SRI RAGHAVENDRA SWAMY’S
SRI RAMACHARITRYA MANJARI
(ಶ್ರೀ ರಾಘವೆಂದ್ರ ಸ್ವಾಮಿ ವಿರಚಿತ “ಶ್ರೀ
ರಾಮಚಾರಿತ್ರ್ಯ ಮಂಜರಿ”)
Srirama kills Vali/ಶ್ರೀ ರಾಮನಿಂದ ವಾಲಿಯ ಸಂಹಾರ - I
ValiBhit – Valinam hatvA/ವಾಲಿಭಿತ್ – ವಾಲಿನಂ ಹತ್ವಾ
At the behest of Srirama, Sugreeva reached the main
entrance of Kishkindha and invited Vali for battle. Vali sprang from his bed
like a snake spooked by a club and came out of Kishkindha. Vali and Sugreeva
were engaged in a war of fists, punches and wrestling. With the passage of
time, Sugreeva was losing his strength.
Unable to bear the onslaught of Vali, Sugreeva fled back to Rushyamuka, even as
Srirama reached the spot, along with others. The entire body of Sugreeva had
turned red with blood oozing out of the injuries he had suffered at the hands
of Vali. He fell at the feet of Srirama and said: “Oh Lord, why were you so
unkind to me?” Srirama said: “You two brothers look so much alike in physique,
shape and even voice. It became difficult for me to identify you. This is the
reason I did not fire the arrow.”
A question may arise here that being Omniscient, how
can Srirama be confused? Being the Lord of this entire universe, could he not
really differentiate between Vali and Sugreeva? Was Srirama unaware of the fact
that unless one of the two brothers dies, their enmity would continue? Why did
he wait till Sugreeva retreated from the war field?
It is a known fact that the enmity between or among
brothers may not last long. There are several instances of such enmity dying
with the passage of time for so many reasons. It is not proper on the part of a
third person to either try for a compromise between the warring brothers or to
harm or kill one of them because later on, the brothers may become one and the
third person will be treated as a foe by them. The same principle should be
followed while trying to interfere in the rift or misunderstanding between
husband and wife, father and son, brother and sister and so on. Srirama wanted
to show to the world the significance of this knowledge. Scholars try to
clarify another doubt on this instance. Why did Rama kill Vali in the second
attempt? Srirama had vouched in front of fire god that he would kill Vali. If,
after the first battle against Vali, Sugreeva were to change his mind, then
Rama would have been in trouble. If Sugreeva were to request, after the loss in
his first battle against Vali, not to kill his brother, Srirama could have
saved his oath without killing Vali. Empirically, the enmity between Sugreeva
and Vali did not decline even after Sugreeva’s first defeat. On the contrary,
it increased and that is why he persuaded Rama to kill Vali the same day. By
doing so, Srirama told the entire world that the enmity between Vali and
Sugreeva was not ending till the death of one of the two. If, after the death
of Vali, Sugreeva were to regret, he would be solely responsible for such
feelings and he would not be in a position to point a finger at Rama. None else
would dare point a finger at Rama for killing Vali. This entire clarification
is expressed by Sri Raghavendraru with the word “ValiBhit”.
Some commentators interpret “ValiBhit” by expanding it
with “VAlinam hatvA”, where the root word of “HatvA” is “Hana”, which means
nearing as well as killing. Therefore, “ValiBhit” means, in the first instance,
Srirama went very close to Vali and in the second instance, he killed Vali.
This is the significance of employing the word “VAliBhit”.
The final battle and death of Vali will be narrated in
the next episode.
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