The Ramayana (58 page)

“As for me, I wonder that Rama has not killed you already. I wonder that you have not choked on the venom that is another man's wife. I marvel that you haven't yet tasted the suffering that is on its way to you.”

Ravana's face grew dark. He opened his mouth to speak, but Kumbhakarna went on: “I am not saying I will abandon you. No. Whoever your enemy is, regardless of what is just and what is not, I will stand by you and fight. But only because you are my brother and I love you; not because I agree with what you have done. The three worlds quake at the name of Kumbhakarna. The Devas of light shiver when I wake from my long dreams.”

Now the giant laughed aloud and the hall of the people shook at that sound. He held up his prodigious hands and said, “You won't even have to come to battle, Ravana. I will crush your enemies for you. Have no fear; Kumbhakarna will save you from Rama and his monkeys.”

Everyone was silent while the tremendous one spoke. His were no empty boasts, and not even Ravana dared to cross this brother of his lightly. At first, Ravana seethed at what the titan said. But soon he smiled to hear his protestation of loyalty. He knew what a boon it was to have Kumbhakarna fight for him: no army had ever stood before his untold strength, whenever he was awake and came to battle.

“When I have killed Rama,” said the giant, “Sita will be yours.”

There was a short silence. Then a minister called Mahaparshva said, “If Rama dares to come to Lanka, he will find a quick death here. But there is something I do not understand. Why do you beg Sita for her love? Why don't you just take her as you please?”

Ravana smiled. “I will tell you why. Once, some years ago, when I was flying in the pushpaka vimana, I saw an apsara who went toward Brahmaloka by a shining pathway of the sky. She was enchanting and I desired her. I accosted her, but she would not have me. I ravished her between heaven and earth, and her screams rang among the stars.

“I left her there in a swoon and came home. But she went to Brahmaloka with her tale, and the Pitamaha was livid. Brahma came to me in a dream and cried, ‘If you ever force yourself on another woman, your head will burst in a thousand pieces and there will be an end to Ravana.'

“That is why, Mahaparshva my friend, Sita has not yet felt my flesh upon hers.”

He paused again. Kumbhakarna's avowal of support had restored Ravana's spirits. He said to his people, “I am Ravana of Lanka. Rama does not know who I am, that he dares march against me. My valor is as deep as the ocean; I am as strong as Vayu. Rama knows nothing of the arrows of black agni that flare from my bow. We hear of this Rama's brilliance. But I will absorb his light as the sun does the stars at dawn.”

Ravana, Emperor of darkness, threw back his head and laughed. His fangs flashed in the noon light that streamed, hushed and rich, through the windows of that sabha. He cried, “A mortal man, a mere human, dares to come to fight the rakshasas of Lanka. And with what? An army of monkeys!”

The mood infected his demons and their laughter rang out. When the crowd outside heard what the merriment was about, the laughter swelled into a roar. Women and children, old and young, all joined in the celebration of their king's and their own tameless might.

But in the hall of council, Vibheeshana rose to his feet. He shouted above the wave of laughter,
“Why don't you see that Situ is like a deadly serpent?”

Silence fell. Ravana's eyes flashed dangerously, but he said nothing. It was the time-honored custom that any rakshasa of worth could have his say in the sabha of the people. Moreover, Vibheeshana was well loved; he was noble and wise, and everyone would want to hear him out. He spoke anxiously, like one who knew the truth, but also knew that he would not be heeded when calamity threatened: because the very stars were ranged against him.

Impassioned Vibheeshana cried, “The nape of her neck, which you adore, is the stem of the serpent's hood. Her sweet, wan smiles are the snake's fangs. And the deep sorrow in her heart is the venom that will be the death of us all. She is proud and she is terrible. Oh, my precious lord, send her back where she belongs, before doom finds us.

“Return Sita to her Rama before the vanaras come to Lanka. You saw what just one of them did. In Sugriva's army, there are many monkeys as strong as Hanuman and some even stronger. You speak of your arrows of fire, Ravana; but what do you know of Rama's astras? Every shaft of his is brighter than a sun flare, swifter than time or thought, and each one as potent as Indra's vajra. How will the rakshasas stand against Rama? Could Khara withstand him? My brother, as I love you, you must heed my lone voice of sanity in this sabha of self-deceivers. Send Sita back. Great Ravana, not even you can resist the tide of Rama's astras when they come blazing through the sky.”

Vibheeshana turned on Prahastha: “Prahastha, you brag about your valor. Do you think Khara was killed with bragging, and his fourteen thousand at Janasthana?”

Vibheeshana was desperate to make his brother listen to him. “You are like blind men, and you are all wrong. Ravana, you are wrong. Kumbhakarna, you are wrong to support our brother in his folly, especially when you know this madness can be the death of him and of us all. Listen to me, my brothers, my people—none among the living can stand against Rama of Ayodhya. You do not realize who this prince really is. Not even the Devas of heaven can contain him.

“And you, the leaders of our people, where is your wisdom in this hour of crisis? How can you lead your king to his death with such foolish counsel? Are you tired of Ravana's rule, are you tired of your own lives? Are you his loyal subjects, his friends and well-wishers? Or are you his enemies, that you encourage him to tread the path to ruin? I swear to you, if Ravana persists in this folly, he will find death at Rama's hands.

“A serpent holds your king in its coils and throttles life from him. Instead of releasing him, you hasten him toward his end. Stop him, good rakshasas. Use force against your king if need be, for by his own admission he cannot help himself. Stop Ravana from drowning in the sea of fear called Rama. Tell him he is wrong; tell him to return Sita, and prevent him from bringing doom upon himself.”

Indrajit had been fidgeting impatiently while his uncle spoke. Now he sprang to his feet and cried, “Father, these are a coward's words! Follow them, and find ignominy for yourself and all your clan. I pray that no one in this royal house will ever have to choose such a cringing course, as my uncle plots for us. Vibheeshana has always been different from the other men in our line. He is soft and weak; he lacks the natural manliness of our family.”

Indrajit turned directly on Vibheeshana. “Why do you try and frighten us with tales of the valor of Rama and his brother? He is just a man. The weakest rakshasa, let alone Ravana or any of his blood, will easily kill the human prince. I brought the Lord of the Devas to Lanka, bound in coils of fire. Have you forgotten, uncle, how I seized Airavata's tusks and forced him to his knees? Shall I, then, be afraid of two human princes, and their band of monkeys that feed on berries and fruit? You insult me, Vibheeshana, and you insult my father. It is you who seem to have lost your reason, and tread a path of madness called Rama.”

An indulgent smile on his face, Vibheeshana listened calmly to Indrajit. Then he said, “Child, Meghanada, you are young and your mind is not full-grown. I understand your enthusiasm and your courage; but strength and valor are not everything. You have not learned the lesson of discernment yet. You are so emotional that you don't see right from wrong, dharma from adharma. I know you think you are supporting your father with your foolhardy counsel. But in fact you are being his most dangerous enemy. When a man walks the way of sin, all his majesty falls away from him. As for you, young one, if you do not curb your rashness and your arrogance, your death will come to rid you of them.

“To my mind, Ravana has erred in allowing you into this council at all. Your place is not here, among the experienced and the wise. When you do not know how to speak to your elders respectfully, how can you presume to offer advice to this sabha? What do you know of Rama that you dare to belittle him? How do you think your uncle Khara was slain, as if he were a child?”

Indrajit's face was crimson at being put down. But Vibheeshana turned away from him and said to Ravana, “My brother, listen to me. Take a chest full of the rarest jewels you can find in your treasury. Take Sita with you in your vimana and fly across the sea to the shores of Bharatavarsha. Return Sita to her husband. Beg his forgiveness, which, knowing the prince, he will give you. Then come home in peace to Lanka and rule for many years more. Listen to me, Ravana, mine is the only reasonable voice in this sabha.”

But Ravana turned, eyes blazing, on his gentle brother. ‘Today I realize the truth of the old saying that one may live in peace with an open enemy, but never a treacherous kinsman. You move with me as if you are my brother, as if you love me. But all the while envy consumes you and you bide your time waiting for the right moment to strike me down. Truly do they say that fortune is found in cows, continence in rishis, fickleness in women, and mortal peril in the hearts of one's own relatives.

“I have honor across the three worlds; I own their treasures and their fealty. I have trampled on the heads of my enemies. But I think you have hated my glory, though you never dared to show it before. Water drops rest on the lotus, but they do not belong to the lotus. The bee sucks its fill of nectar from the flower in bloom, but has no loyalty to the blossom. Your love is like spring thunder, full of noise but bringing not a drop of rain.

“Vibheeshana, if anyone else had dared speak to me as you have just done, he would have died before he finished. But you do not deserve even my anger; I would stain my hands by killing you. You are a disgrace to our family and a traitor to your king. Let me never see your face again.”

It is said the grace of God was upon Vibheeshana and he was a saint. He looked stricken for a moment, but then a miracle came over him. His body grew lambent, and he rose into the air from where he sat and four of his faithful with him.

From his place at the height of a man's head, Vibheeshana said in a voice so full of goodness it was frightening for the others to hear, “You are my older brother, and you can say anything you like to me. The older brother is a father to his younger brothers. But you will not walk the way of dharma, even when it is pointed out to you. My only thought was to save you and my heart was clear when I spoke. But it seems that one who has embraced his own doom does not want to hear the truth, or to be saved.

“I did my dharma by you, Ravana, and I spoke plainly. But you would rather hear the sweet, false words of the rest of your sabha, which will tell you, ‘Ravana is great, Ravana is invincible!' Even to the very moment when Rama's arrows break into your chest with death at their flaming points. I have prescient vision, and I have already seen many of these rakshasas, who beat their chests about how heroic they are, lying dead as carrion for scavengers.”

Vibheeshana was radiant, and his voice echoed through the hushed sabha. Now tears glistened in his eyes. “I have tried to warn you, Ravana. I have tried to save your life. Forgive me if I spoke harshly, because I spoke in love. But you have turned on me in suspicion, and that is more than I can bear. Since you will not listen to what I say, since you doubt my love for you and think I am your enemy, I will leave Lanka and trouble you no more. But even as I go, my heart insists that I warn you one last time. Oh, my brother, I beg you, restore Sita to Rama! Make peace with the prince, and live long and happily after.”

With that, Vibheeshana and his four followers blazed out through the windows like five comets. They rose high into the air and flew toward the shores of Bharatavarsha, trailing bright wakes behind them, which shone for a while, then faded like smoke in the sky.

 

5. The good rakshasa

Vibheeshana and his four rakshasas flew across the sea, and where land and sea met, Sugriva's vanaras saw the five demons in the sky above them. Vibheeshana's mace glittered in the sun, and the ornaments he wore, of the royal House of Lanka. Those vanaras cried to their king, “Sugriva, come and look!”

Shading his eyes, the monkey king gazed up at the shimmering five in the firmament, poised there as if they sat on the wind. He scrutinized them for a moment, and said, “They are well armed and seem powerful, especially the one with the mace.”

Hanuman had come up beside his king, and he, too, shaded his eyes to peer heavenward. Sugriva said in a low voice, “The rakshasas have come to kill us.”

Around him, excited vanaras began to pull up young trees to be armed. Suddenly Vibheeshana spoke to them from above, and his voice rang above the waves and echoed against the mountain behind. “A sinful rakshasa called Ravana rules Lanka, and I am his younger brother Vibheeshana. Ravana abducted Sita and holds her against her will. Time and again, I told him to return her to Rama; until my brother turned on me, saying I was a traitor. I have left my wives and my children to fly here; I have come to Rama for sanctuary. My friends, announce me to him. Let him who is the refuge of all the world be mine as well.”

Sugriva came running to Rama and Lakshmana in the little wood. “There are five rakshasas in the sky. Their leader says he is Ravana's brother, Vibheeshana, and comes to you for refuge. He says he turned against Ravana because he abducted Sita. He says he told Ravana to return Sita to you.

“But these are demons who range the sky at will, at times plain to the eye, at others unseen. Be careful in your dealings with them. I am sure they are Ravana's spies, sent to assess our strength and discover our plans. This flying rakshasa Vibheeshana will inveigle himself into your trust. Later, when you are not on your guard, he will strike at you. I, a simple monkey, say this to you, Rama. But remember, the ways of war are the same among vanaras, rakshasas, and men. And of us all, the demons are the most treacherous. He is Ravana's brother, and says as much; lure him down and kill him.”