , may console yourself by the parting away ,Of the simple Sita who has long hair but is there any other job ,For you to do except killing him who took away the soul of our father Jatayu,And what you told seems to be not proper now”, said Lakshmana.
3535. When the younger brother told like this Rama understanding that ,Holding such thoughts are the sign of ignorance , consoled himself,Wiped away the tears he was shedding due to great sorrow and told Lakshmana,“Let us do all the after death rites to our father in a proper manner.”
3536. Then they collected black Akil logs and sandal wood logs and made a pyre,Making others who see it wonder , collected the Durba grass properly as per need,And threw flowers on the body of Jatayu , This was followed by making of a sand platform,And carrying with him clear water by his big he hands , he arrived near that platform.
3537. Rama who is an expert in the manthra rituals as per the Vedas ,Sprinkled sandal paste , water and flowers on that pyre and carried the body,By his own two hands and placed it on the pyre built over the sand platform ,Kept the fire on the side of head of the body and thus,Carried out all the rituals that need to be done in a proper manner.
3538. That Rama who removed his sorrow due to his rage to destroy the Rakshasas,Shedding stream of tears which was like the honey drops falling from,The red lotus flowers falling on his body which was as soft as the new leaf,Bathed in the river which was like the cloud getting immersed in water,And after that offered water ablations with his hand to the great soul.
3539. All the beings which are higher or lower in status, starting right from Lord Brahma Drank,The ablation water that was offered by Rama and became happy ,And felt that the offer of water by the inter linked palms of Rama,To the king of Hawks, with a request , “Please accept it “ ,Was like Lord Vishnu the chief of all beings drinking the water himself.
3540. That lad Rama who knew how to achieve victory completely did all the rituals,Which should be offered to the dead one including offers like that of offering rice balls,And by that time the sun with his hot rays similar to Rama who was ,Born in his ancient clan taking bath for the sorrow of death of Jatayu,Himself went in to the sea to take bath .,
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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.