Vibhishana was an ardent devotee of Vishnu and the reason for such intense devotion is due to a curse by River Saraswati on Sage Pulastya. Saraswati River wanted to become the greatest river in the universe. She was performing intense penance to achieve her goal.
Sage Pulastya, son of Brahma, once reached the banks of Sarasvati River to do penance. As River Saraswati was in deep meditation, she did not notice the arrival of the Sage.
Sage Pulastya considered the attitude of Saraswati River as an insult and cursed her that her desires will never be fulfilled.
When the sage cursed her, River Saraswati reacted angrily and cursed him to become the father of demons.
Sage Pulastya was worried about the impact of the curse on his lineage and requested her to withdraw it.
She told that her curse cannot be reverted but she told him that two demons would be born in his lineage and they will cause havoc in the universe. The third will be a humble and honest demon and he will become famous as a devotee of Vishnu. This third demon son was Vibhishana. The first two sons were Ravana and Kumbhakarna.
Did You Know?
- Bhakti of Vibhishana was such that there is the famous Vibhishana Gita found in the sixth canto titled Lanka Kanda or Yuddha Kanda of the Sri Ramacharitamanas, popularly known as Tulsi Ramayan, composed by Goswami Tulsidas. Bhagavan Sri Ram teaches Vibhishana Gita to Vibhishana. It is similar to Bhagavan Sri Krishna advising Arjuna in Kurukshetra in the Mahabharata.
- Hanuman Vadvanal Stotra was created by Vibhishana in praise of God Hanuman. This stotra starts with praise of Hanumanji, admiring his various virtues and tremendous power.
- Ravana had taken a vow to establish 900,000 Shivlings. During his lifetime, Ravana had established 600,000 Shivlings. Vibhishana completed his brother’s wish by installing the remaining 300,000 Shivlings.
- Before leaving Lanka to join the camp of Bhagavan Sri Ram, there is an emotional meeting between Vibhishana and his brother Kumbakarna. Although Kumbakarna agrees with the lofty ideals of Vibhishana, he does not go with Vibhishana as he was not ready to abandon his elder brother Ravana. This emotional meeting between the two brothers is not part of Valmiki Ramayan but is found in the Tamil Ramayana of Kamban.
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