Topic Research: Vali, King of Monkeys

From Wikipedia (Source) :
Vali is also known as Bali or Baali. He is the king of Kishkindha in the Ramayana. He is the son of Indra, husband of Taara, and son of Vriksharaja. His has a younger brother named Sugriva. Vali also has a son named Angada.

Vali was blessed by Brahma with a ability to obtain half the strength of his opponent (this power is vampiric and can steal that strength from his opponent). This ability has allowed Vali to defeat great warriors like Ravana because he already had the strength of 70,000 elephants; this ability made him even more powerful. Evidently, this ability is only so helpful, as the all-powerful Rama and Hanuman have been able to battle Vali.

In Hare Krishna (I may need to figure out exactly what this is?), it is believed that Vali was reincarnated as Jara, the hunter who killed Krishna. Krishna is the the god of compassion, love, and tenderness. (Maybe Vali isn't such a great guy...)

The details surrounding Vali's birth are unclear from this source. Evidently Riksharaja was taking a bath and his body took on a female form. Indra and Surya were walking by. Then, Riksharaja  gave birth to Vali (Indra's son) and Sugriva (Surya's son).

Vali is married to Tara, a female spirit of the clouds and waters. They met while Vali was helping his father Indra churn the ocean. Tara was born from the churning waters.

Vali also defeated Ravana. Ravana first defeated Vali's brother, Sugriva. He then taunted Vali. Vali took on the challenge and defeated Ravana in battle. He carried Ravana under his armpit for years. Ravana was finally set free when he agreed to be friends with Vali.

Vali eventually is killed (I attempted to avoid spoilers for the Ramayana). Yet, it seems that Sugriva convinces Rama to kill the innocent Vali so that Sugriva can take his throne?

Vali, King of Monkeys is a monkey himself!

Source

From Amazon (Source):

Vali and Sugriva grew up as poor slaves before they eventually came to each be the king of Kishkindha, a city without discrimination. They are vanaras (monkey men). Vali and Sugriva worked together to construct their own country in the midst of a war. Jealous, Sugriva turned on Vali when Vali married Tara. (This is only the description of the book. I'll need to read the book for a bunch of presumably useful information).

From Freebookapalooza (Source):

This is another potential source for stories of Vali, as this whole book is about monkeys! I'm hoping it contains more information than just that presented in the Ramayana.

Thoughts:

Story 1: Vali defeats Ravana

Story 2: Vali meets and marries Tara

Story 3: Rama kills Vali

I think Vali will be an exciting topic for my project. My only fear is that I won't have enough material to write about. The information given here is almost everything I could find on Vali. I suppose I could also look for information about Jara, as it is believed that Vali was reincarnated as Jara. I could also go to the Bizz to find the comic I wrote about when first considering the project; that comic includes Vali. I'm now very interested in reading the rest of the Ramayana!