Vibhīṣaṇa
Vibhīṣaṇa is the younger brother of Rāvaṇa, the king of Laṅkā. He is the one person of dharma in the court of the rākṣasas. He was born in the same family as Rāvaṇa, yet he chose the opposite path. He was devoted to Bhagavān Viṣṇu and kept to right conduct, even when that meant standing against his elder brother and king.
In the Sundara Kāṇḍa he argues for dūta-dharma (the rule that a messenger must not be killed). His house is the only one spared when Hanumān burns Laṅkā. In the Yuddha Kāṇḍa he becomes the great śaraṇāgata, one who comes for shelter. He leaves Laṅkā, goes over to Rāma’s side, guides the vānara army, and is finally crowned king of Laṅkā after Rāvaṇa falls.
Birth and nature
Vibhīṣaṇa was born to Viśravā Muni and Kaikasī, as were Rāvaṇa and Kumbhakarṇa. Unlike his brothers, he was born with a deeply sāttvika (pure and calm) nature. He loved righteousness and was devoted to Bhagavān Viṣṇu. He did not like the violence and adharma (wrong conduct) of the rākṣasa way of life. He performed great tapas (austerity) and received varas (boons) of his own.
Defence of dūta-dharma
In the Sundara Kāṇḍa, the clearest sign of Vibhīṣaṇa’s character is his stand when Rāvaṇa ordered Hanumān to be killed. Hanumān had been brought before the court as a captive. He gave Rāma’s message straight to Rāvaṇa: return Sītā or be destroyed. Rāvaṇa’s anger reached its limit, and he ordered Hanumān put to death on the spot.
Vibhīṣaṇa rose at once. He spoke to Rāvaṇa with respect, but firmly. He said that every world condemns the killing of a messenger. A messenger only carries the words of another. He is not responsible for what the message says. Whether the words please or anger the one who hears them, dharma protects the messenger. The accepted punishments for a messenger who goes too far are flogging, mutilation or branding, and never death.
He also made a practical point. Killing this vānara messenger would not harm Rāma. It would only show that Rāvaṇa could not answer the real challenge. Let Rāvaṇa turn his strength against Rāma and his army, who were worthy enemies for the great king of Laṅkā. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 52)
Rāvaṇa accepted the argument. He changed the order to the burning of Hanumān’s tail and a shameful march through the city. So Vibhīṣaṇa saved Hanumān’s life. Hanumān’s burning tail then led to the burning of Laṅkā.
His house spared in the burning of Laṅkā
Hanumān leaped from palace to palace with his burning tail and set Laṅkā on fire. When he came to Vibhīṣaṇa’s house, he passed it by on purpose. He remembered that Vibhīṣaṇa had stood for righteousness in Rāvaṇa’s court and had spoken for what was right with clarity and courage. Such a man deserved protection, even while the rest of the rākṣasa city was destroyed. Every palace in Laṅkā burned except Vibhīṣaṇa’s. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 54)
Trijatā’s dream
Trijatā was the rākṣasī who guarded Sītā in the Aśoka Vaṭikā. In her dream she saw Vibhīṣaṇa crowned as king of Laṅkā, after the fall of Rāvaṇa. She told this dream in the Sundara Kāṇḍa. It points ahead to Vibhīṣaṇa’s rule as the righteous king of Laṅkā after the war. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 27)
Counsel to Rāvaṇa in the Yuddha Kāṇḍa
At the start of the Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Rāma’s army gathered on the southern shore. Vibhīṣaṇa made one last effort to save Rāvaṇa. In the sabhā (court) he spoke plainly. Rāma’s power was divine. The vānara army was extraordinary. The rākṣasa forces could not win against a being of this kind. Above all, dharma required that Sītā be returned. The abduction was adharma, and adharma could not last.
Rāvaṇa answered with scorn. He called Vibhīṣaṇa a traitor driven by fear. Vibhīṣaṇa had given his advice in good faith, and this open insult made it impossible for him to stay in Laṅkā. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapter 17)
Śaraṇāgati: coming to Rāma
Vibhīṣaṇa left Laṅkā with four loyal ministers. He crossed the ocean and came before Śrī Rāma. The vānara commanders were deeply suspicious. How could a rākṣasa be trusted? Sugrīva and others urged Rāma to turn him away. Hanumān advised care and an honest look at his purpose, rather than plain rejection.
Śrī Rāma himself then made the deciding statement. It is the most famous statement of śaraṇāgata-dharma (the duty to protect one who seeks shelter) in the whole tradition:
“If someone comes to me saying ‘I am yours’ and seeks my shelter, I will protect him from all beings. This is my eternal vow.”
Rāma took Vibhīṣaṇa in fully. He crowned him king of Laṅkā at once, even before the war began. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapter 18)
Part in the war
Through the whole war at Laṅkā, Vibhīṣaṇa was Rāma’s guide to everything inside Laṅkā. His most important help came near the end. Indrajit had gone to the Nikumbhilā grove to perform a secret yajña (fire ritual) that would give him complete invincibility. Vibhīṣaṇa warned Rāma. He then led Lakṣmaṇa and the vānara forces through the streets of Laṅkā to the grove, under cover of night. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapter 80)
After Rāvaṇa died, Vibhīṣaṇa performed his antima-saṃskāra (last rites). He honoured his elder brother with full funeral rites. Rāma himself praised this act of a loving younger brother. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapter 111)
Installation as king of Laṅkā
After the war, Śrī Rāma kept the promise of the crowning he had given before the war. Vibhīṣaṇa was formally installed as king of Laṅkā, in a ceremony at Laṅkā itself. The king who had stayed true to dharma in the very capital of adharma became the rightful ruler of the city. Trijatā’s dream came true. At the Rāma-pattābhiṣeka in Ayodhyā, Vibhīṣaṇa was honoured among the greatest of Rāma’s allies. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapters 111 and 131)
In the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa: Sundara Kāṇḍa
Good counsel in the sabhā
After Hanumān burned Laṅkā, Rāvaṇa called a council of war. The rākṣasa commanders, Kumbhakarṇa, Meghanāda, Atikāya and others, boasted that victory would be easy. Vibhīṣaṇa rose and gave counsel of dharma, spoken with clear sight of what was to come.
He said that taking away a pativratā (a faithful wife) was adharma and could never lead to victory. He said that Śrī Rāma was the Paramātmā, who had come down for lokakṣema (the good of the world). This secret had been told to Vibhīṣaṇa privately by a disciple of the ṛṣi Pulastya himself. He said that Rāvaṇa must return Sītā before his family was destroyed.
The elder Mālyavān rose and fully supported Vibhīṣaṇa. Rāvaṇa answered in fury. He accused both of treachery, kicked Vibhīṣaṇa in front of the sabhā, and sent them away. Tulasīdāsa records that when Vibhīṣaṇa left, Rāvaṇa’s śrī (splendour) became śrīhīna, empty of splendour. His rule lost its divine support. (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Sundara Kāṇḍa)
Śaraṇāgati
Vibhīṣaṇa rose into the sky with his four ministers and left Laṅkā towards the north. As he went, he spoke this well-known Avadhi verse:
Dekhihauṃ jāi caraṇa jalajātā — arun mṛdul sevaka sukha-dātā
It means: “I shall go and see those lotus feet, rose-hued and tender, the giver of joy to servants.”
He crossed the ocean and came to the vānara camp. Sugrīva suspected treachery and advised binding him. Rāma then spoke his unchanging vow: “Even if a being is an enemy and comes to me saying ‘I am yours,’ I will protect him. This is my eternal saṅkalpa (resolve).”
Vibhīṣaṇa fell weeping at Rāma’s lotus feet. Rāma lifted him up and drew him to his heart in a full embrace. At that touch, Vibhīṣaṇa’s rākṣasatva (rākṣasa nature) dissolved at once. His inner darkness left him as darkness vanishes before the sun. Vibhīṣaṇa then prayed for the kind of bhakti (loving devotion) that Śiva has towards Rāma. Bhagavān Rāma said “evamastu” (so be it).
Rāma then crowned Vibhīṣaṇa king of Laṅkā on the spot. He poured sea-water over him before the whole army, even before the war began, and proclaimed the outcome by his own saṅkalpa. Tulasīdāsa observes: “Rāvaṇa won his rule through ten-headed tapas, years of self-torment. Vibhīṣaṇa obtained the same rule through bhakti alone.” (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Sundara Kāṇḍa)
In the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa: Laṅkā Kāṇḍa
In the Laṅkā Kāṇḍa of Tulasīdāsa’s Rāmacaritamānas, Vibhīṣaṇa plays several key parts.
The secret of the nābhi-kunda
All the rākṣasa commanders had been killed, and Rāvaṇa himself came onto the battlefield. Vibhīṣaṇa then told Rāma the secret of Rāvaṇa’s immortality. Rāvaṇa kept amṛta (the nectar of immortality) in a kunda (a vessel or pool) inside his nābhi (navel). As long as the amṛta of the nābhi-kunda stayed untouched, Rāvaṇa could not be killed. This knowledge decided Rāma’s final victory. (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Laṅkā Kāṇḍa, Rāvaṇa Vadha section)
Warning about Rāvaṇa’s yajña
Before his final battle, Rāvaṇa began a vijayārtha yajña (a fire ritual for victory) to gain invincibility. Vibhīṣaṇa warned Rāma at once. He said that if the ritual were completed, even Rāma would find Rāvaṇa impossible to defeat. On Rāma’s order, Vibhīṣaṇa led the vānaras into Laṅkā to break up the yajña, and they did so by every means they could. (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Laṅkā Kāṇḍa, Yajña Bhaṅga section)
The Dharmaratha teaching
Rāvaṇa charged at Rāma on his magnificent chariot. Vibhīṣaṇa was worried because Rāma stood without armour and without a chariot. Rāma answered with the well-known Dharmaratha teaching. It describes a chariot made of inner virtues, which is the true vehicle of victory. (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Laṅkā Kāṇḍa, Dharmaratha section)
The formal coronation
After Rāvaṇa died, Rāma could not enter Laṅkā because of his vana-vāsa vrata (vow of forest exile). He sent Lakṣmaṇa to crown Vibhīṣaṇa formally, together with Sugrīva, Aṅgada, Nala, Nīla and Hanumān. The abhiṣeka (anointing) was done with full royal custom, with ministers and sāmantas (chiefs under the king) present. Vibhīṣaṇa was placed on the throne of Rāvaṇa’s kingdom. This formal coronation is separate from the sea-water abhiṣeka at the ocean shore. (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Laṅkā Kāṇḍa, Abhiṣeka section)
Sources
- Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 49–54
- Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 27 (Trijatā’s dream)
- Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapters 17–131
- Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 11
- Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Sundara Kāṇḍa
- Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Laṅkā Kāṇḍa
- Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Pūrṇa Kāṇḍa, Chapter 5