Vāli Vadha

The Vāli Vadha, the slaying of Vāli, is the main event of the Kishkindhā Kāṇḍa. Vāli was a very strong vānara (forest ape) king. Bhagavān Rāma killed him with a single arrow, shot from behind a tree while Vāli was fighting his brother Sugrīva.

With the killing came a deep talk on dharma. Vāli challenged Rāma’s act, and Rāma answered him in detail from rāja-dharma (the duty of a king) and from the Manu Smṛti. The death of Vāli freed Sugrīva from exile and gave the vānara kingdom back to its rightful king. It also made it possible to call up the vānara army to rescue Sītā.

How the feud began

Sugrīva told Rāma why he and Vāli were at war. Long ago a great asura named Māyāvī came to Kishkindhā at midnight and called Vāli to battle with a terrible roar. Vāli rushed out, and Sugrīva followed. They chased Māyāvī into a cave in the earth. Vāli said to Sugrīva, “Wait at the entrance. I will go in and destroy him.”

Sugrīva waited for a whole year. Then blood came flowing out of the cave, and terrible sounds of the asura’s cheering were heard. Sugrīva decided that the asura had killed Vāli. In his grief, and on the advice of the ministers, he shut the mouth of the cave with a great boulder and went back to Kishkindhā. There the ministers made him king.

But Vāli had in fact killed Māyāvī. When he came out he found the cave shut. He was furious and believed he had been betrayed. He broke through the rock and went back to Kishkindhā. He drove Sugrīva out of the city and took Sugrīva’s wife Rumā. Sugrīva fled and took refuge on Ṛshyamūka mountain, where Mataṅga Muni’s śāpa (curse) kept Vāli from entering.

(Kishkindhā Kāṇḍa, Chapter 9)

Dundubhi and Mataṅga’s śāpa

Sugrīva also told Rāma about Vāli’s greatest deeds, so that Rāma would understand his power. A great asura named Dundubhi had the shape of a buffalo (mahisha). He had the strength of a thousand elephants, and the devas had given him boons. First he went to the ocean and challenged it to fight. The deva of the ocean rose from the water and said he was not fit for such a battle, and sent him to Vāli. Dundubhi then went to Himavat, the mountain of the Himālayas. Himavat also would not fight and sent him to Vāli.

Dundubhi came to Kishkindhā and challenged Vāli with a roar like thunder. Vāli came out. In a wonderful show of strength he seized Dundubhi and killed him. Then he threw the body one full yojana (a measure of distance) away. Blood from the body fell on the trees and the āśrama of Mataṅga Muni, far away. The angry ṛshi gave Vāli a śāpa: “If you set foot on this mountain, your head will split into a hundred pieces.” That śāpa made Ṛshyamūka safe from Vāli, and so it became Sugrīva’s refuge.

When Rāma had heard this, he showed his own strength. With one kick of his foot he sent Dundubhi’s dry skeleton flying ten yojanas through the air. Sugrīva was still not wholly sure. The skeleton was dry and light, he said, and the fresh body had been much heavier. Then Rāma strung his bow and shot one arrow. It pierced seven great śāl (maddi) trees standing in a row and went through the mountainside. It went down through the earth to the lower worlds and came back to Rāma’s quiver by itself. Now Sugrīva was fully sure of Rāma’s power.

(Kishkindhā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 10 to 12)

The first fight and the mistake in seeing

So they all went on to Kishkindhā. On the way they passed the holy Saptajana Āśrama and stopped to pay respect to the seven ṛshis who had lived there. Near the city they hid in the forest. Sugrīva roared his challenge. Vāli came raging out of the palace gates.

The two brothers fought a fierce duel. They struck each other with fists like thunderbolts. They hit each other with rocks and trees, and each was soaked in blood and reeling. Rāma stood ready with his bow. But as he watched he could not tell Vāli from Sugrīva. Their size, colour, bearing, voice and features were exactly the same. He was afraid to shoot in case he killed the wrong brother. That would be a pāpa (sin), the killing of one who had put himself under Rāma’s protection. So he held back.

Sugrīva was beaten almost to death. He expected Rāma’s arrow, but he received only more blows from Vāli. Bloodied and barely alive, he ran back to Ṛshyamūka. Vāli could not follow him to the mountain under the śāpa, and he went back to Kishkindhā in triumph.

(Kishkindhā Kāṇḍa, Chapter 12)

Rāma explains: the garland as a mark

Sugrīva faced Rāma bitterly. “You said you would kill Vāli. Instead you let me be beaten nearly to death. If you were not going to help, you should have told me, and I would never have gone.”

Rāma answered with patience and kindness. “You and your brother are alike in every feature: your walk, your form, your voice, your radiance, your courage, even the sound of your speech. In the heat of that fight I could not tell you apart. If I had shot and killed you, everything would have been lost. I chose not to risk hurting a friend.”

Then Rāma gave Sugrīva a garland of freshly cut flowers to wear round his neck, as a mark that all could see. “Now go and challenge Vāli again. This time I will not hesitate.”

(Kishkindhā Kāṇḍa, Chapter 12)

Tārā’s warning

Back in Kishkindhā, Sugrīva’s roar sounded again outside the gates, and Vāli sprang up in anger. But his wise wife Tārā held him back. She was born of a portion (aṃśa) of Bṛhaspati and had the gift of seeing what would come.

Tārā said: “My husband, do not go. This Sugrīva came once, was beaten and nearly destroyed, and yet he comes back with this new fierceness. Something has changed. I have heard reliable news. The sons of Daśaratha, Rāma and Lakshmaṇa, are with Sugrīva. They are of the Ikshvāku line. Rāma above all is beyond any rākshasa or human in battle. He has made a pact with Sugrīva. If Rāma stands behind Sugrīva, this fight will not end as the last one did.”

She urged Vāli to make peace with Sugrīva, to make him yuvarāja (crown prince), and to seek friendship with Rāma and not enmity. She spoke with tears of true love. She warned him that no one could live through Rāma’s arrows. She went on: “I do not doubt your courage. In all the worlds there is no one who can match you one to one. But this Rāma is not an ordinary being. He is all the Vedas and all the śāstras in person. This fight, against Rāma’s chosen friend, is not one you can win by force.”

Vāli heard her advice, but pride and a warrior’s dharma blinded him. He said: “A kshatriya does not turn away from a challenge. Even if Rāma himself stands against me, I will face it. I will fight.” He embraced Tārā and went out. Her heart broke, for she knew what was coming.

(Kishkindhā Kāṇḍa, Chapter 15)

The second fight and the arrow

The second fight between the brothers was fiercer than the first. Vāli and Sugrīva fought furiously. They threw rocks and trees and struck with fists and open palms. Sugrīva now had the flower garland round his neck, and the two could be told apart. Rāma drew his bow. He let the arrow fly from behind the cover of the trees.

The arrow was golden and feathered, and it flew with the force of Indra’s thunderbolt (vajra). It struck Vāli in the chest. The great vānara king staggered. The blow sent him stumbling and he crashed to the ground like a golden mountain struck by Indra’s vajra. He lay there with the arrow in his chest. His divine golden necklace still shone, and his body was like the sky at sunset, grand even in its fall.

(Kishkindhā Kāṇḍa, Chapter 16)

Vāli’s challenge and Rāma’s answer from dharma

As Rāma came near, the dying Vāli raised his voice in challenge. “What dharma is this, son of Daśaratha? I was fighting my own brother. You had no quarrel with me. I never wronged you. You struck me like a hidden hunter striking a beast, from behind cover, without declaring yourself. What honour is there in such a deed for a kshatriya? You are said to be a man of dharma. Explain this.”

Rāma stood quietly and answered in full, without anger and without apology.

On rāja-dharma. “This whole earth, with its mountains, forests and seas, belongs to the Ikshvāku kings. Bharata rules in their name. Rulers have the right and the duty to punish those who break dharma in their realm, whether human, vānara or bird. We use our dharmic authority over all creation.”

On Vāli’s pāpa. “You drove out your own younger brother, who looks on you as a father, and you took his wife Rumā. Rumā is like a daughter-in-law to you, as sacred as a daughter. While Sugrīva lives, to take his wife is an act of the deepest impurity. The dharma-śāstra condemns it, and so do all wise people. Kāma blinded you. You broke the law of the family, of kingship and of society. This is the dharmic reason for your punishment.”

On hunting from hiding. “Kings and princes hunt. They shoot animals from hiding, from far off, even when the animal does not know. This is fully within rāja-dharma. You are a vānara, a forest dweller. I acted within the accepted rules of the hunt. The way of the killing does not decide whether it is dharmic.”

On my promise. “Sugrīva made a pact with me. I gave him my word that I would put him back in his rightful place. A man of dharma does not break his word. By helping Sugrīva I kept my own dharmic promise.”

On Manu’s teaching. “Manu’s dharma-śāstra, which all rulers accept, says that one who has committed pāpa and been given the proper punishment is made clean of his pāpa. The king who punishes the wrongdoer by the proper rules actually frees him from the weight of what he has done. You have been punished by a king’s justice. By this very punishment your pāpa is now paid off. You will rise to good states.”

Vāli listened in silence. The words reached him and he understood. He spoke with humility: “You are right. I spoke in ignorance and in the anger of pain. I did not know the whole of dharma. My pāpa was real. Forgive my words. I accept your justice.”

(Kishkindhā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 17 and 18)

Vāli’s last words

With dharma settled and his mind at peace, Vāli turned to Sugrīva. “Brother, what happened between us was the work of fate. Do not blame yourself. I acted in ignorance and pride. Take the kingdom. You are its rightful king. I ask only one thing: look after Aṅgada as your own son. He is the light of my life. Let him want for nothing.”

Vāli then gave Sugrīva the divine golden garland that was his most prized possession. He warned that its power would last only as long as Vāli still breathed. Then he turned to Aṅgada.

“My son, be neither too close to Sugrīva nor too far from him. Serve him with a steady mind in joy and in sorrow. And above all, help Rāma. Whatever task Rāma gives you, do it without delay and without excuse. To fail Rāma is adharma.”

With these words Vāli’s breath left him. His body lay on the battlefield like a fallen mountain, huge and golden, still shining with the light of Indra’s divine line. The vānaras gathered round him in grief. Tārā came running with Aṅgada and fell weeping on her husband’s chest. The women of Kishkindhā filled the air with their cries.

(Kishkindhā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 22 and 23)

Tārā’s grief and Rāma’s comfort

Tārā clung to Vāli’s body and mourned him so deeply that even the watching warriors were moved. She spoke of his courage. She told how he had beaten the gandharva Golabha in a battle that lasted fifteen days and nights without a break. She told how he had shamed Rāvaṇa, and of his speed that no one could match. She wept over the divine golden ornament on his chest. Then she turned to Rāma. “You have taken my husband. Take me too. I cannot stay in this world without him.”

Sugrīva too was overcome with grief when he saw his brother dead. He spoke of giving up the world. Hanumān spoke words of dharma to them both: “Grief is natural, but it eats away what it touches. The duties ahead are great. Vāli himself asked you to carry out Rāma’s mission. Honour his last words.”

Rāma spoke gently to the mourners. “Grief is the way of all who have bodies. What is born will pass away. What has left the body cannot be brought back by weeping. Do the duties of life. Look after Aṅgada. The work before us is great and holy.”

(Kishkindhā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 19 to 24)

The funeral of Vāli

Hanumān came to Rāma and asked that Sugrīva be taken into Kishkindhā for his crowning. Rāma would not enter the city, because his father’s command forbade him to enter any village or city during his exile. Lakshmaṇa looked after the arrangements. Tāra, the male vānara commander, brought a litter. Aṅgada, helped by the leading vānaras, performed the full funeral rites for his father: the last fire, the prayers and the rites by the riverbank. The vānara people honoured their fallen king with full ceremony.

(Kishkindhā Kāṇḍa, Chapter 25)

In the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa

The Kishkindhā Kāṇḍa of the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa tells the Vāli Vadha in shorter form, with some added points of its own.

The śāpa of Takshaka on the tāl trees. In the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa the seven tāl (palm) trees have a śāpa on them. A serpent had been resting on Vāli’s reserved palm fruits. Vāli, in anger, gave the serpent a śāpa, and seven palm trees grew out of its body. When Takshaka, the serpent’s father, learned of his son’s suffering, he spoke a śāpa in return: “Whoever can cut down these seven tāl trees with one arrow, by that person’s hand Vāli will fall.” By shooting through the seven trees, Rāma therefore fulfilled Takshaka’s śāpa.

Tārā’s warning and Rāma’s divinity. In the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa Tārā’s advice before the fight is very plain about who Rāma is. She does not only call him an unusual warrior. She says clearly that he is no ordinary human but Bhagavān Rāma in human form. She tells Vāli that those who die at Rāma’s hands reach moksha. So Vāli thought in his heart: “If this Rāma is truly Bhagavān Rāma, then to die at his hands is the highest moksha for me.” Vāli went to the fight with this thought.

Vāli’s inner state after the arrow. The Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa says openly what the Vālmīki text leaves unsaid. When Vāli lay struck and opened his eyes, he saw Rāma’s divine form: dark in colour, with matted hair, a bow and arrow in his hands, and eyes blazing like lotuses. He knew Bhagavān Rāma in his heart and was filled with joy. His words were sharp and bold, but inside he was a man who had received Bhagavān Rāma’s darśana at the moment of death.

The Avadhi verse of challenge. Vāli’s challenge to Rāma is given in the Avadhi language of the Rāmacaritamānas:

Dharma hetu avatarehū gosāī! / Mārehū mohi vyādha ki nāyīṃ! / Maiṃ bairī sugrīva piyārā! / Avaguna kavana nātha! mohi mārā?

It means: “Master, you came down for the sake of dharma! Yet you struck me like a hunter striking hidden game! Sugrīva is your friend and I am your enemy. What fault did you find in me, O master, that you killed me?”

Rāma offers undying life. In the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa Rāma’s answer to Vāli’s challenge includes one thing found only in this text. After his reasons from dharma, Rāma put his hand on Vāli’s head and offered to bring him back to life: “Be ajara-amara (free from old age and death).” Vāli refused, with moving words. He had received Bhagavān Rāma’s darśana at the moment of death, which is what yogīs seek for many lives, and this small body was now worth nothing to him. He would not trade this moksha for simply staying alive in the body.

Vāli gives Aṅgada to Rāma. Vāli put Aṅgada into Rāma’s hands and said as his last words: “This is my son. Bless him with your protection and give him janma-janmāntara bhakti (devotion in life after life) at your feet.” Then he closed his eyes and went in perfect peace. The Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa says he gave up his life as easily as an elephant shakes a garland off its neck.

Rāma’s teaching on rāja-dharma to Sugrīva. After Sugrīva was crowned, Rāma gave him a long teaching on the duties of a king. He told Sugrīva to stay in the city and rule with dharma, to ask Aṅgada before every act, and to remember that he had received the kingdom through Rāma’s grace and must rule in that spirit. Then, as the rains were near, Rāma told Sugrīva that he himself would stay on Pravarshaṇa mountain, and that Sugrīva should remember the work of finding Sītā when the rains were over.

Sources

• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Kishkindhā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 9 to 25
• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Kishkindhā Kāṇḍa