Hari Om.
Let us begin the twenty fourth sarga of the kishkindhA kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
Shot by the powerful arrow of rAma, vAlI fell and suffered quite a bit of pain both in his body and mind. He inquired of rAma, in a tone of accusation as to how he thought this indirect attack on him was dharma. rAma invoked the subtleties of dharma and in an authoritative manner convinced vAlI that there was no adharma in this hunting down of the unrighteous. Realizing his folly, vAlI lamented not listening to the timely warning of tArA and belatedly realized how accurate her assessment of sugrIva’s company was. The golden necklace granted by indra didn’t let his life or radiance out of him while he suffered his physical pain. Mustering his dying faculties, he commended sugrIva for taking rAma’s help and passed over the baton of kingship of kishkindhA to him. He gave golden advice to angada to not repeat the mistake committed by him and be loyal to sugrIva. He pleaded with rAma to take care of angada as he would of sugrIva. With rAma providing the assurance, vAlI breathed his last but before that told sugrIva to trust the judgment of tArA always! As he died, the entire kishkindhA led by tArA plunged into an ocean of grief. She embraced his corpse and wept inconsolably. Her grief moved everyone. Onwards…
The unassailable younger brother of vAlI, sugrIva was himself immersed in an ocean of grief having been agonized by the fall of his brother and seeing the disconsolate tArA. He himself shed copious tears and becoming very agitated, along with his attendants slowly approached the splendid and illustrious rAma who was standing with his bow and a deadly arrow with serpent-like poison and said –
स तं समासाद्य गृहीतचाप
मुदात्तमाशीविषतुल्यबाणम्।
यशस्विनं लक्षणलक्षिताङ्ग
मवस्थितं राघव मित्युवाच4.24.3।।
“O king, as promised you have done your job and the result is there to see, however, I have no desire left to either enjoy the comforts or to even live. Seeing the enormous grief of this queen, the gloom that has descended on the city of kishkindhA, uncertainty surrounding angada’s life and the death of my elder brother, my mind doesn’t dwell on the kingship of kishkindhA now. Not tolerating the harsh words that he used against me and incensed with anger, I had earlier approved the killing of vAlI, my elder brother, but actually seeing him dead I am intensely pained. I now feel, living on the RshyamUka and somehow earning a livelihood is way better than killing my brother even if it ensures the heaven.
The great vAlI’s words asking me to be gone from here since he didn’t want to kill me reflected his natural nobility. On the other hand, this act of killing him has revealed my true nature.
न त्वां जिघांसामि चरेति यन्मा
मयं महात्मा मतिमानुवाच।
तस्यैव तद्राम वचोऽनुरूप
मिदं पुनः कर्म च मेऽनुरूपम्4.24.8।।
O rAghava, even if one has the desire for the kingdom, discerning between the kingdom and the grief consequent upon killing of one’s own brother, which person will opt for killing his brother? That great vAlI never had the thought of killing me, but, the miserable wretch that I am I had the desire to take his life. When he hit me with the big branch of the tree and I writhed in pain, he pacified me and asked me not to repeat this. By this he displayed his brotherliness, nobility and dharma. I on the other hand showed anger, passion and fickleness.
भ्रातृत्वमार्यभावश्च धर्मश्चानेन रक्षितः।
मया क्रोधश्च कामश्च कपित्वं च प्रदर्शितम्4.24.12।।
I have incurred great sin by killing my brother just like indra incurred upon killing tvashTA. This was totally avoidable, undesirable, unimaginable and ignoble. In case of indra, to expiate him from his sin, it was shared by the earth, trees, water and women. But who will share this burden of sin of a vAnara like me?
अचिन्तनीयं परिवर्जनीय
मनीप्सनीयं स्वनवेक्षणीयम्।
प्राप्तोऽस्मि पाप्मानमिमं नरेन्द्र
भ्रातुर्वधात्त्वाष्ट्रवधादिवेन्द्र:4.24.13।।
पाप्मानमिन्द्रस्य मही जलं च
वृक्षाश्च कामं जगृहुः स्त्रियश्च।
को नाम पाप्मानमिमं क्षमेत
शाखामृगस्य प्रतिपत्तुमिच्छेत्।।4.24.14।।
O rAghava, having done a despicable and unrighteous deed like this, I deserve neither the respect of people nor to be a prince, what to speak of being the king of kishkindhA. O rAma, this elephantine sin of killing my brother is punishing me. While the body and the tail embody the sin, the trunk, eyes and the legs embody my grief. The elephant is tormenting me just as it would torment the river banks. Alas, rAma, this terrible anxiety has eclipsed the good conduct of mine just like dirt covers the gold. I have destroyed this race of vAnaras by my act and devastated angada. One may get a good son who is in control, but where can one get a son like angada and where can I get a brother like vAlI. If in case, angada survives this grief, with a desire to tend him, his mother may live, or else, she may die too.
Therefore, O rAma, I am unfit to live. Permit me to immolate myself by entering fire. These vAnaras are at your command and they shall carry out the quest for sItA. I want to end my life and maintain my good relation with vAlI and angada”.
The desperate outpour of sugrIva’s grief moved rAma and for a moment, he lost his composure and shed tears. At that time, rAma, the protector of the worlds, looked at tArA, clinging to the body of vAlI and wailing inconsolably. One of the main ministers tried to lifted her up from there much against her wish. As she was being helped thus, she saw rAma, standing there with his bow and effulgent like the sun. Although she had never seen him before, looking at the royal features that his being was endowed with and the wide eyes, tArA recognized him to be rAma. Beholding the indra-like rAma who was proficient in war and could achieve his goal through that, the desperately grieving yet wise tAra picked herself up, swiftly approached him and said –
त्वमप्रमेयश्च दुरासदश्च
जितेन्द्रियश्चोत्तमधार्मिकश्च।
अक्षय्यकीर्तिश्च विचक्षणश्च
क्षितिक्षमावान्क्षतजोपमाक्षः4.24.31।।
“O rAma, you are inscrutable, difficult to attain, self restrained, righteous, illustrious, discerning. You have the red tinge in your eyes and forbear like the earth. You are mighty, wielding bow and arrows, endowed with excellent limbs in a human body that actually seems to be a divine body. The solitary arrow with which you killed my huband vAlI, please kill me also with the same arrow so that I can join him as vAlI won’t revel without me.
येनैक बाणेन हतः प्रियो मे
तेनैव मां त्वं जहि सायकेन।
हता गमिष्यामि समीपमस्य
न मामृते राम रमेत वाली ।।4.24.33।।
Bereft of me, vAlI won’t find delight in the wonderful apsaras of the heaven and will feel forlorn just how you are feeling in these beautiful forests, hills and valleys without the daughter of vidEha (sItA).
स्वर्गेऽपि शोकं च विवर्णतां च
मया विना प्राप्प्यति वीर वाली।
रम्ये नगेन्द्रस्य तटावकाशे
विदेहकन्यारहितो यथा त्वम्4.24.35।।
O rAma, you know very well the grief suffered by a young man bereft of his wife. Therefore, please kill me and unite me with vAlI. You may think that it will be a blemish to kill a woman. Let me tell you what the wise have proposed. They have said that the wife is the very soul of husband and therefore there is no greater virtue than restoring one’s wife back to him. Hence you will be earning a great merit by killing me and uniting me with vAlI.
शास्त्रप्रयोगाद्विविधाच्च वेदा
दात्माह्यनन्यः पुरुषस्य दाराः।
दाराप्रदानान्नहि दानमन्य
त्प्रदृश्यते ज्ञानवतां हि लोके4.24.38।।
keeping this in mind O warrior, you shall not incur any adharma in killing me since you will only be offering me to vAlI by that act. O rAma, without the golden necklace adorned vAlI who is the lord of vAnaras and had the gait of a proud elephant, I won’t be able to live, please end the life of this desperate and devastated orphan”.
Empathizing with tArA who was lamenting so deeply thus, the lord, great rAma, spoke these words of consolation –
“O consort of a warrior, don’t despair thus. The entire world is controlled by the code of the creator. Within that, both joy and sorrow happen as destined. In fact, no one can transgress this code in the three worlds and all beings are in the control of this code of the creator. The wives of the valorous do not grieve thus. Good tidings shall happen to you and your son shall be crowned the heir apparent”.
Consoled thus by rAma, tArA, the charming wife of the warrior vAlI, regained some of her composure and stopped wailing loudly.
Here we conclude the twenty fourth sarga of the kishkindhA kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
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Next: 4.25. Heavenward vAlI goes to the elements
Previous: 4.23. tArA’s monologue with vAlI
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 