x iv

spread over eight years, will be similar to that of his mentor, Rajaji. Dr Hande's mother
tongue is Kannada. Telugu was his second language for his higher studies. Besides
fostering re-communion between us and the sages of our land, this work of Dr Hande,
we hope and pray, will also in some measure, help serve one more pressing need of
the hour, namely, the promotion of national and even international integration on the
basis of ethical and spiritual values.

I he Bhavan is beholden to jagadguru Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamigal of Kanchi

Kamakoti Peetham for blessing this pious offering with his gracious benediction. We
are most grateful to Nyaya Murti M M Ismail, an eminent jurist and a veteran
scholar, particularly of Kamba Ramayanam, for his in-depth Foreword. Besides being
Dr Hande's friend and adviser, he has all along been a close associate and
well-wisher of the Bhavan. We at the Bhavan, look upon Dr Hande as one of us.
Therefore, expressing our gratitude to him is a meaningless formality. We are
thankful to our colleague Smt Kamala Chandrakant for the meticulous and painstaking
editorial help she has rendered. Our thanks are also due to Messrs Chengacherial Printers
for the excellent typesetting, and the well-known firm of Messrs S Viswanathan for
the elegant printing and get-up of the book.

Die ever-growing popularity of the Ramayana and the literature based on it in

several languages, in the print and electronic media, not only in India but all over the
world, bear testimony to Lord Brahma's divine words: "As long as the mountains
>tand and the rivers flow, so long shall the Ramayana be cherished by mankind and
sa ir it from sin."

Sri Ram, Jaya Ram, Jaya Jaya Ram

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan S RAMAKRISHNAN

Mumbai General Editor
Subramania Bharati Jayanti Bhavan's Book University
lulv 20. 19%
 FOREWORD

The R am ayana is not an epic of India alone but of the w hole w orld. There is not
a single country in w hich the Ram ayana or at least som e one or other o f its aspects,
traditions or m orals, is not know n. In any event, the w hole of South East A sia is
fam iliar w ith the Ram ayana, even though there m ay be variations from coun try to
country, in respect of one part of the story or the other, contained in the Ram ayana.

As far as India is concerned, the Ram ayana took its birth from V alm iki in Sanskrit;
and the story caught the im agination and fascination of the people to such an extent
that som e part of it or other found a place either independently or as part of som e
other w ork that originated from the country. It has spread to other parts of South East
Asia as a result of the people o f India going to these parts along w ith the said story,
in as m uch as the sam e w as ingrained in their lives them selves and therefore took root
there w ith variations in the details of the story here and there.

The first author of this great epic is V alm iki in San skrit and the oth er tw o
w ell-k now n versions are by Kam ban in Tamil and Tulasidas in H indi. The present book
is concerned w ith K am ban's version of the epic referred to as K am ban's R a m av ataram
or K am b an 's R am ay an am . There has been, from the tim e p oin t of view, a long
interval b etw een V alm iki and K am ban and adm ittedly K am ban has taken the story
from V alm iki. H ow ever, K am ban proved to be a greater artist as a poet, in his v ersion
of R am ayana. In fact, K am ban is adm itted to be the greatest epic p oet in Tam il
becau se of this creation of his.

Shri V V S A iyar has pointed out in his 'K afnba Ram ayana - A S tu d y ', a D elhi
Tam il San gam publication: "It is not easy to convince the literary w orld at this late
hour of day that there is, unsuspected by the greater part of it, a Tam il poet w h o is
w orthy to take rank w ith the greatest nam es in literature. It is, how ever, m y purpose
in this book to m ake an attem pt to prove that in the RA M A YA N A O F K A M B A N the
world possesses an epic which can challenge comparison not merely with the Iliad and
the Aeneid, Paradise Lost and the Mahabharata, but with its original itself, namely, the
kamavana of Valmiki. This is not the language of mere patriotic enthusiam. 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."

Similarly, in his Foreword to KAMBAN by the late Justice S Maharajan published

t*v sahitva Akademi, New Delhi, Professor Edward Leuders, Department of English,
Imversity of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, observes: "It is clear to me even from
a cursory reading of these excerpts that the translator is working with both a poet and
an epic poem of high calibre indeed. The characteristic reach of the poet, Kamban, for
cosmic personification in his poetry clearly ties these high and abstract matters to very
human detail It is the world of human experience he deals with, and it is through the
exaltation of poetic song that he achieves what all the world's great poetry attempts
to achieve - a marriage of the divine and timeless with the earthly and experiential".

sue h is the work of Kamban in his Ramayanam that to everyone who is familiar
with the work, he is Kavicakravarti (emperor of poets). The fact that Kamban was able
to write his epic in more than 10,000 verses of four lines each with astonishing nuances
ot p**etry and at the same time conforming to the known classification of verses in
famil language, is something not only to be admired but also to be wondered at. It is
in view of these features of Kamban's art, admirably displayed in his Ramavataram,
his name and fame have become matchless and unrivalled and the word,
Kavuakravarti has come to refer only to Kamban, and if anybody else wants to
admire or eulogise any other poet as an eminent one, the word, Kavicakravarti is
added before his name in an adjectival form.

It i> this epic of Kamban that has been rendered into English by Dr H V Hande.
 x v ii

O nce the question of translating the grand poetry of Kam ban into another
language arises, the point that im m ediately com es to mind is w hether the translation
should also be in poetic form or it can be in prose. There is no gainsaying the fact,
w hether the translation is in the form of verse or in prose, that it is im possible to bring
out the beauty, grandeur, m ajesty and the easy flow of the original of the M aster A rtist
and that too w hen w hat the M aster Artist has w ritten is som ething inim itable in style,
and selection of w ords appropriate to the character and the event. In this case, all those
who have had occasion to read Kam ban to any extent, w ould have been com pletely
taken in by and absorbed in the genius and the originality displayed. In such a context
it is unthinkable that any one can succeed in translating K am ban's Ram avataram into
English in verse form.

As a m atter of fact, Rajaji, one of the greatest men of our tim es w ith profound
know ledge of alm ost every aspect of hum an life and in w hose case, every w ord that
he uttered and every word that he w rote has proved to be profound and prophetic, has
translated in English in verse form the Ayodhya K andam of K am ban's Ram ayana,
published by Sahitya A cadem y in accordance w ith an agreem ent betw een U N ESCO
and the G overnm ent of India, in furtherance of U N ESC O 's aim to prom ote m utual
appreciation of the cultural values of East and West, and he has the follow ing to say
in his preface: "Kam ban sang the story of Ram a as of God com e dow n on earth to
suffer, chasten, uplift, help and guide men. Apart from this difference in the treatm ent
of the hero, there is considerable difference in poetic form betw een Valm iki and
K am ban. K am ban's Ram ayana is a lyric, w hile V alm iki's is an epic. The lyric is a string
of cut gem s w ith glittering facets sparkling at each turn. It is not a solem n m arch of
predestined sadness like Valmiki's epic. The lyric sparkle of Kamban and Tulasidas goes
well w ith their constant rem inder that Rama is the Suprem e Being H im self.

"The unique characteristic of Tamil verse is the initial rhyme. In good Tamil poetry,
unlike the end-rhym e in English or H industani, it is not just a purposeless jin gle that
has becom e a custom . The initial rhym e in Tamil is a m edium of em phasis and clim ax