The story of Rama has been told many times, in many languages, ever since Valmiki's account of it shaped itself about two thousand years ago. The reader would, therefore expect to find a manifest justification for one more book, beyond that of the author's subjective satisfaction in handling the great story.

What this book offers is a comparative study of Ramayanam as told by the adikavi, Valmiki, and as rendered by Kamban, the first poet to re-tell the epic in a regional language, viz., Tamil. Kamban came nearly ten centuries after Valmiki: his language, Tamil, endowed him with an inheritance that was rich and felicitous, yet distinct from Sanskrit. Thus, commonality as well as individuality can be discerned in every page, as the; two poets are held side by side. While Valmiki is the source and inspiration for Kamban, the difference in the cultural milieu that influenced the two poets is reflected in the many little points of linguistic and literary excellence that enrich the narrative, in either language.

However, what has been a desideratum is a comparative view of the two classics; although translations in English are available of Valmiki in full and of Kamban in parts, a critical appreciation of the two is something which the earnest reader does not have. This work has its genesis in the belief that a binocular view of Valmiki and Kamban can open up unseen vistas of literary gratification _x0096_ belief which I had occasion to test in my book Kavya Ramayanam' that came out in Tamil. The response which that book has evoked has been such as to reiterate the importance of bilingual studies. The growing interest in Ramayana studies in the countries of S.E. Asia also warrants the assumption that a study of this kind can stimulate further interest in the literary aspect of the two classics in Sanskrit and Tamil.

Literature is, indeed the aspect on which the focus is held; for it is as an epic poem that Valmiki gave his work to the world and that works is held as primeval in Indian literature. If succeeding generations fostered the divinity of Rama, it was a consequence of the custom by which ruling chief sought to identify themselves with Rama, leading to the notion of deva-raja, which spread even beyond the shores of India. To reinforce the image of Rama as an avatara of Visnu was to raise themselves in the eyes of their subjects. Kamban's epic which belongs to the tenth century A. D. retains, in adequate measure, the vitality of human characterization that is manifest in Valmiki; with an occasional reference in extolling terms to the divinity of Rama, Kamban achieves a portrait with a multi-dimensional effect without detriment to the human aspect.