Ravana Calls Rama a Mere Mortal and Reveals the Measure of His Sight
Lanka Kanda, Doha 25
Doha 25 · Movement 2 of 2
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Ravana turns from his own exploits to the one whose name Angada carries. Foolish monkey, he says, you belittle me and continue praising a mere mortal before my face. His many mouths make the insult resound through the assembly.
The words do not diminish Rama. They reveal the boundary of the speaker's sight. The Lord whose command crossed the ocean through an army of forest beings stands outside Ravana's categories, so the king reduces the immeasurable to the form his pride believes it can defeat.
Angada hears not only an insult to his master but the final blindness of the ruler he was sent to benefit. The hall has seen courage answer boasting and counsel answer scorn. Now Ravana names the divine merely human, and the envoy's restrained fire rises. The next reply will not defend reputation alone. It will restore the true scale of everything the king has made small.
When Ravana calls Rama merely human, he does not measure Rama but discloses the smallness of his own vision.
Read the passage from the Manas
तेहि रावन कहँ लघु कहसि नर कर करसि बखान। रे कपि बर्बर खर्ब खल अब जाना तव ग्यान।।25।।
'That Ravana you belittle, and you glorify a mere mortal! O monkey, you barbarous, dwarfed, and wicked creature, now I see the measure of your wisdom!'