33. DUNDUBI’S STORY (PART-2)

Afraid to contradict her husband any further, Tara stood aside to let him pass. Swollen with the zest for fight, his figure looked redoubled and struck terror into those who beheld him. As Vali stepped on the arena at the mountainside, uttering a variety of challenges and shouts, all

creatures that heard him stood arrested, stunned and deafened.

Beholding the stature of Vali, Rama whispered to his brother Lakshmana, "Is there any comparable spectacle of power in the whole universe, even if you include all the gods,

demons, and the elements?" Lakshmana had his misgivings. "I am not certain whether

Sugreeva is trying to involve you in anything more than an ordinary combat between mere monkeys. I do not know if we should participate in this struggle at all. How can you trust as

an ally one who has not hesitated to intrigue fatally against a brother?"

"Why limit it to monkeys? Strife between brothers is common among human beings too. Instances like Bharatha's are rare indeed. We should not become too analytical about a friend, nor look too deeply into original causes; but accept only what appears good to us in the first

instance, and act on it."

While they were thus discussing, Vali and Sugreeva clashed. Then they separated, dodged, and went at each other again. When their shoulders or feet rubbed together, blinding sparks flew off. Sparks flew from their eyes. They drew blood from each other by scratching and tearing and

gashing; the air was filled with their roars and challenges and the resounding blows delivered to each other. They tried to coil their mighty tails and press the life out of each other. It

was impossible to judge in their entanglement who was gaining or losing.

Finally Sugreeva was kicked, mauled, and beaten so badly that he withdrew baffled and paralyzed. He found a pause and approached Rama and gasped: "Help me, I can't

bear it any more… ." Rama said, "While you are at grips with each other, it is impossible to know who is who; and I don't want to shoot you by mistake. Why don't you pluck that wild

creeper with its flowers and garland it around your neck, so that I can identify you while you whirl tempestuously about? Now go back to your fight." Sugreeva immediately tore off a

wild creeper which was hanging down a tree branch, put it on as a garland, returned to the fray with renewed hope and vigor, and fell on Vali with a thunderous shout. Vali, pounding down with his fists and feet, with derisive laughter, returned the blow and hit Sugreeva in the vital centres of his life. Sugreeva had little doubt now that his end had come, and threw a desperate glance in the direction of Rama. At this moment Vali grappled him by his neck and waist, lifted

him over his head in order to dash him against a rock andend his career. Rama drew an arrow elegantly from his quiver, poised it on the bow-string, and let it go. It sped along

and pierced Vali's chest like a needle passing through a fruit. Overcome with astonishment, Vali paused for a moment to take stock of the situation. His grip around his brother's

neck relaxed involuntarily. With one hand he had held on to the arrows shaft and arrested its passage through his chest. Now he clung to it with his hands, his feet, and the coils of his

tail, and broke and retarded its motion with such stubborn strength that even Yama, the god of death, stood back, nodding his head in admiration.

Vali had never thought, even as a possibility, that there was any power on earth or in the heavens which could subdue him with any weapon or stand up before him in a

fight. All this was an accepted fact, but here he was like a miserable worm, not even able to understand what it was that had laid him low. Could it be the "Trisula" of Shiva or

could it be the "Chakra" of Vishnu or Indra's "Vajrayudha"?

He laughed ironically. At the same moment he felt an admiration for the unknown assailant. Who could it be? he speculated, forgetting his pain. He was invulnerable according to the promise of the gods, yet here was the reality, the arrow in his heart. He laughed bitterly at his own cock sureness of these years; what could it be, who could it

be? Why speculate? Let me find out. So saying he exercised all his remaining strength in pulling the arrow from his chest, to look at the mark on its handle. The might of Vali

was applauded by the gods watching from high heavens, as he succeeded in drawing out the shaft. Blood gushed from the wound like a spring. At the sight of it, Sugreeva was

grief-stricken and wept aloud. He forgot his animosity. With his ebbing strength, Vali held the arrow close to his eyes and spelt the name "Rama" engraved on it. Vali looked at the

name on the arrow and almost was blinded with shock. The shock of the physical injury was not so agonizing as the spiritual shock of reading the name of Rama on the arrow.

He looked at it and brooded over his own recklessness in castigating his wife for mentioning Rama's name. That poor creature showed better judgement than he.

"Rama, the Lord of culture, breeding, discrimination, and justice. How could you do this? You have destroyed the firm basis of your own virtues. Is it because of the separation

from your wife that you have lost all sense of fairness and act

recklessly? If some demon like Ravana has acted treacherously, is that any justification for you to come here, slaughter the head of a monkey clan, entirely unconnected

with the affair? Has your code of ethics taught you only this? What mistake have you seen in me, young man, that you should destroy me thus? Who will wear the badge of virtue in

this world or others, when you have thrown it away so lightly?

Is the foretaste of the yuga of Kali10 to be had only by us, the

creatures who crawl and are called monkeys? So, Kind One,are virtues intended to be practiced only on weaker creatures? When strong men commit crimes, they become

heroic deeds? Oh, incomparable one, the treasure and the kingdom given to you, you handed over to the younger brother. That you performed in the city; do you wish to repeat

a similar act in these forests too by depriving an older brother of his life and kingdom? When two persons are opposed to each other, how can you in support of one, hide

and attack the other? What you have done to me is not heroic or an act conducted within the laws of warfare. Surely, you do not consider me a burden on this weighty earth nor

are you my enemy. Pray, tell me what drove you to this terrible decision? Ravana entrapped your wife and carried her off. To redeem her and to wreak your vengeance on him,

you probably seek the support of Sugreeva, which is like courting a rabbit, when you can summon a lion to serve you. Pray what judgement is this? A word from you and I'd have

plucked Ravana from his citadel and flung him at your feet.