Kambar (Kampan) (Tamil: கம்பர்) (born c. 1180, Tiruvaluntur, Tanjore district, India—died 1250[1]) was a medieval Tamil poet and the author of the Tamil Ramayanam known as Kambaramayanam, the Tamil version of Ramayana.[2] Kambar also authored other literary works in Tamil such as Erezhupathu,Silaiezhupathu, Kangai Puranam and Sarasvati Anthati.[2]
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Kambar belonged to the Ochchan or Occhan caste, traditionally nadaswaram players in southern India.[3][4] But he was brought up in the household of a wealthy farmer in Vennai Nellur in south India. The Chola king having heard of this talented bard, summoned him to his court and honoured him with the title Kavi Chakravarthi or The Emperor of Poets.[2]
Kamban flourished in Therazhundur, a village in the culturally rich Thanjavur District in the modern state of Tamil Nadu in South India. Kamban was a great scholar of India's two ancient and rich languages, Sanskrit and Tamil. Mahavidwan R. Raghava Iyengar in a scholarly biography,Kavichakravarty Kamban writes in detail about this 12th century poet.
He was supported and patronized by his friend Vallal Sadaiyappa Mudaliar.[5]
The original version of Ramayana was written by Sage Valmiki. This epic of 24,000 verses tells of a Raghuvamsa prince, Rama of Ayodhya, whose wife Sita is abducted by Ravana, a mighty emperor. In Hinduism Rama is the Seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu, one of the Hindu holy trinity (Brahma and Shiva completing the trinity).
The Ramavataram or Kamba Ramayanam of Kamban is an epic of about 11,000 stanzas as opposed to Valmiki's 24000 couplets.[6] The Rama-avataram or Rama-kathai as it was originally called was accepted into the holy precincts in the presence of Vaishnava Acharya Nathamuni.[7]
Kamba Ramayana is not a translation of the Sanskrit epic by Valmiki, but an original retelling of the story of the God Rama.[7] The poetic work is well known for its similes.
Legend has it that the entire episode was written in one night by Lord Ganesha. Ganesha is said to have written the poems that Kambar dictated to him during the night, as Kambar procrastinated the work till the day before the deadline set by the King.
There is also a legend that Ottakuthar, an eminent Tamil poet and a contemporary of Kambar[8][9] also composed Ramayanam. Tradition has it that Ottakoothar was ahead of Kambar as the former had already finished 5 Cantos but when the king asked for an update, Kambar, a master of words, lied that he was already working on the Setu bandhalam, upon which Ottakoothar feeling dejected threw away all his work. Feeling guilty, Kambar recovered the last two chapters of Ottakoothar's composition and added into his own.[10] Bala kaandam, sundara kaandam, yudha kaandam, ayodhya kaandam are four main parts of six parts called kaandam in kambaramayanam.
Many Tamil poets, statesmen, kings, common people have praised kambar for his kamba ramayanam which has more than 10,000 songs forming a greatest epic of Tamil. Kambaramayanam has more than 45,000 lines of sweetest phrases and poems. Often poets would say that, the mill in his house would also sing poem. Such is his ability to catch minds. Also he is so special in singing poems under "viruthapa", One of the "kurunila paa ", central themes of poem
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