Vali Vadham 34

[Guest guest]

These are my charges

 

 

You say you have not committed anything that is wrong. Here are seven. Number

one. 'kollal utranai umbiyai.' You attempted to kill your younger brother.

You did not stop your attempts in killing him, whenever it was possible for you

to do so. Two. 'kOdhu avarkku illai enbadhu uNarndhum irangalai.' You did not

take pity on him; show him mercy, even when you were aware that he was

guileless. Three. 'allal seyyEl unakku abayam pizhai pullal ennavum pullalai;

ponginaai.' He pleaded with you not to cause harm to him. He said 'I surrender

unto you. Please bear with me even if what I did was wrong.' But you did not

listen to him. You were blind with your rage and deaf because of your

prejudice.

 

More over, you did not realise one vital thing. 'ootram utru udayaan unakku aar

amar thOtrum' Sugriva had the military at his command then. Even then he did

not choose to fight with you. He fell at your feet and begged for your

acceptance. 'endru thozhudhu uyar kaiyanai nee kootram uNNak koduppen endru

eNNinaai.' He stood before you reverently with joined hands. But you chose to

kill him for no fault of him.

 

Four. 'anna thanmai arindum aruLalai.' You were aware that he could have

fought with you with the full strength of the army at his command, instead of

submitting unto you. But that did not stop you from coming to a wrong

conclusion and you did not show any mercy to him. The reader may recollect

Vali's question 'irakkam engu uguthanai?' Where have you shed your compassion?

'en paal ep pizhai kaNdaai appa?' What was the fault that you found me guilty

of? Rama seems to ask, 'You are telling me that I have shed my compassion

somewhere. What compassion did you show to Sugriva, your younger brother?'

 

Five. 'pinnavan enbadhum pENalai.' Let these be on one side. You did not even

think of him as your own brother, who was borne by the same womb that bore you

and was fed by the same breasts that fed you. 'vannidhaan idu saaba varambu

udaip pon malaikku avan naNNalin pOgalai.' The fact that Sugriva is alive today

is not due to your mercy. It is because he ran into a place from which you were

precluded from entering into, by the curse of Rishi Madhanga and you could not

enter it for fear of your own death. That is to say, 'You desisted from going

there because you were afraid that you would lose your life otherwise. That

fear of death of yours should at least have enabled you to see how frightened

Sugriva was, of you and of the inevitable death that followed him. You failed

to do so.'

 

Six. And this is a crime that cannot be tolerated. 'eeram aavadhum' It is part

and purpose of love; 'ir pirappu aavadhum' it is the responsibility of one who

is born of a respectable household and high parentage; 'kalviyin mei neri vaaram

aavadhum' it is one of the aims and purposes of getting educated 'matru oruvan

puNar thaaram thaaram aavadhaith thaangum tharukkum arO,' to take pride in

protecting the modesty and chastity of a woman who is the wife of somebody else.

 

You are supposed to protect the modesty of your younger brother's wife, in the

name of love, for the sake of the respectability of your parentage and for the

reason that you are educated. What did you do?