The King asked to sing a few lines from his work. Note the point that Ottakoothar gave the lead that the Vaanarams are going to build the bridge but not yet started building and Kambar got that lead and used it cleverly saying that now the Vaanarams are building the bridge. Kambar witty and smart enough, told that he has completed up to point where the Vaanarams are now throwing rocks into the sea and building the bridge. When it was his turn, the King asked Kambar's status. Kambar knew nothing about Ramayana until then, got the story line now. Ottakoothar finished saying that he has completed up to the point where the Vaanaram's are going to throw the rocks into the sea. In order to overcome the obstacle, it was planned to build a bridge by throwing rocks in the sea". They are going to Srilanka but the sea that has to crossed is the obstacle. He said that "Ravana has kidnapped Seetha, and Lord Rama is on his way to recover Seetha and the Vaanarams (Ape army) are helping Rama in his mission. The King asked both of them to explain as to what extent each one has progress and sing a sample from their work. Ottakoothar did his work and was ready to produce the work, but Kambar did not write even a bit, but he daringly appeared before the King praying and believing that his Goddess Saraswathi will never let him down. One fine day, the King called up the poets to see the each one's progress in getting the epic completed. Ottakoothar knew that Kambar did not do any work but he kept quiet and continued with his work. Kambar being a playful chap, whiled away the time spending all the funds he had, but the biggest gift he had in his life was the grace of Goddess Saraswathi - Goddess of Knowledge. Ottakoothar started off with the work and he put in efforts to produce the epic in Tamil and present it to the world before Kambar does. The King also provided them with funds and facilities to have the epic written. So he engaged two contemporary poets - Kambar and Ottakoothar - to imbibe the crux and characterisation of what Ramayana is and produce such an epic in Tamil. The then Chola King (Kulothunga Cholan), on hearing about the great epic Ramayana written by Valmiki, was interested in such a great epic being written in Tamil. The phrase has an interesting legend behind it. The phrase is used when referring to a context that is either difficult to do or even impossible. But due to the usage it got transformed over time as "Kamba Sutram". When we trace the roots of the phrase, it was actually, "Kamba Chithiram" meaning Kamban's Art. "Kamba Sutram" is phrase associated with Kambar that is used by the Tamil people in their day to day speech even today.