Kamba-Ramayana in Two Volumes

The story of Rama has been dominating the Indian religious scene from the time immemorial. The complete story of the Ramayapa was hardly popular with the masses in complete form till it was composed by the sage Vãlmiki in a book form. The Ramayana which is known as the Adi-kavya or the first ornate poem according to the indigenous estimation is ascribed to the sage Vãlmiki, the Adikavi or the first author of the ornate poetry. The Ramayaa deserves to be called as the Adikdvya because of the characteristics of the ornate poetry, such as the description of nature and the presence of the figures of speech, both of words and the sense are quite auspicious.
A number of Ramayapas were composed in different parts of the country. The regional Ramäyanas were composed not only in the north but also in the south, in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada languages. Of these regional works, the Kamba Ramãyaa which was composed by Mahari Kamban, possibly was the earliest. The Kamba Rämayaia comprises of six kãndas instead of seven of the Valiniki Rãmayaia.