The Slaying of Vaali - Lets brew this again !

Varadha uncle at Birmigham was having a heated conversation with me about religion and mass conversion. Somewhere he mentioned this “Do you know how beautifully Mohammed Rela talks about Ramayana? In fact he talks just about a single episode called 'VAALI VADHAM' for about an hour”. I was shocked as I knew Mohammed Rela only as the renowned hepatic surgeon till then. I almost forgot this until another boring weekend where I checked this video out (link below). I never intended to see the full video as I thought a discussion on Rama killing Vaali and its ethicalities is so last century. But with the way it went, I was glued to my seat till the very end.

Both the orators featured in the video were very accomplished surgeons in their field. One is a world leader in hepatic transplant and the other is a senior pediatric surgeon in one of Chennai’s busiest child hospitals. To see that both of them can quote all those verses from Kamba Ramayanam out of memory is simply amazing!

A couple of days later when I watched the Rajini starrer PETTA – oh man! There is suddenly 'Vaali Vadham' everywhere around me. If you did not notice, the main spine of the storyline is based on 'Vaali Vadham' and Rajini mentions it at the climax.

Thought I would strongly suggest all those who are reading this to check that video, I am also tempted to give a brief capsule of this. So why so much fuss about 'Vaali Vadham'? Vaali confiscated Sugreeva’s kingdom his wife unlawfully. Rama killed Vaali for the sake of Sugreeva but from behind which is against the battle dharma. He was kind of forced into it as Vaali also has this special boon where everytime he battles, the opponent loses half of his strength to Vaali.

On the death bed Vaali asks Rama as to why he did this unworthy act. Rama argues saying that the rules of battlefield applies only to humans and not apes. Vaali puts his end of the argument saying in that case, apes don’t have to comply by any dharma of marriage and fidelity. The very reason why Rama killed Vaali becomes nullified. Rama argues back saying that if a monkey can analyse things so well, his intellect is equal if not better than humans. In that case, Manu dharma still applies to him. Vaali goes back to the same question again as to why he attacked him from behind if Rama places Vaali on the same scale as humans. Rama was perplexed and doesn’t have an answer to this.  Kamban does though, through the voice of Lakshmana. What a philosophical intellect! 

 To save the surprise for the last - That's my sketch based on the sculpture at Darasuram Temple. Despite taking ages to complete, I could hardly bring out that finesse that unnamed sculptor brought into a small stone slab.

Credits:

The debate between Prof Rela and Dr Priya Ramachandran on Vaali Vadham at Kamban Kazhagam - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9bSuFoX1Ts&t=952s

For those who would prefer a brief English version - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC8bAQdQZEI