Charm of friendship

Kiran Kumar Pabbathi

Index

Rama and Sugriva ( 9 )

Rama and ( 13 )

Duryodhana and Karna ( 16 )

Krishna and Pandavas ( 21 )

Krishna and Sudama ( 26 )

Vedic Quotes on friendship ( 29 )

About the Book ( 31 )

About the Author ( 32 )

7 Rama and Sugriva

Rama was the incarnation of Lord in Tretayuga (second yuga) who ruled the ancient kingdom of , thus exemplifying the right way to live life as a human being. Rama was born to the great king Dasaratha and queen , after performing several austerities and great rituals. Rama’s philosophy of life was to live life as per the laws of righteousness (dharma), truthfulness, and Vedic prescriptions. He was an ideal son, ideal brother, ideal husband, ideal friend and an ideal king thus depicting how a man should live and behave in society. Rama married , as per ’s (Sita’s father) request and ’s (Rama’s father) acceptance. But Kailkeyi (the third wife of Dasharatha) was unhappy because she feared that Rama would now be coronated king of Ayodhya. So, asked Dasharatha to exile Rama from the kingdom for 14 years and order him to live in the forest for 14 years. Rama happily agreed to Kaikeyi’s command, and left for the forest accompanied by his wife Sita and brother .

9 Charm of friendship

In the thirteenth year of their stay in the forest, a demon got to know about Sita and her beauty. He used his magical tricks and kidnapped Sita, when Rama and Lakshmana were not at home. When Rama and Lakshmana returned home they could not find Sita. Alarmed, Rama searched for Sita in many places for many days and months. In the process of searching, he met and Sugriva in the forests. Sugriva was the son of Deva; He was intelligent, strong, brave and good natured. Sugriva had been banished from the monkey kingdom of Kishkinda and his wife had been taken away by his hasty brother . Vali was the son of Indra Deva; but he was more powerful and stronger than his younger brother Sugriva. Vali had a boon that if anyone fought with him, he would get half the opponent’s strength in him. This made him a ferocious fighter, who could defeat anyone. Sugriva requested Rama to kill his brother and restore his wife and kingdom to him. On hearing this, Rama asked Sugriva why Vali and Sugriva had become enemies and how it had all started. Sugriva then explained “One day, a deadly demon came to Kishkinda and challenged Vali to fight with him. Vali accepted the challenge and fought with him. Realising that Vali was very powerful, the demon ran away into a cave and Vali followed him, telling me to wait outside the cave. I waited for a year’s time but Vali did not come out from the cave. Finally, on hearing cries coming from the cave and seeing blood oozing out from the cave, I thought that my brother had been killed, and closed the cave’s opening. I returned to Kishkinda, and became the king of the monkeys (). A few days later, Vali returned to Kishkinda after winning the deadly war with the demon in the cave. Seeing me on the throne, he thought that I had betrayed him and became very angry. I humbly explained

10 Rama and Sugriva what had happened, but Vali did not listen to me. He fought with me, almost killed me and banished me from Kishkinda and also took my wife, Ruma”. Rama evaluated the righteousness in Sugriva’s actions and told him, “I will help you in killing your evil brother.” Sugriva, in turn, assured Rama that he would also help him in finding Sita and rescue her with the help of his monkey army. Rama then advised Sugriva to fight with Vali, and said that during the battle he would kill Vali.

Sugriva went to Kishkinda and challenged Vali to come and fight with him. While Vali and Sugriva were fighting, Rama aimed an arrow at Vali and killed him. Vali fell down and taking his last breath, he asked Rama, “What was my crime? What is your right to kill me? And how can you kill someone who is fighting with other person.” Rama replied, “I believe in righteousness, and I support people who are right. Your younger brother is like your son. Even if he makes a mistake you should forgive him, but you took his wife forcefully and banished him from the kingdom. This is extremely wrong!”

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