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Kamba Rasam

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Vijay Triplicane • February 4, 1997 


> >
Hello,
	This is from SCT. It appreciates one of the verses from the
	ayOdhyaa kaaNdam of kamba raamaayaNam. It is very interesting. 
	Enjoy the beauty of kamban's verses.
	-Viji
	(Vijay Triplicane)


> >dhinam oru paadal : 3-Feb-97
> >----------------------------
> >
> >   veyyOn oLi than mEniyin viri sOthiyin maRaiya
> >   poyyO enum idaiyaaLodum iLaiyaanodum pOnaan,
> >   maiyO? maragathamO? maRikadalO? mazaimugilo?
> >   aiyO, ivan vadivenbadhOr aziyaa azagudaiyaan.
> >
> >   - kamba raamaayaNam :
> >     ayOdhdhiyaa kaaNdam - gangaip padalam
> >
> >
> >   Words:
> >
> >   veyyOn - veyil tharuvOn, suuriyan
> >   sOthi - sudar ie. Jyoti
> >   iLaiyaan - iLaiya sagotharan ie. lakshmaNan
> >
> >This is one of the beautiful poems of this "padalam", which
> >describes the journey of Rama, Sita and Lakshmana thru' the
> >banks of Ganga river after they come out of Ayodhya.
> >
> >It's the dawn - ie. iLam kaalai nEram. Sun rays fall on Rama,
> >and they disappear before the lusture (ie. jyoti) that's emanating
> >from his body. A phosphorescense kind of effect indeed !
> >
> >And the lady walking with him, Sita - her 'idai' is so slim
> >that it creates an illusion as if it is non-existent - 'poyyO
> >enum idaiyaaL' - an exaggiration, 'uayru naviRchi' of course.
> >Kamban was the creator of this 'poyyO enum idai' and later on
> >it became a routine in Tamil poetry to describe 'idai' this
> >way and the trend continues in film-songs still.
> >
> >The real beauty of the poem, which attempts to describe the
> >real beauty of Rama is in the next 2 lines. The poet expresses
> >his continous search for a comparative object to bring out
> >the black-beauty of his hero. 'maiyO ? maragathamO ?' ...it
> >continues. It ends with 'aiyO', the normal 'ketta sakunam'
> >word in Tamil. A friend of mine, while reading out this poem
> >commented that Kamban also is employing some irrelevent
> >words like 'aiyO' while describing such a great and 'maN^gaLa-
> >karamaana' thing such as Rama's divine beauty, just to
> >rhyme (ie. edugai mOnai) with his previous line 'maiyO'.
> >
> >I didn't think so and tried to get a different explanation.
> >Where else "aiyO" is used?
> >
> >To express surprise - when you see a huge building or a drop-dead
> >beautiful women etc. you exclaim "aiyyyO" ! Kamban does the same
> >here.
> >
> >To express frustration - you try all sort of things to accomplish
> >something, get vexed and then say, "aiyOOOOOO, chchE !". The poet
> >also tries out all the "uvamais", still is not satisfied and at
> >that moment, says "aiyOOO, ivan vadivenbadhOr aziyaa azagudaiyaan !"
> >
> >
> >-Sankara Narayanan
> >
> >
> >------------------- Transliteration --------------------
> > a aa/A i ii/I u uu/U e E ai o O au q
> > k/g N^ ch/s NY t/d N th/dh n^ p/b m y r l v z L R n
> > sh S j h ksh/x
> >--------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > 
> >--------------------------------------------------------------
> >  Disclaimer : My opinions do not involve my employer ;-> 
> >--------------------------------------------------------------
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