{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry408.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry408.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry408.htm","text":"A score of warriors \u00a01 forward sprang,\n And loud the clashing iron rang\n Of mace and axe and spear and sword,\n As thus they spake unto their lord:\n 'Their king Sugr\u00edva will we slay,\n And Raghu's sons, ere close of day,\n And strike the wretch Han\u00fam\u00e1n down,\n The spoiler of our golden town.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 But sage Vibh\u00edshan strove to calm\n The chieftains' fury; palm to palm\n He joined in lowly reverence, pressed\n Before them, and the throng addressed:\u00a02\n \u00a0\u00a0 'Dismiss the hope of conquering one\n So stern and strong as Raghu's son.\n In due control each sense he keeps\n With constant care that never sleeps.\n Whose daring heart has e'er conceived\n The exploit Hanum\u00e1n achieved,\n Across the fearful sea to spring,\n The tributary rivers' king?\n O R\u00e1kshas lords, in time be wise,\n Nor R\u00e1ma's matchless power despise.\n And say, what evil had the son\n Of Raghu to our monarch done,\n Who stole the dame he loved so well\n And keeps her in his citadel;\n If Kharu in his foolish pride\n Encountered R\u00e1ma, fought, and died,\n May not the meanest love his life\n And guard it in the deadly strife?\n \n \n The Maithil dame, O R\u00e1kshas King,\n Sore peril to thy realm will bring.\n Restore her while there yet is time,\n Nor let us perish for thy crime.\n O, let the Maithil lady go\n Ere the avenger bend his bow\n To ruin with his arrowy showers\n Our Lank\u00e1 with her gates and towers.\n Let Janak's child again be free\n Ere the wild V\u00e1nars cross the sea,\n In their resistless might assail\n Our city and her ramparts scale.\n Ah, I conjure thee by the ties\n 0f brotherhood, be just and wise.\n In all my thoughts thy good I seek,\n And thus my prudent counsel speak.\n Let captive Sit\u00e1 be restored\n Ere, fierce as autumn's sun, her lord\n Send his keen arrows from the string\n To drink the life-blood of our king.\n This fury from thy soul dismiss,\n The bane of duty, peace, and bliss.\n Seek duty's path and walk therein,\n And joy and endless glory win.\n Restore the captive, ere we feel\n The piercing point of R\u00e1ma's steel.\n O spare thy city, spare the lives\n Of us, our friends, our sons and wives.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 Thus spake Vibh\u00edshan wise and brave:\n The R\u00e1kshas king no answer gave,\n But bade his lords the council close,\n And sought his chamber for repose.\n \n \n \n \n433:1 Their names are Nikumbha, Rabhasa, S\u00faryas'atru, Suptaghna, Yajnakopa, Mah\u00e1p\u00e1rava, Mahodara, Agniketu, Ras'miketu, Durdharsha, Indrasatru, Prahasta, Virup\u00e1ksha, Vajradanshtra, Dh\u00famr\u00e1ksha, Durmukha, Mah\u00e1bala.\n433:2 Similarly Antenor urges the restoration of Helen:","title":"BOOK VI: Canto IX.: Vibh\u00edshan's Counsel.","type":"page"}