The rakshasa unlike his kind
Vibhishana is a rakshasa of Lanka, a son of Vishrava and the youngest brother of Ravana. The Uttarakanda, the last book of the Ramayana, which looks back over the history of the rakshasas, names his mother: he is the youngest son of Kaikasi, and the same line calls him righteous. Kumbhakarna is his other brother, and Shurpanakha his sister.
In the next sarga Brahma offers him a boon. With his palms joined, Vibhishana asks that even in the worst of trouble his mind should hold to dharma, and that the Brahma weapon should come to him untaught. Brahma, pleased, grants it, and adds a gift that was not asked for: because Vibhishana was born in a rakshasa womb and his mind still does not turn to adharma, he gives him immortality.
His sister says the same of him. When Shurpanakha lists her brothers to Rama in the Aranyakanda, she says of the youngest: विभीषणस्तु धर्मात्मा न तु राक्षसचेष्टितः, Vibhishana is righteous, and does not act as rakshasas act. Griffith’s verse makes it “Vibhíshaṇ of the duteous mind”.
In the Yuddhakanda, before a single battle is fought, he is the brother who tells Ravana to give Sita back. In the ninth sarga the advice comes three times as a refrain, let Maithili, that is Sita, be given to Rama, and in the fourteenth twice more.
The council and the flight
Ravana’s answer comes in the sixteenth sarga. If anyone else had said these things, he tells his brother, that one would be dead already, and he ends: fie on you, disgrace of the family. Griffith’s verse gives it as “Thou blot upon thy glorious line, If any giant’s tongue but thine Had dared to give this base advice, He should not live to shame me twice”. Vibhishana does not stay on the ground to answer.
इत्युक्तः परुषं वाक्यं न्यायवादी विभीषणः। उत्पपात गदापाणिश्चतुर्भिः सह राक्षसैः॥ १७॥ अब्रवीच्च तदा वाक्यं जातक्रोधो विभीषणः। अन्तरिक्षगतः श्रीमान् भ्राता वै राक्षसाधिपम्॥ १८॥ स त्वं भ्रान्तोऽसि मे राजन् ब्रूहि मां यद् यदिच्छसि। ज्येष्ठो मान्यः पितृसमो न च धर्मपथे स्थितः। इदं हि परुषं वाक्यं न क्षमाम्यग्रजस्य ते॥ १९॥ सुनीतं हितकामेन वाक्यमुक्तं दशानन। न गृह्णन्त्यकृतात्मानः कालस्य वशमागताः॥ २०॥ सुलभाः पुरुषा राजन् सततं प्रियवादिनः। अप्रियस्य च पथ्यस्य वक्ता श्रोता च दुर्लभः॥ २१॥ बद्धं कालस्य पाशेन सर्वभूतापहारिणः। न नश्यन्तमुपेक्षे त्वां प्रदीप्तं शरणं यथा॥ २२॥ दीप्तपावकसंकाशैः शितैः काञ्चनभूषणैः। न त्वामिच्छाम्यहं द्रष्टुं रामेण निहतं शरैः॥ २३॥ शूराश्च बलवन्तश्च कृतास्त्राश्च नरा रणे। कालाभिपन्नाः सीदन्ति यथा वालुकसेतवः॥ २४॥ तन्मर्षयतु यच्चोक्तं गुरुत्वाद्धितमिच्छता। आत्मानं सर्वथा रक्ष पुरीं चेमां सराक्षसाम्। स्वस्ति तेऽस्तु गमिष्यामि सुखी भव मया विना॥ २५॥
“Being thus accosted harshly, Bibhisana, speaking truth, rose up along with four Rakshasas having maces in their hands. Thereupon, rising up in the welkin, the graceful brother Bibhisana, worked up with ire, addressed the lord of Rakshasas—‘Thou art mistaken, O king. Do thou speak what thou wishest—thou art my elder brother, adorable like unto father—thou dost not follow the track of virtue. I cannot tolerate the harsh accents of thine, my elder brother.—For thy welfare I spoke those well-meaning words, O Ten-necked one, but thou didst not pay heed to them being brought under the control of Death. O king, many are the persons who speak sweet words, but rare are they who can speak and hear unpalatable but well-meaning words. How can I disregard thy death like unto a burning house bound as thou art by the noose of Death, the destroyer of all creatures. I do not wish to behold thee slain by the well-sharpened shafts of Rama, feathered in gold and resembling the flaming fire. Even the heroic and powerful persons, well versed in the use of weapons, wear away like sands in battle, being attracted by Death. Thou art worshipful unto me, do thou forgive me for what I have said for thy welfare. Do thou protect thyself and this city, abounding in Rakshasas. May good betide thee! I am going away and do thou be happy without me.’” — Valmiki, Ramayana 6.16.17–25, tr. Manmatha Nath Dutt
The sarga calls him न्यायवादी विभीषणः, Vibhishana who speaks what is right, in the line that reports the insult. Then he leaves the ground: उत्पपात गदापाणिश्चतुर्भिः सह राक्षसैः, he sprang up, mace in hand, with four rakshasas, and the next verse has him speak अन्तरिक्षगतः, from the sky. The Sanskrit puts the mace in his hand alone; Dutt gives maces to the companions. Griffith’s canto has no flight in it and drops the leave-taking, so Dutt is quoted here.
The speech is about speaking. He grants his brother what an elder is owed, ज्येष्ठो मान्यः पितृसमो, the elder, to be honoured, like a father, and in the same line says न च धर्मपथे स्थितः, he does not stand on the path of dharma. Then comes the verse that could stand for his whole part in the poem: सुलभाः पुरुषा राजन् सततं प्रियवादिनः। अप्रियस्य च पथ्यस्य वक्ता श्रोता च दुर्लभः. Men who always say pleasant things are easy to find, O king; for what is unwelcome but wholesome, the one who says it and the one who hears it are both rare. Vibhishana has been the one who says it. Ravana has not been the one who hears.
The rest is a warning in pictures. Ravana is bound by the noose of Time, बद्धं कालस्य पाशेन, and his brother cannot stand by while he perishes, प्रदीप्तं शरणं यथा, like a house on fire. He does not want to see him lying रामेण निहतं शरैः, killed by Rama’s arrows. Even brave men trained in weapons sink down in battle when their time comes, यथा वालुकसेतवः, like dams of sand. Then he asks to be forgiven, tells Ravana to guard himself and the city, and goes: स्वस्ति तेऽस्तु गमिष्यामि सुखी भव मया विना, may it go well with you, I am going, be happy without me.
A suppliant in the sky
He crosses the sea through the air. In the seventeenth sarga the monkeys see him coming, and Sugriva sees an enemy: a rakshasa, he tells them, come to kill them, no doubt of it. The poem gives the figure the shape of Meru’s peak and the blaze of lightning, and puts the four companions beside him in armour. While the monkeys are still talking, he reaches the shore and stops above it: उत्तरं तीरमासाद्य खस्थ एव व्यतिष्ठत, he reached the northern shore and stayed standing in the sky.
तेषां सम्भाषमाणानामन्योन्यं स विभीषणः। उत्तरं तीरमासाद्य खस्थ एव व्यतिष्ठत॥ १०॥ स उवाच महाप्राज्ञः स्वरेण महता महान्। सुग्रीवं तांश्च सम्प्रेक्ष्य खस्थ एव विभीषणः॥ ११॥ रावणो नाम दुर्वृत्तो राक्षसो राक्षसेश्वरः। तस्याहमनुजो भ्राता विभीषण इति श्रुतः॥ १२॥ तेन सीता जनस्थानाद् हृता हत्वा जटायुषम्। रुद्धा च विवशा दीना राक्षसीभिः सुरक्षिता॥ १३॥ तमहं हेतुभिर्वाक्यैर्विविधैश्च न्यदर्शयम्। साधु निर्यात्यतां सीता रामायेति पुनः पुनः॥ १४॥ स च न प्रतिजग्राह रावणः कालचोदितः। उच्यमानं हितं वाक्यं विपरीत इवौषधम्॥ १५॥ सोऽहं परुषितस्तेन दासवच्चावमानितः। त्यक्त्वा पुत्रांश्च दारांश्च राघवं शरणं गतः॥ १६॥ निवेदयत मां क्षिप्रं राघवाय महात्मने। सर्वलोकशरण्याय विभीषणमुपस्थितम्॥ १७॥
“Meanwhile Vibhishaṇ with the four Stood high above the ocean shore. Sugríva and the chiefs he spied, And raised his mighty voice and cried: ‘From Rávaṇ, lord of giants, I His brother, named Vibhishaṇ, fly. From Janasthán he stole the child Of Janak by his art beguiled, And in his palace locked and barred Surrounds her with a Rákshas guard. I bade him, plied with varied lore, His hapless prisoner restore. But he, by Fate to ruin sent, No credence to my counsel lent, Mad as the fevered wretch who sees And scorns the balm to bring him ease. He scorned the sage advice I gave, He spurned me like a base-born slave. I left my children and my wife, And fly to Raghu’s son for life. I pray thee, Vánar chieftain, speed To him who saves in hour of need, And tell him famed in distant lands That suppliant here Vibhishaṇ stands.’” — Valmiki, Ramayana 6.17.10–17, tr. Griffith
The Sanskrit says खस्थ एव, in the sky still, twice in two verses, and Griffith keeps him there. Dutt brings him down onto the shore, which the Sanskrit does not, so Griffith is quoted here. Griffith is freer elsewhere: where the Sanskrit says that Ravana took Sita from Janasthana हत्वा जटायुषम्, after killing Jatayu, Griffith drops Jatayu and adds a beguiling art. The rest follows the Sanskrit closely. I am his younger brother, he says, तस्याहमनुजो भ्राता. He told Ravana पुनः पुनः, again and again, to give Sita back. Ravana, driven on by Time, refused the advice विपरीत इवौषधम्, as a dying man refuses medicine. He was insulted like a slave, दासवच्चावमानितः, and he has left his sons and wives and come to Rama for refuge, राघवं शरणं गतः. The word for refuge, शरण, is the word he used in the council for the burning house: the shelter he would not watch burn, and the shelter he now asks for.
The monkeys are not persuaded at once, and in the eighteenth sarga Rama settles it with a vow: to anyone who comes to him even once for shelter, saying I am yours, he gives safety from all creatures. Bring him, he tells Sugriva, whether he is Vibhishana or Ravana himself. Only then, at the start of the nineteenth sarga, does Vibhishana come down: glad, he drops from the sky to the ground. He has stood in the air for the rest of one sarga and the whole of the next, between the brother he has left and a camp that has not yet taken him in.
King before the war
Rama gives him more than refuge. In the same sarga he promises him the throne: I will make you king.
श्रुत्वा तु वचनं तस्य रामस्याक्लिष्टकर्मणः। शिरसाऽऽवन्द्य धर्मात्मा वक्तुमेवं प्रचक्रमे॥ २२॥ राक्षसानां वधे साह्यं लङ्कायाश्च प्रधर्षणे। करिष्यामि यथाप्राणं प्रवेक्ष्यामि च वाहिनीम्॥ २३॥ इति ब्रुवाणं रामस्तु परिष्वज्य विभीषणम्। अब्रवील्लक्ष्मणं प्रीतः समुद्राज्जलमानय॥ २४॥ तेन चेमं महाप्राज्ञमभिषिञ्च विभीषणम्। राजानं रक्षसां क्षिप्रं प्रसन्ने मयि मानद॥ २५॥ एवमुक्तस्तु सौमित्रिरभ्यषिञ्चद् विभीषणम्। मध्ये वानरमुख्यानां राजानं राजशासनात्॥ २६॥ तं प्रसादं तु रामस्य दृष्ट्वा सद्यः प्लवङ्गमाः। प्रचुक्रुशुर्महात्मानं साधुसाध्विति चाब्रुवन्॥ २७॥
“Hearing these words of Rama of unwearied action, the virtuous-souled (Bibhisana), bowing his head unto him, began—‘I shall lend thee my might in slaying the Rakshasas and devastating the city of Lanka, and shall be in the midst of Ravana’s army’. Thereupon, embracing Bibhisana, who spoke thus, Rama, delighted, said unto Lakshmana,—‘O my brother, do thou bring water from the ocean. Sprinkling the greatly wise Bibhisana, I shall make him at once the king of the Rakshasas, O conferer of honor; for I am greatly pleased with him’. Being thus addressed, Saumitri, at the command of the king, annointed Bibhisana and made him the king of the Rakshasas in the presence of the monkey-host. Beholding Rama’s kindness (towards Bibhisana), the monkeys eulogized the high-souled one, exclaiming ‘Excellent! Excellent!’” — Valmiki, Ramayana 6.19.22–27, tr. Manmatha Nath Dutt
He bows his head and offers help in killing the rakshasas and storming Lanka, यथाप्राणं, as far as his life will carry him. Rama does not wait for Lanka to fall. He embraces him and sends Lakshmana for water, समुद्राज्जलमानय, bring water from the sea. Dutt has Rama say that he will make Vibhishana king himself, but the Sanskrit speaks to Lakshmana, महाप्राज्ञमभिषिञ्च विभीषणम्, anoint the greatly wise Vibhishana, and the next verse says that Lakshmana did. It is done मध्ये वानरमुख्यानां राजानं राजशासनात्, in the midst of the monkey chiefs, as king, at the king’s command, and the monkeys shout साधुसाध्विति, well done, well done. The army has not yet crossed the sea, and Ravana is still on the throne beyond it. The new king of Lanka is anointed with water from the sea between them.
From then on he is Rama’s guide to his own family. When Kumbhakarna is woken and Rama sees a giant the size of a mountain in Lanka, it is Vibhishana who tells him who it is. When Indrajit goes to Nikumbhila for his fire-rite, Vibhishana repeats the condition of Indrajit’s boon, that an enemy who strikes him before the offering is made will be his death, and goes with Lakshmana to strike first. In the hundred and ninth sarga he finds his brother dead on the field and laments him: a hero, famed, skilled in policy, used to costly beds, why does he lie killed on the ground? What has come, he says, is what he told him before, and in the grip of desire and folly Ravana did not like to hear it.
The crowning is done a second time when the war is over. In the hundred and twelfth sarga Lakshmana consecrates him again, in Lanka, in the midst of the rakshasas, as king, at Rama’s command: a verse with the shape of the first, the rakshasas in place of the monkey chiefs and Rama named where the first said only the king. The rakshasa who asked Brahma for a mind that would hold to dharma in the worst of trouble ends the war as king in Lanka, crowned twice by the side his brother fought.