Tara (ramayana)
Encyclopedia
In the Hindu epic Ramayana
, Tara is the Queen of Kishkindha
and wife of the monkey (vanara
) King Vali
. After being widowed, she becomes the Queen of Sugriva
, Vali's brother. Tara's intelligence, presence of mind, courage, and devotion to her husband is praised. She is extolled as one of the panchakanya ("five (revered) women"), the recital of whose names is believed to dispel sin.
Tara is described as the daughter of the monkey physician Sushena in the Ramayana, and in later sources, as an apsara
(celestial damsel) who rises from the churning of the milky ocean
. She marries Vali and bears him a son named Angada
. After Vali is presumed dead in a battle with a demon, his brother Sugriva becomes king and appropriates Tara; however, Vali returns and regains Tara and exiles his brother, accusing him of treachery.
When Sugriva challenges Vali to a duel, Tara wisely advises Vali not to accept because of the former's alliance with Rama
—the hero of the Ramayana and an Avatar
of the god Vishnu
—but Vali does not heed her, and dies from Rama's arrow, at the behest of Sugriva. The Ramayana and its later adaptations emphasize Tara's lamentation. While in most vernacular versions, Tara casts a curse on Rama by the power of her chastity, in some versions, Rama enlightens Tara.
Sugriva returns to the throne, but spends his time carousing and fails to act on his promise to assist Rama in recovering his kidnapped wife, Sita
. Tara—now Sugriva's queen and chief diplomat—is then instrumental in reconciling Rama with Sugriva after pacifying Lakshmana
, Rama's brother, who was about to destroy Kishkinda in retribution for Sugriva's perceived treachery. After this incident, Tara is only mentioned in passing references, as the mother of Angada and queen of Sugriva, as the story moves from Kishkindha to the climatic battle in Lanka
to retrieve Sita.
and the sun-god Surya
; whilst Tara is described as the daughter of Brihaspati
. The 12th century Tamil
Kamba Ramayana and the Telegu Ranganatha Ramayana states that Tara and Ruma rose, along with other apsaras, from the ocean of milk during its churning by the gods and the demons
, to acquire the elixir of life, known as amrita
. The Ranganatha Ramayana further states that Tara is given to Vali and Sugriva as a reward for helping the gods. The Thai
Ramakien
says that Vali is given a trident and Sugriva is given Tara, but Vali grabs Tara too and marries her. A Tamil folk tale tells that after amrita emerged, Tara rises and is given as a common wife (see polyandry
) to both Vali and Sugriva.
Vali goes to fight the demon Dundudhi in a cave and instructs Sugriva to close the door of the cave if blood flows out from the cave, implying that he has been killed, but if milk flows out, it indicates that Dundudhi is dead. After a year of combat, the dying demon turns the color of his milky blood to red by sorcery. Sugriva believes that Vali is dead and closes the only opening to the cave. Sugriva also appropriates—sometimes interpreted as marriage—Vali's "widow" Tara. After Vali returns, rejecting Sugriva's explanation, he exiles Sugriva and not only re-acquires Tara, but also seizes Ruma, Sugriva's wife, in retaliation. While Vali's act of usurping Ruma while her husband is alive is universally criticized by commentators, they excuse Sugriva's taking of Tara, as his wife, as he believed she was widowed.
, Rama and his brother Lakshmana
wander the forest searching for her. Upon meeting the monkey-warrior Hanuman
, they are taken to the exiled Sugriva. Rama forms an alliance with Sugriva, whom he will help; in order to defeat Vali and regain his wife Ruma and his kingship. In return Sugriva will aid in the search for Sita. As agreed, Sugriva challenges Vali, and defeats him in the Wrestling contest, but Rama is unable to distinguish between the two fighters. Rama explains his predicament to Sugriva and tells him to re-challenge Vali, but this time, Rama garlands Sugriva to differentiate him from Vali.
In the Mahabharata
retelling, when Sugriva re-challenges Vali, Tara dissuades Vali from going to the fight and points out that Sugriva may have found a protector. Tara, described as lustrous like the moon, is praised by Vali as one who understands the language of all creatures and is astute to clarify her statement. Tara warns him about Sugriva's alliance with Rama and the plotting of Vali's death at the hands of Sugriva and his advisers. Vali not only disregards Tara's advice, but also suspects Tara of cheating on him with Sugriva. Vali leaves, speaking harshly to Tara.
Ignoring Tara's sound advice, Vali engages in combat with Sugriva. While fighting, Rama shoots an arrow at Vali from behind, fatally injuring him. The news of Vali's death reaches Tara, she rushes to him with Angada. She saw monkeys running in terror on the way. They advised her to go back to the palace and consecrate Angada as the king. Tara refuses and says she needs to see her husband first, leading them back to Vali. Embracing the dying Vali, Tara laments his death whilst reproaching Sugriva and Rama. Tara accepts Vali's death as punishment for taking Ruma and exiling Sugriva.
In North Indian manuscripts of the Ramayana, some interpolations elaborate Tara's lament. Tara mentions the hardships of widowhood and prefers death to it. She blames Rama for unjustly killing Vali, and tells Rama that, if they had forged an alliance, Vali could have helped him recover Sita. Tara invokes the power of her chastity and curses Rama so that he will soon lose Sita after he regains her. She declares that Sita will return to the earth. The curse also appears in north western manuscripts. In several vernacular adaptations of the Ramayana like the Oriya Vilanka Ramayana by Sarala Das, Tara's curse is reiterated. Apart from the usual curse to Rama of his separation from Sita in the Bengali Krittivasi Ramayan
a, Tara additionally curses Rama so that in his next incarnation, he will be killed by Vali. The Mahanataka and the Ananda Ramayana
narrate that Vali is reborn as the hunter who kills Krishna
, Rama's next incarnation.
Hanuman consoles Tara, telling her to look towards the future of her son, Angada. Hanuman suggests that Angada be consecrated as king, compensating her loss, but Tara declares that since his uncle Sugriva is alive, it is inadvisable. With his last breath, Vali confesses his folly of abandoning Sugriva and urges Angada and Tara to support Sugriva. He declares that:
Vali requests Rama take care that Tara is not insulted, and advises Sugriva to unquestioningly follow her advice.
Vali dies in the embraces of Tara, who mourns his death in a painful and rebuking speech. According to Lefeber, Tara's lament has been significantly expanded, if not added completely, over the centuries. In South Indian manuscripts, some later interpolations elaborate Tara's lament, in which Tara asks Rama to kill her and lead her to Vali. Rama consoles Tara, saying that she should accept the preordained destiny. Rama guarantees her that her rights and that of Angada will be protected and that she will enjoy "continued comfort". He tells her that a wife of a hero should not hold personal sorrow.
In the Adhyatma Ramayana
, while Tara wails over the death of Vali, Rama preaches to her, saying that the body is ephemeral, while only the soul is eternal; he tells her she should not grieve over the decay of Vali's body. Tara questions him asking "if the body is destructible, why does one feel pleasure and pain". Rama informs her that due to ahamkara
(egoism) the mind is chained in bondage to desires. He declares that Tara will remain untouched by karma
and be emancipated from the bondage of life. Having heard his sermon, and because she had been devoted to him in a past life
, Tara thus becomes free of egoism and undergoes self-realization. This discourse of Rama also appears in Tulsidas
's Ramacharitamanasa, but it is curtailed to just two verses and is possibly borrowed from the former text. Rama says that the body is perishable, but the soul is immortal and listening to this, the enlightened Tara bows to Rama and gains the boon of supreme devotion.
A Ramayana version portrays her as trying to stabilize the kingdom after Vali's death in her arms. She declares that "With his last breath, King Vali begs you, his faithful subjects, to follow his brother [Sugriva] as your rightful king." Angada cremates Vali, aided in the funeral rites by Tara and Sugriva.
The Ramayana does not mention the sati
practice, in which a widow would commit suicide by burning, on her deceased husband's funeral pyre. While Vali's acquisition of Ruma—the elder brother taking his younger sister-in-law as wife—is universally condemned; however as in Tara's case, the elder brother's widow marrying her younger brother-in-law seems to be a social norm. Ramashraya Sharma considers that Rama's silence on the marriage of Tara and Sugriva does not signal non-acceptance of the act, but rather that he is not concerned with the issue of the sexual relations of the "loose" charactered Vanaras, in which Tara and Ruma exchange hands between the brothers. The Ramayana mentions that Sugriva indulges in sexual pleasures of women, including Ruma and Tara, who "he coveted". In the Ramayana however, Angada criticizes Sugriva for his lustful marriage to his elder sister-in-law Tara, who is like a mother to him. Though a political marriage, Tara serves Sugriva loyally.
The commentaries of the Ramayana suggest that it would be right for Sugriva to marry the widowed Tara. The Amritakataka of Kataka Madhava Yogindra says that this was right as they were animals. The Tilaka by Nahesh Bhatt (Ramavarma) justifies Sugriva's marriage to Tara since Sugriva was her dead husband's brother. It further states that Tara should remarry, as she did not belong to the first three caste
s and was young. Tara's action of taking Sugriva as her husband after Vali's death is seen as her attempt to secure the futures of Angada and the kingdom.
In the Mahabharata, there is a reference to Vali and Sugriva fighting over an unnamed woman, whom the mythologist Bhattacharya believes to be Tara. The Balinese dance Kebyar portrays Rama helping Sugriwa (Sugriva) to gain his lover Tara Dewi (Tara) from Suvali (Vali). Some Mahabharata versions, the Narasimha Purana
and the Mahanataka, portray Tara as originally Sugriva's wife that Vali snatched.
, to Kishkindha to remind the complacent monarch of his promise to help. Irritated that the city is barricaded, Lakshmana kicks down the city gate and threatens to destroy Sugriva and the monkey kingdom with his own divine power. Lakshmana is unable to tolerate Sugriva breaking his vow to Rama, enjoying material and sensual pleasures, while Rama suffers alone.
When the agitated Lakshamana—reaching the inner chambers of Sugriva and his harem—reproaches Sugriva for being ungrateful to Rama and forgetting his promise, the critical edition of the Ramayana states that Tara voluntarily intervenes to calm the wrath of Lakshamana. In some Ramayana adaptations and north western manuscripts of Ramayana, it is Tara, not Ruma in whom Sugriva is engrossed when Lakshamna arrives. The South Indian manuscripts portray the drunk Sugriva, who is engrossed in lustful revel, as being ignorant of Lakshmana's anger and sending Tara to pacify him, in some versions, even though she is drunk. Though intoxicated with "half-closed eyes and unsteady gait", Tara manages to disarm Lakshamana. The intoxication of Tara is also described in the original Ramayana, but in a different context. Tara is described as having made it a habit to visit Sugriva always in a tipsy state, before indulging in the "new pleasures of love".
The Ramayana narrates: Tara says that Sugriva is mindful that through Rama, Sugriva has gained the kingship, Ruma, and herself. She defends Sugriva saying that even the great sage Vishwamitra was tempted by pleasure, Sugriva—a mere vanara forest dwelling monkey—is fatigued by his past hardships and is relaxing, but not partaking in, sensual pleasures. Tara informs Sugriva that Vali told her that Ravana is a mighty king with several rakshasas in his service. She reminds Lakshamana that without an ally like Sugriva, Rama cannot defeat such a powerful enemy. Tara informs him that Sugriva has summoned all monkey commanders and troops to the capital. The Adhyatma Ramayana also presents a similar description, where Tara, Angada, and Hanuman are sent by Sugriva to calm Lakshmana. In a condensed one-verse description, Ramacharitamanasa says that Tara and Hanuman were dispatched by Sugriva and were successful in appeasing Lakshmana by singing the Lord's praises.
Pacified by Tara and praised further by Sugriva, Lakshmana begs for Sugriva's pardon for abusing him. It is only through the diplomatic intervention of Tara that the crisis is averted. The encounter between Lakshmana and Tara is dropped in the Mahabharata. It is Sugriva, not Tara, who pacifies the angry Lakshmana and narrates the measures he took in order to track Sita.
Orthodox Hindus remember the Panchakanya: the five virgins or maidens, in this daily morning prayer; though none of them is considered an ideal woman, who could be emulated. Tara, with Ahalya and Mandodari, belong to the Ramayana, while the rest are from the Mahabharata.
V. R. Devika, author of Tara: Unsung heroine describes her as a woman "treated like an equal and her opinion mattered as if she were one of the lieutenants." The Ramayana presents Tara as a woman, intensely loved and respected by Vali, her husband. Her regard is so great that her counsel to Vali sometimes have a commanding tone. Pradip Bhattacharya, author of the book Panchkanya: Women of Substance describes Tara as "a woman of unusual intelligence, foresight and confidence." Tara's devotion to her husband is also praised.
Ramayana
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
, Tara is the Queen of Kishkindha
Kishkindha
Kishkindha is mythical the monkey kingdom of the Vanara King Sugriva, the younger brother of Vali, in the Indian mythology of Ramayana times...
and wife of the monkey (vanara
Vanara
Vānara popularly refers to a group of ape-like humanoids in the Hindu epic Ramayana who were brave and inquisitive by nature. They possessed supernatural powers and could change their shapes...
) King Vali
Vali (Ramayana)
In the Hindu epic Ramayana, the vanara Vali , also known as Bali , , , Yuan: Bari, , Lao: Palichan) was king of Kishkindha, a son of Indra and the elder brother of Sugriva...
. After being widowed, she becomes the Queen of Sugriva
Sugriva
In the Hindu epic Ramayana, Sugriva , also spelled Sugreeva or Sugreev, was the younger brother of Bali, whom he succeeded as ruler of the vanara or monkey kingdom Kishkindha. Ruma was his wife. He was the son of Surya, the Hindu deity of the sun...
, Vali's brother. Tara's intelligence, presence of mind, courage, and devotion to her husband is praised. She is extolled as one of the panchakanya ("five (revered) women"), the recital of whose names is believed to dispel sin.
Tara is described as the daughter of the monkey physician Sushena in the Ramayana, and in later sources, as an apsara
Apsara
An Apsara , also known as Vidhya Dhari or Tep Apsar in Khmer, Accharā or A Bố Sa La Tư , Bidadari , Biradali , Widodari and Apson , is a female spirit of the clouds and waters in...
(celestial damsel) who rises from the churning of the milky ocean
Samudra manthan
In Hinduism, Samudra manthan or Ksheera Sagara Mathanam, Churning of the Ocean of Milk is one of the most famous episodes in the Puranas...
. She marries Vali and bears him a son named Angada
Angada
Angada , in the Indian Ramayana epic, is a vanara who helped Rama find his wife Sita and fight her abductor, Ravana. He was the son of Bali and Tara and the nephew of Sugriva. Angada and Tara are instrumental in reconciling Rama and his brother, Lakshmana, with Sugriva after Sugriva fails to...
. After Vali is presumed dead in a battle with a demon, his brother Sugriva becomes king and appropriates Tara; however, Vali returns and regains Tara and exiles his brother, accusing him of treachery.
When Sugriva challenges Vali to a duel, Tara wisely advises Vali not to accept because of the former's alliance with Rama
Rama
Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...
—the hero of the Ramayana and an Avatar
Avatar
In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
of the god Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
—but Vali does not heed her, and dies from Rama's arrow, at the behest of Sugriva. The Ramayana and its later adaptations emphasize Tara's lamentation. While in most vernacular versions, Tara casts a curse on Rama by the power of her chastity, in some versions, Rama enlightens Tara.
Sugriva returns to the throne, but spends his time carousing and fails to act on his promise to assist Rama in recovering his kidnapped wife, Sita
SITA
SITA is a multinational information technology company specialising in providing IT and telecommunication services to the air transport industry...
. Tara—now Sugriva's queen and chief diplomat—is then instrumental in reconciling Rama with Sugriva after pacifying Lakshmana
Lakshmana
Lakshmana was the brother and close companion of Rama, and himself a hero in the famous epic Ramayana...
, Rama's brother, who was about to destroy Kishkinda in retribution for Sugriva's perceived treachery. After this incident, Tara is only mentioned in passing references, as the mother of Angada and queen of Sugriva, as the story moves from Kishkindha to the climatic battle in Lanka
Lanka
Sri Lanka is the name given in Hindu mythology to the island fortress capital of the legendary king Ravana in the great Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata...
to retrieve Sita.
Birth and early life
In the Ramayana, Tara is addressed by Vali as the daughter of the vanara physician Sushena. Sometimes, verses are added in the Balakanda chapter of the Ramayana which describe principal monkeys created by various deities: Vali and Sugriva are described as sons of the god-king IndraIndra
' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...
and the sun-god Surya
Surya
Surya Suraya or Phra Athit is the chief solar deity in Hinduism, one of the Adityas, son of Kasyapa and one of his wives, Aditi; of Indra; or of Dyaus Pitar . The term Surya also refers to the Sun, in general. Surya has hair and arms of gold...
; whilst Tara is described as the daughter of Brihaspati
Brihaspati
Bṛhaspati also known as Brahmanaspati and Deva-guru , is the name of a Vedic deity...
. The 12th century Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
Kamba Ramayana and the Telegu Ranganatha Ramayana states that Tara and Ruma rose, along with other apsaras, from the ocean of milk during its churning by the gods and the demons
Samudra manthan
In Hinduism, Samudra manthan or Ksheera Sagara Mathanam, Churning of the Ocean of Milk is one of the most famous episodes in the Puranas...
, to acquire the elixir of life, known as amrita
Amrita
Amrit is a Sanskrit word that literally means "immortality", and is often referred to in texts as nectar. The word's earliest occurrence is in the Rigveda where it is one of several synonyms of soma, the drink which confers immortality upon the gods. It is related etymologically to the Greek...
. The Ranganatha Ramayana further states that Tara is given to Vali and Sugriva as a reward for helping the gods. The Thai
Thai people
The Thai people, or Siamese, are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of...
Ramakien
Ramakien
The Ramakian is Thailand's national epic, derived from the Hindu epic Ramayana....
says that Vali is given a trident and Sugriva is given Tara, but Vali grabs Tara too and marries her. A Tamil folk tale tells that after amrita emerged, Tara rises and is given as a common wife (see polyandry
Polyandry
Polyandry refers to a form of marriage in which a woman has two or more husbands at the same time. The form of polyandry in which a woman is married to two or more brothers is known as "fraternal polyandry", and it is believed by many anthropologists to be the most frequently encountered...
) to both Vali and Sugriva.
Vali goes to fight the demon Dundudhi in a cave and instructs Sugriva to close the door of the cave if blood flows out from the cave, implying that he has been killed, but if milk flows out, it indicates that Dundudhi is dead. After a year of combat, the dying demon turns the color of his milky blood to red by sorcery. Sugriva believes that Vali is dead and closes the only opening to the cave. Sugriva also appropriates—sometimes interpreted as marriage—Vali's "widow" Tara. After Vali returns, rejecting Sugriva's explanation, he exiles Sugriva and not only re-acquires Tara, but also seizes Ruma, Sugriva's wife, in retaliation. While Vali's act of usurping Ruma while her husband is alive is universally criticized by commentators, they excuse Sugriva's taking of Tara, as his wife, as he believed she was widowed.
Death of Vali
After his wife Sita is kidnapped by the demon-king RavanaRavana
' is the primary antagonist character of the Hindu legend, the Ramayana; who is the great king of Lanka. In the classic text, he is mainly depicted negatively, kidnapping Rama's wife Sita, to claim vengeance on Rama and his brother Lakshmana for having cut off the nose of his sister...
, Rama and his brother Lakshmana
Lakshmana
Lakshmana was the brother and close companion of Rama, and himself a hero in the famous epic Ramayana...
wander the forest searching for her. Upon meeting the monkey-warrior Hanuman
Hanuman
Hanuman , is a Hindu deity, who is an ardent devotee of Rama, a central character in the Indian epic Ramayana and one of the dearest devotees of lord Rama. A general among the vanaras, an ape-like race of forest-dwellers, Hanuman is an incarnation of the divine and a disciple of Lord Rama in the...
, they are taken to the exiled Sugriva. Rama forms an alliance with Sugriva, whom he will help; in order to defeat Vali and regain his wife Ruma and his kingship. In return Sugriva will aid in the search for Sita. As agreed, Sugriva challenges Vali, and defeats him in the Wrestling contest, but Rama is unable to distinguish between the two fighters. Rama explains his predicament to Sugriva and tells him to re-challenge Vali, but this time, Rama garlands Sugriva to differentiate him from Vali.
Tara's warning
In the Kishkindha Kanda of the Ramayana, when Sugriva re-challenges Vali for combat, Tara suggests that "appearances are deceptive" and normally, a combatant would not return so soon to a fight again after a decisive defeat. Having heard of the growing friendship between Sugriva and Rama, she cautions Vali about it. She urges Vali to forgive Sugriva, to anoint him as the crown prince, as a diplomatic move, and live peacefully with him, and also to befriend the exalted Rama. Tara begs Vali to act on her advice, but in acknowledgement of Tara's love and devotion, Vali argues that a warrior like him cannot refuse a challenge; despite this, he promises to not kill Sugriva.In the Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
retelling, when Sugriva re-challenges Vali, Tara dissuades Vali from going to the fight and points out that Sugriva may have found a protector. Tara, described as lustrous like the moon, is praised by Vali as one who understands the language of all creatures and is astute to clarify her statement. Tara warns him about Sugriva's alliance with Rama and the plotting of Vali's death at the hands of Sugriva and his advisers. Vali not only disregards Tara's advice, but also suspects Tara of cheating on him with Sugriva. Vali leaves, speaking harshly to Tara.
Tara's lamentation
In the Balakanda, the first chapter of the Ramayana, where the whole work is summarized, the lamentation of Tara is mentioned as a significant event.Ignoring Tara's sound advice, Vali engages in combat with Sugriva. While fighting, Rama shoots an arrow at Vali from behind, fatally injuring him. The news of Vali's death reaches Tara, she rushes to him with Angada. She saw monkeys running in terror on the way. They advised her to go back to the palace and consecrate Angada as the king. Tara refuses and says she needs to see her husband first, leading them back to Vali. Embracing the dying Vali, Tara laments his death whilst reproaching Sugriva and Rama. Tara accepts Vali's death as punishment for taking Ruma and exiling Sugriva.
In North Indian manuscripts of the Ramayana, some interpolations elaborate Tara's lament. Tara mentions the hardships of widowhood and prefers death to it. She blames Rama for unjustly killing Vali, and tells Rama that, if they had forged an alliance, Vali could have helped him recover Sita. Tara invokes the power of her chastity and curses Rama so that he will soon lose Sita after he regains her. She declares that Sita will return to the earth. The curse also appears in north western manuscripts. In several vernacular adaptations of the Ramayana like the Oriya Vilanka Ramayana by Sarala Das, Tara's curse is reiterated. Apart from the usual curse to Rama of his separation from Sita in the Bengali Krittivasi Ramayan
Krittivasi Ramayan
Krittivasi Ramayan or Krittibasi Ramayan or Sri Ram Panchali , composed by 15th century Bengali poet Krittibas Ojha, is a translation of the Ramayana into Bengali, which represents the first translation of the Ramayana into any North Indian language other than Sanskrit...
a, Tara additionally curses Rama so that in his next incarnation, he will be killed by Vali. The Mahanataka and the Ananda Ramayana
Ananda Ramayana
Ananda Ramayana is a Sanskrit text traditionally ascribed to the sage Valmiki, who is also credited with the Adbhuta Ramayana, Valmiki Ramayana, and the Yoga Vasishta...
narrate that Vali is reborn as the hunter who kills Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
, Rama's next incarnation.
Hanuman consoles Tara, telling her to look towards the future of her son, Angada. Hanuman suggests that Angada be consecrated as king, compensating her loss, but Tara declares that since his uncle Sugriva is alive, it is inadvisable. With his last breath, Vali confesses his folly of abandoning Sugriva and urges Angada and Tara to support Sugriva. He declares that:
"Tara is ... thoroughly knowledgeable about deciding subtle matters and about various portents. Whatever she says is right should be done without doubt, for nothing Tara believes turns out to be otherwise."
Vali requests Rama take care that Tara is not insulted, and advises Sugriva to unquestioningly follow her advice.
Vali dies in the embraces of Tara, who mourns his death in a painful and rebuking speech. According to Lefeber, Tara's lament has been significantly expanded, if not added completely, over the centuries. In South Indian manuscripts, some later interpolations elaborate Tara's lament, in which Tara asks Rama to kill her and lead her to Vali. Rama consoles Tara, saying that she should accept the preordained destiny. Rama guarantees her that her rights and that of Angada will be protected and that she will enjoy "continued comfort". He tells her that a wife of a hero should not hold personal sorrow.
In the Adhyatma Ramayana
Adhyatma Ramayana
Adhyatma Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit work extolling the spiritual virtues of the story of Ramayana. It comprises around 4200 double verses embedded in the latter portion of Brahmānda Purana and is traditionally believed to be authored by Vyasa...
, while Tara wails over the death of Vali, Rama preaches to her, saying that the body is ephemeral, while only the soul is eternal; he tells her she should not grieve over the decay of Vali's body. Tara questions him asking "if the body is destructible, why does one feel pleasure and pain". Rama informs her that due to ahamkara
Ahamkara
Ahaṃkāra , a Sanskrit term that originated in Vedic philosophy over 3,000 years ago, and was later incorporated into Hindu philosophy, particularly Saṃkhyā philosophy....
(egoism) the mind is chained in bondage to desires. He declares that Tara will remain untouched by karma
Karma
Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
and be emancipated from the bondage of life. Having heard his sermon, and because she had been devoted to him in a past life
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
, Tara thus becomes free of egoism and undergoes self-realization. This discourse of Rama also appears in Tulsidas
Tulsidas
Tulsidas , was a Hindu poet-saint, reformer and philosopher renowned for his devotion for the god Rama...
's Ramacharitamanasa, but it is curtailed to just two verses and is possibly borrowed from the former text. Rama says that the body is perishable, but the soul is immortal and listening to this, the enlightened Tara bows to Rama and gains the boon of supreme devotion.
A Ramayana version portrays her as trying to stabilize the kingdom after Vali's death in her arms. She declares that "With his last breath, King Vali begs you, his faithful subjects, to follow his brother [Sugriva] as your rightful king." Angada cremates Vali, aided in the funeral rites by Tara and Sugriva.
Marriage to Sugriva
After Vali's death, Sugriva acquires Vali's kingdom as well as Tara. The Ramayana does not record any formal marriage or any ritual purification—like the test of fire Sita had to undergo when she is re-acquired by Rama from Ravana—that Tara must undertake to marry Sugriva or return to Vali following his return from "the dead". The lack of the description of formal marriage suggests, according to some critics, that Tara's relationship to Sugriva is neither widow re-marriage nor polyandry, but simply appropriation by Sugriva. In the references of the coronation of Sugriva as king, Angada is also described as the heir-apparent crown prince, while Tara is mentioned as Sugriva's wife. The Adhyatma Ramayana declares that Sugriva acquires Tara.The Ramayana does not mention the sati
Sati (practice)
For other uses, see Sati .Satī was a religious funeral practice among some Indian communities in which a recently widowed woman either voluntarily or by use of force and coercion would have immolated herself on her husband’s funeral pyre...
practice, in which a widow would commit suicide by burning, on her deceased husband's funeral pyre. While Vali's acquisition of Ruma—the elder brother taking his younger sister-in-law as wife—is universally condemned; however as in Tara's case, the elder brother's widow marrying her younger brother-in-law seems to be a social norm. Ramashraya Sharma considers that Rama's silence on the marriage of Tara and Sugriva does not signal non-acceptance of the act, but rather that he is not concerned with the issue of the sexual relations of the "loose" charactered Vanaras, in which Tara and Ruma exchange hands between the brothers. The Ramayana mentions that Sugriva indulges in sexual pleasures of women, including Ruma and Tara, who "he coveted". In the Ramayana however, Angada criticizes Sugriva for his lustful marriage to his elder sister-in-law Tara, who is like a mother to him. Though a political marriage, Tara serves Sugriva loyally.
The commentaries of the Ramayana suggest that it would be right for Sugriva to marry the widowed Tara. The Amritakataka of Kataka Madhava Yogindra says that this was right as they were animals. The Tilaka by Nahesh Bhatt (Ramavarma) justifies Sugriva's marriage to Tara since Sugriva was her dead husband's brother. It further states that Tara should remarry, as she did not belong to the first three caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
s and was young. Tara's action of taking Sugriva as her husband after Vali's death is seen as her attempt to secure the futures of Angada and the kingdom.
In the Mahabharata, there is a reference to Vali and Sugriva fighting over an unnamed woman, whom the mythologist Bhattacharya believes to be Tara. The Balinese dance Kebyar portrays Rama helping Sugriwa (Sugriva) to gain his lover Tara Dewi (Tara) from Suvali (Vali). Some Mahabharata versions, the Narasimha Purana
Narasimha Purana
Narasimha Purana is one of the Upapuranas. R.C. Hazra in his Studies in the Upapuranas came to the conclusion that the original text was written in the later part of the 5th century, though several portions of it were added much later. This work was translated into Telugu about 1300.-Contents:The...
and the Mahanataka, portray Tara as originally Sugriva's wife that Vali snatched.
Tara pacifies Lakshamana
The rainy season ensues and ends, and Rama in despair fears that Sugriva has forgotten his promise to help him trace and recover Sita. Rama sends his brother, LakshmanaLakshmana
Lakshmana was the brother and close companion of Rama, and himself a hero in the famous epic Ramayana...
, to Kishkindha to remind the complacent monarch of his promise to help. Irritated that the city is barricaded, Lakshmana kicks down the city gate and threatens to destroy Sugriva and the monkey kingdom with his own divine power. Lakshmana is unable to tolerate Sugriva breaking his vow to Rama, enjoying material and sensual pleasures, while Rama suffers alone.
When the agitated Lakshamana—reaching the inner chambers of Sugriva and his harem—reproaches Sugriva for being ungrateful to Rama and forgetting his promise, the critical edition of the Ramayana states that Tara voluntarily intervenes to calm the wrath of Lakshamana. In some Ramayana adaptations and north western manuscripts of Ramayana, it is Tara, not Ruma in whom Sugriva is engrossed when Lakshamna arrives. The South Indian manuscripts portray the drunk Sugriva, who is engrossed in lustful revel, as being ignorant of Lakshmana's anger and sending Tara to pacify him, in some versions, even though she is drunk. Though intoxicated with "half-closed eyes and unsteady gait", Tara manages to disarm Lakshamana. The intoxication of Tara is also described in the original Ramayana, but in a different context. Tara is described as having made it a habit to visit Sugriva always in a tipsy state, before indulging in the "new pleasures of love".
The Ramayana narrates: Tara says that Sugriva is mindful that through Rama, Sugriva has gained the kingship, Ruma, and herself. She defends Sugriva saying that even the great sage Vishwamitra was tempted by pleasure, Sugriva—a mere vanara forest dwelling monkey—is fatigued by his past hardships and is relaxing, but not partaking in, sensual pleasures. Tara informs Sugriva that Vali told her that Ravana is a mighty king with several rakshasas in his service. She reminds Lakshamana that without an ally like Sugriva, Rama cannot defeat such a powerful enemy. Tara informs him that Sugriva has summoned all monkey commanders and troops to the capital. The Adhyatma Ramayana also presents a similar description, where Tara, Angada, and Hanuman are sent by Sugriva to calm Lakshmana. In a condensed one-verse description, Ramacharitamanasa says that Tara and Hanuman were dispatched by Sugriva and were successful in appeasing Lakshmana by singing the Lord's praises.
Pacified by Tara and praised further by Sugriva, Lakshmana begs for Sugriva's pardon for abusing him. It is only through the diplomatic intervention of Tara that the crisis is averted. The encounter between Lakshmana and Tara is dropped in the Mahabharata. It is Sugriva, not Tara, who pacifies the angry Lakshmana and narrates the measures he took in order to track Sita.
Commentary
Ahalya Draupadi Kunti Tara Mandodari tatha
panchakanya smare nityam mahapataka nashanam
Remembering ever the virgins five -AhalyaAhalyaIn Hinduism, Ahalya , also known as Ahilya, is the wife of the sage Gautama, primarily known for her sexual encounter with the god-king Indra, the resultant curse by her husband and her subsequent liberation by Rama – an avatar of the god Vishnu...
, DraupadiDraupadiIn the epic Mahābhārata, Draupadi, also known as ' is the "emerged" daughter of King Drupada of Panchāla and the wife of the five Pandavas. When Yudhisthira becomes the king of Hastinapura at the end of the war, Draupadi becomes the queen of Indraprastha...
, Kunti, Tara and MandodariMandodariMandodari is the Queen Consort of Ravana, the demon king of Lanka, according to the Hindu epic Ramayana. The Ramayana describes Mandodari as beautiful, pious, and righteous...
Destroys the greatest of sins.
Orthodox Hindus remember the Panchakanya: the five virgins or maidens, in this daily morning prayer; though none of them is considered an ideal woman, who could be emulated. Tara, with Ahalya and Mandodari, belong to the Ramayana, while the rest are from the Mahabharata.
V. R. Devika, author of Tara: Unsung heroine describes her as a woman "treated like an equal and her opinion mattered as if she were one of the lieutenants." The Ramayana presents Tara as a woman, intensely loved and respected by Vali, her husband. Her regard is so great that her counsel to Vali sometimes have a commanding tone. Pradip Bhattacharya, author of the book Panchkanya: Women of Substance describes Tara as "a woman of unusual intelligence, foresight and confidence." Tara's devotion to her husband is also praised.