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Vali Vadham 2

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Hari Krishnan • December 2, 2002 


Who can be the perfect ally?



In our last instlament, we planned to go over the events that led Sri Rama to seek the friendship of Sugriva and how he decided to dispatch Vali right at the beginning.  There are several aspects in the story that have to be seen before we can take up the actual episode, so that it can be held under the right perspective and under a better light.  

 

In the days when Rama and Lakshmana were sieving the forest in their search of Sita, they wander into the massive form of Kabandha, an ogre of an incredibly eerie shape.  He was no more than a trunk – a colossal mountain of a trunk – without a head or a neck.  His mouth was in his belly.  There was just only one eye on his chest.  His hands were eight miles long, says Valmiki.  “The ogre was stationed blocking the way of the two brothers when they drew near him.  Thereupon receding to a distance of two miles, the two brothers looked on the great ogre, Kabandha by name, who was cruel and terrible, a mere trunk as it were encircled with arms and most fearful to behold by his (very) constitution.”  (Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kanda, Canto 69, Sloka 33-34)

 

Kabandha held both Rama and Lakshmana in his python like hands and squeezed them so hard that even those two great warriors could not bear it.  “Though armed with swords and wielding strong bows and possessed of great strength, the two mighty armed brothers of fierce energy were reduced to a helpless plight when being pulled by the Ogre.  (Ibid, Sloka 36)

 

Well, after an initial despondency – Kamban shows Sri Rama totally crest fallen and Lakshmana persuades him out of his bad mood and both the warriors kill Kabandha.  At the time of his death Kabandha tells them that he would show them the right way to succeed in their effort if they cremated his mortal remains.  They agree to do so and cremate him.  It turns out that Kabandha was in fact a Gandharva son of Dhanu, endowed with extraordinary might and prowess.  He used to frighten the Rishis in the forest, assuming unimaginable forms.  Once when he did so, he was cursed by a great sage, Sthulasira by name, to remain in the same form without being able to get back to his original shape until his ogre form was cremated by Sri Rama.  

 

When he was cremated, he assumed his original ethereal form and advised Sri Rama that he should look for an ally in his search for Sita, for without an ally nothing could be achieved.  ‘puNai ilaadhavarku vElai pokku aridhu annadhE pOl’ Just as it is impossible for anyone to cross the ocean without the help of a float,  ‘thuNai ilaadhavarukku indral pahaip pulam tholaiththu neethal’ it is impossible to cross the battlefield without being assisted by a suitable ally.  

 

“Hear O scion of Raghu, how in reality you will be able to recover Sita.  There are six expedients by recourse to which everything can be had after (due) deliberation (by monarchs) in the worlds.  One who is overtaken by the height of misfortune is served only by another who has met with a similar fate.  You along with Lakshmana are fallen in the height of adversity, deprived as you are of sovereignty and amenities of life.  Because of this adverse fate a misfortune in the shape of abduction of your wife (Sita) has been suffered by you.  Therefore such an individual (who has reached the culmination of adverse fate like you) must be made an ally.  O jewel among the kind-hearted!  Even though reflecting, I do not anticipate success for you without having an ally.”  (Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kanda, Canto 72, Sloka 6-10)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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