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Continued from yesterday's instalment
 It was not only the assurance for kingdom of Lanka that Vibishana received from Rama. He was accepted as Rama’s own brother. When he met Guha, Rama told him ‘we were four brothers till now and we become five with you.’ The family expanded to six with the addition of Sugriva. And now, Vibishana joins the brotherhood as seventh.
‘Guhanodum ivar aanom’ he says. We became five with Guha.
‘pin kundru soozvaan maganodom aruvar aanom.’ Then we became six with Sugriva. (The phrase
kundru soozvaan means ‘one who goes around the Meru hill’ - the Sun. Sugriva was the son of Sun whereas Vali was the son of Indra.)
‘em uzai anbin vandha agan amar kaadhal iya ninnodum ezuvar aanom.’ Now with you, who have walked over to our side with a heart full of love for us, we become brothers seven.
A careful reader would observe that this expanding brotherhood is not an idea portrayed in Valmiki Ramayana. Kamban, as can be seen, has studied Valmiki Ramayana very closely with analytical and critical mind. One of the verses sung by poets anon in praise of Kamba Ramayana, collected and added to the epic as ‘Paayiram’ (prologue) says ‘abinava kavi naathan,’ The master poet
‘vizundha gnaayiru adhu ezuvadan mun marai vedhiyarudan aaraaindhu’
discussed in depth with scholars after sunset and ere it rose, ‘ezundha gnaayiru adhu vizuvadhan mun kavi paadiyadhu ezhu noore’ wrote seven hundred verses at a stretch after sunrise, before it set.
Delved in depth in Valmiki Ramayana, Kamban was inspired by a Sloka in Yuddha Kanda of Valmiki, uttered by Bharata. Rama returns to Ayodhya and Bharata learns of the help that Sugriva rendered to Rama and is really moved. Valmiki says “Embracing Sugriva, the foremost of monkeys, prince Bharata, a jewel among virtuous, who was endowed with extraordinary energy, said ‘You are a fifth brother to us four (brothers) O Sugriva! (For) a friend is made through (beneficence actuated by) good will (and a friend is as good as a brother), while maleficence is that which distinguishes an enemy.”
 Kamban must have been impressed by the words of Bharata and should have thought that by the same scale the other friends of Rama - Guha and Vibishana - should also be treated with the same kind of love and become a part of the family. And therefore he chose to include verses in appropriate places to include all the three of them as their brothers. It was the grandest of designs of Kamban to include Guha, a huntsman as a brother too. He was quite a rebel for his times - at least a thousand years back. We will see that when we study
Guha.
For the present, Vibishana got his abhaya, the assurance of kingship of Lanka and on top of all of it, became the brother of Sri Rama himself. More than what he could ask for. If he were the blood brother of Ravana, says Kamban, he is a brother of Sri Rama too because of the strong bonds of love that bound them and because of the fact that their minds were set on observance of Dharma as the first and foremost of all in their lives.
And the scene is all set for parting with the information on Lanka and its army. Kamban does that with the finesse that he is known for. Even now he does not make Rama think of Vibishana as a source of vital information. The suggestion comes from somewhere else.
More follows…
Hari Krishnan
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