Recalling Ram
Suman K Sharma
Sugriv had found in Ram a friend who promised to avenge Bali’s wrongs. But the monkey-chieftain wanted first to be sure that Ram had the strength indeed to do what he promised him –
Kim tutasyabalgyoahamdurbhraturbalshalinah/
Apratakshamtu me veeryam samara tav Raghav//
But, O Son of the Raghus! I am aware of the power, strength and vigour of my mighty but depraved brother and I have not witnessed your might in battlefield.
– Balmiki Ramayan, Kishkindhakand, Canto 11(lxduxi)
Sugriv asked Ram to match his physical strength with the standards set by Bali. He showed him a mountain-high pile of Dundhubi’s bones. Bali, in the arrogance of his physical prowess, had flung away the carcass of the gigantic rakshas far into distance. Sugriv also showed to Ram seven Sal trees which Bali used to render leafless just by shaking them. He had also pierced each one of them several times. (The Sal -Shorea robusta – is a large, hardwood tropical tree. It can grow up to a height of 100 feet). Sugriv expected Ram to throw Dundhubi’s bones to a distance of 200 spans of his bow with a kick of one of his feet. He was also asked to pierce any one of the Sal trees with just one shot of his arrow.
Lakshman laughed at the tests that Sugriv set for Ram. But Ram wanted to satisfy his new-found ally. He picked up Dundhubi’s skeleton with one of his big thumbs and threw it away to a distance of ten yojans. Sugriv did not seem too impressed. “These are but dried up bones, light as straw,” he said, “my brother had thrown Dundhubi’s huge corpse when it was still fresh and dripping with blood.” He urged Ram to go through the second test. Ram shot just one arrow. Like a guided missile of today, it pierced through all the seven Sal trees one by one, before plunging deep into the soil. Sugriv was now convinced of Ram’s heroic qualities. It was time he confronted Bali.
Two factors shape the story as it proceeds. One, Bali could not enter Matang Van on the Mount Rishyamook, the forest named after Rishi Matang. When Bali, intoxicated with the hauteur of having killed Dundhubi, threw away the still bleeding body of the rakshas, many trees standing in the rishi’s ashram fell down on the impact and the ashram walls were splattered with the blood and gore of the dead demon. The angry rishi placed a curse on Bali that if he ever entered the forest, he would meet his death. That curse proved a boon for Sugriv as the place became a sanctuary for him from his brother Bali’s wrath. The second factor was that the two brothers – Bali and Sugriv – were so identical that it was difficult for Ram to distinguish one from the other: they looked alike, they spoke alike, their voices were similar and the gestures they made were similar too.
Well, Ram prompted Sugriv to enter Kishkindha, while he and Lakshman hid themselves behind a thicket to watch the fight that was to ensue between the two brothers. Sugriv girded up his loins and roared out Bali’s name, challenging him. A surprised Bali came out of his abode. He pounced at Sugriv mercilessly. Sugriv was no less aggressive against Bali. The two brothers, turned mortal enemies, were unsparing in their blows and punches. Ram readied his bow to intervene on Sugriv’s side when the fight became too fierce. A single shot by him could have done the job. But he could not decide who among them was Sugriv and who was Bali. A stage reached when Sugriv could no longer stand the barrage of Bali’s blows. He ran towards Mount Rishyamook to save his life. Bali ran after him but refrained from entering the Matang Van for fear of death.
Sugriv was bitter. “Why did you send me alone to fight and hid yourself behind trees doing nothing to save me? What sort of a friend are you?” He asked Ram when the latter tried to sympathise with him. Ram explained to him the cause of his confusion. His mortal arrow, meant for Bali, could have killed him as well, and that risk he was not prepared to take. He came forth with a solution to resolve the intricate problem –
Meli kanth suman kai mala/Pathvapunibaldeibisala//
Puni nana bidhibheyeeladaee/Bitapotdekh-hinRaghrai//
Then Ram put a garland round Sugriv’s neck and sent him again, endowing him with immense strength (to fight Bali). There was a fight again between the two in diverse ways. Ram watched the fight from behind a tree.
Ramcharitmanas/Kishkindhakand/7(iv)
This time around Ram did not allow Bali – now clearly distinguishable – to gain an upper hand. He shot him in his chest. As he lay dying, Bali accused Ram bitterly of being a coward for having attacked him stealthily;it was a fight between two brothers and they would have sorted it out among themselves;he had no fight with him; he was after all a monkey while Ram was a man; and so forth (see Balmiki Ramayan/Kishkindhakand/Canto 17).
Ram asserted his right as a representative of Raja Bharat to punish a wrong-doer as he was. Bali was Sugriv’s elder brother and the latter’s wife, Ruma, was like a daughter-in-law to him. Yet, he had forcibly kept her to satisfy his lust. He had to be punished for his sin. As for attacking him from behind a cover, Ram told Bali that he, as a Kshatriya warrior, had hunted him as he would a prey. Bali sought pardon for his sin and entrusted his son, Angad, in Ram’s guardianship before he died.
Tara, Bali’s wife, was inconsolable at her husband’s death. She asked Ram to kill her as well as she desired to be with husband even in death. Both Ram and Lakshman used all their persuasive skills to pacify the widow.
Bali was not a rakshas. He was the reigning monarch of Kishkindha. He fought and killed a most fierce rakshas, Dundubhi. And yet Ram killed him. He got killed because of the moral infirmities in his conduct. Bali was so arrogant that he not only refused to listen to Sugriv, his devoted brother, and made him a sworn enemy, but disdained also the family norm in fornicating with the latter’s wife.
Often enough Ram is criticised for the manner he adopted to kill Bali. But the critics forget that he was the Marayada Purshottam. As the putative raja, he had to punish an offender in accordance with the norms then observed. How he administered justice was a matter of strategy.
The devout would put it otherwise. Ram was Vishnu-incarnate. How can we mortals appraise the ways of the Lord?
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