Shloka 4.17.9
वालिवधः — Vālī’s Fall and Dharma-Accusation (Kiṣkindhā Sarga 17)
तं तदा पतितं सङ्ख्ये गतार्चिषमिवानलम्।बहुमान्य च तं वीर वीक्षमाणं शनैरिव।।।ययातिमिव पुण्यान्ते देवलोकादिहच्युतम्।आदित्यमिव कालेन युगान्ते भुवि पातितम्।।।महेन्द्रमिव दुर्धर्षंमुपेन्द्रमिव दुस्सहम्।महेन्द्रपुत्रं पतितं वालिनं हेममालिनम्।।।।सिंहोरस्कं महाबाहुं दीप्तास्यं हरिलोचनम्।लक्ष्मणानुगतो रामो ददर्शोपससर्प च।।।।
taṃ tadā patitaṃ saṅkhye gatārciṣam ivānalam | bahumānya ca taṃ vīraṃ vīkṣamāṇaṃ śanair iva ||
yayātim iva puṇyānte devalokād iha cyutam | ādityam iva kālena yugānte bhuvi pātitam ||
mahendram iva durdharṣam upendram iva duḥsaham | mahendraputraṃ patitaṃ vālinaṃ hemamālinam ||
siṃhoraskaṃ mahābāhuṃ dīptāsyaṃ harilocanam | lakṣmaṇānugato rāmo dadarśopasasarpa ca ||
Then Rāma, followed by Lakṣmaṇa, slowly approached and beheld Vālin fallen on the battlefield—like a fire whose flame has gone out; like King Yayāti cast down to earth from the world of the gods when his merit was spent; like the sun hurled to the ground at the end of an age by the power of Time. He was Vālin, son of Mahendra (Indra), garlanded with gold—unassailable like Indra, hard to endure like Upendra—lion-chested, mighty-armed, bright-faced, and tawny-eyed.
Rama followed by Lakshmana slowly approached the long-armed, lion-chested, bright-faced, tawny-eyed Vali, and admiringly observed this unchallengeable son of Indra, unassailable like Indra himself. Adorned with a golden necklace, he had fallen on the ground like fire without flame, like king Yayati descended on the earth from the celestial realm on the exhaustion of his merits, or like the Sun cast down on the earth at the end of the aeon.
The verse frames the fallen hero within a cosmic moral universe: greatness is impermanent, and Time levels all. This backdrop intensifies the dharma-question of how power should be used and how a warrior should be brought down.
After Vālin is struck down, Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa approach and observe him closely; the narrator uses layered similes to portray Vālin’s stature and the tragedy of his fall.
Reverent recognition of valor—Rāma’s slow approach and the narrator’s exalted comparisons stress respect for a formidable opponent.