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Continued from yesterday's instalment
 Well, that was the first step in situation handling. Identify the problem and the extent of it. And then think of possible solutions. The first thing to do is to bring any possible survivor here, before Rama wakes up, he thought. ‘unarvadhan munnam inne utruzhi udhavarkku otha thunaivargal thunjal illar ular enin’ Before Sri Rama wakes up, I will look for survivors, if any, who can help us;
‘thuruvith thedi konarguven viraivin’ and bring them hither. It was pitch dark and he walked over the dead bodies of the vanara warriors and spotted Hanuman, who was lying over a heap of dead elephants.
‘Undu uyir enbadhu unni’ he ascertained that Hanuman was alive
‘udar kanai ondru ondraaga vinda neerp punin nindru viraivinin vaangi’ and removed all the arrows embedded in his body, one by one.
‘Kondal neer konarndhu kola mugathinak kulirach cheidhaan.’ He then brought water from the clouds and sprinkled it on Hanuman’s face to wake him up.
Now that there were two brains to tackle the problem, the work moved on. Hanuman enquired about the safety of Rama first and then as the immediate second step told Vibishana that they should find the whereabouts of Jambavan, who knew the medications that would bring back life to the entire army. The situation that looked rather grim a moment ago started to yield itself to solutions. We knew what happened afterwards, Hanuman went on a mission to fetch the herbs as guided by Jambavan and the army was restored to life. It goes to the credit of Vibishana who remained calm in the face of a no go situation and initiated the needed action.
There is one more step. That of identifying all the survivors who are in a fit condition to render assistance and more importantly, boosting their morale. Valmiki shows Vibishana playing this role as well in this scene. Listen to him speaking to the initial number of heroes that he could wake up from the effect of Brahmastra, like Sugriva, Nila, Angada and Jambavan.
 “Do not be afraid. There is no occasion for despondency at this moment; because the two sons of Dasaratha are actually feeling helpless and afflicted and have allowed themselves to be overwhelmed by the missiles of Indrajit, honouring as they did the spell sacred to the self-born creator (with which the missile presided over by him has been invoked.) This supreme missile of unfailing potency presided over by Brahma has for its part has been bestowed on him (Indrajit) by the self-born creator (himself) and the two princes have been overthrown in combat, honouring as they did the aforesaid missile. What occasion is there for despondency in this event?” (Valmiki Ramayana, Yuddha Kanda, Canto 74, Sloka 3-4)
That is the spirit. First restore confidence in the team. That is most important. Hanuman enjoined him. The Poet says “…. the sagacious Hanuman, son of the wind-god for his part then spoke as follows “Let us two restore to confidence whosoever is (still) breathing in this army of powerful monkeys which has been struck down by the missile.” (Ibid, Sloka 5-6)
Think of a possible parallel in our times. May be one of us happen to play the role of Vibishana, in say a rail accident. Remaining all alone in a god-forsaken place amidst thousands of bodies lying all around and organising support. Think of each step that one would have to take in such a tough situation and initiating action of passing the information on, getting support and moving the mountain with the help of the available persons. And think of the steps that Vibishana took, as a parallel. Vibishana played a role that was at least a thousand times greater, keeping in mind the immensity of the problem he was faced with.
More follows…
Hari Krishnan
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