English Translation of Kamba Ramayanam

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Enlgish translation of Kamba Ramayanam

 

Of human frailty

http://www.hinduonnet.com/lr/stories/2003060100350500.htm

 

In the Kamba Ramayana, perhaps for the last time in the cycle of Indian Rama

stories, Rama straddles the nebulous zone between epic hero and infallible

deity, says ARSHIA SATTAR.

 

P.S. SUNDARAM'S translation of the Kamba Ramayana is a worthy addition to the

Penguin Classics series. Published posthumously and edited by Prof. Sundaram's

long-time friend and admirer, this shortened text has many virtues. The

translation is clear and lucid, retaining as many features of the original Tamil

text as possible. The story, though well known and well loved by most Indians,

shines through as a revisioning of Valmiki rather than as a retelling of the

Sanskrit text, or even as a "translation" of it.

 

Kamban's text is dated to approximately the 11th Century, at least a millennium

after Valmiki's composition. In the intervening centuries, much had changed in

"Hinduism", most notably the intervention of bhakti. All the Hindu Rama stories

that follow Valmiki have bhakti as their dominant rasa, their pervading flavour.

Kamban's is no exception to this general rule. Nonetheless, even though Rama is

very clearly god (and seems to know it every now and then), Kamban's story still

retains the magic of human relations, of human flaws and confusions, of human

frailty and doubt.

 

A reader may well ask why it is necessary or important to read another telling

of the Rama story, or read another translation of this text. The answer to both

questions is really rather simple: each teller of a tale as compelling as this

one brings to it his or her own narrative strategy and interpretation. So, too,

each translator, especially of an edited text, brings to the translation his or

her own idiom and sensibility. Kamban's Ramayana places emotions at the core of

the story and Sundaram's translation renders these classical emotions

convincingly to the contemporary reader.

 

Scholars of classical Tamil have always held Kamban's text in the highest esteem

for its use of poetic and lyrical language as well as for its delineation of the

delicate nuances of character. Sundaram's voice is at its very best in the

descriptive passages — the portrait of the city of Ayodhya in the Balakandam,

the exquisite metaphors and similes that bring the beauty of its women to life,

the pathetic fallacy of the forest that shares Rama's grief. Where the

translation creaks for me, as a reader, is in the dialogue. Here, I find the

language and the idiom archaic and stilted. This question of register or

diction, is, however, a choice that every translator makes for him or herself.

The translator of classics should make this choice as a balance between the

original register of the text (in this case, highly formalised and classical

Tamil) and the contemporary idiom of the language into which the text is moved.

 

It is certain that Kamban knew Valmiki's composition and the Sanskrit literary

tradition, including Kalidasa, well. His exploration of the nuances and

undercurrents of the Ramayana are, to many, much more satisfying and fulfilling

than Valmiki's epic formulations. Sita's undying and unquestioning love for

Rama, Laksmana's quick temper and his impulsiveness, Bharata's determined

devotion to his elder brother, Hanuman's faith and courage — all these are made

explicit and developed fully in Kamban's telling. Ironically, the central

character, Rama, is at his most ambiguous and human in Valmiki's epic. As Rama's

divinity becomes more and more critical to the story, Rama's character

diminishes in subtlety and arguably, in interest. With Kamban, perhaps for the

last time in the cycle of Indian Rama stories, Rama occasionally straddles the

nebulous twilight zone between epic hero and infallible deity.

 

The Kamba Ramayana should be more properly referred to by it's own title,

Iramavataram. This title makes perfectly clear that this magnificent Tamil text

stands on its own, albeit within the larger Ramayana tradition. It also makes

abundantly clear who Rama is. In Kamban's story, Rama-as-god is not simply a

declaration, it is a leitmotif that runs through the text. Many raksasas and

even Vali himself, are happy to die at Rama's hands because they are assured of

salvation. In a sense, Kamban's story fits between the two major northern

versions, Valmiki's and Tulasidasa's. It does not carry the ambiguity of

Valmiki's epic with regard to Rama's divinity, nor is it drenched in bhakti like

Tulasi's. If one is interested in the growth and development of Rama as the

central figure of the current Hindu pantheon, Kamban's deification is a crucial

step along the way. But even if one has no interest in that aspect of religions

and their histories, Kamban's Ramayana should be read in this translation for

the beauty of its poetry and lyricism.

 

The Kamba Ramayana, translated

 

by P.S. Sundaram, edited by

 

N.S. Jagannathan, Penguin India, 2002, paperback, p.412. Rs. 395.

 

 

 

 

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