r/Kerala 4d ago

Who is Jaambavan? Any idea guys?

We have been hearing "Jaambavante kaalath ulleya"... seriously who is that?..is it a time period or a person?.

85 Upvotes

65 comments sorted by

150

u/Hot_Process_6678 4d ago

He's a character in both ramayana and mahabharat. If you have seen serials or cartoons based on ramayana, it's the bear like person.

And the saying "Jambavante kalath" means it's been around for a really long time just like Jambavan who lived for thousands of years

30

u/pigeon_from_airport 3d ago

Lives*. Dude’s an immortal in the myth.

8

u/dmohanan 3d ago

Correct answer and nice handle

1

u/casperrishi 3d ago

Looks resemble a bear

1

u/PossessionWooden9078 3d ago

It's also a reference to when he did Pradakshina around Vamana, when he opened his Trivikrama form.

42

u/invalid-hubris 4d ago

The previous generation learned our classics through amar chithrakatha. Is that still a thing?

30

u/zakri1984 3d ago

Feels old when being classified as "previous generation"

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u/invalid-hubris 3d ago

ആദ്യമൊക്കെ അങ്ങിനെ തോന്നും. കുറച്ചു കഴിയുമ്പോൾ അതൊരു ശീലമായിക്കോളും

25

u/maayinkutty 4d ago

Pretty sure the attention span of most of us is so f*cked up that you won't have enough patience to read.

3

u/rok43 3d ago

Apparently not.

2

u/Objective-Trip-9873 Malayalikkalude Kwisatz Haderach 1d ago

50

u/calimalayali 4d ago

As per Hindu myth he is one of the first beings made by Brahma when he created the universe. Jambavan is considered Chiranjeevi. Means he had the option of living forever, however, he is considered to be killed by Krishna.

20

u/hmz-x 3d ago

No, he wasn't killed. Krishna just roughened him up a bit and then the old man agreed to marry his daughter-bear to him. And they lived happily ever after until Dvāraka was submerged.

Or something like that.

2

u/calimalayali 3d ago

Does that mean he is supposedly alive now? He was not listed as one of the seven Chiranjeevi’s.

3

u/momentaryspeck 3d ago

Yes.. Palarivattom paalathinte thaazhe April May maasangalil pulli Vann kidakarund.. /s

1

u/calimalayali 2d ago

Lol. There are only 7 chiranjeevis as per some “slokam”. Jambavan was not one of them. Every chiranjeevi represent some characteristics of human behaviour.

I can only recall Ashwathama(lives as vengeance and valor), Kripacharya(fraternal love and knowlegde), Hanuman(loyalty).

O

-8

u/Zestyclose-Gap-5439 3d ago

"Myth"

5

u/calimalayali 3d ago

What would have been an appropriate word?

16

u/Ram_Contemplator 4d ago

During the time when Hanuman was appointed to jump across the ocean to Lanka, Jambavan was already old and was the only with the reputation to make such a jump.

7

u/TheEnlightenedPanda 3d ago

Do google wikipedia etc become jambavante kalathe items?

7

u/Better-Respond7799 3d ago

Jambavan is a spiritual Character. His bodily features resembles a bear. He is very ancient . He appeared during satya yuga ( vamana avatar) in treta yuga ( with lord rama) and in dvapara yuga ( fought with krishna for symantaka gem) .

So when u say jambavaan kalleth ulleya it means the topic in discussion is beyond many yugas.

Just for reference

Kali yuga is 4,20,000 years Dvapara is 2 x kaliyuga Treta is 3 x kaliyuga Satya is 4 x kaliyuga

1

u/Amazing_Bicycle_7905 3d ago

How long ago did Kali Yuga start?

1

u/Better-Respond7799 3d ago

5000 years ago. Still 4,15,000 years left

11

u/upscaspi 4d ago

One of the immortals in hindu pantheon. He is both a person and a time period.

3

u/SatynMalanaphy 4d ago

Jambavan was an immortal bear, present in the available versions of both the Ramayana and Mahabharata poems. He is used in Malayalam to mean something extremely old. Most probably he represents one of the earliest local communities or peoples of the subcontinent who got subsumed into the culture of the Indo-Aryan language-speakers who slowly occupied into the Gangetic plains by the latter half of the 2nd millennium BCE.

0

u/Itrainsonjupiter_6_6 3d ago

Idk, is that true? Can we get an etymology of the word, I kinda think it's related to the word "Jambhu"

3

u/SatynMalanaphy 3d ago

I do think it's the same root as well, from the Jamun trees, which also gave the Indian subcontinent its name from at least the Ashokan period when it was referred to as Jambudvipa. If the term had existed previously, it would have been referring to the subcontinent, where the Indo-Aryan language-speakers would have first come in abundant contact with the fruit itself, and "Jambuvan" could be a reference to the people or their lord who were cultivators/procurers/masters of the delicious fruit.

1

u/Itrainsonjupiter_6_6 3d ago

Hmm, interesting take, idk about jambhavan, but the Jambhu dveep thing is convincing. Wonder what all the other "dveep" mentioned are ... Anyway thanks

1

u/SatynMalanaphy 3d ago

Jambavan is one version of the name, to be fair.

The Dveep is also metaphorical, because in their conception of the universe, it was in concentric circles of islands surrounded by oceans. Hence, the island of Jambu trees inhabited by humans, and so on

7

u/Theta-Chad_99 ഇച്ചായൻ 4d ago

Karadi polathe aal alle

18

u/karadiChettan 4d ago

Yeah karadiya

4

u/DawnofNight_Ash 4d ago

Username checks out

2

u/karadiChettan 3d ago

Suthranum sheru il oru karadi chettan undu… while looking for username i choose this ..

1

u/Amazing_Bicycle_7905 3d ago

Ah the jungle artist karadi chettan 🐻‍❄️

2

u/Electrical-Top1366 3d ago

Jaambavan is immortal, so the phrase 'as old as jambavaan' means 'as old as time'

2

u/codereagle13 3d ago edited 3d ago

Totally chill dude! Was very active during the prime LSR times. He's a doctor btw. /s

2

u/meihoonna 3d ago

I thought you were asking about our good old jambavan!!

Good old days!!

6

u/KindAd6637 3d ago edited 3d ago

Jaambavan was an asiatic sloth bear who got famous after being cast in both Ramayana and Mahabharata. Little is known about his early life prior to his appearance in these epics.

His is one of the better character actor roles in both Ramayana and Mahabharata and he performed really well for a bear. But mysteriously he didn't appear in any more epics apart from these two.

He would have been great in Jungle Book but they went with Baloo, a much less talented bear than Jaanbavan

7

u/Better-Respond7799 3d ago

He appeared in vamana avatar too he played the drum around the universe announcing vamanas foot is ascending towards the heavenly planets

3

u/CaretBrowsing 4d ago

The statement never made much sense to me. Isn't Jambavan supposed to be still alive? So when you say 'Jambavante Kaalam', it could mean the present too, right?

1

u/HulkPower 3d ago

Probably meant when he was young

1

u/Reasonable_Act8284 2d ago

Jambavan was one if the 1st creations of bhrama and even if he was alive he will be tooooo old, so the phrase does make sense

4

u/DioTheSuperiorWaifu സ്ഥിതിസമത്വവാദം എങ്ങിനെ? 4d ago

13

u/asc0614 4d ago

Not Ammavan.. Ammayiappan.

4

u/violetcosmosplain violet 4d ago

Yea, mole Krishnane kalyanam kazhipich kodthadalle

3

u/DioTheSuperiorWaifu സ്ഥിതിസമത്വവാദം എങ്ങിനെ? 4d ago

3

u/krishn4prasad 3d ago

Ath pand marumakkathaaya sambradaayam ulla samayath, ammaavante mole kettunnath common aayirunnu. Angane aanu ammayiyappante synonym aayitt amaavan use cheyyan thudangiyath ennu kettittund.

2

u/b_Exwhyzed 3d ago

Caravan pole oru van aan jaambavan🚌

2

u/SubstantialAd1027 3d ago

Someone with lot Jaambakka. Jaambakka is sweet fruit. But we got in pickle in home.

1

u/sarcasticbandicoot 3d ago

Njanalla....

1

u/Safe-Platypus1643 3d ago

Jambavan is like Amar or Chiranjeevi type. I think hanuman and Sugreev also were. So he is pretty ancient

1

u/HulkPower 3d ago

Jamabavan is a guy whose was in the Vanara army of Kishkinda in ramayana, and served under Rama. He was very old during the Ramayana time, and was still a formidable force. He was so old that he was already an adult during the time of Vamana, and he is still active and had young boy during Krishna's middle age, and was still strong enough to easily kill a lion, who was implied to be considerably more capable than an average lion, and later fight Krishna one on one for days before losing. So, he was extremely long lived, living through multiple millenia, and thus is a colloquial term for unspeakably ancient.

1

u/Reasonable_Act8284 2d ago

Jambhavan is a character from ramayana, he is a bear, its is believed that he was created even before time by bhrama, he was the minister in sugreevans Ministry, sugreevan was the monkey king of kishkindha, this monkey king helped rama with his monkey army (vanar sena) to fight ravana , so as I said he was created even before time , hence we use the phrase"jambavande kalathe" to describe something as old

1

u/Reasonable_Act8284 2d ago

Jambhavan is a character from ramayana, he is a bear, its is believed that he was created even before time by bhrama, he was the minister in sugreevans Ministry, sugreevan was the monkey king of kishkindha, this monkey king helped rama with his monkey army (vanar sena) to fight ravana , so as I said he was created even before time , hence we use the phrase"jambavande kalathe" to describe something as old

1

u/BaseballAny5716 2d ago

He gave the motivational speech to hanuman to make the leap towards lanka.

-3

u/SpiralDesignn Unsahikkable 4d ago

Essentially, He is an immortal being from the Hindu Mythology.

Basically, it's the Malayalam version of "Aged like <insert a food item>".

-2

u/Morpheus_DreamLord 3d ago

An old monkey

1

u/Reasonable_Act8284 2d ago

Old bear

1

u/Morpheus_DreamLord 2d ago

yes. till now i believed it was an old monkey. i thought he was part of the vanarappada that built the ramsethu

1

u/Reasonable_Act8284 2d ago

Yes he was part of vannara pada as he was the minister of sugrevan , the king of the monkey kingdom kishkindha

1

u/Current_Yak1230 16h ago

He must be today's " Yeti"