Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana, Section C

Vali is a character who takes up a major portion of this section of the Ramayana. He is portrayed as being strong and warlike. He had received these fighting powers from the gods. They looked kindly upon him for his devotion.  Vali was challenged by Mayavi, a demon who possessed great power and thought he could easily defeat Vali. When he challenged Vali to fight, he realized the error in his judgement and immediately ran away. Mayavi is portrayed as detestable because he ran away and because he sought to do so much harm.  Vali followed Mayavi to the end of the world attempting to catch him.  Mayavi ran into a cave to hide from Vali, but he was unsuccessful, and Vali found him.  Their battle raged on in that cave for weeks.  Sugreeva, the brother of Vali did not know what to do, so he sealed the entrance and waited for Vali to return.  When Vali did return he was so beset with rage over the seal at the entrance, that he ran to where Sugreeva was and attacked him.  He chased him all over until Sugreeva was able to take refuge in a holy place, from which Vali was forbidden.

In this section, Ravana abducts Sita. He separates her from Rama and Lakshmana and then disguises himself as an ascetic and attempts to get help from Sita.  As Sita and Ravana talk, Sita speaks poorly of the Rakshasas and praises Rama.  Ravana is incensed by this and in his anger loses his disguise and takes his ten headed form.  He then abducts Sita and takes her back to Lanka, the land where his seat of power is.  Ravana is shown to be a rash and excitable character. He plots and deceives in order to get what he wants. He tries to take what he wants with no consideration.

In this section the infamous monsoons of India get a mention. After defeating Vali, Rama tells Sugreeva to raise an army and meet him after four months. The interim time is the wet season in India, which comes with massive amounts of Rainfall. This is mentioned in the story.  The rivers swell and the entire world seems to be engulfed in water.
Rama shooting Vali. Source
Bibliography
R.K. Narayan. Ramayana. Kindle

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