Kambar (poet)

Kambar (Kamban in casual address) (Tamil: கம்பர்) (c. 1180, Tiruvaluntur, Tanjore district, India – 1250) was a medieval Tamil poet and the author of the Ramavataram, popularly known as Kambaramayanam, the Tamil version of Ramayana. Kambar also authored other literary works in Tamil, such as 'Thirukkai Vazakkam',Erezhupathu, Silaiezhupathu, Kangai Puranam, sadagopar anthathi, and Sarasvati Anthati.

Kambar belonged to the uvachchar or உவச்சர் (ஓம் அர்ச்சகர்) caste, traditionally priests in southern India. However, he was brought up in the household of a wealthy farmer named Sadaiyepa Vallal in Vennai Nellur in Tamil Nadu. The Chola king—having heard of this talented bard—summoned him to his court and honoured him with the title Kavi Chakravarty (The Emperor of Poets).

Kamban flourished in Therazhundur, a village in the culturally rich Thanjavur District in the modern state of Tamil Nadu in South India. Kamban was a great scholar of India's two ancient and rich languages; Sanskrit and Tamil. In a scholarly biography, Kavichakravarty Kamban, Mahavidwan R. Raghava Iyengar wrote in detail about this 12th-century poet.

The original version of Ramayana was written by Valmiki. It is an epic of 24,000 verses which depicts the journey of Rama, a prince of Ayodhya who belonged to Raghuvamsa (Solar dynasty). In Hinduism, Rama is the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu, one of the Trimurti (the Hindu holy trinity which includes Brahma and Shiva).

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