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Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2001 19:39:37 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Thought of the week: The slaying of Vali
To: Erum Bugal
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From: Balakrishnan M
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Thought of the week: The slaying of Vali
Lord Rama came to demonstrate ideal behavior as
prescribed in the scriptures. He showed how to be
perfect as per the scriptures in all respects. Of the
innumerable pastimes of Lord Rama recorded in the epic
Ramayana, the slaying of Vali, the monkey king of
Kishkindha seems to cast a shadow of doubt regarding
the ideal behavior of Lord Rama.
Vali, king of Kishkindha
************************
When the descent of Lord became imminent, the demigods
on His order expanded themselves into the race of
celestial monkeys and bears to aid Him in His mission.
These monkeys had immense physical and mystical
powers and were headed by Vali, who was an expansion
of Indra the king of the heavens and his younger
brother Sugriva an expansion of Surya the sun
god.
Vali had immense physical strength. He also had the
benediction that in combat he would gain the powers of
his opponent, which made him practically invincible.
Once when the mighty Ravana offended him, Vali had
effortlessly captured him in his tail and later
negligently released him when Ravana begged for
forgiveness. Vali was faithfully served by his
younger brother Sugriva and thus ruled the kingdom of
Kishkindha.
Combat between Vali and Mayavi
*******************************
Once Vali was challenged by a mighty demon name
Mayavi. Angered at the challenge both Vali and Sugriva
rushed to the demon. However when Mayavi saw the two
huge and powerful monkeys rushing towards him, he
became afraid and ran away pursued by them. Finally
Mayavi descended into a small cave and disappeared.
The furious Vali ordered Sugriva to guard the
entrance of the cave while he descended into it.
Sugriva anxiously waited there for a period of one
year. Then he heard a blood curdling
scream from Vali and a stream of blood flowing out
from the cave.
Sugriva concluded that Vali had been slain by Mayavi.
In order to prevent the demon from coming out, he
placed a huge rock to block the entrance of the cave
and went back to report the sad news of the death of
his brother to his kingdom. After due consultation it
was decided to install Sugriva as the king of
Kishkindha.
Rivalry between Vali and Sugriva
********************************
However in reality, Vali after a fierce battle with
Mayavi and his kinsmen had finally succeeded in
slaying them all, and the cry Sugriva had
heard was actually a roar of victory. When Vali found
the mouth of the cave blocked he assumed that Sugriva
had deliberately done it to usurp his position as the
king. With great difficulty he removed the rock and
reached Kishkindha to find his doubts confirmed when
he saw Sugriva installed as the king. In great anger
he refused to hear any explanations and publicly
humiliated Sugriva ordering him to leave the kingdom.
He also forcibly kept Ruma, the chaste wife of Sugriva
and made her one of his own wives.
Thus banished by Vali, Sugriva was forced to leave the
kingdom. Once earlier Vali had killed a powerful demon
name Dundubhi and flung the corpse near the hermitage
of Rishi Matanga. An angered Matanga had cursed
that Vali would die if he ever set foot on
Rishyamukha. Since Sugriva knew of this curse he took
up residence on Rishyamukha accompanied by a
small coterie of faithful ministers headed by Hanuman.
Rama kills Vali
***************
When Lord Rama approached Sugriva for help in
searching for Sita who had been earlier kidnapped by
Ravana, Sugriva promised to provide full
support once he became the king again. Vali was much
too powerful for Sugriva, but Lord Rama advised
Sugriva to engage Vali in combat. While the
fight would ensue, Lord Rama hidden behind a tree
would kill Vali. As promised, when Vali and Sugriva
were engaged in fierce combat, Lord Rama while hiding
behind a tree shot an arrow at Vali and mortally
wounded him.
Earlier when Sugriva had challenged Vali to combat,
Vali's wise wife Tara had advised him against this
telling him about the new friendship that Sugriva had
forged with the powerful brothers from Ayodhya.
However Vali had assured Tara saying, "I am aware that
Lord Rama is a virtuous king and extremely moral. He
will never violate the ethics of combat.
Also since I have no personal enmity with Rama, there
is no reason for me to fear His interference." Now,
lying on the ground with his life force ebbing away
Vali severely remonstrated Rama calling his actions
treacherous, immoral and not befitting a moral person
of His stature.
Rama explains the reasons of His actions
****************************************
In response, Lord Rama carefully justified his actions
by providing the following the reasons:
1. As a king it was his duty to punish injustice.
Sugriva was devoted and faithful to Vali. However,
Vali had treated him unfairly, without giving him a
fair chance to explain himself. The scriptures state
that the wife of a younger brother should be treated
like a daughter. But Vali had acted abdominally in
making Ruma, the wife of Sugriva, his younger
brother, his own wife. That was the reason why Lord
Rama, though without any personal enmity with Vali
punished him.
2. Lord Rama further explains that as a ksatriya He
was permitted to stalk and hunt animals that become
dangerous. Vali was a monkey who had acted
irreligiously and had thus become a threat. He had
thus acted within the rules of the scriptures in
freeing the society from a menace.
3. Because of the benediction received by Vali that he
would acquire the powers of his opponent in combat, no
one could have faced and won with him in battle. Lord
Rama explained to Vali that because of his sinful
activities his killing was imminent, and the only way
to do so without violating the benediction was to kill
him from a concealed position. While Lord Rama as the
Supreme Personality of Godhead was never bound by
this, in order to honor the benediction of His
devotee, he choose to take an apparently inferior
position.
4. Finally Lord Rama explains the most important
reason. This killing was ultimately for the benefit of
Vali. Because of his sinful activities he would be
forced to suffer many reactions. However since he was
being thus punished he was now completely relieved of
these sinful reactions. Lord Rama assured that Vali
was now as dear to Him as Sugriva and would
undoubtedly ascend to the heavenly planets.
Vali surrenders to Lord Rama
****************************
In his final moments Vali understood the impeccable
logic of Lord Rama. He understood that he had not been
able to get the mercy of Rama since he was
irreligious, while Sugriva while acting virtuously had
taken shelter and received His protection. He begged
for forgiveness from Lord Rama and his brother
Sugriva. Finally he leaves his body in peace after
getting full assurances from Lord Rama and Sugriva
that Tara and Angada will be well taken care of.
Lessons from the pastime
************************
Thus we see that the Lord puts Himself in
uncomfortable positions for His devotees. In order to
honor the benediction given to Vali, to
protect the righteous Sugriva who had taken His
shelter, Rama the embodiment of virtue allowed His
spotless character to acquire the shadow of a
taint. However as the very embodiment of religion the
Lord can never act irreligiously as is explained later
by Him. One needs a proper understanding and guidance
to understand these seemingly confounding activities
of the Lord.
In a final gesture of infinite magnamity, Lord Rama
gives the benediction to Vali that just as He had
killed Vali, in a later yuga, Vali would
similarly kill Him. In the Dwapara-yuga when the Lord
Rama came as Sri Krishna, Vali incarnated as Jara, a
hunter. In the final pastimes on this planet Krishna
having witnessed the annihilation of His entire
dynasty in Dwarka, takes shelter under a tree. At this
time Jara mistakes the feet of the Lord for the ears
of a deer and shoots an arrow that causes the Lord to
wind up His final pastimes and return to His eternal
spiritual abode.
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