Ram's Reasoning, India’s Common Sense

Mankind devised all higher thought with two purposes in mind: first, to solve problems in society; and, next, to still the savage within us, and prevent the rise of the feral man, by advocating a noble way of life.

This is the basis of all sacred texts and meaningful secular philosophies, and it is this fundamental point which deserves to be stressed, as we approach the re-consecration of a new statue of Ramlalla, at a new temple in Ayodhya, in place of the ones which were demolished five centuries ago.

Shri Ram’s appeal is vested in his story, the Ramayan epic, which lyrically raises him to a role model worthy of emulation for all eternity. It encapsulates the essence of Dharma, that natural order of things which is to be maintained harmoniously. And it offers example after practical example of how one may employ karma, the right thought and right action required to uphold Dharma.

But life, as the story of Ram teaches us, is an endless struggle filled with problems. And the greatest problems are the moral dilemmas human beings are often forced to face. This is where the Dharmic lessons of the Ramayan come in.

An excellent example is the Kishkinda episode, when Ram helps Sugriv, the king of the apes, recover his kingdom from his elder brother Vali.

Ram, with his younger brother Lakshman, is scouring the Deccan plateau for his wife Sita, who has been abducted by Ravan, the king of Lanka. He needs all the help he can get, because it is a vast subcontinent, and, also because he knows that Ravan is not going to give Sita up without a fight.

Like Ram, Sugriv is also in exile, and his wife too, has been abducted by Vali. When asked by Sugriv for help in recovering his wife and kingdom, Ram correctly asks Sugriv to first present the facts, so that he may ascertain right from wrong. Sugriv obliges.

As it transpires, the root cause of the bad blood between Vali and Sugriv is actually a terrible misunderstanding. Vali, when king, once left on a chase with Sugriv, to hunt down and kill a demon named Mayavi who was troubling their kingdom.

In the course of this pursuit, Mayavi entered a long and endless cave. Vali instructed Sugriv to wait at the entrance of the cave while he went in to duel with the demon.

Sugriv waited, but when Vali didn’t return after a long time, the concerned younger brother disobeyed instructions to enter the cave. There, he found only blood and foam, and since Vali was nowhere to be seen, Sugriv promptly came to the conclusion that Vali had been killed.

So, Sugriv sadly did the death rites for his elder brother, closed up the mouth of the cave, returned to their kingdom, and was consecrated as the new king. But a year later, Vali returned, alive and well.

Apparently, Vali’s hunt took him so deep into the cave, that it was many months before he could kill Mayavi and somehow return to the cave mouth, hurt, tired, and wounded. Vali called out to his brother, but obviously, there was no response, since Sugriv had long since returned to their kingdom.

Now, back home, Vali was incensed that Sugriv had not only disobeyed a direct order, but abandoned his post, and taken over the throne as well. To Vali, such gross insubordination by Sugriv indicated a lack of faith in him, plus a lack of trust in Vali’s prowess. The only punishment for such a heinous crime was banishment.

After hearing Sugriv out, Ram mulled over the matter. Having fully understood the reason for enmity between the two brothers, Ram came to the conclusion that Vali was in the wrong.

The misunderstanding was only that, and it could have been easily reconciled if cooler heads had prevailed, and the voice of reason heard. Besides, even if Sugriv was guilty of abandoning his post, Vali had no right to abduct Sugriv’s wife. That was a mortal sin, one which, incidentally, Ram too was presently a victim of.

Ram, therefore, advised Sugriv to challenge Vali to a duel, during which, Ram would bring down Vali with an arrow from the shadows of a grove. A mighty duel then took place, at the end of which, Ram felled Vali.

A fallen Vali dejectedly complained to Ram at the employment of such duplicity. This was not the way of Dharma, Vali rued; there was nothing virtuous in Ram’s act. Then why would Ram do this?

Ram’s reply to Vali encapsulates the essence of Dharma: “Don’t you dare reprimand me so childishly, without understanding the social contracts formed by righteousness, justice, and desires [Dharma, Artha, Kama]. In your rage you senselessly placed desire over what is right, and by doing so, you have tainted Dharma”.

Ram goes on: “Dharma is subtle and difficult to understand. How will you understand that if your soul is not clean? You had intercourse with your brother’s wife after you abducted her, and I have punished you accordingly. If a person acts contrary to worldly conventions, I do not think an act of punishing him is contrary to Dharma”.

Compare this clarity of thought with what postures as liberal thinking today: the false equivalences of postmodernism, their smudging of the gap between right and wrong, a loosening of morals, a reckless, feral abjuring of traditions, customs, institutions, and culture, which, for example, leads to a ‘woke’ haste to justify one man’s terrorist as another man’s freedom fighter. One way leads to order in society, and the other, to disorder.

It’s really not even a choice, except to those who have lost their way, as Vali did. This is why Shri Ram is referred to as Maryada Purushottam, and this is also why the re-consecration of the statues at Ayodhya on 22 January 2024, in a grand temple being rebuilt at the spot where Ram was born, augurs a rejection of illogic, and an overdue return to a Dharmic way of life.

It is what India always was, and what it shall soon recover to become again. Perhaps our ancients knew, better than we may ever understand, that an arc of history, if initially etched in stone as superbly as sage Valmiki did, tends to extend itself farther, truer, and faster than the original scrivener expected.

Note: This retelling of the Vali-Sugriv episode is derived from a reading of Bibek Debroy’s translation of the Valmiki Ramayan.