The Ramayana · 384 of 493

Sundara Kānda (The Beautiful Book): Canto 52 — Vibhishan’s Speech

Then Rávaṇ spake with flashing eye: “Hence with the Vánar: let him die.” Vibhishaṇ heard the stern behest, And pondered in his troubled breast; Then, trained in arts that soothe and please Addressed the king in words like these:

“Revoke, my lord, thy fierce decree, And hear the words I speak to thee. Kings wise and noble ne’er condemn To death the envoys sent to them. Such deed the world’s contempt would draw On him who breaks the ancient law.(885) Observe the mean where justice lies, And spare his life but still chastise.” Then forth the tyrant’s fury broke, And thus in angry words he spoke: “O hero, when the wicked bleed No sin or shame attends the deed. The Vánar’s blood must needs be spilt, The penalty of heinous guilt.”

Again Vibhishaṇ made reply: “Nay, hear me, for he must not die. Hear the great law the wise declare: “Thy foeman’s envoy thou shalt spare.” ’Tis true he comes an open foe: ’Tis true his hands have wrought us woe, But law allows thee, if thou wilt, A punishment to suit the guilt. The mark of shame, the scourge, the brand, The shaven head, the wounded hand. Yea, were the Vánar envoy slain, Where, King of giants, were the gain? On them alone, on them who sent The message, be the punishment. For spake he well or spake he ill, He spake obedient to their will, And, if he perish, who can bear Thy challenge to the royal pair? Who, cross the ocean and incite Thy death-doomed enemies to fight?”

Context

Vibhishaṇ, Rāvaṇ's younger brother, argues against killing the envoy. He invokes the ancient rule that messengers are not to be slain, a law respected across the great civilizations of the ancient world. The Indian dharmaśāstra treated it as inviolable; the Greek and Roman traditions did too, with Hermes as the divine guarantor of safe passage for heralds; the Hebrew prophets denounced violations of the messenger-rule as among the worst forms of sacrilege. Vibhishaṇ's intervention in the court is doing two things at once. It is preserving Hanumān's life, and it is also a quiet signal that Vibhishaṇ himself is not aligned with his brother's moral universe. The Yuddha Kāṇḍa will pick up this thread when he defects to Rāma's side.On dūta-vadha and the messenger-immunity rule in dharmaśāstra: P.V. Kane, History of Dharmaśāstra vol. III (BORI 1973) ch. 5; comparative reading in Coleman Phillipson, The International Law and Custom of Ancient Greece and Rome (Macmillan 1911).