Reading Notes: Ramayana Online Part C

• Sugriva
• Monkey king; now living in exile
• "the high-souled, heroic, and virtuous monkey who journeyed the world" sorrowfully because Vali (his big brother) had driven him away and stolen his wife
• Encountered by Rama and Lakshmana
• Sent Hanuman (his messenger) disguised as a beggar to scope out what they were doing
• Asked them to help Sugriva win back his kingdom and find his wife
• Rama and the Monkeys by Geraldine Hodgson (link)
• The Explanation 
• Vali was chasing an enemy and followed it down a hole under the earth, leaving Sugriva to guard the hole until he returned
• Sugriva waited for a whole year...until he stopped hearing his brother's voice and saw blood come out of the hole, and assumed Vali had been killed, so he returns to Kishkindha and rules his brother's subjects
• Herein lies the problem: Vali had NOT been killed. He destroyed the enemy and popped back up to the surface, but Sugriva had filled in the hole with the top of a mountain. Made it pretty hard for Vali to get out
• Understandably, this made him pretty mad so he refused to believe Sugriva's tale, ousts him and takes back control of his kingdom. Furthermore, he takes Sugriva's wife and and exiled him with only a single cloth
• ...Vali sound pretty justified; but the older sibling is always blamed for everything.
• Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India by Romesh Dutt (link)
• War!
• Sugriva came back and challenged Vali, backed by Rama and Sugriva
• Vali was ready to stack bodies (kill) but his wife Tara calms him down
• Nonetheless the engagement begins, and Vali is kicking Sugriva's ass
• Rama steps in and shoots Vali, knocking him from the sky and killing him
• Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India by Romesh Dutt (link)
• Everyone grieves over Vali's death: Tara his wife, the mahamatras (high officials of the monkey kingdom,) and even Sugriva
• Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India by Romesh Dutt (link)

Fight of Vali and Sugriva (Stone bas relief in Cambodia, photo by DoktorMax [link])