Episode 01 - Chapter 6 - Canto on Rama arriving at the Ganges.

Chapter 6 – Canto on Rama arriving at Ganges 

We get into கங்கைப் படலம் “Gangaippadalam” – canto of (arrival) at the Ganges:

வெய்யோன் ஒளி தன் மேனியின் விரி சோதியின் மறைய,

பொய்யே எனும் இடையாளொடும், இளையானொடும் போனான் -

‘மையோ, மரகதமோ, மறி கடலோ, மழை முகிலோ,

ஐயோ, இவன் வடிவு!’ என்பது ஓர் அழியா அழகு உடையான்.

Rama walks along and his beauty is traced by the poet with rhythmically lilting, lovely, metaphors:

The sunshine gets subsumed by the divine glow all around Rama; he walked ahead with Sita with a waist that seemed non-existent and with his sibling Lakshmana. Rama’s undiminished (by the bark attires and matted crown) beauty .. how shall we compare it? Is he the colour of the dark eye-kohl (used by women to beautify their eyes) for its richness, deeply dazzling emerald, (a green that soothes and comforts) wave-swept blue sea, (that connotes ceaseless action) rich and pregnant raincloud, (life-giving, life-sustaining source) or, AYYO! Doth He have a beauty that is indescribably immanent in His divine presence? “ஐயோ” (AYYO) is an incomparable exclamation unique for Thamizh that fits tragedy, comedy, pathos, ridicule, flattery - everywhere. Here it connotes a gasping admiration.

As the trio trek across to the banks of the Ganga, they witness the ravishing pictures presented by mother Nature, competing for their intoxicating beauty with the divine beauty of the three trekkers. Kamban gets immersed in these scenes woven around these three actors and produces in his own inimitable rhythmic flow, seven exquisitely woven verses. We shall stay satisfied with relishing just one of them.

அளி அன்னது ஓர் அறல் துன்னிய குழலாள், கடல் அமுதின்

தெளிவு அன்னது ஓர் மொழியாள், நிறை தவம் அன்னது ஓர் செயலாள்

வெளி அன்னது ஓர் இடையாளொடும் விடை அன்னது ஓர் நடையான்

களி அன்னமும் மட அன்னமும் நடம் ஆடுவ கண்டான்.

Sita, with lustrous, dense, and dark-as-a-bumble-bee, hair, (she did not mat her hair, for God’s sake!), with a delicate and mellifluous voice and words as sweet and nourishing as the nectar from the churn of the Milky Ocean, with comportment that could be equated with brimful ascetic accomplishment, with a waist that mimicked the emptiness of space, followed Rama, who, with the gait of a richly-nourished bull, walked along witnessing a captivating dancing duo, made up of a very proud male swan and a shy, bashful female one, very much mirroring the divine couple.

The threesome trek and reach the banks of the holy Ganga. The sages living there receive them with a deep love and affection and rejoice in Sri Rama’s divine beauty with unquenchable longing –

கதிர் கொள் தாமரைக் கண்ணனை, கண்ணினால்,

மதுர வாரி அமுது என, மாந்துவார்.

They devoured, with their eyes, the lotus eyed Sri Rama, like they would (greedily) drink the divine nectar.

The sages invite the three to have a bath in the Ganga and have food with them. Rama, holding Sita’s hands, wades into the holy waters of Ganga – made holy by Brahma washing His (Sri Maha Vishnu’s) feet with that same water. (A very interesting metaphor comes up!)

மங்கையர்க்கு விளக்கு அன்ன மானையும்,

செங் கை பற்றினன், தேவரும் துன்பு அற,

பங்கயத்து அயன், பண்டு, தன் பாதத்தின்,

அம் கையின் தரும் கங்கையின் ஆடினான்.

Holding the pink-tinted lovely hands of Sita, the beacon for all womanhood, and to the relief of Devas from all their travails, Sri Rama bathed in the holy Ganga.

Ganga’s holiness derives from Brahma washing the foot of Thrivikrama reaching the heavens (while scaling the second foot of space granted to Him by Maha Bali), with the water from his Kamandala (water receptacle); which flow became – according to Vishnu Purana – the holy river of Ganga.

As he bathed in the Ganga with his matted hair, Kamban sees in Rama, an image of Lord Shiva who has matted hair as well and wears Ganga in that hair-lock.

As Sita bathes, Ganga shed the frangrance she carried from the various floral crowns of Lord Shiva - எருக்கம் பூ = crown flower (Calotropis gigantean) and  கொன்றை = cassia fistula (endemic in the “mullai” (forest) land of the Thamizh land division) – and acquired, instead, the intoxicating fragrance from the lustrous hair of Sita.

Sita bathing in the Ganges brought back (for Kamban) the scene of Sri Maha Lakshmi rising from the churn of Thirupparkadal.

வால் நிற வெள்ளத்து, முழுகித் தோன்றுகின்றாள், முதல் பாற்கடல் -

அழுவத்து அன்று எழுவாள் என

Here is another of Kamban’s riveting allegory:

Ganga of yore had been blessed only to wash the lotus feet of Sri Maha Vishnu. Today, she caresses His whole Self. Would this world, washed by this exceptionally sanctified Ganga, encounter hell-like despair at all henceforward?

ஐயன் மேனி எலாம் அளைந்தாள், இனி,

வையம் மா நரகத்திடை வைகுமே?

The three of them, after bathing in the Ganga and oblations, accept the hospitality of the sages and partake of the love-filled food offered by them.

Kamban presents Guha, the chieftain lording over the banks of the Ganga, in eight riveting verses. Let us pick just one:

ஊற்றமே மிக ஊனொடு மீன் நுகர்

நாற்றம் மேய நகை இல் முகத்தினான்,

சீற்றம் இன்றியும் தீ எழ நோக்குவான்,

கூற்றம் அஞ்சக் குமுறும் குரலினான்.

Guha, thriving on meat and fish and carrying along with him that odour, with a smile-less face, with eyes that spit fire even when not angry, with a voice whose rumbles that made even the God of Death tremble.

Guha approaches the place where Rama, Sita and Lakshmana had arrived. He announces himself to Lakshmana. ‘தேவா! நின் கழல் சேவிக்க வந்தனென் நாவாய் வேட்டுவன் நாய் அடியேன்” I am a tribal who runs the boat service here; I have come to pay obeisance at your feet.”