A King Who Had Run Out of Enemies
By the middle of the Uttara Kāṇḍa, Rāvaṇa has beaten nearly everyone worth beating. He has taken Laṅkā from Kubera. He has fought Yama to a standstill. He has lifted Kailāsa itself until Śiva pressed down with one toe and pinned him for a thousand years — the episode that earned him the name Rāvaṇa, 'he who made the worlds scream'. A conqueror with no remaining rival has a problem, and Rāvaṇa solves it the way such men do: he goes looking. Nārada, who enjoys this kind of thing, mentions that there is a monkey king in the south, at Kiṣkindhā, called Vāli, who is said to be strong. Rāvaṇa flies south in the Puṣpaka to settle the question.
✦ Visual cue — A ten-headed king in a golden aerial chariot flying low over southern forest hills at midday, imperious posture, gold and jungle green.