{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry413.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry413.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry413.htm","text":"He ceased: Vibh\u00edshan ill at ease\n Addressed the king in words like these:\n \u00a0\u00a0 O R\u00e1van, O my lord, beware\n Of Sit\u00e1 dangerous as fair,\n Nor on thy heedless bosom hang\n This serpent with a deadly fang.\n O King, the Maithil dame restore\n To Raghu's matchlees son before\n Those warriors of the woodlands, vast\n As mountain peaks, approaching fast,\n Armed with fierce teeth and claws, enclose\n Thy city with unsparing foes.\n O, be the Maithil dame restored\n Ere loosened from the clanging cord\n \n \n The vengeful shafts of R\u00e1ma fly,\n And low in death thy princes lie.\n In all thy legions hast thou one\n A match in war for Raghu's son?\n Can Kumbhakarna's self withstand,\n Or Indrajit, that mighty hand?\n In vain with R\u00e1ma wilt thou strive:\n Thou wilt not save thy soul alive\n Though guarded by the Lord of Day\n And Storm-Gods' terrible array,\n In vain to Indra wilt thou fly,\n Or seek protection in the sky,\n In Yama's gloomy mansion dwell,\n Or hide thee in the depths of hell.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 He ceased; and when his lips were closed\n Prahasta thus his rede opposed:\n \u00a0\u00a0 'O timid heart, to counsel thus!\n What terrors have the Gods for us?\n Can snake, Gandharva, fiend appal\n The giants' sons who scorn them all?\n And shall we now our birth disgrace,\n And dread a king of human race?'\n Thus fierce Prahasta counselled ill;\n But sage Vibh\u00edshan's constant will\n The safety of the realm ensued;\n Who thus in turn his speech renewed:\n \u00a0\u00a0 'Yes, when a soul defiled with sin\n Shall mount to heaven and enter in,\n Then, chieftain, will experience teach\n The truth of thy disdainful speech.\n Can I, or thou, or these or all\n Our bravest compass R\u00e1ma's fall,\n The chief in whom all virtues shine,\n The pride of old Ikshv\u00e1ku'a line,\n With whom the Gods may scarce compare\n In skill to act, in heart to dare?\n Yea, idly mayst thou vaunt thee, till\n Sharp arrows winged with matchless skill\n From R\u00e1ma's bowstring, fleet and fierce\n As lightning's flame, thy body pierce.\n Nikumbha shall not save thee then,\n Nor R\u00e1van, from the lord of men.\n O Monarch, hear my last appeal,\n My counsel for thy kingdom's weal,\n This sentence I again declare:\n O giant King, beware, beware!\n Save from the ruin that impends\n Thy town, thy people, and thy friends;\n O hear the warning urged once more:\n To Raghu's son the dame restore.'\n \n \n \n \n436:1 One of the Nymphs of Indra's heaven.\n436:2 The Lotus River, a branch of the heavenly Gang\u00e1.","title":"BOOK VI: Canto XIV.: Vibh\u00edshan's Speech.","type":"page"}