Vibhishana Joins Rama and Lakshmana

As Rama's army draws near, Lanka seethes like the waves of the world's dissolution, and Ravana's warriors, Marichi, Amalachandra, Bhaskara, Simhaprabha, Hasta, Prahasta and others, gather in arms around their lord. Vibhishana bows to Ravana and counsels him that his fame, bright as kunda flowers, will vanish in a moment for the sake of another's wife, that Rama is a great man and his equal, and that he should send Sita back at once, for one's own possessions bring praise and another's bring disgrace.

Reading his father's mind, Indrajit, Ravana's son, sneers that no one asked Vibhishana's advice and that a coward afraid of war should sit in a corner of his house, for only a fool gives up such a jewel among women. Vibhishana calls him a sinner who, though a son, acts as an enemy, warns that Ravana has brought into Lanka, that nest of Rakshasa serpents, not Sita but the very herb that destroys poison, and describes Lakshmana, son of Sumitra, as an angry lion with the Sagaravarta bow and the unfailing Adityamukha arrows, now allied with Mahendra, Malaya, Hanuman, Sugriva, Tripura, Nala, Nila, Velandhara, lord of Ratnadvipa, and many mighty Vidyadharas.

Enraged, Ravana draws his sword to kill Vibhishana, who tears up an adamantine pillar to fight him, and the ministers barely separate the two fiery brothers; Ravana then orders Kumbhakarna and Indrajit to drive Vibhishana from the city, swearing his life is worthless if Vibhishana stays in Lanka unslain. Asking, ‘Am I not Ratnashrava's son?’, Vibhishana leaves Lanka with thirty akshauhinis (656,100 elephants, as many chariots, 1,968,300 horses and 3,280,500 foot soldiers) and his chief vassals Vidyudghana, Indravajra, Indraprachanda, Chapala, Uddhata, Ashanisanghata, Kala and Mahakala with their families.

Vibhishana camps on the shore of Hamsadvipa like gods on Nandishvara island; the Vanara army trembles, Lakshmana eyes his Sagaravarta bow and Suryahasa sword and Rama takes up the Vajravarta bow, but a wise doorkeeper sent by Vibhishana explains that the brothers' quarrel over Sita has become a complete break and that Vibhishana comes as Rama's devotee seeking refuge, ready to obey his every command. The minister Sumatikanta suspects a ruse of Ravana's, since kings have many wiles and quarrelling brothers may well reunite.

The wise Matisamudra replies that the rift is common knowledge and that Vibhishana is righteous, learned, kind and firm in friendship, for brotherhood counts for little when each soul's karma ripens differently: the Brahmin Giri killed his brother Gobhuta for the gold that King Suryamegha and Queen Matikriya had secretly hidden in their rice. Yet the brothers Ahideva and Mahideva of Kaushambi, sons of Brihaddhana, bought a jewel abroad that made each long to kill the other; it roused the same urge in their mother, and when they threw it into the Kalindi river it came back to their sister inside a fish, so they crushed it and all four took the Jina diksha (initiation), showing that greed breeds enmity even among kin and wisdom ends it.

Rama sends kind words to the doorkeeper and receives Vibhishana with honour; Vibhishana vows that the Lord Jina is his master in this life and the next, and Raghunatha his master in this world, and Rama promises to make him lord of Lanka without doubt. Bhamandala, lord of Vijayardha and master of many vidyas, now arrives to the joy of all, and after eight days in Hamsadvipa the army advances toward Lanka, the Vanaras in front, to a battlefield twenty yojanas wide.

Hearing the din, Ravana rejoices that after many days his zeal for battle is roused and summons his vassals; great Vidyadharas come with their armies from Bhaskarapura, Payodhapura, Kanchanapura, Vyomapura, Kampanapura, Vishalapura, Ashvapura, Ratnapura and other cities, and he honours them with weapons, mounts and armour. Ravana's host numbers four thousand akshauhinis and Rama's two thousand, a thousand each under Bhamandala and Sugriva, and Gautama observes that merit turns even enemies into friends, while for the meritless friends become foes.