Itihāsa / Rāmāyaṇa chronicle / Yuddha · 39 of 50
39. Refuge
Yuddha (युद्ध)
Vibhīṣaṇa arrives at Rāma's camp and the monkeys, reasonably, call him a spy. Sugrīva is against receiving him. Rāma's rule is the one the tradition has taken out of this scene and kept. A person who comes for refuge, even from the enemy's house, is received. The rule is dangerous. He states it anyway, and he has Vibhīṣaṇa anointed with seawater, there on the shore, as king of Laṅkā, which is a way of saying the war already has a successor in mind. A kingdom is not to be destroyed. It is to be taken away from the thief and given to the brother who told the truth.
Vibhīṣaṇa's information is practical. The city's layout, the names of the fighters, the son Indrajit who can become invisible, the brother Kumbhakarṇa who sleeps. The page records that the information is given. It does not become a briefing for a reader to use. What the sitting is for is the rule of refuge. Rāma has killed Vālin from hiding and will fight a war with animals across a sea. The cleanest sentence he says in the whole war is said to a defector on a beach.
The army still cannot cross. Refuge has given them a future king and a map. It has not given them a road.
नेपालीमा
विभीषण शिविरमा आए। वानरहरूले उनलाई चर भने। सुग्रीवले नलिऔं भने। रामको नियम: शरणमा आएको मान्छे लिइन्छ, शत्रुको घरबाट भए पनि। उहाँले विभीषणलाई समुद्रकै किनारमा समुद्रको पानीले लङ्काको राजाका रूपमा अभिषेक गराउनुभयो। उद्देश्य राज्य नाश गर्ने होइन; चोरबाट खोसेर सत्य बोल्ने भाइलाई दिने हो। यो पृष्ठले सूचना दिइयो भन्छ। पाठकको युद्ध-योजना बनाउँदैन। सेना अझै तर्न सक्दैन। शरणले उनीहरूलाई भावी राजा र नक्सा दियो, बाटो दिएन।