rama and thamizh kandathor vaigai

my poetry collections in Tamil as adaptations of the Sanskrit epics Ramayanam and Mahabaratham; I have taken liberties in my poetry deviating from how the five thousand year old epics ended the wars. In my adaptations the focus being prevention of further conflict, I choose to seek peace and collaboration and goodwill towards all humans instead of naming victors and losers, because, in today's world, there are no winners if we resort to the path of war to end another.

CONTEXT

The Sri Venkateswara Temple at the outskirts of Sydney is very dear to my husband, our children and myself. The deities stand testament to the ebbs and flows of our lives since my own arrival in Australia on 18 MAR 1986. There are several shrines and several beautiful idols installed along the walls of the shrines as integral reliefs.

rama is a poetry collection, my humble offering to the beautiful carving of rama pattabishegam as a relief on the northern wall of the sanctum of Sri Venkateswarar, and thamizh kandathor vaigai is a poetry collection my humble offering to the beautiful carving of Krishna as a cowherd on its southern wall as a relief. To me Rama personifies the human attributes of unwavering generosity of heart and Krishna personifies unwavering objectivity of intellect. In all humility I offer my poetry to Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, an embodiment of intellect seated in the generosity of his heart. My understanding of Bagavath Gita would have been frivolous but for the anecdotes from Ramakrishna Paramahamsar included in the commentary of the volume of Gita that I have relied on for decades. [REF: oru maruval, 2 JAN 2023]

Note, I to me Rama is a human worthy of worship as much as any except Sri Thyagaraja, who is divine for showing me how to find Rama through all my relationships, my husband, my son, my grand son, my brothers(including my brother-in-laws and cousins), my nephews, my grand nephews, my friends, my colleagues, and retrospectively, my grandfathers, my father and my uncle. I ploughed through my research referencing Rajaji’s chakkravarthi thirumahan, and online pages on kamba ramayanam and translations of specific verses of Valmiki ramayanam prior to writing my own poetry collection rama in the carnatic-music concert format; as an aside, I was in isolation with a diagnosis of COVID during the week I was engaging in writing rama, the exercise proving to be an effective alternative to painkillers.

You may have to get-past my eLobby to read the finished poems and other associated material as they become available.

affectionately,

SumathyRamesh

Sunday 21 DEC 2025, Sydney, ourHome, 4:50pm, aest….... “a day of reflection” as Australia mourns the loss of lives to ingrained insecurities from bygone years continuing to find manifestation with no tangible outcome or diminution of potential adversity for any human!