By Kambar (Kavichakravarthy Kamban)
Translated in English by P. R Ramachander
Kamba Ramayanam-Yudha Kandam 2 (Padalam 6)
6. Varunanai vazhi vendu padalam
Chapter on requesting God Varuna or the way.
(On advice of Vibheeshana does seven days penance to seek help of Lord Varuna. He does not come.Rama gets angry. Sets fire to the ocean .Then he takes Brahmastra and was about to send it.Varuna comes apologizes and requests Rama to build a bridge.He also Requests Rama to kill a group of troublesome Asuras by the Brahmastra,. IN Valmiki Ramayana Lakshmana requests Rama not to use Brahmastra. There Brahastra converts the Maru desert in to a fertile plane)
6589. Rama asked Vibheeshana, “Oh very learned person , if this sea comes under our control,Suppressing these three worlds and destroying it would not be difficult for our shoulders.Please think about some method so that our great exuberant army ,Can cross this blue cruel sea that is spread before us .”
6590. Vibheeshana replied , “this ocean has been dug by your forefathers and has spread ,And that God of the ocean knows that you have left the form of God and has taken form of man,And so with kindness it will give us boons and so find out how we can cross it ,You surrender to this ocean with big waves and ask the way from it itself.”
6591. Rama said , “The words of the king of Lanka are great “ and agreed to the proposal,And then with his very close friends walking on both sides , that very strong Rama ,Reached the beach and by that that time the horses drawing the chariot of the sun god,Dragged his chariot up from the rising mountain and took it up in the sky .
6593. Praying for a way through the sea so that young lady Sita ,Who had been imprisoned by Ravana could be freed , as per the advice of the Vedas,The ocean of mercy Rama spread Durbha grass on the sea shore ,And was lying on it facing the ocean after saluting as per rule God Varuna,He was meditating on the Varuna Manthra.
6594. All the dust of the beach settled on Rama and his pretty face was caressed by the rays of the Sun, which were hot and faultless and Rama was lying down there with closed eyes,And spending one day was like spending an eon and seven days passed by .But Varuna the king of the ocean with ebbing tides did not come.
6595. Thinking that” we did not hear from the king of the sea who was very proud ,Either yes or no ,” like fire appearing in the flowing water , due to great anger,The lotus like eyes of Rama became red due to great rage.
6596. Becoming extremely sad thinking , “When I who am greatly sad due to losing my wife Requested humbly Lord Varuna to give me a way , does Varuna hide from me,To show his unwillingness “ With a breath that was like fire with long light ,Bent his healthy high brows like a bow which is tied by a string.
6597. ”If a person does not request any thing from any body , if such a one goes ,And requests some thing from others, that one would not move away,From inferior status, Today when I requested Lord Varuna,For a way to go to Lanka he has refused, good, good,” Said Rama with great anger with a laugh anger and laughed,An angry loud laugh producing great fumes.
6598. ”Possibly that Varuna who is the king of the ocean thought that,I am holder of an inferior bow and due to my being one whose wife,Has been abducted from me , he thought perhaps that I am a man,Without proper valour and developing a bad opinion about me ,Became one without any mercy on me ,” Rama told.
6599. ”If we want to get a thing from another person, one method ,Would be to protect him and get it from him and the other one,Would be to wage a war , become victorious , drive him away ,And then get it from him , and this has been a practice from olden times .In spite of that I wanted to request Varuna and get it from him ,Which is not suitable to my nature and so stealing the way would be better’There is no point in talking further “Said Rama.
6600. “Let the devas see the my inferiority in standing here alone with a bow,And without an army and the greatness of the ocean with fishes ,Who considered me as useless because I left my home , lived in the forest ,And became flabby by eating only vegetables and fruits ,And developed a huge body and unnecessary flesh.”
6601. ,”Because of my begging Varuna being scared of evil , he thought that I am simple ,And has not come and so I would make by using me arrow powder the seven oceans ,Make the five elements come and salute me and cry so that they can live ,And my monkey atmy without any fear would enter the sea and walk in the sea.’
6602. ,”The really wise people who has enjoyed the joy of salvation , if this come to this world,And if those people had some specialties some one likesbut they would not like to,Find out who they are and appreciate them due to their small form and even though small people ,Possessed fire like valour they would not get scared of them because,People who see an inferior form , would not try to understand their greatness.”
6603. When Lord Rama with slightly less control over his mind, looking like,The angry Sun at time of deluge and who had face losing its normal luster,Asked several times to his younger brother Lakshmana ,”Please give me the bow”,Several times, Lakshmana also tortured by anger with eyes ,Giving out flames of fire , Gave the bow to Lord Rama.
6604. After taking the cruel bow given by Lakshmana , Rama tied the quiver ,Full of arrows on the right side of his mountain like shoulders ,Wore the covering to his fingers , drew the string of the bow ,And the sound that was produced , brought to an end ,The love tiff that Uma the consort of Lord Shiva , with her lord.
6605. After selecting arrows which were sharp and considered as best ,Which were more numerous than the rain drops and were the best ,And which were like the rays of sun at deluge which would drink away,All the sea water , Rama sendt those hort arrows towards the ocean.
6606. Bending his very strong bow which was greater than the seven mountains,Of Lord Vishnu , like the crescent of moon during waxing period , sent arrows ,Which were three times more powerful than the fire at deluge which burns away ,All the movable and immovable beings , aimed at the ocean.
6607. Making the fish , serpent and sky touching mountains as fire wood,And due to the burning of the trees by the fire on the sea , making ,The water with foam of the sea as ghee , which was lit by fire like arrows of Rama ,It appeared as if the pit called the Ocean has become an altar where fire is burning.
6608. The Arrows which were sent by that cruel bow of Rama , after filling,All the seven oceans with smoke and appeared like the flame of fire ,Which is seen as deluge and further travelled with great anger ,And put out the darkness which was there beyond the horizon.
6609. Due to the arrows sent by Rama hitting the soul point of the whales,They all fainted and these arrows also burnt the Karpaga trees in the sky,And similar to fire and thunder falling the water of the sea went towards heaven,
6610. Due the fire with hot sparks which was burning greatly , burnt The moving clouds in the sky and being fried, those clouds became a dust,And started falling down and the sea water also went up and rose above,The limits of the sea and the smoke rising from that went up ,And dried the hair of the dancing girls of heaven who were dancing.
6611. Because those straight arrows without any bent were hitting every chestThe sharks bled and died and the pieces from them were scattered everywhere,And hit by those arrows the whales were also cut and their pieces spread everywhere.
6612. Due to hundred, thousand and crores of arrows entering the sea ,The fire rose up throwing ash and burnt all the mountains and because ,Those arrows went down and reached Patala and the bed of the sea ,Became slushy , rose up and the the thousand heads of Adi Sesha were baked.
6613. Due to war efficient arrows of Rama burning with great flame,Like the clan of one telling false witness getting completely destroyed,The fishes started getting destroyed along with their clans and,The row of palm fishes started wandering with arrow in their body.,And were looking like long wooden ships travelling in the sea.
6614. The blood that flowed from the bodies of fishes hit by the arrows,Mixing with the fire was looking like the sky at sun set and that measureless,Sea due to the long arrows piercing it row by row burnt the fishes in to coal.
6615. ,Due to the sharp arrows sent by Rama who was the king of the world .Drinking away water , the water in the sea dried leaving very little water there,And that black sea with all its sides surrounded by fire ,Which was difficult to be put out , the sea was like frying pan ,In which the fishes were getting fried in the ghee.
6616. , Due to countless cruel arrows going through their blood stained mouth ,And due to that their drinking measureless amount of sea water ,The huge heaps of lustrous gems that were lying in the sea bed Were lying there unquenchable fire embers producing great heat ,And was heating boiling the entire sea.
6617. Due to arrows drying away all water and the entire sea becoming dry,The dead fishes , conches , vegetables and roots were seen lying ,Here and there with their entire body being cooked well ,And those which were lying on the slushy mud looked ,As if they were fried deeply due to entire water becoming steam.
6618. Those hot shaking arrows hitting each other , fire was produced ,And it started burning like a big bamboo forest and all the wishes got well cooked,And all the other beings that were living in the ocean were hit by the arrows,Shed lot of blood which mixed with the tides of ocean and lashed on the banks.
6619. Due to the cruel arrows sent by Rama piercing them , the boiling water of the sea,Which rose up , the tall trees which were stable in the earth and also the mountains ,Started burning as if they were anointed by oil.
6620. The arrows chosen by Rama who was the lord of all gods went faster than mind ,Saying ‘This is the curse given by Lord Brahma “ and without deviating from its aim, And due to that the very huge fire with burning flames rose up that sea,Was having look of a pond with scented waters and fully opened red lotus flowers.
6621. “If we say properly would the angry outburst of great people not turn,In to an event causing good?. WE have seen it personally now . Due to too much ,Of salt in the water which does not reduce , we call it a salty ocean ,But now that bad name has been removed by Rama and it would be called Arrow ocean.”
6622. , After swallowing all big universe globes which are stacked one over the other ,During the deluge, Lord Vishnu protects them and to him is it a great deed,To dry the water of the ocean? The earth is eaten by the water ,Which spreads everywhere and fire has the ability to eat away that water ,And he had establish this fact as truth by his act .
6623. The great sages who were doing auspicious penance normally,Live day and night in that ocean but their body was not scalded ,BY these hot arrows because they always meditate on the divine feet,Of the lord they were easily going about in the raging fire as if it is a stream of water .
6624. Due to huge smoke surrounding all the four directions ,The horses which were drawing the chariot of Sun God ,Lost their green colour and assumed black colour , lost theitr way,And being perplexed were not able to proceed any further .
6625”. Though Rama knew about the pain of separation , behaving like ,One who does not know and his arrows have searched ,And killed our lady birds”, saying this all male birds jumped in fire and died.
6626. That black sea which keeps on moving impatiently , due to fire,Spreading in all directions due to the arrows sent by Rama,Was looking like a burning bamboo forest , is there a need to tell this?And due to heavy smoke surrounding , the Devas who never blink their eyes ,Started blinking and also they had sweat on their bodies.
6627. All those swans which got bad name as their gait was not comparable ,To that of Sita who cannot even walk on the flower , due to there being,No path without fire , flew on the sky in all directions and just like,The fame of the sea god getting destroyed , they also were destroyed.
6628. All those water fowls which were living in the ocean ,Which was spread everywhere , started going on the sky ,But fell on the raging fire and got burnt ,And the clouds which were not able to travel on the sky .Were burnt by the fire all over became powdery and fell down.
66 29. Since the burning fire surrounded everywhere , those who died,Falling on the fire died and those which did not die , not able to find,Their eggs as the fire was everywhere went to some other safe place ,And whenever they saw white pearls , they mistook them for their eggs.
6630. ”Oh sinners , we thought that the great one called Rama was but a man,And lacked the capacity to know his great prowess “ said some monkeys ,Living in water , Showing their white teeth , and instead ,Of surrounding the sea , they started jumping on the sky.
6631. The Avunas who had spear coated with blood and flesh ,Who were habituated to do great evil and who were living ,Hidden under the long sea lost their life due to heat of Rama’s arrows ,And they were floating in the ocean like the mountains.
6632. Due to the fire emanating from arrows of Rama all those golden planes,Flying in the sky melted and dropped down and they were looking,Like the water pouring when the water pot breaks and ,The rivers of the sky became completely dried up ,And even the fishes of the sky(stars ) got baked.
6633.The arrows of Rama which had drunk all the water of the ocean,Like Sage Agasthya were great , were able to grow fire ,Were those who only go according to Dharma , Were having great penance ,And because they were greatly enraged had several forms.
6634. Due to the fiercely burning in the tumultuous ocean with great tides,The entire earth surrounded by ocean along with gardens started burning ,Even the huge compound wall of Lanka was burnt and the Rakshasas there ,Were telling “That emissary of Rama has again come to Lanka to torch it” and were jolted.
6635.The trikoota mountain which was as lustrous as the Sun , due to the fire,Started melting like lac and due to blood also mixing with it ,It was looking red like Murukka flowers and all the coral reefs,Of the sea were also completely burnt and were similar to heap of charcoal.
6636. The big fishes which can be called the famous great mountains ,Try to stay in one place and save their lives and became unfit to live andTravelling in between hot waters , they thought the fire would be better ,And with very shaking and shivering body they jumped to the land.
6637. After the arrows sent by Rama destroyed the curly ocean tides ,Which ate them there was no water left in the sea for the fire to eat,And so those arrows started going all round the earth ,With a luster similar to Sun and went even to ,The land of serpents so that darkness is removed from there.
6638. They went along with ocean whose top is of black colour and the earth,Also goes along like molten steel and got in to them and also ,Proceeded beyond the horizon and mountain of setting and ,Went to other universes and the huge after sea after that.
6639. All the raised land in the midst of the ocean were broken ,And the collection of gems that were dropping from there,Appeared similar to the splitting of a big body and flow of blood from thereAnd because Rama ‘s arrows split the entire ocean there was no water in it ,And huge water snakes were lying at the bottom similar to intestines.
6640. With water completely drying out in the sea , that ocean,Looked like a box in which precious gems were storedAnd since the sound producing conches which got out of there ,Had arrows in the front side holes m, they looked like ladles .
6641. Since Rama had sent one hundred thousand arrows , the number,Of hills inside the sea became , one lakh crores in number,And each gem hitting one gem made in to one hundred gems,But if noble people get angry , would those ,Who get subjected to that anger , would not get reduced.
6642. When that Rama the lord of all beings who became hot due to great anger ,Killed beings with stable lives they got the destruction less salvation ,And like the fire spreading in the forest filled with large number of bamboo bushes ,The fire from those arrows spread on all sides and reached the ocean.
6643. Due to the arrows which were like death spreading all over the sea,The huge world who is our mother earth , after taking away ,Her dress which was like the blue sky and dressed herself ,Red dress with flowers on it and was looking very pretty.
6644. , The arrows of Rama who cannot be reached by the knowledge Of the wise people after drinking all the sea water ,left that sea,And the northern fire in the middle of the sea got stronger ,And got up and started running to reach another sea.
6645. Due to that fire completely surrounding the entire earth ,And standing touching the sky , the light from that great fire ,Was visible all over the world and on that day appeared as if,It wanted to eat away the entire world, like the time of deluge.
6646. Due to the fire leaving the sea and standing erect spreading its heat,All the Devas who stayed on the sky, went up further to the heavens ,And from there went to the land of Lord Brahma and started living there,And is it necessary for us to tell what the people living on earth did?
6647. Rama thinking “ What is the point in thinking about the sorrows .That are likely to come ?I would make Varuna come here with great speed”With great ebbing anger which could not be opposed by anybody ,And started shooting The Brahmastra and devas were greatly disturbed.
6648. All the clouds started shouting , Varuna with his mouth dried wailed,All the rivers in the world got dried up and all this happened due to the fear,That who can escape the power of Brahmastra and all directions got powdered.
6649. The great sea which was beyond the universes started boiling ,And what is the need to tell about seven oceans of the world ?The lady who was sitting on the head of Lord Shiva for a long time was startled,And the water in the water pot of Lord Brahma started boiling making KULUKULU sound.
6650. All the wise men and Devas became very miserable thinking “The lord,Who created the world when he was merciful and who can hide it when needed ,Is known to us but it looks as if we have not understood him .This Varuna who is delaying arrival in spite of seeing the great anger of Rama ,Is possibly a greater enemy to Rama than the asuras who are his enemies.
6651. He who was all alone ad created all the worlds from himself ,Started getting very angry .All the elements scared as to how ,They can escape from this anger as though they have ,Not any mistake , they also may be punished and ,They started berating Varuna , the God of the sea.
6652. Due to the spreading fire and the smoke that engulfed every where ,Unable to find his way out , Varuna , with eyes which had lost its prettiness ,Due to constant crying , with a heart that was melting due to love for Rama,Scared and lifting his hands up in salutation , telling words of praise of Rama ,Came speedily and then appeared before Lord Rama.
6653. ”Oh Lord , I who was at the very end of these oceans did not know ,That you have thought about me “ saying this as if to remove suspicion from Rama That king of the ocean came walking in between the tides of that black sea,Which was surrounded by fire .
6654. That Varuna the king ocean with tides came with words falling from his mouth,With his head burnt by fire , with a mind greatly rattled , with a disfigured body,Due to it catchinfg fire , like one who lost his eyesight due to great smoke ,With great fear and being sad due to sorrow and with great pain.
6655. ”Oh lord who is the chief of all these faultless worlds , if you , yourself,Lose your temper with me , except your divine feet what other armour can I have ,Except which I have seen nothing,. Is it not strange for you to burn the ocean?To me who am living because of your strength ,. Is there any other strength?I surrender to you”, like this he went on babbling again and again.
6656. ”Oh Lord who lives as personification of Vedas, You are this sea water and,You are the fire that burnt it and you are also all other elements ,You are the final deluge that burns this world and you are all the beings ,That live in those worlds .Oh Lord who lives forever, how can I forget you?Due to the burning fire surrounding me I was almost destroyed,And so please save me and also give me protection?”
6657. You would create all the world and after creating you would protect them,And at the end of final deluge you would burn them with red fire and destroy them,You are the one who keeps all the worlds in your belly and to you who can do anything, Is any action impossible? By using a sharpened arrow you would destroy all the worlds ,If we think , was there a necessity of this much anger against the dog like me?”
6658. ’Oh Lord who as light remains in the middle of Sun who by the cruel sword ,Of rays of sun light cuts off the forest called Darkness , Oh Lord who is the life of Vedas ,Oh Lord who lives in the lotus like heart right from the ancient Brahma to ,All beings who stand , I praise you , I salute you.”
6659. ”Oh merciful lord , you saved the entire world by keeping it in your belly ,Without any one knowing about it, Oh Lord who is the first among all beings,Who took his form from the basic portion of Vedas which cannot be found fault with,Oh primeval one who appeared when the elephant called you to protect him,Riding on a Garuda and killed the crocodile and saving the elephant, I praise you, I salute you?”
6660. ”You are my mother , you are my father , You are also everything ,You are the beginning , you are the end , you are my luck, my loss,And when I think like this , how is it proper to say I abused you,When you who are the God who can do everything , does not know yourself,How can I who am your slave claim to know your greatness.”
6661. He then kept as offering on the earth one lustrous garland ,Which even made Sun God who removes darkness from every where inferior ,And told, “If small people do mistake out of ignorance ,The big people should pardon that, Oh God with thousand names ,I am surrendering to you “saying like this he fell at feet of Rama.
6662. When the God of the sea showed his form which was as lustrous as,A mountain burning in fire properly and said, “I surrender to you”,Rama cooled down by leaving out his anger , just like the milk ,Coming out due to exposure of great fire goes down by sprinkling of water.
6663. ”Do not get scared .I am giving you protection , With love I am offering endless,Salutations to you and request you tell why you did not come when I begged you to come ,And came and stood before me when I became angry ,Please tell me in a way that I can understand,” said Rama ,And Varuna offered salutations to Rama and told.
6664. “I came to know only through your words the things that happened ,To Lady Sita who is a more patient wife than the earth as I had not come from Devas,“Oh pure one , I am telling as oath on you , I had gone to the seventh sea with heavy tides,To end the war due to enmity among the fishes there and as,I did not know anything which happened in between any where.”
6665. When Varuna told like Rama became merciful on him and said to him,“Let this remain like this , but please tell me an aim to this arrow which is kept on my bow,”And Varuna said, “Good , Oh Lord who has mountain like shoulders ,I will tell you an aim that would remove the sorrows of this world.”
6666. ”Oh king , In an island called Marugandhara which is an island in between the oceans,There are more one hundred crores Asuras who keep on eating all beings ,And due to that several parts of the earth have been destroyed and ,Those people also do lot of harm to me and so send this arrow,More lustrous than lightning on those cruel ones and kill them.”
6667. Lord Rama who is beyond the reach of the wisdom of greatly wise people,Who have collected great books of wisdom , learned and thought about them,Send the arrow telling it , “Go speedily and kill those Asuras along with their clans,Who are more than one hundred crores in number “ and within a second ,That godlike arrow destroyed all those Asuras and came back.
6668 . Would those who do only good deeds after great thought ,Only good events happen and they would never be destroyed?And did not that anger of Rama without doing any harm to Varuna,But changed its direction towards the Asuras of Marugandhasa, And did it not do very great harm to them?”
6669. That arrow of Rama went speedily to several Kadham distance ,And killed those Asuras who were Asuras who were doing only evil,By making smoke surround the Marugandhara Island by lighting it with fire,And in this it was like the curse of great sages who knew all of the Vedas ,And who were like light which can remove the inner darkness of people.
6670. That Rama who gives what they want to all those who want looked at Varuna,And told, “You told “I surrender to you” and due to that I killed all the anger in me ,Towards you . Please give me a way to go to Lanka because those evil people ,Who reside there has made it to a moat to the evil country and are dancing there,So that I would get the bad man who did not have strength to protect my wife”
6671. “Oh Lord with great penance , it is impossible even to me who is the king of sea,To measure the depth and width of this ocean and even to the seven worlds,Which are stacked , if sea is not there , no border exists .Oh Lord who always lives greatly,If you decide to completely dry the ocean, there would be great delay ,And all the members of huge monkey army would become restless and tired.” Said Lord of the sea.
6672. ”Oh lord who is my father , if I make the water of the sea as hard as the stone ,All the innumerable beings that live in the sea would quickly cease to live ,And I would be holding in my hand all that is placed on me and so ,Please construct a bund over my head and cross me using that bund.”
6673. Rama said, “well we will do that . If we build a bund over the sea,Then the greatess of this cool sea would get destroyed by our doing it ,And all the other four elements would become favourable to us ,So bring hils , stack them on the sea and build a bund over it “Ordered Rama to the monkeys and started to go to his place .Varuna who had mercy of Rama in him also left.
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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.