Kambar occupies a pre-eminent position in Tamil literature. He is indeed one of the brightest stars in the literary firmament of South India.
Very little is known about his life. It is, however, generally agreed that he lived and wrote in the ninth century A.D. in the Chola Kingdom during the period of the Tamil renaissance. It is believed that he was born at Therizhandur, near Mayuram in the Tanjore district of the present Madras State. He flourished under the patronage of a rich philanthropist and adorned the courts of the Tamil Kingdoms of his time. From an humble beginning he attained undying fame through his poetic genius.
Kambar’s renown rests on his monumental Tamil epic, the Kamba Ramayana. It is essentially the story of Rama retold in Tamil. Though the theme is the same as that of the original work of Valmiki in Sanskrit, it acquires in Kambar's hands quite a new artistic beauty and grandeur of denouement. It is indeed a work of gifted and inspired genius, a masterpiece of rare skill, beauty and insight, “not merely a version but a distinctive creation of personal and national genius.”
The annual Kambar Festival will be celebrated in April 1966. The P & T Department is privileged to issue a commemorative stamp in honour of the illustrious poet on the 5th April 1966.
Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India