Whenever I read our Tamil epics I always wondered as if we havent given the due respect to the authors.I always felt that if every other work in Tamil can be put in one end of a weighing scale and in the other end if we put kamba ramayanam, I think it will weigh more.I believe that there is no equilant to kambaramayanam in Tamil or any other languages.Kambar stands tall among all the tamil writers.He is kavi chakravarthy after all.(I include thiruvalluvar also,i am sorry)
Call me partial to kambar.But I believe that we have done a great injustice to him.If anybody deserves a statue in kanyakumari its kambar.He is defeated in characterization as far as I know only by veda vyasa.Kambar has swallowed everybody else in the world.But even vyasa is no match for kamba when it comes to beauty of words.Only kalidasa can be compared to him.
There are many sangam songs competing with Kamban on beauty of words.But none have written such a mega epic with such beautiful words.Valluvar is hailed because of his kural.I accept is as a great work.But when I compare it with Kambaramayanam i feel like eating grapes after drinking honey.Grapes now look sour compared to honey.It beats and defeats everything else.
Why do we nhail valluvar?Many believe its because of his advises.But we hail him only since he presented his advises in beautiful words.For example take the kural "Deivam thozhaal Kholuznan thaan tholuval peiyena peiyum mazhai".Now there is a tamil saying "kanavane kankanda deivam".Both of them say the same thing.So whats great about valluvar?
Its the words he has used.Instead of saying "husband is god" he says "Deivam Tholza al"--worshiping god isnt even necessary.only husband worship is necessary.See how he lifts pathivratha dharmam up.And he adds a finishing touch to it."Peiyena peyum mazhai".Now this is not said in "kanavane kankanda devivam" adage.But he adds it and this line makes this kural even better.
Valluvar lifted dry advises to epic heights.Our natural tendency when we hear advises is to run away.But valluvar made us read those advises eagerly.But I value kamathupal of valluvar more than the first two arathupal and porutpal.Again the reason is the beauty used by valluvar.I will discuss it in a later mail.
Now coming to kambar and kalki the similarities between these two stories are striking.Both stories were fights to a throne.In both stories heroes lost the throne for some time and regained it.In both stroies heroes gave willingly the throne to their competitors.In both stories heroes were hailed and worshipped.Both stories showed how kingdoms can be ruined by females.Lanka was ruined by seetha in ramayanam and chola desam by nadhini.
If I can compare these two epics I will go on endlessly.So let me compare them in some aspects alone.(I also will add valmigi,since his was the original version).I will compare these 2 authors on how they worshipped their heroes.
I will first show what limitations these authors faced in worshiping their heroes.Kalki had to show Rajarajan as losing the throne.But he had to show it in such a way that the readers should not feel sad that their favorite hero could not become king.So the mastermind of kalki converted it into a sacrifice and made readers happy by seeing their hero sacrificing his throne to upheld rajadharma.The story ended happily.
Kalki had also to show a heroine.But who is the heroine?In reality Rajarajan married many women.But Kalki couldnt show him as a womaniser.So he again created a twist.He showed arulmozhi as "eka pathini virathan" initially and says that only the fight between vanathi and poongulali,which resulted in vanathi swearing that she would become the queen.Kalki justifies arulmozhi marrying many women on this basis.He also says through vikramakesari that a king should marry from all sitrarasars families to avoid politics.
And kalki uses actions to build the hero image of arulmozhi.He also uses words.He hails arulmozhi as "The handsomest person in choladeasm,one who was loved by every female in the country..and so on".He says that even people who hated arulmozhi started to praise him when they saw him.
If I can find any weaknesses in the hero worship of kalki it would be on this basis.Kalki couldnt tolerate his dream hero marrying many women and losing the kingdom.So he gave his own twist to the story.And he also forgets himself in many places.For instance if we can see duel hero tamil movies agni natchathram,vetrivizha etc we can see that when two heroes fight with each other nobody will be be shown as winning.But if one has to lose it will be due to some other reason like giving up voluntarily etc.Our screenplay writers could not tolerate as showing karthik losing to prabu or rajini losing to karthik etc.
Similiarly kalki also showed a sword fight between vandiya thevan and ponnyin selvan in srilanka.But here kalki faced similiar dilemma.Both were heroes.Who should lose the fight?In end he too showed them as equals and said that vadiyathevan lost the fight since he stared at poongulali.
Kambar also faced similiar situations.He had to show raman getting abused by vali.He handled that in a beautiful way.In the end the parama vaishnava of kambar could not write about uthara kanda where pregnant seetha is chased away to forest by Rama.So he stops Ramayana with pattabeshekam.
When it comes to hero worship kambar faced another peculiar problem.What can he say more about rama?Valmigi has said everything.Hundreds of books and songs have praised rama.So what better can kambar say about rama?
So Kambar worshipped Rama in different methods.He worships Rama through his enemies.He says that when Ravana fought with Rama,ravana admired rama and fought the war.Ravana even wonders "evan narayanan thano.." about Rama.
Similairly when mandothiri abuses Raman in the end those abuses also turn out into beautiful verses praising Rama.
And kambar uses poetic words which werent in valmigis ramayana.For example when rama and seetha were about to get married he says that many ayodhya citizens went to that marriage.He narrates an incident on the way.
A man and his lover also went to the marriage.On the way they stayed near a pond.The male touched a pigeon and said that it is as soft as a woman.Hearing it his lover became angry.(oodal) "How do you know it?How many women have you touched?" she asks.The lover thinks hard and says "I have touched you.Thats how I know".But the girl doesnt buy this argument."Then you should have said 'its as soft as you'.But why did you say 'as soft as women?'" she asks and fights.
Valmigi also worships Rama.He startes worshiping Rama even when rama was a kid.He says that when vasishta saw Rama for the first time a sinful thou
Well Sampath, That prompts me to read Kamba Ramayanam. But I am afraid, I can't understand that much poetic form of Thamizh (Coz I studied Thamizh only upto my 5th std).
Is there any kamba Ramayanam in Urai nadai form??? Please let me know.