{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry416.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry416.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry416.htm","text":"Soon as his bitter words were said,\n To Raghu's sons Vibh\u00edshan fled.\u00a01b\n Their eyes the V\u00e1nar leaders raised\n And on the air-borne B\u00e1khshas gazed,\n Bright as a thunderbolt, in size\n Like Meru's peak that cleaves the skies,\n In gorgeous panoply arrayed\n Like Indra's self he stood displayed,\n And four attendants brave and bold\n Shone by their chief in mail and gold.\n Sugr\u00edva then with dark surmise\n Bent on their forms his wondering eyes,\n And thus in hasty words confessed\n The anxious doubt that moved his breast:\n ' Look, look ye V\u00e1nars, and beware:\n That giant chief sublime in air\n With other four in bright array\n Comes armed to conquer and to slay.'\n \n \n Soon as his warning speech they heard,\n The V\u00e1nar chieftains undeterred\n Seized fragments of the rock and trees,\n And made reply in words like these:\n 'We wait thy word: the order give,\n And these thy foes shall cease to live.\n Command us, mighty King, and all\n Lifeless upon the earth shall fall.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 Meanwhile Vibh\u00edshan with the four\n Stood high above the ocean shore.\n Sugr\u00edva and the chiefs he spied,\n And raised his mighty voice and cried:\n 'From R\u00e1van, lord of giants, I\n His brother, named Vibh\u00edshan, fly.\n From Janasth\u00e1n he stole the child\n Of Janak by his art beguiled,\n And in his palace locked and barred\n Surrounds her with a R\u00e1kshas guard,\n I bade him, plied with varied lore,\n His hapless prisoner restore.\n But he, by Fate to ruin sent,\n No credence to my counsel lent,\n Mad as the fevered wretch who sees\n And scorns the balm to bring him ease.\n He scorned the sage advice I gave,\n He spurned me like a base-born slave.\n I left my children and my wife,\n And fly to Raghu's son for life.\n I pray thee, V\u00e1nar chieftain, speed\n To him who saves in hour of need,\n And tell him famed in distant lands\n That, suppliant here Vibh\u00edshan stands.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 The R\u00e1kshas ceased: Sugriva hied\n To Raghu's noble son and cried:\n \u00a0\u00a0 'A stranger from the giant host,\n Borne o'er the sea, has reached the coast\n A secret foe, he comes to slay,\n As owls attack their heedless prey.\n 'Tis thine, O King, in time of need\n To watch, to counsel, and to lead,\n Our V\u00e1nar legions to dispose,\n And guard us from our crafty foes.\n Vibh\u00edshan from the giants' isle.\n King R\u00e1van's brother, comes with guile\n And, feigning from his king to flee,\n Seeks refuge Raghu's son, with thee.\n Arise, O R\u00e1ma, and prevent\n By bold attack his dark intent.\n Who comes in friendly guise prepared\n To slay thee by his arts ensnared.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 Thus urged Sugr\u00edva famed for lore\n Of moving words, and spoke no more.\n Then R\u00e1ma thus in turn addressed\n The bold Han\u00fam\u00e1n and the rest:\n 'Chiefs of the Van\u00e1r legions each\n Of you heard Sugr\u00edva's speech.\n What think ye now in time of fear,\n When peril and distress are near,\n In every doubt the wise depend\n For counsel on a faithful friend'\n \n \n \u00a0\u00a0 They heard his gracious words, and then\n Spake reverent to the lord of men:\n 'O Raghu's son, thou knowest well\n All things of heaven and earth and hell.\n 'Tis but thy friendship bids us speak\n The counsel R\u00e1ma need not seek.\n So duteous, brave, and true art thou,\n Heroic, faithful to thy vow.\n Deep in the scriptures, trained and tried,\n Still in thy friends wilt thou confide.\n Let each of us in turn impart\n The secret counsel of his heart,\n And strive to win his chief's assent.\n By force of wisest argument.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 They ceased and Angad thus began:\n 'With jealous eye the stranger scan:\n Not yet with trusting heart receive\n Vibh\u00edshan, nor his tale believe.\n These giants wandering far and wide\n Their evil nature falsely hide,\n And watching with malignant skill\n Assail us when we fear no ill.\n Well ponder every hope and fear\n Until thy doubtful course be clear;\n Then own his merit or detect\n His guile, and welcome or reject.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 Then Sarabhu the bold and brave\n In turn his prudent sentence gave:\n 'Yea, R\u00e1ma, send a skilful spy\n With keenest tact to test and try.\n Then let the stranger, as is just,\n Obtain or be refused thy trust.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 Then he whose heart was rich in store\n Of scripture's life-directing lore.\n King J\u00e1mbav\u00e1n, stood forth and cried:\n 'Suspect, suspect a foe allied\n With R\u00e1van lord of Lank\u00e1's isle,\n And R\u00e1kshas sin and R\u00e1kshas guile.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0 Then Maiuda, wisest chief, who knew\n The wrong, the right, the false, the true,\n Pondered a while, then silence broke,\n And thus his sober counsel spoke:\n 'Let one with gracious speech draw near\n And gently charm Vibh\u00edshan's ear,\n Till he the soothing witchery feel\n And all his secret heart reveal.\n So thou his aims and hopes shalt know,\n And hail the friend or shun the foe.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 'Not he,' Han\u00fam\u00e1n cried, 'not he\n Who taught the Gods,\u00a01 may rival thee,\n Supreme in power of quickest sense,\n First in the art of eloquence.\n But hear me soothly speak, O King,\n And learn the hope to which I cling.\n Vibh\u00edshan comes no cratty spy:\n Urged by his brother's fault to fly.\n With righteous soul that loathes the sin,\n He fled from Lank\u00e1 and his kin.\n \n \n If strangers question, doubt will rise\n And chill the heart of one so wise.\n Marred by distrust the parle will end,\n And then wilt lose a faithful friend.\n Nor let it seem so light a thing\n To sound a stranger's heart, O King.\n And he, I ween, whate'er he say,\n Will ne'er an evil thought betray.\n He comes a friend in happy time,\n Loathing his brother for his crime.\n His ear has heard thine old renown,\n The might that struck King B\u00e1li down,\n And set Sugr\u00edva on the throne.\n And looking now to thee alone\n He comes thy matchless aid to win\n And punish R\u00e1van for his sin.\n Thus have I tried thy heart to move,\n And thus Vibh\u00edshan's truth to prove.\n Still in his friendship I confide;\n But ponder, wisest, and decide.'\n \n \n \n \n \n438:1b This dessertion to the enemy is somewhat abrupt, and is narrated with brevity not usual with V\u00e1lm\u00edki. In the Bengal recension the preceding speakers and speeches differ considerably from those given in the text which I follow. Vibhishan is kicked from his seat by R\u00e1van, and then, after telling his mother what has happened, he flies to Mount Kail\u00e1sa where he has an interview with Siva, and by his advice seeks R\u00e1ma and the Vanar army.\n439:1 Vrihuspat\u00ed the preceptor of the Gods.","title":"BOOK VI: Canto XVII.: Vibh\u00edshan's Flight.","type":"page"}