By Kambar (Kavichakravarthy Kamban)
Translated in English by P. R Ramachander
Kamba Ramayanam-Aranya Kandam 1 (Padalam 1)
1. Viradhan Vadhai padalam
The chapter on killing of Viradha.
(Rama and Lakshmana meet sage Athri and his wife Anasooya and then enter the Dandaka forest. There they are attacked by an ignorant Asura called Viradha. Viradha informs them that he cannot be killed and takes Sita away. Rama and Lakshmana attack Viradha, cut his hands off and bury him deep in to the earth. Viradha assumes his Gandharwa form amd praises Rama and goes to heavens In Valmiki Ramayana Viradha tells Rama and Lakshmana to go and meet sage Sarabhanga)
2517. Those lads who carried those pretty bent bows along with Sita,Who had teeth which resembled the arrangement of collected pearls ,Reached the hermitage of a great saint Called Athri which was,Having dense gardens full of trees with leaves as well fruits.
2518.Those Rama and Lakshmana who were like small eyed elephants,Who were carrying the burden of earth on all directions and ,Were having big pretty tusks, after entering the hermitage ,Saluted that sage of great penance who had completely ,Got rid of passion , anger and illusion and that saint with joy told them.
2519. That sage who became as happy as if his relatives have come ,Said, with a melting mind “Sons of Dasaratha , is it easy for people like us to see you,Who have come and visited us? It is like all the worlds and ,All the devas have paid a visit . It looks like we have ,Done more penance than everybody in the world.”
2520. After spending that day with that great saint , as per the order ,Of his wife Anasuya who was a lady of great virtue , who presented,Pretty ornaments and great dresses to the daughter of Janaka,They left that place and entered the great Dandaka forest.
2521- 2532. Carrying in his powerful trident the bodies of sixteen elephants,Thirty two lions and sixteen Yalis which had cruel round eyes,Which were living in the forest which were densely placed ,By his one powerful hand , Viradha who had red lustrous curly hair,Looked like a mountain of poison walked speedily on the floor inside that forest,Driving the clouds away like cotton by the movement of his legs ,With fire sparks coming out of his eye like the twitching of wounds,Making the sky with clouds shiver , making the mountains shiver ,Making the sun who saw him loose his luster ,Making the earth surrounded by water tremble ,Making the very strong God of death depressed in mind,With fire sparks entering the ears of great lions,With the gem studded top of Meru mountain becoming cold ,With the coating of blood from those fallen warriors who came against him,Making him look like a reddish sky ,Wearing several type of garlands which wave on his broad shoulders made of,Well armed men , huge elephants in rut , chariots ,Tigers whose job seemed to be killing people ,And all other things that reached near him,Who after putting large number of elephants in rut,Stacked them one over another by using his huge hands In his cave like mouth and munching them,Who in spite of eating them was looking hungry and searching food,Whose chest was decorated by garland of pythons with sound on which,The gems from great serpents like Vasuki were taken out and studded,And the nine planets of the sky and the planes used by the devas,Were hung here and there , Who had red hairs like the broad red sky,Who had shoulder rings made of the huge decorative shield hung ,On the huge tusks of the huge Airavatha elephant of king Indra, With the dark black colour shining on him, the great cruelty which rises,Rising up , with the great sin that does very great harm,And looking like the kali age which is a mixture of fire and poison ,And which is drowned in dark night , with the hides of very powerful,Cruel and huge tigers rolling on his very huge chest as upper cloth ,With hides of many elephants tied around his hips,With a shining belt of a huge python which has gems ,From those eight guardians which stand around the world ,With huge armlets made from the red eyed long serpents,As well as invaluable gems worn round his cruel arms,With the chalanchala conches which were produced with difficulty by other conches,Decorating his conch bangles with his legs pushing ,The silver mountain and the golden mountain like balls ,Was walking and walking around the mountain path,And though he was living on earth , he was,Living in the minds as well as the eyes of devas.
2533. He had a new form like a single great element made by all the five elements together,He had a voice like thunder and had the power of exactly twenty five thousand ,Elephants in rut , created by Lord Brahma with great love.
2534. , That Viradha who had very scary eyes and had the job like very cruel thunder,Was uprooting many trees and powdering many mountains by his speedy walk,And came and stood before Rama and Lakshmana ,Who had bows which had very huge size but had not participated in any war.
2535. Opening the big cave like mouth with the long white teethHuge protruding teeth which had eaten flesh he shouted,“Stop, stop” and immediately lifted Sita who was like a swan,Sitting on an open lotus flower ,by his hands and proceeded on the sky.
2536-2537. Those lads who were like young bulls got very angry ,And holding the cruel bow which they had hung on their shoulders,And the lustrous arrows in their right hand , followed that Virada .And told him, “Hey silly one , this is cheating , turn ,Where are you going? And then that Rakshasa said,“By the boon given by Brahma to me , I cannot die,Even if I do not have any weapon and even if ,I am opposed by people of all the world .Silly ones , I have given your souls as charity to you,And so leave this girl with and proceed.”
2538-2540. Rama smiled like the silvery moon light understanding,That Virada did not know war fare and that his strength ,And joy would soon get faded and when he twanged his bow,And that Rama who had the blue colour of rich cloud ,Who held a very sharp spear ,twanged the long string his bow so that,The earth surrounded by water of the sea with tides and mountains,,The king heavens and the land of the serpents trembled and echoedAs if hit by a great thunder and then that Viradha leaving Sita,Who was shouting like a suffering caged macawCaught by a cruel cheating huge cat and stood depressed,And after thinking , came and stood with great anger in front of Rama .
2541-2553 .When he threw the trident which had a tip which was,Dipped willingly in the blood of his enemies for the sake of quenching,The thirst of ghosts, Which was very heavy and which had the form,Of the burning mare which had the fire which wanted to drink ,The water of the ocean of the northern side with its face and mouth,And while it was coming like a lustrous poison shaking ,The eight directions, the devas who were protecting those directions,The eight elephants in those eight directions and the world ,Rama from his bow which was stronger than the faultless ,Seven mountains like Meru, sent an arrow at him, thinking,That this crown of Rakshasas would be destroyed today ,And cut in to two that trident which had the luster,Of big stars with great luster falling from the empty sky in day time ,And threw it to the end of the direction and then that giant ,Seeing that his cruel trident was cut in to two pieces ,Without getting any tiresomeness in the war ,Assuming valorous behavior , using his huge hands,Which could destroy the heaven , then he started picking ,Up huge mountains one by one and throwing them at Rama,And due to Rama sending huge lustrous arrows ,Breaking those lustrous mountains thrown at him by Viradha,And then they broke the mountains and went with great speed .And hit all over the body of Viradha and when all the parts ,Of the body thus hit became wounded , and then he uprooted ,A huge maramara and was rushing to beat Rama . who is the form of “Om”.Who had the name which could be understood by only great learned elders ,Who had left his bed of Adhi Sesha and took an incarnation in this earth,To establish Dharma , That Rama whose culture increased by days,Using four arrows and cut in to many pieces those Maramaras ,Which were coming against him and then he shot twelve ,Cruel arrows with great speed and when he hit his chest ,Then when that giant like a boar troubled with very many arrows,On his body which is dejected and trying to get them out,Shook his body , Rama sent on him more fire like arrows, And without hitting anywhere else when all those arrows,Pierced on his body, that giant who was greatly cruel but without wisdom,,Looked like a mountain with several streams and like this,When he lost his strength and wisdom,Those Rama and Lakshmana who had great shoulders ,Which helped them fight without getting tired ,And knowing well that this Viradha who had got the boon of no destruction,By hitting him with arrows , with great anger took their swords ,And with the thought that they would cut off his arms with that ,And when the climbed on his broad shoulders, that giant Viradha,He who had fallen on the earth with great flow of blood and lost his senses,Again got up , regained his sensations and lfted Rama and Lakshmana,With his shoulders which were like Dhandayudha hugged them ,And rose up and walked with ten more times more vigour than earlier, And with that Rama and Lakshmana who were shining like sun and moon,Which go round the Meru mountain hit him on the top of the sky with force ,And when he was rotating like a top, , he who was having ,On his shoulders Rama and Lakshmana and was walking,Touching the sky looked like Garuda the personification of Dharma,And the great king , flying round carrying Krishna and Balarama.
2554. Then Sita who was born in a great clan seeing that the very merciful,Rama was being put under his strength and being carried by that cheatWas greatly disturbed and faded and was like a female swan,Which saw her mate being imprisoned and being carried out by others.Fell on the dust with her hair like a flowering branch.
2555. Again Sita not getting help from any where and no one to console her,Followed Viradha with her streak of lightning like waist getting tired,Telling him that “Please leave those followers of Dharma , who love ,Others like mother , and take and eat me “ and fell before him.
2356. Seeing her with a stammering mouth crying , becoming extremely sad,And understanding the sorrowful state of her who was like a picture ,Lakshmana , after saluting Rama and asked him , “should you watch ,The Goddess, sorrowing and keep quite playfully .It is not proper?” and ,Rama who created the world after final deluge replied.
2557-2561. ”Oh matchless one, I thought it is better to sweetly cross this forest ,In comfort riding on this person’s shoulders though it is not at all,Difficult to kill him “ . Saying this in jest , Rama ,Kicked that Giant by his leg wearing heroic anklet,And Rama and Lakshmana , who had huge shoulders , getting very angry,With a sharp sword cut both the shoulders of that giant ,And like Rahu the serpent planet neared the shining sun and moon ,And both of them saw that in spite of the large amount of blood that flowed from his body ,That there was no change in him and still he was going along ,That Rama who was great in thought said ,” Oh brother ,I think except burying him swiftly in the earth ,There seems to be no alternative” and that pure Rama with his reddish feet ,Which has eaten the sweet smelling pure ghee poured in the pit made by a plough,Made of Athi wood and which fulfills the desires of all the devotees ,Kicked and made that Asura fall on earth and then,Buried him in a pit made by Lakshmana, near the west flowing river,And that giant realizing that he has been buried deep in the earth,Remembered the earlier curse of Khubera which turned him,In to a cruel Asura , And after getting out of the cruel hateful body,Like Lord Brahma , the primeval god coming out of the egg called HIranya Garbha,Appeared before them in his former form of a Gandharwa.
2562. Having got imprisoned by the net of five senses , with the soul ,Wandering in the materialistic view outside But by his remembering,That he was involved earlier in holy acts which were beyond thought,And also due to his having great devotion leading him to unification with God earlier,He started praying Rama due to the help of the realized true wisdom.
2563. ”If these are your holy feet that is spread in all the worlds chanting Vedas ,How would your other parts of body other than the feet look like?Apart from living in the sea with water , if you are also ,Living in all the contradictory beings that pervade ,How are they able to bear you within them?”
2564. ,”When the very angry crocodile caught hold of the legs,Of the elephant and when that elephant lifting its trunks upward,And getting exhausted shouted making all directions hear him,“Oh great God who lives in all beings , oh great god”,Are you not the one who asked him “Why?” and removed his sorrow.
2565. ”Oh lord with lotus like eyes having sight of grace without any bias,For protecting Dharma , you are spread inside and outside of everything ,Though there is no one to help you in your divine endeavor.And are you the only one to rotate like a fan for doing this duty?”
2566,”Oh Lord who is well involved with joy in the sports that are called birth and death, Even if the wise ones who have cut off all attachments, by chance are born in this world,Would they forget their nature and if it is not possible would they take birth,And even for those , the great luck they get is some thing very rare.”
2567. When all the people of all other religion say that their God,Is the only one who is a boat that helps one cross the fearsome sea of birth,Because you are the form of that matchless form of real truth,What would those Gods who come from now onwards try to do?
2568. ”Oh Rama who is the matchless form of Dharma to the,Lord Brahma who is sitting on that restless lotus flower,To the devas who do not have death and to all the beings,Who are not the devas , you are the primeval , father and ,You are also their mother who gave them birth as per law.
2569. ”You are the primeval God and all the worlds belong to you ,And even other religions who are not able to think and understand you ,Attain you and no one else and in spite of that ,Why are you hiding like a cheat , Why are appealing publicly?,And is there any necessity for this great sport of illusion of yours?”
2570. ”Oh God who can appear before your devotees as one who is weak,There is no calf that cannot recognize its mother and so also there is no cow,That cannot recognize its calf and since you are mother of all,You know about every being and those beings are not able ,To recognize you and I am not able to understand this wheel of illusion?
2571. The people of the world for praying would consider very many Gods,And thinking that there is a God superior to you is not the nature of very wise people,Is it not true that the Brahmins who originate from Lord Brahma ,Who rides on a swan think of you as greatest God and no one else?”Would this not be thought out by people following many religions?
2572. ”Oh Lord who has a chest lived by Goddess Lakshmi ,Those Gods specially mentioned by the matchless other religions ,Are like the ignorant people who think about bad and good action,And perform matchless penance? Where is the need of penance for you?Oh Lord who does not sleep and is always awake,You are always sleeping as if there is no other work for you.”
2573. “You bore the lady earth as the serpent called Adhisesha ,You have lifted her using your teeth as a wild boar ,At the time of deluge you swallowed the same world by your mouth,You measured and hid her by one step, Would not Goddess Lakshmi ,Who stays in your chest wearing perfumed garland of Thulasi .Get very much angry with you , if she knows about it?”
2574. ”Oh Lord , would it not be possible for the beings that you created,To know about this truth and can they not get salvation?If they do what problems would you face by that?Due to the alms given to Lord Shiva who is armed with an axe ,There are devas and men whose doubt as to who is the greatest truth has been removed?”
2575. Oh Rama who is a boar unearthed the earth by your horn,Taking the shape of a swan , you taught Vedas to Lord Brahma,Who taught you that Vedas before? Were they all dead at that time?If those which separated from a thing , join together to form ,That same thing, does it mean they are the same thing or,Does it mean they have not come by division,I am not able to understand this illusion.”
2576. Oh Lord Who cannot be compared with any other thing,Due to your leaving the place you normally stay on the milk ocean,And appeared before me due to the great penance I did ,I have left the sea of the inferior form of mine and I will not be born again,And you have removed all my good and bad fate by your ,Red feet which is of the colour of the coral gem.
2577. When he stopped after telling all these words ,Rama told him “Please tell me the story about,Your taking the form of Asura” and he ,Who had achieved victory started telling.
2578. ”Long live , Oh Rama , who has the divine feet granting eternal wisdom,So this life filled with stealing and deceiving goes away andWho is very charitable , Please hear” and then,He started telling Rama about his story.
2579. Oh valorous one who holds a cruel bow in his hand ,I was born in this world and later became an Asura ,My name was Dumburu and I was ,A subject of Khubera in the heavens.”
2580. Due to the criminal passion which came to me,To hide my wisdom , he cursed me to become an Asura ,Without any mercy and I was born in an Asura clan.
2581. When I got the curse , I asked him,When will I get freedom from this curse ,And the very great thinker Khubera told,That, “ it will go when your feet touches me.”
2582. ”Oh primeval one from that time,Till today , as I had no wisdom , I did not ,Differentiate between good and bad ,And by eating all beings I accumulated bad fate.
2583. ”It was the good Karma that is within me that made me,To stand before you with liking to do it and when your ,Pretty feet that wears Vedas touched me ,I got rid of the curse and became my former self.
2584. He said “Oh Lord who keeps himself alive even at deluge,Please pardon this fool who came as per my karmaAnd did lot of harmful acts to you “ andViradha assumed his Gandharwa form and went to heaven.
2585. After knowing that Viradha ,Who was loved by the devas left his soul,Rama and Lakshmana went along with the flower decorated lady ,Away from that horrible place.
2586. They who were holding spears.,Which were like God of death .Went to the garden where sages,Who were personification of Vedas lived,And the lord of the day also went to his home.
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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.