The verse and its meaning · Sundarkand · Sundarkand — Vibhishana Comes to Rama

Crossing the Deep Sea

Sundarkand 50

जो सम्पति सिव रावनहिँ, दीन्हि दिये दस माथ । सोइ सम्पदा बिभीषनहिँ, सकुचि दीन्हि रघुनाथ । अस प्रभु छाड़ि भजहिँ जे आना। ते नर पसु बिनु पूँछ बिषाना । निज जन जानि ताहि अपनावा । प्रभु सुभाव कपिकुल मन भावा ॥१ । पुनि सर्वज्ञ सर्व उर बासी । सर्वरूप सब रहित उदासी । बोले बचन नीति प्रतिपालक । कारन मनुज दनुज कुल घालक ॥२ । सुनु कपीस लङ्कापति बीरा । केहि बिधि तरिय जलधि गम्भीरा । सङ्कुल मकर उरग झष जाती । अति अगाध दुस्तर सब भाँती ॥३ । कह लंकेस सुनहु रघुनायक। कोटि सिन्धु सोषक तव सायक । जदपि तदपि नीति असि गाई । बिनय करिय सागर सन जाई ॥४ । प्रभु तुम्हार कुलगुर जलधि, कहिहि उपाय बिचारि । बिनु प्रयास सागर तरिहि, सकल भालु-कपि धारि ॥५०

Meaning · English

Rama asks Lanka's lord how to cross the deep sea. Vibhishana answers: your arrow could dry a million oceans, yet custom says plead with the sea. Your family's guru, the ocean, will think and name a way; bears and monkeys will cross unaided.

Tulsidas opens with wealth. What Shiva gave Ravana for ten offered heads, Rama gave Vibhishana, and gave it hesitantly, as if it were too little. Those who leave such a master for another are, in the text's blunt phrase, beasts without tail or horn. Rama took Vibhishana as his own, and this nature of his delighted the monkey host. Then comes the question. The text calls Rama sarvajña, all-knowing, and dwelling in every heart. Still he speaks as a protector of nīti, right conduct, and as a man among men, though he is the destroyer of demon clans. He asks Sugriva and Vibhishana how the deep sea, full of crocodiles, serpents and fish, can be crossed. Vibhishana, now Lanka's lord, answers that Rama's sāyaka, his arrow, can dry crores of seas. Even so, nīti says approach the ocean with humble request. He calls the ocean Rama's kulaguru, the guru of his family, who will reflect and show a way. Then the whole army of bears and monkeys will cross without strain. The commentators read Rama's asking as the courtesy of one playing a human role. The verse shows power choosing courtesy first, and a newly arrived refugee already trusted with counsel.

A carpenter with the sharpest saw in the village still walks to the field's owner and asks leave before felling the tree. The saw could cut without asking. Rama's arrow is that saw, and the ocean is the owner whose word he first seeks.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Rama Welcomes Vibhishana · Sundarkand 49
• All of Sundarkand · Ask Krishna about it

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