In The Kamba Ramayana, the very first reference to Bharata’s character is “He who was born knowing the essence of the vedas was given the name Bharata” (p.33) This gives a hint about his excellent virtue and his bond with Dharma. In The Kamba Ramayana, Bharata is portrayed as a real hero. He has remarkably tried to shed light on Bharata’s personality, mindset and sufferings. But in The Kamba Ramayana, the author has tried to portray him as a separate and a major character. In Valmiki’s Ramayana and several other Ramayanas, Bharata’s character is only limited to being the brother of Rama. In The Kamba Ramayana, the author has focussed on several such characters that aren’t much popular in many Ramayana versions, and has tried to portray them in a different light.
The story of Ramayana has often been moulded as per the author’s wish and the reader’s demand. The authors of those Ramayanas have intentionally done that in order to attract more followers towards Jainism. For instance, in several Jaina versions of Ramayana, Rama and his brothers are portrayed as the followers of Jainism. Different Ramayana narratives are based upon different cultures and traditions. Although the majority of the different versions of Ramayana focus on the character of Rama as the story is based upon his journey, there do exit several such versions that do not focus and follow the same story pattern. It is a quite well – known Tamil epic written by Kamban (Kambar). The Kamba Ramayana, also known as Kamba Ramayanam and Ramavataram, is one of the different versions of Ramayana (the story of Rama’s journey).