By Kambar (Kavichakravarthy Kamban)
Translated in English by P. R Ramachander
Kamba Ramayanam-Sundara Kandam 4 (Padalam 10)
10. Akka kumaran Vadhai padalam Chapter on killing of Aksha Kumara.
( Aksha Kumara , the second son of Ravana and Mandodhari goes to fight with Hanuman and in a very gruesome fight he is killed along with his army.)
5668. When that Ravana who had reddish eyes like that of lac ,Heard about the death of the five commanders , he became very angry,Left out long hot breath like fire which made his garland of fresh petals,Burn out giving out unpleasant smell stood ready to go for war ,But his son Aksha Kumara saluted at both his feet,Prevented him from going to the war and requested him, “Please give me a chance.”
5669. ”My father , Since you are not fighting with the steed of three eyed Shiva,Or the steed of Lord Vishnu who measured all the worlds in two steps Which is,Garuda which flies in a great manner or the serpent on which he sleeps,Or one of those eight elephants of directions , possibly ,You are going to fight with this silly monkey .Please give this duty to me and sweetly remain here.”
5670. ”When I who am your slave is prepared to obey your order ,You ordered my elder brother to go and bring the king of Devas ,And made him do that job .and due to that I have a slight complex in the mind.But if you tell me to catch that silly monkey and bring it here,My want would be slightly compensated,. So you , who have ,Already won over all the eight directions, please send me for that job.”
5671. , “That Lord Shiva who has three eyes which he does not blink ,Possibly wanting to cause a slight insult to this Lanka , must have taken,That form of that silly monkey which eats slowly the harvested new leaves.In spite of that I would go easily and within no time catch and bring him here.”
5672. Whether it is the Narasimha which came out of the pillar which can catch anything ,Whether it is the huge Lord Varaha which carried the earth like a small piece of dust,They are not suitable to fight with me and even if there is a need to go from ,This globe to another, If I do not catch and bring it to you, please punish me for that.
5673. After telling these words , he said, “please give me leave to go” ,Saluted him and Ravana after seeing that Aksha kumara ,Who had big shoulders and was wearing heroic anklets with joy,Said, “Go in a chariot drawn by horses which run with great speed”.And that Lad who was wearing a garland of pretty flowers ,Got dressed for war and went.”
5674. He climbed in a chariot left by Indra when he was defeated,Which was speedy drawn by two hundred horses and all Asuras,Blessed him . The cloud like drums blared forth and he was ,Followed endlessly by a very powerful army ,Which was like the ebbing ocean at the time of deluge.
5675. If we can count the sharks in the ocean with tides lashing about ,Then we can count the number of elephants that accompanied that lad.If we can count the number of fish that wander about in that ocean,Then we would be able to count the golden chariots that followed him,If we could count the sand on its bank which is kept classified ,Then we would be able to count the strong foot soldiers in that army ,If we are able to count the tides that come one after other ,In that ocean , we can count the jumping horses in that army.
5676. ,Twelve thousand sons of the kings of the victorious Rakshasa clan ,Who were like sparks of fire of the shining and burning fire ,Which rose up to destroy everything at the time of deluge , and,Who were friends who did not have a soul separate from Aksha kumara,Got in to their chariots and surrounded that Aksha kumara.
5677. The sons of the members of Ravana’s council , The sons,Of his very intelligent ministers , the sons of the commanders of his army,The sons born to Ravana with the divine ladies of heaven,Numbering about four lakhs riding on ,Their machine driven chariots also accompanied him.
5678.-5679. Iron rods , pestles, spears , tridents ,lustrous axes , Vajrayudhas, goads,Strong bows with attached arrows , Vel . arrows , throw spears , swords ,Huge trees , throw ropes , Vajrayudhas made of diamonds which rise against enemies ,Pretty round rods , maces with thorns, Wheel which can kill without fail,And such weapons for attack coming close were resembling ,Several lightning joining together and were giving rise,Light like sun light and moon light and seeing many drops ,Joining together in the sky the world of devas ,Whose end cannot be predicted looked like the earth.
5680. Crows, hawks , ghosts, god of death , the sin that they ,Have done for several years , followed that lad’s army ,The mind of the peacock like Asura ladies who had words sweeter than sugar syrup,Who has red mouth , spear like eyes and shoulders like thick bamboos,AS well as several crowds of bees also followed them and went round them.
5681. Due to, the crying sound of doe eyed asura ladies who were the wives,Of these asuras , who were calling their consorts , the sound of the ocean.The sound produced due the army marching in groups,The sound produced my many musical instruments ,And sound of thunder by the clouds , what a person spoke,Was not understood by another person who was near by.
5682. The gems on the ornaments that were shining like sun light ,Were stifling the light of the sun which was pervading all over the world,The luster which was coming out of the cruel spears stifled the light of those gems,And in the light created by the crescent like teeth of the AsurasStifled the light from those weapons and due to it being like this,To the newer and newer beings that were being produced ,It neither appeared to be either night or day.
5683. At that time the horses with forelocks , which were tied ,To huge chariots got tired and were sleeping , the shoulders ,And eyes on the left side of those asuras were throbbing , the clouds ,Which were water bearing gave rise to the rain of blood ,The famished crows became happy and shouted with joy ,And the sky which was not dark was producing sound like thunder.
5684. That lad came surrounded by one Vellam of cruel army making,Devas scared and confused ., The God of death seeing that ,Became very sad worrying about the possible result?And the ghosts became possessed with rotating eyes ,Filled with joy and patting their soldiers produced harsh sound ,And with all this , the son of wind God observed,The clearly visible arrival of that lad with honey dripping garland.
5685. Seeing that lad coming , The angry Hanuman who was like a lion,Among all monkeys thought “Is this the Indrajit? Or is that ,Ravana whom I am expecting who has come the war?Has my wish borne fruit?” and then looked at his ,Pretty shoulders , greeted them , saluted Rama by his mind and told to himself.
5686. ”If the one who is coming is Indrajit or Ravana , then it must be,The result of good deeds done by me in previous births and my Lord .Sugreeva might have also get the effect of penance. I am standing ,Ready to kill him and God of death also is standing near by,And I would be able to complete my job by to night .”
5687. ”Though he is like a big blue mountain and he had faultless form,He is not Ravana who has ten heads and he is not Indrajit either ,Who has won over the thousand eyed Indra and if thought properly,He seems to be better than both of them ,He is also not God Subrahmanya ,Who excels in fighting war , Who is this faultless lad?’
5688. When after doubting like this , becoming happy, Hanuman ,Who was a faultless and sincere follower of Dharma,Sat on the arched entrance which was like a multi coloured rainbow,That Asura lad who is engaged in cruel duties saw him and told,“Did this small monkey kill the crowd of all asuras ?”And then he laughed showing his lustrous teeth in an insulting manner,
5689. The charioteer who heard such disparaging words from the lad, Said , “Sir, please hear what I have to say, Can we ever tell with boldness ,About how some event will happen in this world? Please do not find fault because it is a monkey,Vali who came and fought with our king was also only a monkey .Is there any need to talk about this subject any more?Please keep this firmly in mind and proceed to gain victory” and made him understand it.
5690. As soon as he heard these words , that lad who appeared as personification of poison,Looked at the charioteer and told, “I would not leave my anger till I kill this monkey,Who has come to our own place and did these cruel acts, Later I would go and search,For monkeys throughout world for monkeys , including those in the wombs ,And destroy all of them ,This is my oath.”
5691. That Rakshasa army departed making tumultuous sound , surrounded ,That mountain like son of Anjana and shot weapons at him like monsoon rain,And seeing that the guardians of eight directions, sweated due to fear ,The earth and heaven trembled due to that war and the valorous Hanuman ,Wearing a garland , with loneliness as his only aid , went and fought with them.
5692. All the weapons sent by the Rakshasas not able to enter inside,Broke and fell down , the elephants which dashed against him died ,The chariots as well as the crowds of horses got destroyed ,Making that city of Lanka changing its nature , the limitless number of Asuras died.
5693. There was no end to the Rakshasas who were being killed by ,Hanuman the son of wind god who was like a raging fire ,Burning the dried grass almost within no time and definitely ,The souls of those asuras who went to that far , has to go to ,The southern world of Yama , but does he have,One thousand crores emissaries to take these souls to his world.
5694. When those Asura heroes who were already there in the battle field ,Those who were coming and those who were planning to come ,Were engaged in doing the cruel war , that valorous Hanuman ,With his fighting ability increasing three folds , went like fire towards the enemies,And became similar to Sun God at deluge who burnt out everything ,And all those Asuras with strong shoulders became like bone less insects.
5695. That Hanuman who had won over his five senses , making one feel,That all the beings of Lanka , protected by the ocean with large number of sharks,Were caught by God of death in a great robbery, fought with that army.The elephants wearing regal masks , the pretty chariots , as well as the horses,Fell down upturned and were crushed and the blood that was coming of them all,Flowed like a river , making the earth slushy and thus Hanuman did not allow anyone to escape.
5696. When those Asuras who came before Hanuman were destroyed,Some of those who were alive and struggling told “Only chariots were destroyed.”Some others told, “Only foot soldiers with red faces and strong shoulders were killed”,Some others said “Majority of those killed were horses “and some others said,“Only the cloud like elephants with mask were being killed speedily.”
5697. Those very strong Asuras who were in the tumultuous ocean of that army ,Suffered like the curd made from the milk boiled and curdled by the cow herd ladies,In a wide mouthed vessel , which was being churned but Hanuman ,Who was like the matchless churner . The Asura lads with throw spears,Were looking as if all the beings of the seven worlds has joined together ,Like the water that ebbs out at the time of deluge and Hanuman ,Who was as strong as the wind God was like the fire at deluge , drying up that water.
5698. Hanuman killed all the Asuras who were coming to fight the war with him ,Some Asura heroes died , some others with shivering bodies retreated ,Huge rivers of blood started flowing and all those who were standing near,Akshakumara , unable to stand there went away and he who was alone ,In his chariot with matchless wheels went in front of Hanuman ,And with his eyes looking like burning fire sent very powerful sharp arrows at Hanuman.
5699. That younger brother of Indrajit thus arrived in front of Hanuman and ,Hanuman who was practiced with killing several lakhs of valorous souls in a single day,Stood opposite to him and seeing that the Devas , with a mind filled with mercy,With worry thought, “What will now happen to Hanuman?” and due to that ,They had the great state in which their eyes never blinked.
5700. That lad sent fourteen arrows which spit out fire at Hanuman and he ,Using a pretty iron rod made them fall on earth and they become useless,And then he sent many cruel arrows at Hanuman so that iron rod is turned in to dust,And the valorous Hanuman due to his not having any other weapon with him,Used his bare big hands as his weapon and climbed Into that chariot having rolling wheels of that lad.
5701. Hanuman stood on that chariot and killed the charioteer holding the whip,And when he pressed firmly with his hand , that matchless strong chariot ,That chariot broke in to pieces and all the horses died,And then the lad rained arrows from the strong bow and ,Some of them struck the chest of Hanuman and some others,Pierced his gold like shoulders and that wise Hanuman ,Snatched his strong curved bow and stood before him.
5702. When Hanuman snatched his very strong bow from that lad by one hand,And even before that very strong Aksha kumara started pulling the bow with both his hands ,That bow broke and that lad using his sword tried to pierce the golden shoulder of Hanuman,He who was the emissary of Rama who brought word to Sita snatched that sword,By his hand which he uses for war snatched it and making fire sparks fly,Made it fall as dust on that way.
5703. That lad who started fighting with the sword , even before that sword was broken,And reach the earth ,came forward to fight with his very strong shoulders ,And when he was trying to catch hold of Hanuman who came there ,The hairs of Hanuman which were like spear went in to his body,And Hanuman tied him with his long pretty tail so that he could not get out,Pushed him down on to the earth and sat on him.
5704. That Hanuman who caught that lad by his tail slapped him with his very broad palm,Uprooting and shattering his teeth which were sharp like the sword ,Punched him with his strong fists , which were like a victorious hill,And like the sparks of lightning falling from the cloud , made fall the gems,Studded on his ear globes and other ornaments fall down and scatter ,And also brought out his intestines which were hanging like a serpent in a cave.
5705. Using the blood flowing like river , as the water needed for grinding,With the battle ground as the mortar , with the flesh pieces which fell from his body ,On the earth looking like rice spread over everywhere , using a part of the asura’s body as mortar ,Before the soul departed from the lad , Hanuman with his two lustrous big hands,With the people of heaven and earth watching it , grinded that lad,And made him in to a paste so that his own fame ,Would exist even if all the seven worlds cease to exist.
5706. Some of those asuras who were alive hid below the blood flowing out of the wounds ,Some hid their body in the hill like corpses collected by the ghosts by covering themselves,Some others pushed by great fear died on the spot , some not knowing the directions,Wandered here and there , became greatly upset and died ,Some others lost their strength to go anywhere m, some dropped their weapons ,And remaining started running helter-skelter without bothering about directions.
5707. Some Asuras assumed the form of fish and joined the ocean ,Some others assumed the form of cows and started grazing all around ,Some assumed the form of flesh eating birds like hawks, crow etc ,Some others took the forms of Brahmins who had learned the Vedas,Some others assumed the form of doe eyed young ladies, Who had left their hair in the front,Some said, “Sir we surrender to you” and repeated name of Lord Vishnu.
5708. Some asuras when their relations or wife saw them with joy and wanted to hug them,Would say to them ”We are not your relations .We are Devas and we have come here.To witness the war “ and then went elsewhere. Some others shouted ,“We are men and not Asuras” and some others took the form of a bee ,And wandered in the garden of Mandhara trees, some others not knowing anything fainted,Some other Asuras broke their crescent like teeth and made their red hair in to black.”
5709. The Asura ladies of Lanka with faces wearing ear globes on their ears ,Who had breasts on which Kumkum paste has been applied ,With raised untied hairs which made the bees wander falling on their feet,Wailed opening and closing their scented mouths which were red like the lotus flower .And their wailing sound was even heard up to the heavens.
5710. The young ladies who were wearing pretty garlands over their red hairs,Completely worn out by crying and stood up and saluted by falling at their feet,Their dead husbands who had faces which were red like rising sun,It was not possible to distinguish them from the blood that flowing in the city.
5711. When the very pretty Asura ladies resembling very pretty dolls,Were falling on the bodies of the valorous Asuras in that faultless , cruel battle field,They were breathing heavily and had closed their bow like eyes and this was,Perhaps because they and their husbands had one soul with two bodies.
5712. Those very innocent Asura ladies ran searching for their husbands ,Like the bodies running in search of their soul and they who were running,Due to the greatness of their chastity , left their soul and died.They searched for the body of their husbands in the heaps of corpses,And joined with their faultless husbands and because of that ,Those deva ladies who had hugged their husbands , did not like them.
5713. One Asura lady who resembled Goddess Lakshmi , who had eyes like ,Sharpened sword , took a body without head which seems to have stopped dancing ,Hugged it tightly and said “Please point out to me my matchless ,Friend of my soul, “ and saluted it wailing all the time.
5714. The daughter of one Asura who was as pretty as the flower branch,Whose picture can never be drawn , holding the head of her dead husband,Seeing that his body which stands and dances has been damaged, said,“Oh king , You have become thin by too much of dancing ,So please stop this dance “ and then with hands , were as soft ,As a new leaf and flower hugged him tightly.
5715. Mandodhari who was the daughter of Maya with her kayal fish like,Eyes shedding copious tears, with her cloud like hair rolling in dust,Fell at the feet of Ravana who was the son of the son of Lord Brahma,Beat her belly , cried and wailed loudly.
5716. All the ladies of the pretty city of Lanka also fell at the feet,Of Ravana and cried with great mercy and the devas who were,Forced to protect the town also fell at his feet ,And pretended as if sad , though they were happy.
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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.