By Kambar (Kavichakravarthy Kamban)
Translated in English by P. R Ramachander
Read the original Tamil version
Kamba Ramayanam-Bala Kandam 1 (Padalam 1)
P.R.Ramachander (Unlike the Valmiki Ramayana, Kamba Ramayana does not start with Valmiki asking sage Narada to suggest a proper Subject for writing an epic. It starts as per the grammatical rules for writing Tamil epics, with a prayer to God, a short introduction about his inabilities followed by picturesque description of the river surrounding Kosala kingdom, , Kosala kingdom, city of Ayodhya, the rule of Ayodhya and a short description of the king. These are given in five chapters and the rest of the book deals with story from birth of Rama till his marriage with Sita and their return to Ayodhya)
Payiram- Prayer to God and introduction
(Here the great poet prays to God to help him complete the huge task that he has undertaken and also gives an introduction to the task that he is undertaking.)
1. He who forever plays the sports of creating all the world by his thought,Looks after it and destroys it ,And is our lord and we only surrender to him.
2. I do not know how to realize the goodness ,That cannot be easily realized of that God,But among those three qualities only the first one is good,And so drown and play in the sea of goodness of those people.
3. Those people learned the beginning, end and rare of everything, But know that Vedas are that which can be measured and not measured, Those who do not have any desires would not catch hold of any other feet, Except the feet of He who is the abode of wisdom, good conduct and goodness.
4. One cat reached that great ocean of milk and desired to drink it all by licking and slapping,And like that, I desired to tell the whole story, Of Rama who won over everything without committing any fault.
5. I started spinning this tale by using simple understandable words, Of the greatness of that great one, who by one arrow pierced the seven Mara Maras, Definitely like the curses of great ones becoming true immediately, Which was told in this country by its first poet which even today lives.
6. In spite of Making the heavens curse me and that guilt getting attached to me, The reason for which I am writing this is because, I wanted to make the world understand the greatness of those godly poets, Whose poetic skill came from and has come from questions which are not the untruth.
7. If those ears which are the storehouse of different type of poems,Happen to hear my poems , they like the Asuna animal whose ear drinks,Only the soulful music of the lyre would feel like it heard,The harsh sounds produced by playing of drums.
8. I would very much like to tell those great poets ,Who are experts in composing Tamil literature , song and Drama ,“Would those words told by mad ones or by ignorant ones,Or by the ones who are devoted be analyzed and researched?”
9. If on the floors of the room little children and dancing dames ,Make scratches , would the architects bother about it? Reading this inferior poem written by me, which does not have, Even with a little knowledge of God, would expert writers get angry?
10. Though this story was written by three people in Sanskrit,I have followed that one which was written first and I have ,Written in Tamizh language using poems.
11. Basing on good character and describing the happenings,Of the very great Hero from the time of his birth ,This epic has been written in a faultless language ,And was composed in Thiruvennai Nallore of Chadayappan.
- Bala Kandam
- AAthu Padalam1 .The chapter on river.
( The author as per the grammar of epics in Tamil language , goes on to give a description of the background of the place where the story took place. He naturally starts with the river, which during those times and even today determines the prosperity of the country. In this and in the following chapters , the poet possibly describes his own country and environment and follows the great tamil tradition. The river around Ayodhya was Sarayu, which was a tributary to the River Ganges. Dasaratha was ruling over the Kosa;a country with Ayodhya as its capital. Some of his forefathers had lost the country that they were ruling and Dasaratha got the kingdom of Kosala from his queen Kausalya)
12. Both those five edged arrows which do many crimes, And the arrow-like eyes of those ladies who have. Busts laden with very many ornaments, Do not go beyond Dharma in the Kosala country, And we would talk about the river that encircles that country.
13. Those clouds that resemble the colour of the ash coated God, After making the paths it travels over beautiful and after gathering food from the sea, Became of the colour of him who is being approached by Goddess Lakshmi, Having breasts coloured with the smoke of incense and then returned.
14. That sea sent those clouds spread densely thinking that ,“My father in law * has become very dry,Due to the heat of the sun and so I will bathe him with water,”And made them pour water all over the mountain, and rose very high.
*(Sea is the husband of all rivers and mountains their father.)
15. Similar to the devas thinking that that Himalaya mountain was made of Gold, And made the stars fall all over the mountain like a rain of silver, Similar to the philanthropists giving their all, The clouds gave away all the water they had to that mountain.
16. The water in the river (Sarayu) flowed rapidly like, The travel of the fame of those great kings who ruled under a cool umbrella, Who had a great sense of self-respect and who followed Dharma and who followed justice of Manu, And like the charity being given to the wise Brahmins who knew the four Vedas.
17. Like hugging the heads, bodies and hands and Without stopping there, deserting them after some time, The water took away all that was anywhere in the mountain And flowed swiftly in the river like a courtesan.
18. Because it was flowing carrying gems, gold, peacock feathers, Pretty tusks of the elephant. Incense, sandal, incomparable garlands From one place to other, that river resembled the men of trade.
19. Arranging many-coloured flowers, fixing soft pollen grains,Getting mixed with honey , having pure golden crystals,And also carrying the Must which flowed from elephants,That river resembled the many coloured rainbow.
20. Because it was carrying Mountains, Uprooted trees ,And nearby leaves and bringing them, that river resembled ,The movement of the monkeys when Rama wanted To bridge the ocean which was full of waves.
21. With flies and bees hovering around it ,With it crossing its boundaries,Increased enthusiasm making it looking greatly confused,And due to it dragging teak would logs and burping ,That river looked like the men who drank alcohol.
22. With huge headed joyful elephants dragging,Large number of other animals in a formation,Making huge sounds and with flag-like, Scenes arising there from which were seen there ,The river appeared to march for a battle against the sea.
23. Adopting the very good character which should be appreciated ,Among the innumerable kings of the clan of the sun,That river Sarayu, to all the beings in worlds surrounded by water,Was continuous similar to the feeding breasts of the mother.
24. Since it was dragging and bringing the scented powders made by ladies of Mountain, Along with saffron, kottaam, cardamom, the sandal* which makes the body shiver with cold, Vetchi flower, citrus, lemongrass, myrobalam, kondrai, aathi, different type of leaves, The beehives of the mountain, logs of Akil tree the Water of the Sarayu river was scented. (* Sandal and cardamom are not found on the Himalayas but on western ghats)
25. Due to making hunters living in small villages by a rain of arrows (water) runway, Due to driving away hunter ladies, making them beat again and again their belly with their hands By showering arrows with sharp ends and bows similar to the showering of water similar to the waves, That river was similar to the army of a king who use to win in the battle.
26. Stealing together the well set curd, butter and Ghee. And eating all of them together, breaking huge Marudha and kurutha trees, Drenching the eyes of cowherd women and stealing al the dresses that they wear, And dancing on the snake decorated by lions as well as dots, Is the holy pure one and the holy river was also like that.
27. Lashing against the doors of dams, making the cultivators shout with joy, Making the streams fill up with water, making the honey bees drilling holes, Pushing the water and separating series of gems, making whirlpools fall by its tide, It was similar to the elephant which rains must and reached the cultivated land.
28. Making the forests into mountainous land. Making cultivated lands to forests,Making the grassy seashore in to matchless cultivated lands,And carrying innumerable things from one place to another,It resembled fate which was dragging events , the way it liked.
29. With the alarm ringing showing arrival of water,In the water canals guarded by the farmers,With the water bubbles which travel in proper fashion,With gold and gems being thrown by the tides of the river,Heightened by tide, . Standing tall due to great waves, Tearing the earth and going ahead, taking water, From one canal to another, the waters of the river Sarayu, Travelled similar to branches of families of human beings.
30. The waters of the river born in between rocks of Himalayas, And merging with the waters of the sea, Seems to say that the boundless Vedas, Were telling, “This is the divine truth,”, By being single while it began and later spread, Among the lakes and ponds all over, And was similar to the words of many religious scholars, Who studied the books and told about a single divine truth.
31. The waters of Sarayu wandered all over, In gardens where lots of pollen grains fall, In the forests thickly occupied by Champa trees, In the newly formed sandbanks all over its shores, In the Gardens of betel nut palms with a fence of Kurukathi plants, In the paddy fields, like the soul which wanders around, Different bodies which were all learning the books with four branches.
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