Kambar is known for his humility even after writing about 11,000 verses which I chose to aptly translate and express in the following manner.
Sri Ramayana – My humble submission.
‘In a story told, there was a hungry cat in anger,
That marched in search of food to alleviate hunger.
The cat walked up the hill to reach the Milky Way,
Not to spare a drop of milk but to drink them all away.
On the way, in a house nearby, a bowl of milk was kept aside
The cat lapped up the milk and soon was satisfied.
He turned around halfway and chose a corner place to stay,
Settled there to sleep and rest to glory all day.
My eagerness to write this epic poetry,
Is like the desire of the cat in the story.
How am I better or how am I different,
Rama’s greatness has no end, how could I say ‘I’m done’?
Like the blind, who wish to paint or a dumb who wish to speak,
Is my wish to tell the story of Rama in this great epic.
The picture of a Palace with doors and with windows,
With a chalk piece on the floor, as the children choose and draw,
An artisan, a passer-by would smile with joy to see,
The little children draw those pictures with all their zeal
So would be the learned and the scholars of the day,
The saints and those poets of the future and today.
They would not spot, what is short and left unsaid,
But appreciate the Epic story, written as Poetry instead.
Rama Rama Rama Rama Rama Rama Rama Ram
Rama Rama Rama Rama Rama Rama Rama Ram’
– Srirangam Ramesh