Nala

Nala was a great vānara engineer, a son of Viśvakarman, the divine architect. He was born when Brahmā commanded the devas to bring forth vānara warriors to serve Rāma. His chief service was to build the Setubandha, the causeway of stone and trees across the ocean. It let the vānara army cross to Laṅkā.

Divine birth: the creation of the vānaras

The Bāla Kāṇḍa of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa tells of Nala’s divine birth in Chapter 17, in the account of the creation of the vānaras. Bhagavān Vishṇu agreed to take birth as Rāma. Then Brahmā commanded the devas and the divine craftsmen to bring forth strong vānara warriors to help in his mission.

Nala was born from a part (aṃśa) of Viśvakarman, the divine architect of the three worlds and the master builder of the devas. From his father he received the highest gift of building knowledge and skill. This inborn skill showed itself at the key moment of the war for Laṅkā, when no other way to cross the ocean could be found.

Building the Setu

In the Sundara and Yuddha Kāṇḍas, Rāma’s army stood before the vast ocean and could not cross. Nala stepped forward and told them who he was, the son of Viśvakarman. He said that rocks and trees would float on the water for him. As the son of Viśvakarman, he said, the ocean would carry them.

Under Nala’s lead the whole vānara army gathered mountains, rocks and trees. Nala shaped them into a great causeway one hundred yojanas long across the sea. The Setubandha, the building of the bridge, is one of the greatest works of building in the whole Rāmāyaṇa. It came from Nala’s divine inheritance from Viśvakarman.

Sources

• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapter 17
• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Sundara Kāṇḍa and Yuddha Kāṇḍa (no chapter numbers given)