benedictions on him. The knower of Brahman becomes Brahman himself. The effulgence in his face is reflective of the splendour of the Lord Himself. At the command of Lakshmi Narasimha, Prahlada’s coronation was arranged by Devas. The Paramabagavatha was crowned by Singa Perumal as the Emperor of all three worlds.
By this narration, Vibhishana wanted to remind and impress upon Ravana, the prowess of Vishnu. Once Ravana had visited Mahabali. The astute King of the Netherworld, gifting one of his ancestor ’s fallen dazzling diamond ear kundalams requested Ravana to take it. But the King of Lanka could barely even move it a bit with his twenty hands! Now on hearing the Mighty Lord having lifted Hiranyakashipu with both the kundalams as well as all other ornaments, and torn him apart ought to make sense dawn on the ignorant, arrogant sibling

Far from it, Ravana after hearing the full episode from Vibhishana was seething with anger. Since his doomsday was near, it had no impact. On the contrary, he taunted his noble brother for praising Prahlada who watched his father being clawed to death. He accused Vibhishana of scheming to occupy the throne of Lanka and ordered him to leave at once. The propitious time had arrived for Vibhishana Saranagadhi.
The legend goes that when Kamban recited the above portion from his Ramayana within the precincts of Srirangam Temple, peals of thunderous applause emanated from Mettu Narasimhar’s Sannidhi, approving of its inclusion.
It is interesting to note that the name ‘Kamban’ implies pillar. Rightly so did the advent of Narasimha spring up in his Ramavathar. One of the names in Narasimha Ashtothram is “Om Sthambajaaya Namaha!"

Bhavan's Journal,May 15, 2022∎ 29