Nīla the Vānara

Nīla was one of the chief commanders (senāpati) of Sugrīva’s army of vānaras (forest-dwelling warriors). He was the son of Agni, the deva of fire. He helped lead the building of the causeway to Laṅkā, and in the war he killed Prahasta, one of Rāvaṇa’s greatest generals.

Identity and divine origin

Nīla was the son of Agni, the deva of fire. His courage was like fire: fierce, burning and hard to stop once it was lit. He held the rank of senāpati (army commander) in Sugrīva’s army. He stood among its chief leaders, together with Aṅgada, Jāmbavān and Hanumān. The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa tells this in the Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapter 37.

Role in the war

Nīla took a leading part at several stages of the war in Laṅkā.

Building the Rāma-setu

When the vānaras built the Rāma-setu (also called the Setubandha), the bridge across the ocean, Nīla worked with Nala. Together they organised the vānara forces that laid the causeway. The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa tells this in the Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapters 22–24.

Fighting in the battle

Nīla fought with great fierceness. His best-known deed was the killing of Prahasta, the senāpati of Rāvaṇa and one of his strongest generals. Prahasta was seen as the equal of the greatest rākṣasa warriors. His death at Nīla’s hands was a turning point in the war. It took from Rāvaṇa his chief military commander before Kumbhakarṇa or Indrājit came onto the field. This is in the Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapter 59.

Nīla also fought Indrājit face to face, and he fought many of Rāvaṇa’s other commanders during the war. This is in the Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapters 44–45.

In the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa: the stone-floating boon

In the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Samudra (the ocean) comes before Śrī Rāma in the form of a brāhmaṇa. There he names both Nala and Nīla as the warriors who received a śāpa (a curse) from munis, and the śāpa became a vara (a boon) for building the bridge. As boys they often threw the munis’ śālagrāma stones into the water for fun. The munis grew angry and gave them the śāpa that anything they threw into water would float. On the strength of this vara, Samudra proposed that Nala and Nīla direct the building of the setu. This account is in the Sundara Kāṇḍa of the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa.

After the war

At the Rāma-pattābhiṣeka (the royal coronation of Śrī Rāma), Nīla was among the vānara commanders whom Śrī Rāma received with full honour. He was given gifts that matched his rank and his bravery. Then he went back to Kiṣkindhā with Sugrīva. The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa tells this in the Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapter 131.

Sources

• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapter 37 (identity and rank)
• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapters 22–24 (building the Rāma-setu)
• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapters 44–45 (fights with Indrājit and other commanders)
• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapter 59 (the killing of Prahasta)
• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Chapter 131 (after the war)
• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Sundara Kāṇḍa (Samudra and the stone-floating boon)