66697602-The-Ramayana-R-K-Narayan

exercised all his remaining strength in pulling the arrow from
his chest, to look at the mark on its handle. The might of Vali
was applauded by the gods watching from high heavens, as
he succeeded in drawing out the shaft. Blood gushed from
the wound like a spring. At the sight of it, Sugreeva was
grief-stricken and wept aloud. He forgot his animosity. With
his ebbing strength, Vali held the arrow close to his eyes and
spelt the name “Rama” engraved on it. Vali looked at the
name on the arrow and almost was blinded with shock. The
shock of the physical injury was not so agonizing as the
spiritual shock of reading the name of Rama on the arrow.
He looked at it and brooded over his own recklessness in
castigating his wife for mentioning Rama’s name. That poor
creature showed better judgement than he.
“Rama, the Lord of culture, breeding, discrimination, and
justice. How could you do this? You have destroyed the firm
basis of your own virtues. Is it because of the separation
from your wife that you have lost all sense of fairness and act
recklessly? If some demon like Ravana has acted
treacherously, is that any justification for you to come here,
slaughter the head of a monkey clan, entirely unconnected
with the affair? Has your code of ethics taught you only this?
What mistake have you seen in me, young man, that you
should destroy me thus? Who will wear the badge of virtue in
this world or others, when you have thrown it away so lightly?
Is the foretaste of the yuga of Kali 10 to be had only by us, the
creatures who crawl and are called monkeys? So, Kind One,