ISL MINGGU 15

Universal Brotherhood ()
To demonstrate his vision of universal brotherhood, Kampan drew examples from rAman's own
family as well as from that of rAvaNan. After rAman's departure to the forest, Bharathan, who
was away at the time, returned to ayOdhya and found out what happened. Along with his step
mother, KOsalai, Bharathan decided to follow rAman and plead with him to return. Kuhan, the
hunter, helped Bharathan and his retinue to cross the river in his boats. Kuhan bowed towards the
magnanimous lady in the boat and asked Bharathan who she was. In Bharathan's reply Kampan
packed deep emotions, remorse and brotherly love in three short sentences: "She is the senior
wife of the King of kings, Dasarathan and the unfortunate mother of the great rAman, a treasure
which she has lost because I was born."




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( 64)
rAman's friendship knew no boundaries and did not discriminate between friends or enemies. He
did not even exclude members from the monkey family or the demon family if his friendship was
sought with sincerity. He first embraced Kuhan () , who was an illiterate belonging to a
low caste; then he embraced SugrIvan (), the monkey King who was ill treated by his
brother, VAli (); finally he accepted VibIdaNan ( ), the brother of
RAvaNan. To make it more effective, Kampan made these words come directly from rAman
when VibIdaNan ( ) sought refuge with him. rAman said: " In my family there
were four brothers; with Kuhan we became five; when SugrIvan, the King of mountains joined
us we became six; now you have come to us with great love and affection so that we are now
seven. Our father will certainly be proud of us".
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Going to rAvaNan's camp, one finds the same kind of deep attachment of the two brothers,
VibIdaNan and KumpakaruNan () both of whom tried their utmost to put
some sense into their brother's head in vain. VibIdaNan tries his best to persuade KumbakaruNan
to leave rAvaNan and join RAman in the name of virtue. In a few moving passages, Kampan
packed all the emotions associated with the conflicts in their values namely: their helplessness in
ISL MINGGU 15
correcting their brother's sinful actions; their acceptance of the inevitable situation gracefully;
finally their parting from each other, realizing at the same time, that this is going to mark the end
of their brotherly relationship.
In responses to VibIdaNan's plea, KumpakaruNan, who was himself a very learned man said, "
In order to enjoy the transient worldly pleasures, I have been brought up by our brother, who fed
me, clothed me and prepared me for the war; my duty therefore is to be on his side; I would
rather die on his behalf instead of fleeing to the other side; my dear brother, do not worry about
me; please go and join rAman as quickly as you can".

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( 155.)
KumpakaruNan then becomes philosophical and says " When the time comes, everything has to
come to an end no matter how badly one may cherish it; there is no one who appreciates this
truth more than you; please do not feel sorry for me".
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In the following poem, the parting embraces of the two brothers, the hesitating slow retreat of
VibIdaNan, his eyes full of tears, leaving his brother with 'a longing lingering look behind' are
described. The thought that this would mark the end of his brotherly relationship ran through
VibIdaNan's mind.
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( 166-167)