वानरसत्कारः पुष्पकारोहणं च

When he had brought the flower-decked Puṣpaka ready, Vibhīṣaṇa stood close by, waiting to speak to Rāma. Humble, his hands folded together, the lord of the rākṣasas asked Rāghava eagerly, “What shall I do?” Rāghava of great splendour thought a moment and then, while Lakṣmaṇa listened, spoke with affection: “All these forest-dwellers have toiled and striven hard, Vibhīṣaṇa. Let them be honoured with jewels and riches of every kind. It was with them, lord of the rākṣasas, that you won Laṅkā; gladly they cast off the fear of death and never turned back in battle. They have done their work; make their labour fruitful with gifts of wealth and jewels. Honoured and made happy by you in this way, as a grateful king should, the monkey leaders will be content. All men flock to a king who is generous, who draws people to him, who is compassionate and master of his senses, and that is why I urge this on you. But a king who lacks every quality that wins affection, who gives no gifts and shows no honour and is only a killer in battle, is deserted by his army in alarm, lord of men.” Here Rāma teaches Vibhīṣaṇa the root of a king's duty: to honour those who serve him, to give, to gather people to him, to be compassionate and to master his senses. Lakṣmaṇa is listening, so the lesson is meant for him too. Rāma does not give the gifts himself; he makes Vibhīṣaṇa, king of Laṅkā, the giver, so that the new king's good name would be fixed among the monkeys. A generous king who gathers people is one who knows when to spend and when to save. The last verse paints the opposite picture: a king who only drives his men to fight and never pleases them with gifts and honour is abandoned by his army in time of danger, for his soldiers think they are dying for nothing. The hint is that this was one cause of Rāvaṇa's fall, whose very ministers served him only out of fear. Gratitude is Rāma's policy, and this is Vibhīṣaṇa's first lesson in kingship. In recalling that the monkeys threw away the fear of death, Rāma gives the credit for the conquest of Laṅkā not to himself but to his soldiers.

At Rāma's word Vibhīṣaṇa honoured every one of the monkeys, sharing out jewels and riches among them. When Rāma saw the monkey leaders honoured with jewels and wealth, he took Vaidehī in his lap, spirited yet shy, for she was shy of mounting her husband's lap before them all, and with his valiant brother Lakṣmaṇa, the bowman, he boarded that matchless aerial car. Lakṣmaṇa, still called valiant and bearing his bow, stands at Rāma's side as his guard. Standing in the car and honouring all the monkeys, Kākutstha spoke to mighty Sugrīva and to Vibhīṣaṇa: “Bulls among monkeys, you have done a friend's work. You have my leave; go now wherever you wish. Sugrīva, everything that a loving friend who wishes one well should do, you have done, for you fear to do wrong. Go quickly back to Kiṣkindhā with your army around you. Vibhīṣaṇa, rule in Laṅkā, in the kingdom I have given you; not even the gods with Indra can overpower you. I shall go to Ayodhyā, my father's capital. I bid you all farewell and ask your leave to go.” Rāma addresses each friend in turn: thanks to the monkeys as a body, praise for Sugrīva's loyalty as a friend, and a blessing on the firmness of Vibhīṣaṇa's reign. His “with my leave” speaks with a king's authority, but “I ask your leave” seeks his friends' consent as well, so that he speaks with both authority and humility. In calling Sugrīva one who fears to do wrong he forgets Sugrīva's past negligence and remembers only his loyalty; and his blessing on Vibhīṣaṇa makes his kingdom secure, for what Rāma has given no one can take away. He says farewell already standing in the car, for his heart was hurrying towards Ayodhyā.

At these words the monkey chiefs and the monkeys, and the rākṣasa Vibhīṣaṇa, all said with joined palms: “We want to go to Ayodhyā too; take us all with you. We will roam its woods and gardens happily, and once we have seen you still wet from your consecration and have paid our respects to Kausalyā, we will soon go back to our own homes, best of kings.” Their request is simple and sweet: they want to see Rāma consecrated and to bow to his mother, and the picture of him still wet with the waters of consecration is a lovely one. To the monkeys, Sugrīva and Vibhīṣaṇa, the righteous Rāma replied: “Nothing could be dearer to me than this, that I should reach the city with my friends, with all of you, and share my joy with you. Sugrīva, board the aerial car quickly with the monkeys; and you too, Vibhīṣaṇa, lord of the rākṣasas, come aboard with your ministers.” His reply shows his delight. He had wanted to take his friends with him all along, but had told them to go home so as not to hold them back from their families; now that they chose to follow him of their own will, he counted it dearer than anything dear. Once Rāma had gone into the forest alone, banished by his father; now he returns with thousands of friends. And Vibhīṣaṇa leaves his new kingdom of Laṅkā for a while to go with Rāma, for his friendship weighed more with him than his kingdom.

Then Sugrīva joyfully boarded the divine Puṣpaka with the monkeys, and Vibhīṣaṇa with his ministers. When all were aboard, Kubera's splendid car, at Rāghava's command, rose up into the sky; the car that goes where its rider wishes follows Rāma's will. Travelling through the sky in that bright car drawn by swans, Rāma, delighted and at ease, shone like Kubera himself. The comparison is fitting, for Puṣpaka was Kubera's car, and Rāma now sat in it like its master. His delight and ease show a mind at peace: the war was over, Sītā was his again, his friends were content, and only the journey home remained. All the monkeys and bears and the mighty rākṣasas sat down at their ease in that divine car without any crowding; thousands of monkeys and rākṣasas were aboard, and yet no one jostled anyone, so vast was the car. In the next sarga Rāma will show Sītā, from the sky, the places along their way.