इन्द्रजिद्विभीषणसंवादः

Having spoken so to Saumitri, Vibhīṣaṇa, full of joy, already sure his plan would succeed, took him, bow in hand, and hurried off. They went not far, entered a great forest, and there Vibhīṣaṇa showed Lakṣmaṇa the place of the rite. The splendid brother of Rāvaṇa pointed out a banyan tree, dark as a black cloud and fearsome to see, and said: "Here the mighty son of Rāvaṇa makes his offering to the spirits, and only then goes into battle. After that the rākṣasa becomes invisible to all beings; he strikes down his enemies in battle and binds them with his splendid arrows. Before he can enter the banyan, destroy the mighty son of Rāvaṇa with your blazing arrows, together with his chariot, horses and charioteer." The banyan was the centre of Indrajit's power: there he offered to the spirits and gained the invisibility with which he had bound Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa with the serpent-noose, and with which he had struck down the brothers and the whole monkey army by the weapon of Brahmā. Vibhīṣaṇa knew his secret and so led Lakṣmaṇa to the very place Indrajit meant to enter, and his knowledge saved Lakṣmaṇa's life. "Before he can enter" was the decisive point: once inside the tree he would be invisible, so he had to be struck first. Saying, "So be it," the glorious Saumitri, delight of his friends, took his stand there, twanging his splendid bow. Then the mighty son of Rāvaṇa, Indrajit, appeared in a chariot the colour of fire, armoured, sword in hand, his banner flying; even having abandoned his rite, he had come fully armed. The glorious Lakṣmaṇa said to that undefeated son of Pulastya's line: "I challenge you to battle. Give me a fair fight." His challenge was a demand for a righteous fight: give up your sorcery and fight me face to face. So the stage was set.

So addressed, the glorious and high-minded son of Rāvaṇa caught sight of Vibhīṣaṇa there and spoke harshly to him: "You were born here and grew up here; you are my father's own brother, my uncle, rākṣasa. How can you betray your own son? Kinship, friendship, family, none of these counts with you, fool, nor brotherhood of blood, nor righteousness, you defiler of righteousness. You are to be pitied, idiot, and despised by the good, you who have abandoned your own people to become another man's servant. With your feeble mind you cannot see the great difference between living among one's own and taking base refuge with strangers. The stranger may be virtuous and one's own kin without virtue, yet one's own kin, virtueless as he may be, is better; a stranger remains a stranger. He who abandons his own side to serve the other is killed by those very people once his own side is destroyed. Only a kinsman like you, night-ranger, younger brother of Rāvaṇa, could show such pitilessness." Indrajit's charge rests on loyalty to one's family: one's own kin, however worthless, is better than a stranger. He calls Vibhīṣaṇa a defiler of righteousness because to him abandoning one's family was the worst wrong of all; he mocks him as Rāma's servant; and he adds a prophecy, that a man who deserts his side is in the end cast off by his new masters too. Rāvaṇa had used these same arguments before, and Indrajit was echoing his father. Anger and contempt are mixed in his words as he calls Vibhīṣaṇa rākṣasa, fool, idiot and defiler of righteousness again and again, and by reminding him that he was born and raised in Laṅkā he tries to show him ungrateful. In his eyes Vibhīṣaṇa had gone over to Rāma for his own gain, not for dharma. The exchange is a clash of two outlooks, loyalty to family and loyalty to righteousness.

So addressed by his brother's son, Vibhīṣaṇa replied: "Why do you boast, rākṣasa, as though you did not know my character? Wicked son of the rākṣasa king, give up this harshness out of respect for your elders. Though I was born into the family of the cruel rākṣasas, my character is the first virtue of men, not a rākṣasa's. I take no pleasure in cruelty, nor in unrighteousness. How could a brother be cast out by his brother, even if their natures differ? Yet by casting off a man whose conduct has fallen from righteousness and who is set on sin, one finds happiness, as by shaking a venomous snake from one's hand. A wicked man given to stealing others' property and violating others' wives should be abandoned, they say, like a burning house. Seizing others' property, violating others' wives, and excessive distrust of friends: these three faults bring ruin. The terrible slaughter of great sages, war with all the gods, arrogance, anger, hostility and perversity, these faults of my brother, destroying his life and his sovereignty, have covered his virtues as clouds cover mountains. Because of these faults I abandoned my brother, your father. This city of Laṅkā will be no more, nor you, nor your father." His answer has two parts: first he establishes his own character, then he counts Rāvaṇa's faults. He separates birth from conduct: he was born among rākṣasas, but his conduct was that of good men, for birth is given but character is one's own doing, and character is the first of human virtues. He grants that casting off a brother is ordinarily wrong, but when a brother has fallen from righteousness and is bent on sin, leaving him is better; the images of the snake and the burning house show that abandoning a sinner is self-preservation, not betrayal. All three ruinous faults were seen in Rāvaṇa: he had taken Kubera's wealth and the Puṣpaka, carried off Sītā, and in his distrust driven Vibhīṣaṇa away. Vibhīṣaṇa grants that Rāvaṇa had virtues too, but his faults had hidden them as clouds hide mountains. So he argues that leaving him was in keeping with dharma.

"You are arrogant, a child and ill-bred, rākṣasa, and you are bound by the noose of Time; say to me whatever you please. Disaster has come upon you here today because you spoke harshly to me, basest of rākṣasas. You cannot enter the banyan. Having attacked Kākutstha, you cannot go on living. Fight in battle with Lakṣmaṇa, a god among men; slain, you will do the gods' work by going to Yama's abode. Show all the strength you can summon; spend every weapon and arrow you have. Once you come within range of Lakṣmaṇa's arrows, you will not go back alive today, you or your army." Vibhīṣaṇa's closing words are hard. He calls Indrajit a child, for his arrogance was the mark of an unripe mind, and by saying he is bound by the noose of Time he declares his death certain. "You will do the gods' work" is ironic: by dying he will accomplish the gods' purpose. And "with your army" means that not only Indrajit but his whole force would perish that day. The last verse, in a longer metre, prepares the great battle between Lakṣmaṇa and Indrajit that follows.