Kamban (9th c.) - The author of the Tamil language rendition of the Ramayana, the first of the two major Hindu epics, is the most well-known of the southern Indian poets.
The Kamba Ramayana is Kamban's book, and it is still widely
read today.
Kamban did not just translate Valmiki's Sanskrit epic from
Sanskrit to a more common language, as he did with all vernacular versions of
the Ramayana, but altered and even added to it as he saw proper.
His heroic depiction of the demon-king Ravana, who is the
evil in the original narrative, is of particular importance.
Since Kamban was a southern Indian and Ravana's kingdom of
Lanka is generally identified as the island of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean,
southeast of the Indian mainland, this shift may reflect feelings of regional
pride.
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