Ponniyin Selvan Varalaatru Peravai

I will give in brief how Vali inslts Rama.See how Kambar handles the
situation.Vali lies on the ground with the arrow of Rama in his
heart.What did he see in that arrow?He saw the name Ram inscribed in
it.How does the parama vaishnava kambar describe ram's name?

He describes it as "the manthra that is the basis for all 3
worlds,the name that gives ram itself to the one who chants it,the
medicine for sins of 7 births--"Raman" vali saw it in his dying
eyes."

Then vali sees Rama and starts abusing him.How does he start the
abuse?

"Thooyavane..." see the beginning of the abuse.Thooyavane.

Next is "3 ulagamum unathu andro...".See the abuse.

Next "oviyathu elutha onna uruvathai..." see this.He lies in ground
bleeding.Opposite to him stands his killer.he calls him as "oviyathu
elutha onna uruvathoye.."

Next vali remembers seetha.How? "sanakan petra annam"--see the
words,"sanakan petra annam"--

Next abuse "Appa,if you are merciless on me,who will show mercy to
me?"See the word "Appa"

Next abuse "karunai vallale.."

Next abuse "Thonmayin nool ellavatrukkum eraiva.."--see the abuse.

Next vali abuses laxmana.How?

"Thai ena uyirkku nalgi dharmamai nindra thambi...".

Laxmana is abused as "dharmamai nindra thambi" .

vali closes his abuse as follows.

"Evu koor valiyal eithu nai adiyanen arivu thandhu
arulinai.Moovar nee,mutrum nee,muthalvan nee,matrum nee,dharmam
nee,paavam nee,pagayum nee,uravum nee" (vali means arrow here,nai
means dog)And vali closes by calling Rama as "dharmame" and "oviya
uruva"

When kambar describes seetha he forgets everything.When Rama met
seetha for the first time in mithilai kambar describes seetha as

"ponnin jothi,thenin theem suvai,kavi inbam,thalir
maane,thene,amuthe "...and he closes it with "ip pavai thondralal
alagum or alagu petrathe".

He says beauty got beauty since this woman was born.

"Annalum nokkinal,avalum nokkinal" is popular.But see the lines
before it.

"kannodu kan kavvi,ondrai ondru unna,unarvum ondrida annalum
nokkinan,avalum nokkinal"...

"Eyes swallowed eyes and ate each other....." can anybody write
anything better than this?

VVS Iyer wrote in 1950 about kambar as follows.

"It is not easy to convince the literary world at this late hour of
the day that there is, unsuspected by the greater part of it, a
Tamil poet who is worthy to take rank with the greatest names in
literature. It is, however, my purpose in this book to make an
attempt to prove that in the Ramayana of Kamban the world possesses
an epic which can challenge comparison not merely with the 'Iliad'
and the 'Aeneid', the 'Paradise Lost' and the 'Mahabharata', but
with its original itself, namely, the 'Ramayana' of Valmiki. This is
not the language of mere patriotic enthusiasm. It is an opinion that
has grown slowly with the years and after deep and careful study.
And I hope to make the impartial reader rise from the study of this
monograph with a conviction of the truth of my contention and with a
desire to know more of the poet than what he will see exhibited
within the pages of this volume...

I spoke of Valmiki's work as the original of Kamban's Ramayana. But
Kamban has not translated Valmiki. He has merely taken the story
immortalised by the Aryan sage and, though he has followed it
closely enough in all its details, has written an entirely original
poem. Bentley said of Pope's Iliad', 'It is a pretty poem, but you
must not call it Homer.' Of Kamban's Ramayana we should say
reversing the language, it is not Valmiki Ramayana, but it is a
grander poem.'

...The reader will have noticed that the Ramayana follows in its
natural order the life of the hero from his birth and childhood up
to the close of the action which forms its theme. On the other hand,
the epics of Europe, as is well known, follow their prototype and
example, the 'Iliad', and start the story as near the end as
possible, filling in the earlier events by slight allusions as well
as by episodic narrative. These epics have an undeniable advantage
over the Indian maha kavyas in that their dramatic opening arrests
the imagination even at the very commencement of the poem, while the
Indian epics have to gather momentum before they are able to carry
with them the attention of the modern reader. But our great epic
poets have proved one may tell a story in the chronological order
and yet write a poem that generations will not willingly let die...

....The build and structure of the Ramayana of Kamban are superb.
The poem satisfies the soul with its ampleur, the proportion of its
parts, and the art with which the parts are combined into an organic
whole...Kamban has shown his genius for the architectonics of poetry
both where he follows Valmiki as well as where he departs from his
order...

...Now the plot in almost all its details is Valmiki's. But if
Kamban takes the situations from Valmiki, he has treated them
absolutely in his own way. In the manner of developing the
situations, in the gradation by which the climax of each situation
is brought about, in the justesse which knows how to bring about all
its capabilities out of each situation, we feel the touch of the
master artist. In the manner also in which the incidents have been
joined together to form the whole, no ordinary skill has been
displayed. Every limb of Kamban's story is of course familiar to the
student of Valmiki. But on going through the whole poem of Kamban,
one is constrained to exclaim, 'Here is a building which is built on
the same plan no doubt, and with the same materials, but which
possesses a striking individuality of its own.'...

..In the delineation of character, Kamban stands on a level with the
greatest poets in the world. The lines are drawn with a firm hand,
and the characters are painted with such accuracy and fullness that
from any single sentence, and sometimes even from a single phrase in
a speech, one can tell the person speaking without any the least
doubt.

Here too, Valmiki has set the stamp on the characters of the
Ramayana. But in Kamban's hand they have become much more grand. The
student of Valmiki will wonder how his Rama and Bharata, Ravana and
Kumbhakarna, Vali and Hanuman, Sita and Kausalya, and the rest could
be improved. The fact, however, is there that Kamban's heroes and
heroines are beings of a decidedly higher stature than those of
Valmiki..."