The might of Vali

Anyone familiar with the epic Ramayana is familiar with the characters of Vali and Sugreev, the vanara brothers whom Rama meets in the Kishkindha kand, while the story of Vali’s death by Rama’s head is well known, there’s more to the story of this Vanara warrior than meets the eye, for he was possibly one of the strongest warriors of Treta Yuga.

The death of Vali; Image source- Wikimedia commons

The story of Vali begins way before the events of Ramayan. Once when Brahma was meditating on Meru mountain, a small smear from his eyes fell on the floor and from that smear a monkey was born, known as Vriksharaja. Brahma instructed this creature to wander the forest and kill demons. One day Vriksharaja came around magical waters, in some version a magical well. While looking at his reflection in the water, he fell in and due to the powers of the well got transformed into a beautiful Lady. Lord Indra and Lord Surya, immediately fell in love with this beautiful woman and from their union two vanara sons were born, Indra’s son Vali and Surya’s son Sugreeva.

After giving birth to her two sons, the lady again transformed back into Vriksharaja and ruled over the kingdom of Kishkindha for a long time. Meanwhile, his sons, Vali and Sugreeva grew up to be fierce warriors, Vali especially was known for his strength and valour. After performing penance he was granted a boon from Brahma that whomsoever fought Vali in a duel would lose half of his strength to Vali. Even Gods acknowledged Vali’s strength. In a story from Kamban Ramayana, he was invited by his father Indra during the time of Samudra Manthan ie the great churning of the sea which produced various gems and Amrit. During the churning of the sea, various Apsaras were also produced, one of whom was Tara. Seeing Tara’s beauty, Vali fell in love with her. He claimed Tara and they got married.

Once Vali came face to face with a demon named Dudunbhi, who was the brother of Mandodari. Dudunbhi took the form of a massive buffalo and challenged Vali for a duel. After a fierce battle, Vali killed the demon and tossed his corpse, however, the corpse landed in Hrishyamook mountain near the hermitage of Maharishi Matang and polluted his sacrificial pyre. Maharishi Matang thus cursed that whoever sent this corpse, if they ever step on the Hrishyamook mountain, will immediately die.

Another legend associated with Vali is his battle with Ravana. When Narada visited Lanka, he started praising Vali’s might in front of Ravana. Ravana’s ego could not handle this and he decided to fight with Vali. Ravana first fought Sugreeva and defeated him. However, when he started fighting Vali, he was quickly subdued. Vali then trapped him under his armpits and started roaming around, filled with humiliation Ravana acknowledged Vali’s strength and asked him for his friendship.

Days went by and Vali continued to fight in a duel with anyone who challenged him. And on one such occasion, Dudunbhi and Mandodari’s brother, Mayavi challenged Vali at midnight, looking to avenge his brother. As Vali and Sugreev came to answer his call, he ran away and hid in a cave in the forest. Vali instructed Sugreev to stand guard at the entrance of the cave. Sugreeva waited but when he saw blood oozing from the cave and heard demonic voices, he mistakenly thought that Vali had died, he then closed the mouth of the cave with a boulder and ran away and started ruling Kishkindha. However, it was Vali who had emerged victorious and when he came back, he thought that Sugreeva had betrayed him in the lust for power. Sugreeva tried to explain his situation but Vali began beating him. Sugreeva then ran away to Hrishyamook mountain as Vali couldn’t follow him there because of Sage Matang’s curse.

And this is where Sugreeva will eventually meet Lord Rama and Lord Rama will eventually kill Vali while hiding. Vali while dying raises important questions about ethics, morality and duty, which Rama answers. He further gave Vali the boon that just as he had killed Vali in hiding, so will Vali kill him in his next avatar, fulfilling the cycle of karmic justice. Thus while Vali was one of the fiercest warriors of the Treta Yuga, his story doesn’t end here. The conclusion to Vali’s story is reached in Dwapar Yuga, after the events of the Kurukshetra war, when Vali finally gets his justice. But that is a story for another time.