Sugriva

Birth and family

The Ramayana tells that when Vishnu was to be born as Rama, Brahma asked the gods to create mighty helpers for him. So the vanaras and bears were born from the power of the gods. Vali was born from the power of Indra, and Sugriva from the power of Surya, the sun god. Both were brought up as sons of Riksharaja, the king of the vanaras of Kishkindha.

Vali was the elder, and after their father he became king. Sugriva loved and respected his elder brother and served him faithfully. He married Ruma, and he had wise ministers such as Hanuman, who would stay loyal to him through every trouble.

The quarrel with Vali

One night an asura named Mayavi came to the gate of Kishkindha and challenged Vali. Vali rushed out, with Sugriva behind him. The asura fled into a deep cave. Vali told Sugriva to wait at the entrance and went in. Sugriva waited for a whole year. Then he saw foam and blood flowing out of the cave and heard the roars of asuras, but not his brother’s voice.

Believing that Vali had been killed, Sugriva sadly closed the cave mouth with a huge rock and returned home. The ministers made him king. But Vali had won, and when he came back and found the cave blocked and Sugriva on the throne, he thought his brother had betrayed him. He would not listen to Sugriva’s explanation. He drove him out and kept Sugriva’s wife Ruma for himself.

Sugriva fled with Hanuman and a few loyal friends to the Rishyamuka hill. Vali could not go there, because the sage Matanga had once cursed him never to enter that place. Even so, Sugriva lived in constant fear of his elder brother.

Friendship with Rama

When Rama and Lakshmana came near Lake Pampa, Hanuman brought them to Sugriva. Hanuman lit a fire, and Rama and Sugriva walked around it and promised to be friends for life. Sugriva then showed Rama a bundle of Sita’s upper cloth and ornaments, which she had dropped when Ravana carried her across the sky. Seeing them, Rama wept. Lakshmana said he could not recognise the earrings or armlets, but he knew her anklets, because he had bowed at her feet every day.

Sugriva doubted whether anyone could defeat Vali. To give him confidence, Rama kicked away the huge dry skeleton of the asura Dundubhi, whom Vali had once killed, and then shot one arrow that pierced seven great sala trees in a row. Now Sugriva was sure of his friend.

Before these tests, Sugriva had told Rama his whole sad story: how Vali had chased him across the earth, how he had found no peace anywhere, and how Vali had taken his wife. Rama had listened with sympathy and promised that his arrows would end Vali’s wrongdoing. Now, for the first time in years, Sugriva felt real hope.

Sugriva challenged Vali to a fight. The first time, the two brothers looked so alike that Rama could not tell them apart and did not shoot. Sugriva came back bruised and hurt. The second time, Lakshmana put a garland of flowers around Sugriva’s neck as a mark. In that fight Rama shot Vali with his arrow. Sugriva grieved for his brother, performed his last rites, and was crowned king, with Angada as the young prince.

The rainy season and the search

The rainy months came, and the search had to wait. But even when the rains ended, Sugriva, enjoying his new kingdom, forgot his promise. Hanuman reminded him, and Sugriva began calling vanaras from everywhere. Rama grew worried and sent Lakshmana, who came to Kishkindha very angry. Tara calmed him, and Sugriva humbly asked Rama’s forgiveness.

Then a huge army of vanaras and bears gathered. Sugriva sent search parties to the east, west, north and south, describing each land in detail and giving them one month to return. He sent his best warriors south, with Angada, Hanuman and Jambavan, and that party found the way to Sita.

Rama asked Sugriva how he knew the whole earth so well. Sugriva explained that when Vali chased him, he had fled in every direction, east, west, north and south, and so he had seen all these lands with his own eyes. Only at Rishyamuka, which Vali could not enter, did he find safety. His years of suffering had become useful in Rama’s service.

Role in the war of Lanka

Sugriva marched with Rama to the southern ocean and led the army across Nala’s bridge to Lanka. When he first saw Ravana standing on the city gate from the Suvela mountain, he could not control his anger. He leapt across, knocked off Ravana’s crown and wrestled with him before coming back. Rama embraced him but gently told him that a king should not take such risks alone.

Before that, when Ravana’s brother Vibhishana had come across the sea asking for shelter, Sugriva had been suspicious. He warned Rama that a rakshasa from the enemy’s own family might be a spy. Rama listened to all his advisers and then accepted Vibhishana, saying he would never turn away anyone who came to him for shelter. Sugriva respected this and welcomed Vibhishana as a friend.

In the war Sugriva fought many great rakshasas. Kumbhakarna once struck him down and carried him away, but Sugriva woke, wounded the giant and escaped back to his army. He killed Kumbhakarna’s son Kumbha and the rakshasa commanders Virupaksha and Mahodara. After the victory he came with Rama to Ayodhya, and the vanara chiefs brought holy water for Rama’s coronation.

Later life and character

Sugriva ruled Kishkindha as Rama’s faithful friend. In the Uttara Kanda, when Rama was about to leave the world, Sugriva placed Angada on the throne of Kishkindha and came to follow Rama. He entered the waters of the Sarayu with Rama and returned to the sun god from whom he was born.

Sugriva was not perfect. He could be fearful, rash, and sometimes forgetful in comfort. But he was honest about his mistakes, quick to ask forgiveness, and once his heart was given to Rama’s cause, he gave all his strength and his whole army to it.