Vali Vadham 24

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A look before the leap

 

'Do not think of Rama that way' Vali told Tara. 'He so gladly gave his kingdom

to his younger brother just because his stepmother demanded him to do so. You

have to praise him for his qualities. Instead you are talking ill of him.

'thambiyar alladhu thanakku vEru uyir imbarin iladhu ena eNNi Eyndhavan' He

lives on this earth with the sole thought that his younger brothers are his very

soul. His quality is such. 'embiyum yaanum utru edhrindha pOrinil' (when such

being the case) in the battle between my brother and me, 'ambu idai thodukkumO

aruLin aazhiyaan' Do you think that such a person who is like the very ocean of

mercy would shoot his arrow on me?

 

He cannot live without his brothers because his younger brothers are like his

very breath. When such is the case, how do you think that he would interfere

between my brother and me and aim his arrow at me? He is an ocean of mercy and

would not do so. The reasoning of Vali is moving. The regard he has for Rama

is moving.

 

Or it seems to be so. It is a deceptive argument. It actually serves to

mislead the listener. In fact Vali himself must have been so charmed with his

own words to have been carried away by its seeming strength. You see. Rama

considered his younger brothers as his very own life and he would not live

without them. Agreed. But what does Vali consider of his younger brother? He

was not even prepared to listen to his younger brother and allow him an

opportunity to be heard. He did not give an opportunity at all for Sugriva to

explain under what circumstances he happened to assume the kingship of

Kishkindha.

 

And he feels that Rama would not (or should not for that matter) intervene

between him and his brother while he would batter him, thrash him, and take his

wife away for no fault of his. Where does the common and unifying thread lie

between Rama and Vali, on this score? How and on what basis does Vali expect

the sympathy of Rama in this respect? Vali was cheating himself with all kinds

of such deceptive and false notions. I reserve all the other arguments for a

later day. Let me confine myself with the narration of events for the present.

 

In the parallel scene in Valmiki - that is just before the second challenge by

Sugriva for a single-combat - Tara goes to the extent of advising Vali to live

in peace with Sugriva and install him as the Prince Regent. Srinivasa Sastriyar

observes here thus. "She advises her husband to make peace with his brother.

'Don't go and punish Sugriva; make peace with him.' And then she says: 'Appoint

him Yuvaraja.' Apparently therefore he has not been Yuvaraja before, though he

had been king himself in the supposed absence of Vali. He had not been

Yuvaraja. She says for the first time, 'You appoint him Yuvaraja.' But there

is one thing she does not advise him...Tara who was advising her husband might

have added, 'Give back to Sugriva Ruma also because he makes a great grievance

of it. The kingdom is one source of vexation to him. But this Ruma business is

also a great trouble. If you want to pacify Sugriva fully, you must not only

install him as Yuvaraja, but you must also restore his wife to him...Why didn't

Tara, so wise, so circumspect, why didn't she advise him then to do so? I

cannot make it out."