By Kambar (Kavichakravarthy Kamban)
Translated in English by P. R Ramachander
Kamba Ramayanam-Bala Kandam 3 (Padalam 8)
Chapters 8-11 tell the story of the performance of Yaga by Viswamithra., till king Janaka asks Viswamithra about the, the release of Ahalya from her curse, the falling in love of Rama and Sita, as well as the story of Viswamithra as told by Sadananda, the son of Ahalya are contained n these chapters.
8. Velvi Padalam: The chapter on fire sacrifice
( This chapter tells how sage Viswamithra gave divine arrows to Rama. Viswamithra tells the store of his forefathers and also about his father Gadhi,, his sister Kaushiki the story of Mahabali and Vamana and tells him about Sidhasrama where Lord Vishnu did penance. Then Viswamithra starts the Yaga, after the sixth day the asuras come . Rama kills Subahu and throws out Mareecha in the sea and also kills lot of asuras. The Yaga is satisfactorily completed. Apart from these aspects the Valmiki Ramyana in detail tells the story of Ganga as well as the birth of karthikeya. I am not able to tell why Kambar chose to leave out the story of Karthikeya, in spite of Karthikeya (Subrahmanya) being the main God of Tamil Nadu.)
394. After the departure of the devas , leaving that cool forest ,In which devas had showered the fully open flowers,Viswamithra who has done unbearable penance ,Gave Rama and Lakshmana weapons ,Which were like the words of Philanthropist ,THiruvennai naloor Chadayapa , which were the medicine ,To the poverty disease of the people
(Thiruvennai nallor Chadayappa Vallal was the patron who helped Kambar with wealth ,So that he can write the epic. In gratitude Kambar mentions his name once in every 1000 verses.)
395. All those divine weapons , as soon that sage who got his sorrows removed,And as soon as the sage told the correct chants ,Like the good karmas done in the birth of a pure hearted man Searches for him and joins in him the next birth With great joy went and reached the Lord Rama.
396. When the gods of the weapon told Rama that , “Oh valorous one ,WE have reached you . Whatever work you give and send us,WE will do that job like your younger brother Lakshmana and come back to you.”And Rama told them , “great” , they started doing the outside jobs.Of Rama who had the black colour of Kayampoo.
397. After all these things happened , they walked ,A further distande of two Kadhams (10 miles) and then , they all ,Heard a very big sound from a nearby place ,And when Rama asked the sage , “ What is this sound?”,That great sage who became a great saint ,And lost both fates by doing great penance told.
398. ” That is the sound of the divine river Sarayu which,Originates from Manasarovar and which is praised by devas , Joining with another great river called Gomathi.,.And once they crossed it and further they reached,Another very great and big river , which,Is capable of removing the sorrow of the birth death cycle.
399. There when, Rama asked that blessed sage , Which ,Is the river that is worshipped by even devas , he told,“Brahma who lives on the lotus flower had a son ,Called Kucha who was greatly victorious and a great one ,And a king of kings who is praised by great people ,And he had four sons who were like four Vedas.
400. Kuchanabha who was one of them had hundred daughters,Who all had pretty voice and coral like lips ,And once when they were growing up , they went to a garden to play and Lord Wind God who came there was greatly attracted by them.
401. He told them, “I am now very sad being attacked by Manmatha,Who has the matchless Makara fish on his flag and used the arrows from his curved bow.And so oh girls who have pretty eyes like the fold of mango just formed,Please marry me:. “ And they told him,“Go and salute and request for our hands with our father and if he agrees ,And gives us to you along with water , we would marry you.”The wind God became angry with them and broke their back ,And all those lustrous girl who wore bangles , fell down.
402. After the wind God went from there , those girls crawled on earth,And reached their father and told him in nectar like lisping tones,That king consoled those girls with long hair and gave in marriageThose girls who were like Goddess Lakshmi, To the fainted ,.Brahma Dutta who was the son of Chooli of great penance .
403. When Brahma Dutta caressed those girls with his flower like hands,Their hunchback was cured and they again became pretty,That Kuchanabha , the ruler of the world who did not have any sonsPerformed the fire sacrifice for getting sons, with the assistance of proper saints,And from the middle of that suitable fire, He got a suitable son called Gadhi,Who was having suitable and speedy horses.
404-405. After that king gave Gadhi the kingdom and kingship and reached the gold like heavens ,To that Gadhi who was ruling in a city called Mahodhaya,I and kaushiki who was born before me was born ,And that king Gadhi who was the king of kings wearing a crown,Gave in marriage the Kaushiki to Rasika who was the son of BruguWho was greater even than his father and had a broad mind ,And he who was expert in great Vedas after living with Kaushiki for some time ,And after having a lead a happy life and earning lots of wealth ,Wanting to attain salvation did penance to God and attained him.
406. After her husband left for to heavens due to the great penance,My sister Kaushiki not able to tolerate the parting , took a form of a very big river,And when she started to go to heavens , Rasika who was the king of sages,Told her become a river so that the sorrow of earth is removed,And he himself went to the world of Brahma.
407. Hearing the great sage Visamithra tell them that“.My elder sister Kaushiki , took the form of a very big river”The elder and younger brother , became wonderstruck, And further after walking for some more time ,Asked the sage about a garden which was covered with cloudThe sage of great penance started telling them about that.
408. ”This garden is as pure as the mind of great women ,Who think that there is no greater God than their husband , Please hear further.This is the place where Lord Vishnu , the red eyed God , who is not reachable ,To all the four Vedas , intelligence of devas and all others Lived and carried out a great fire sacrifice .”
409. ” In this world and in heavens, to get rid of worldly attachments,What is chanted are only his names and the great misunderstandings.Done by that divine one are not clearly understood by any one .”Saying this he told, I am not capable of understanding the mind of,That Great god who is stainless and he did penance here for hundred yugas(eons) .”
410. ”And when that great God Vishnu was living here , there lived Mahabali ,Who was comparable to Varaha who had two teeth which ,Were capable of putting an end to this world and that one,Made the heavens as well as the earth as his.”
411. ” Mahabali who had usurped the earth and the heavens ,Thinking of completing a great fire sacrifice with Ghee ,Which is impossible even for the devas to do andHe decided to give the earth to Brahmins who had a heart without doubt.”
412. ”When the devas came to know about this activity of Mahabali,They went to Lord Vishnu and stood there saluting him,And they begged him to put an end to the cruel deeds of cruel Mahabali ,And Lord Vishnu who was their leader decided to do their job.”
413. To the sage Kashyapa who could calculate and know ,The past , present and who was a master in real knowledge ,And his wife Adhithi was born a matchless child ,Who was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu who was ,Like the seed of Banyan tree in a micro form ,And who was having a form of a dwarf.
414. That wonderful one was wearing a three fold sacred thread,And was having a waist belt made oh Muncha grass,Had a toungue which helped him learn Vedas,And who lit fire with his hand (samitha Dhanam) and he took a form ,Which only wise people recognize and,Which was suitable to the great wisdom he had ,And he went to the hall of fire sacrifice of Mahabali.
415. On that day hearing about his arrival , That Mahabali ,Who has won over all the world , rushed and received him and said,“Oh one who is filled with penance , I do not find any Brahmin better than you,And from now on who would be better than me.
416. When that valorous Mahabali told him like that That Vamana who knew everything told him,“Oh long armed one , who gives much more than need to every one All those who come to you now are not without honour ,But are those who do not have majesty,
417. Mahabali became very happy on hearing this ,And asked “What can I do for you ?’ andHearing that , that Brahmin told Mahabali“Oh great one with great power ,if you have,Please give me three feet of earth measured by my feet,And even before he could complete ,Mahabali told “I have given” and his teacher Shukra forbade him,
418. He told, “Oh Lord , if we do research this form appears ,To be of an imposter and do not take it as a dwarf form which is like cloud,For this is the form of Vishnu , who swallowed this earth and the universe,Please know about this before taking action.”
419. Mahabali replied,” You are not speaking after proper thought ,.If when my hand is above and if his hand is below ,Which is not correct to his position and if this,The cloud like black hand is the hand of Lord Vishnu ,What can ever be more beneficial than this.”
420. “Those great learned people always think of only good,If without differentiating between those who are close and those who are not close ,Decide that what they have decided to give , should go only to great ones,And who can be more great than this Vamana.”
421. ” You are one with knowledge that is white and you told as per your nature,Those great people , if they are charitable by nature ,Would give to those who ask , even their soul , but would not jeer.“Getting free from others is bad but giving is always good.”
422. “Those people who have lost their souls are not those who are dead,But those who stretch their hands to beg to those who have wealth are dead ones,“Oh teacher who is like my father , even if one loses his body ,Great people would always live in their mind with body of fame ,AS they are the people who give to those people who beg from them.”
423. Those who do bad acts which scares others are not enemies,Bu those who stand before those who beg and ,Stop the one who wants to give from giving are the real enemies.There is no evil higher than that “, he told.
424. It is niggardliness to prevent people from doing charity ,At the time when they are having wealth and wanting to give in charity,To those who request from them and thus perform Dharma ,And it has been told in books of justice , as a thing to be avoided.”
425. ,’Oh Shukra who lacks greatness , Is it proper for you,To stop the donor from giving , what he has , to the person who wants it?Oh cruel person who stops charity , your progeny who depend on you,Would become one without food and apparel, please know this,”
426. After telling all these completely , without being convinced,By words of his teacher and minister , that Vamana was indeed cruel,Mahabali told that Vamana , “you can now measure and take ,The three feet of the earth that you want”
427. That water of charity which had the smell of the pond,As soon as it touched the hands of the one who is so dwarf,Which stature even his own parents did not like it ,To the wonderment of all those who were watching,Grew to a form almost touching the sky, like the,Help becoming great when it is done to great people
428. The feet that was fixed on the earth grew and covered all the land,And did not grow further and the leg which went on growing making the sky small,Made the entire sky look very small and because there was no space , it stopped growing.
429-430 . The feet that was in the earth measured the entire earth by one feet,And since there was no space for the third step , The head of that devotee,Himself became the third feet , and Oh Rama who carries the bow ,That very dwarf Vamana who wore Thulasi garland and ,Who was the only lord of earth, gave the three worlds to Indra to rule ,And reached near the of ocean of milk and laid down on his bed there.And those black divine feet of Lord Vishnu , when caressed,By Goddess Lakshmi appeared as if it was red in colour.
431. “Oh God who cuts off Karma and protects those who suffer,Those who see this place with love would not see any disease of birth cycle,And so I who want to carry out this sacrifice as per Vedic rules,Have decided that there is no other place except this to do this fire sacrifice.”
432. After saying that “I would do the fire sacrifice from here “ he went,Inside the garden with long flowers and collected all materials ,That were necessary and after requesting those pretty princes,To guard the fire sacrifice , he started performing it.
433. The sons of the king who was protecting the earth,Were protecting for six days, without even batting their eyes,The fire sacrifice that was being done by the sage , which is a great as well as rare job.
434. The elder one who was going round and round,The hall of sacrifice guarding it , who was like a bull asked ,The sage who was the one who knew everything,“Oh sage who has all good qualities that deserve praise ,When will the persons whom you told who are supposed to do cruel deeds,Come to this great hall of fire sacrifice .”
435. The sage who was silent preferred not to open his mouth,And the lad who was an expert in warfare saluted the sage and went back,And then , when he saw the sky he saw the asuras,Who were shouting like clouds , which made even the thunder scared.
436. They shot arrows , they threw spears , they poured, Fire and water , They uprooted big mountains and threw it,They shouted , they scared , They threw axes ,And they went on doing several magical tricks.
437. The bodies of enemies they threw , they threw battle weapons ,And they like torrential rain covered the forest ,Like the sea of wishes rising and hiding the sky,And the huge surrounding army hid the entire horizon.
438. The different type of armies who came with the bowsAnd shining swords, came playing the drums with small sticks,And made this act look like the torrential rain at time of final deluge.
439. Some of them were with split teeth , some had bitten their mouth,Some were having hair of the pearl red colour ,Some had rotating eyes emitting fire and Rama showed them to Lakshmana,And told him, These are the people told by the Brahmin sage with matted hair.
440. That younger brother to whom Rama showed all those people ,Saw the sky as well as his bow and seeing Rama saluted him and told,“Oh chief of devas you will now see that whatever is there , Would start falling now as the pieces of the bodies of those people .”
441. The lotus eyed one thinking that the blood and pieces of the body of those,Asuras whose spear emits smoke may fall on the pure sacrificial fire ,Using only his arrows made the place where the royal sage ,Was occupying in to a tent with arrows as roofs.
442. Like the devas who sought the protection of lord Shiva ,Who wears the shaking crescent when,The poison came ebbing out of the great ocean,All the great sages sought the protection of Rama ,From the attack of those very angry asuras and told,“Oh Rama who is of the black colour , protect us.”
443. Rama who showed the sign of protection to those sages ,Told them, “do not get worried , and pulled his divine bow up to his ears,And made the entire forest in to ocean of blood andMade a heap of Asura heads which looked like a mountain.
444. One of those divine arrows shot by the consort of Goddess Lakshmi,Making all the three worlds scared and attacked the two sons of Thadaga,And put one of them(Mareecha) in sea and sent the other (Subahu) to the place of God of death,.
445. That Rama who wore the garland made of the bunch of flowers,Shot arrows at the asuras and covered the entire sky within a second.Those Asuras telling each other that princes may walk on their corpses,And would capture them , ran one behind the other.
446.Those arrows which were sent to kill those Asuras,Who were running away went and hit their target,And their bodies without head danced ,And even the Ghosts which had come to eat those corpses,Sung the glory of Rama and flew like group of birds on the sky.
447. The flowers that were showered by the devas tore this curtain of birds ,and fell down ,and from the sky the divine drums like Dundhubhi made great sound like the clouds ,Indra and other devas came there and stood crowding the sky ,And praised and felicitated that pretty archer.
448. All the great sages showered blessings as well as flowers ,All the different type of trees in that forest rained flowers,And that time that sage who completed the fire sacrifice properly.Became extremely happy and told Rama the following words.
448.” You who have created all the worlds and later you,Who protected all of them by keeping them in your divine pretty belly So that none of them are damaged and ,You have now protected my fire sacrifice without any damage ,So would be the thought of the world , but the luck has been mine,But I know that this job done has not been out of ordinary for you.
450. After the sage appreciated him thus , Rama stayed with joyIn that forest with flowers along with sages of great penance And when the son of Kosala asked the sage Viswamithra,Who had mountain like good qualities “what is my job for today?Please give orders to me “ , he started telling him.
451. ”Oh lord, if I say something as a difficult job, there is nothing difficult to you ,But there is a big job for you and for doing that time would come later and so,We will go and see a fire sacrifice being conducted by Janaka ,Whose country is completely surrounded by cultivated lands ,And so please come with me “ and the three people proceeded.
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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.