The Account of Bali Muni

Suryaraja, the Vanara-vamsha king of Kishkindhapura, and his queen Chandramalini have a son, Bali: generous, learned, compassionate, a samyagdrishti (holder of right faith) and master of every vidya, who three times a day goes to worship at all the Jina temples of Jambudvipa. Bali's younger brother is the wise and modest Sugriva and their sister is the peerless Shriprabha, while Suryaraja's younger brother Riksharaja and his queen Harikanta have two sons, Nala and Nila.

Seeing his sons grown, Suryaraja turns from the senses as from poisoned food, gives the kingdom to Bali, makes Sugriva crown prince (yuvaraja) and becomes a muni, a disciple of the sage Vihatamoha. Bali rules with Dhruva as chief among his hundreds of queens, honoured by all the Vidyadhara kings as the crown of the Vanara line.

Kharadushana, son of King Meghaprabha, has long desired Ravana's sister Chandranakha. While Ravana is away seeking Tanudari, daughter of King Pravara and Queen Avali, he finds Lanka unguarded and carries her off by guile, and Kumbhakarna and Vibhishana call off the pursuit, since he could neither be caught nor rightly killed.

Ravana sets out alone with his sword, but Mandodari reminds him that daughters are born to be given to others, that Kharadushana commands 14,000 Vidyadharas and thousands of vidyas, that after the abduction Chandranakha can be given to no one else, and that killing him would only make her a widow. Ravana forgives him, and Kharadushana, having driven out the Vidyadhara Chandrodara, who had ruled Patala Lanka after Suryaraja, lives there with Chandranakha.

Chandrodara dies, and his pregnant wife Anuradha gives birth in a fearful forest on Mount Manikanta; because his parents were oppressed and driven out from the time he was conceived, the boy is named Viradhita. Without a kingdom he is honoured nowhere, so he roams the six Kulachala ranges, Sumeru and other lands, watching battles and brooding on war with Kharadushana.

Bali does not accept Ravana's overlordship, so Ravana sends an envoy: having driven out Yama, the enemy of Bali's father Suryaraja, and given him Kishkindhapura, Ravana demands that Bali come, bow to him and give him his sister Shriprabha in marriage. Bali accepts everything except the bow, for he has vowed never to bow to anyone but the true Deva, Shastra and Guru (the Jina, the scripture and the teacher).

The envoy taunts him: join your palms or join battle, wave the chowrie as a servant or flee to the ten directions. Bali's warrior Vyaghravilambi reaches for his sword to kill him, but Bali stops him, saying the man only repeats his master's words, and on hearing the report Ravana marches on Kishkindhapura with a great army.

Bali tells his ministers that he could crush Ravana and his army with his left palm in an instant, but will neither kill living beings for fleeting pleasures nor break his vow. Telling Sugriva to bow to Ravana and give him their sister or not, as he pleases, he hands Sugriva the kingdom and takes Digambara diksha (initiation as a sky-clad monk) from the muni Gaganachandra; Sugriva then marries Shriprabha to Ravana and rules Kishkindhapura under him.

Ravana weds Vidyadhara princesses everywhere by force of arms. Returning with Ratnavali, daughter of King Nityaloka and Queen Shridevi of Nityaloka city, his Pushpaka vimana stops dead above Mount Kailash, and his minister Maricha explains that a muni stands there in atapana yoga (meditation facing the summer sun on a hot rock) and that forcing a way over would shatter the vimana.

Ravana descends and sees Bali muni motionless in kayotsarga (the standing meditation posture), arms hanging like an elephant's trunk, snakes coiled on him as on a sandalwood tree. Remembering the old enmity, he accuses the muni of stopping his vimana out of pride, takes a huge, terrible form through his vidyas, splits the earth, goes beneath the mountain and heaves to hurl Kailash into the ocean, so that beasts cry out, waterfalls break, trees split and the apsaras flee into the sky.

Free of anger, Bali resolves to protect the lofty jewelled Jina temples that Bharata Chakravarti built on Kailash and the creatures living there, and lightly presses down with his big toe. Crushed, Ravana loses his magic form, blood flows from his eyes, his crown breaks, his knees and thighs are scraped and he cries out pitifully; because he cried out, Dashanana is known on earth from then on as Ravana.

His queens lament, and his ministers and generals first ready for battle, then lay down their weapons on seeing the muni's power; through the muni's kayabala riddhi (supernatural bodily strength) celestial drums sound, flowers of the wish-fulfilling trees rain down and gods dance in the sky. Then the compassionate sage eases his toe.

Ravana emerges, bows, begs forgiveness and praises Bali: his vow at home to bow only to the Jina, the munis and the scripture has borne this fruit, beside him Ravana is a mustard seed before Meru, and he has given Ravana back his life. After three circumambulations Ravana lays his Chandrahasa sword on the ground and worships in the nearby temples with his queens, drawing a sinew from his own arm to play like a vina as he sings a hymn to the Tirthankaras from Rishabha to Munisuvrata, to Nami, Nemi, Parshvanatha and Vardhamana who are yet to come, to the past and future twenty-fours, and to all sadhus and Siddhas.

Ravana's devotion makes the throne of Dharanendra, king of the Nagas, tremble; he comes up from Patala, worships the Jina and urges Ravana to ask a boon. Ravana says nothing surpasses devotion to the Jina, and Dharanendra agrees, yet so that his coming is not in vain he gives him the flame-wreathed Amoghavijaya shakti (an unfailing power-weapon vidya), which will destroy his enemy and protect him in calamity and which even the gods fear; Ravana accepts it only to honour him, since taking gifts seems to him a lowly thing.

Ravana stays a month on Kailash worshipping in the temples and praising Bali, and resolves that kings should serve the sadhus, since he cannot conquer those who have conquered their senses. Bali muni takes prayashchitta (atonement) from his gurus for the agitation he had felt, as the muni Vishnukumara once did after humbling another Bali to protect the munis, and through restraint and austerity attains Kevala Jnana (omniscience) and moksha (final liberation).