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Vali Vadham 48

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Hari Krishnan • December 20, 2002 


The grandeur of Vali II


There are a few Slokas in Valmiki and verses in Kamban that show the grand character that Vali is.  His love for his brother comes to the fore now.  He repents for what he did to his brother and apologies to him.  "Accosting Sugriva who had scored a victory (over him) and was (now) the ruler of monkeys, Vali lovingly spoke to him in distinct accents as follows: 'Sugriva, you ought not to hold me guilty of wrong doing (in the form of having exiled you and wrested your wife from you), but should conclude me to have been forcibly carried away by perversity occasioned by that which was bound to come."  (Valmiki Ramayana, Kishkindha Kanda, Canto 22, Sloka 3 and 4)

"Perversity occasioned by that which was bound to come."  Fate.  It was all due to fate that I was so perverse.  And not only fate, it was power too.  Vali was one good example of what power and might put together can do, if the person is not sagacious and balanced enough to see things in the right perspective.  Power corrupts.  Only those whose roots are deep and strong, those who respect others and are humane, those whose conviction is set in the right direction remain untouched by the intoxication that power puts into one's head.  That apart.  The best of Vali flows out of his heart, just at the time when life is flowing out of him.  

'It seems that we were not ordained to live happily together.  How else can I explain what happened my dear Sugriva!'  "I believe, O dear brother, happiness was not ordained for us at one and the same time.  That is why the well-known amity, which ought to exist between two brothers, came to be otherwise (was transformed into enmity). (Ibid, Sloka 4)

The good brother in him was slowly transforming into the good father that he was.  Earlier, in his submissions to Rama also he had mentioned, "I neither grieve for myself nor for (my wife) Tara nor even for my kinsmen as I do for my son Angada, who is foremost in point of virtues and is adorned with armlets of gold."  (Ibid, Canto 18, Sloka 50)  He is so young and I am afraid he would wither away because he would not able to get his father's affection.  "Angada (son of Tara) who is still young, though exceptionally mighty, and whose judgment has not yet matured, and is my only son and (as such) dear to me, deserves to be protected by you, O Rama!" (Ibid, Sloka 52)

Angada is strong and mighty.  But he is still young and is not matured enough to see right from wrong.  You have to protect him.  And in what ways Vali needs the protection of Rama?  "Establish the very best understanding between Sugriva and Angada; for you stand as their protector and preceptor in teaching them what should be done and what should not be done."  (Ibid, Sloka 53)  I request you to protect my brother as well as my son.  You have to protect the one and teach the other the values of life.  "You ought to cherish, O king, the same attitude of mind towards Sugriva and Angada, which exists (at the present moment) in relation to Bharata and Lakshmana, O ruler among men! (Ibid, Sloka 54)

The kind of fears that rush through the mind of a person at the time of his death, notwithstanding the power and might he enjoyed during his lifetime!  Let's come back to the words of Vali, to Sugriva.



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