Anand Neelakantan - Vanara- The legend of Baali, Sugreeva and Tara

One of the most fascinating characters in the Ramayana is Baali, also known as Vali (Valmiki Ramayana) or Baalin, Valin etc. Unarguably, he was the strongest man in the Ramayana and had defeated even Ravana in a duel. I have always been fascinated with Indian epics and folk tales. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata played a major part in my growing up. I was seeped in the stories of the Puranas from my childhood. Most of my writings have their base in our epics and the Puranas. My first three books were on Ravana and Duryodhana and I had explored the familiar stories from the antagonists perspective. Except for my last book, The Rise of Sivagami, where I based my story in the Bahubali world, most of my works, whether for television, short stories or novels have been based on the Puranas. I had also written a few episodes of the legal thriller Adalat for Sony TV and the story of Battle of Saragarhi for Discovery Jeet. However, my first love and fascination has always been our Puranas.

In my first book, Asura, I had written the Ramayana from the, perspective of the antihero, Ravana, and Bhadra, a common Asura. I had explored the Ramayana from Sitas point of view in the series, Siya Ke Ram, and explored Hanumans heroics in the series, Mahabali Hanuman. Most of the readers will be more familiar with Hanuman. He is our God and perhaps the first superhero in the world.

The Ramayana has a fascinating story-world. One of the most intriguing stories is that of the Vanaras. As per Brahmas orders, Devas started parenting children in various races. In this, the Vanaras resembling monkeys, were born. All Vanaras had the traits of the Deva father who parented them. There are many stories about how Baali and Sugreeva were born. As per Brahmanda Purana, the story goes like this.

Once, there was a virtuous wife (pativruta) called Sheelavati who was married to Ugratapas, a leper. Ugratapas wanted to visit a brothel and the virtuous wife Sheelavati carried him on her shoulders. On the way to the brothel, a mendicant named Agnimandavya lay impaled by the king. Agnimandavya, who was in the throes of death, saw Sheelavati carrying her leper husband to a brothel. The uncontrolled passion of the lecherous Ugratapas angered Agnimandavya and he cursed that Ugratapas would die before sunrise the next day. Sheelavati used all the power she had gained through unconditional surrender and service of her lecherous husband to stop the sun from rising. Due to her virtuosity, the sun could not rise in the morning.

Aruna, the charioteer of the Sun God, arrived for duty on time, but was surprised to find that his master was still asleep. Aruna tried his best to awaken the Sun God Suryadeva, but the power of Sheelavatis virtue prevented the sun from rising. A bored Aruna wandered around and stumbled into heaven. Indra, the king of Devas, was enjoying the dance of the celestial maidens Urvashi, Ramba, Menaka and Tilothamma, and he had banned the entry of any other male into his harem. Aruna pleaded with the guards but he was thrown out from heaven. Aruna was desperate to see the dance. He turned into a beautiful damsel with his magical powers and reached the gates of heaven to try his luck again. This time he was allowed without a question. He enjoyed the dance of the celestial beauties, but as he was about to return, he was summoned by Indra. The king of gods, Indra, had fallen in love with the female Aruna. In their union, a boy was born, and he was Baali.