Week 5 Story: Sugriva's Return

Figure 1: Depiction of the Ramayana Wikimedia

As Rama and Lakshmana journeyed through the jungle in pursuit of Ravana, they came across a pair of monkeys. These monkeys were Sugriva, the former monkey king, and Hanuman, his retainer. And then Sugriva said unto the duo.

“Howdy”

To which Lakshmana replied.

“HOLY COW ON A TRISHULA!”

As he exclaimed this, Lakshmana jumped high into the air.

“THAT MONKEY JUST TALKED!”

And then he tripped over himself and fell to the ground in a tangle of his own bowstrings.

“Calm down brother, we have encountered many strange things, this is hardly the most unusual.”

Rama then turned to the monkeys and sat calmly, he was puzzled by their words. They were clearly speaking, but he was not familiar with their dialect and greeting. Seeing that they carried themselves in a dignified manner despite their rough clothes, and the quality of the weapons they wore, Rama decided to err on the side of reverence in his response. And so, he altered their greeting in the manner of deference found in Ayodhya.

“Howd”

The monkeys had never heard this response before and tilted their heads to slightly. Assuming that this was simply a typical greeting in Ayodhya, Sugriva proceeded to reply with his preplanned speech.

“Virtuous Rama, we know of your feud with Ravana, and your mission to save the lovely Sita. I am the former great king of the monkeys, aid me in retaking power, and I will lend you my armies on your quest.”

“You say that you are the former king, wherefore where you deposed?”

“Outside the gates of my kingdom.”

Rama let out a sigh of mild annoyance.

“And why where you deposed?”

“My apologies, my brother Bali forced me to betray him, and when this betrayal came to light, I was deposed by my enraged court.”

“He forced you to betray him?”

“Yes, in pursuit of cave demons, he told me to seal the cave should it become evident that he had failed his mission, he lived in that cave for nearly a decade; I suspect that he conspired with the demons in the cave to survive. I left that cave open for as long as I could, but as more demons attacked from that cave, I was forced to seal it. No sooner had I done so did Bali break through the seal, seemingly furious from the betrayal. And so, I was deposed and labelled a traitor. Bali took the throne and offers our children to those demons who conspired with him.”

“And so how do you intend to retake the throne?”

“The people already wish for my return, and if I could defeat Bali in combat, I can reclaim my place, but I need you to prevent him from simply setting his army upon me.”

“Very well.”

And so, Rama and Lakshmana accompanied Sugriva and Hanuman to the city of monkeys, where Sugriva challenged his brother to a combat for succession. To this, Bali prepared to set his Rakshasa allies on his brother, but upon seeing the Divine Archer, he hesitated, knowing that such a dishonorable move would lead to his death. Cornered, Bali prepared to face his brother in an honorable duel in the city’s wooden arena. The two monkeys stood across one another, eyeing each other as they laid down their weapons, and sealed their swords with ropes so that they could not be drawn. Bali offered Sugriva a handshake as an honorable start, but as Sugriva reached to grasp his brother’s hand, Bali whipped his arm from the shoulder and revealed a blade hidden in his palm, ripping the flesh from Sugriva’s face. As Sugriva reeled in pain, Bali pivoted around the ball of his left foot, and as he spun around, his leg snapped out in unison with a twist of his hips, and shin of his leg connected with Sugriva’s head with a resounding crack.

“Gullible as ever older brother, it’ll be the death of you.”

Sugriva sprang to his feet, roaring from pain and fury. He caught his brother in the face with a right fist, but more crucially, he caught Bali’s arm in his left hand, restricting the hidden blade, but Bali simply used his free hand to reach for his sword, and pulled it out, breaking the false seal that was meant to restrict the weapon.

Amongst monkeys, the use of weapons in combat for succession is prohibited. This is to prevent excessive bloodshed. Most combats for succession end in no permanent injury to either participant, and in placing a false seal on his blade, Bali had committed the worst offence in the tradition of the monkeys. All the monkeys watching the combat began to jeer him, to which Bali simply ordered his 5000 Rakshasas to attack. But As the demons descended on the unarmed monkeys, the Divine Archer and his brother loosed 5000 arrows into the sky, and Bali’s entire demon horde fell to the ground in eternal sleep.

Screaming in fury, Bali began to attack his brother with renewed rigor, he slashed wildly from the left and right. Sugriva countered by blocking with his sheathed sword. As he did, he the cuts to tore apart the rope that bound his sword, and the rightful king of the monkeys drew his blade at last. Unlike his brother, Sugriva was disciplined even in rage, and he danced in the space between Bali’s wild swings. From that space, Sugriva placed a well-timed thrust into Bali’s shoulder. Bali fell to the ground, beaten.

Sugriva turned from his defeated foe and prepared to take his old throne. But Bali did not accept the mercy granted to him, and leapt at his brother from behind, only to be shot dead by Rama. And in that moment, the last person Bali betrayed, was himself.

Sugriva reclaimed his throne and addressed Rama.

“I will send my monkeys to find Ravana and his city of Lanka. Thank you Rama,  I will repay you for your service.”  

The Divine Archer by Gould

Author's Note:

I decided to try to rewrite Bali's overthrow to make Rama's character more consistent (not make him a dishonorable assassin). I also made Rama and Lakshmana surprised to see talking monkeys. I thought it was funny. I included several jokes, namely a reference to the word "wherefore", the concept of talking monkeys, and a linguistic misunderstanding. I also altered Bali's ascension to make him more malevolent. I also changed the manner in which Rama kills him, so as to make Rama the good guy.