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Continued from yesterday’s instalment
 Guha then takes Bharata to all the places where Sri Rama and Sita spent the night and where Lakshmana stood guard with bow in hand, as Bharata continues to weep seeing the grass and rocks over which his brother and Sita slept. Bharata and the army are ferried across the river. Crossing the river is a very vivid scene in Kamban - a virtual verbal painting. He takes the basic material from Valmiki and works upon it to create an extremely clear and elaborate image so that the reader is able to see the picture and also hear the sounds of animals moving, clamour of the army and people, and the way the boats move on the river - close up and long-shot as well.
If Valmiki says that chariots were transported by boats, Kamban goes one step further to portray how they were transported. For instance, look at this Sloka from Valmiki. “Ferrying the men seated (in them) those swift-going boats, which were adorned with flags and controlled by the fishermen then sailed automatically (as it were). Some boats were full of women, while others were loaded with horses; while some more of them ferried costly chariots and animals of draughts.” (Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda, Canto LXXXIX, Sloka 16, 17)
Each and every phrase takes the shape of a minimum of 3 to 4 verses in Kamban, to depict a grander picture. The art of Kamban sometimes uses the microscope and sometimes the telescope on what has been presented by Valmiki! He gets into the heart of the Aadhi Kavi and visualises the picture himself and comes out with in-depth analysis as well as a detailed picture. Let’s compare just only one of them.
There is this little phrase “while some more of them ferried costly chariots” occurring in the Sloka cited above. Boats carrying chariots is not that easy a picture to register in the mind. Some critics even brush it aside as ‘poetic exaggeration.’ Some find the poetic mind to work wonders that eludes all reason and logic. And some others find an esoteric excuse for such pictures that are so simple, yet so unusual that the human mind, that too at this distance of time, cannot perceive.
 Let’s go over to Kamban’s elaboration of the very same scene encrypted in a simple and single phrase by Valmiki.
‘kodinjodu thattum achum, aazhiyum kOththa mottum, nedum suvar kodiyum yaavum neri varu murayin neekki,’ They dismantled the chariot piece by piece. If we probe a little more we come to know that the chariots consisted of seven separate pieces. All the seven pieces are detailed here.
‘kodinji’ - a decorative piece found in the front portion of the chariot. ‘thattu’ - the base plate over which the charioteer would be seated and also that over which the elevated seat for the occupant is fixed.
‘achu’ - axle. ‘aazhi’ - wheel. ‘kOththa mottu’ - the decorative upper piece that resembles a bud.
‘nedum suvar’ the plank that serves as a wall, behind the occupant.
‘kodi’ - distinctive flag that makes the identity of the person who occupies the chariot, known from long distances.
Now the picture is clear and convincing. They could ferry the boats because they dismantled them piece-by-piece. Not only that. We are able to get to know the names of the different pieces that made up a chariot. Researchers can work on this verse and on information available in such other verses to get a glimpse into the state of the science of vehicle construction of those days. Kamba Ramayana is replete with such finer details. Valmiki was the seed and Kamban was the giant banyan tree that grew out of that seed.
More follows...
Hari Krishnan
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