Nīla (Agni’s vanara son)

Overview

The Ramayana’s vanara-creation passage identifies Nila as Agni’s son and praises his brilliance, strength and worth. He belongs to the divinely generated force assembled to help Rama oppose Ravana.

During Indrajit’s later attack, Nila is explicitly among the commanders wounded by the magical arrows, alongside Sugriva and Angada. His fire parentage is retained as the textual lineage; the cited passages do not turn that lineage into an independently stated ability to breathe or cast fire.

Nila’s duel with Ravana in VI.59 supplies a more specific transformation than his parentage alone. After Ravana’s arrows stop his thrown mountain and trees, Nila compresses his body and leaps onto the king’s standard, bow and crown. Rama watches the nimble performance with astonishment. Ravana calls it magic, then strikes him with a fiery arrow. The narrator says that his father’s power and his own innate strength preserve his life, although he falls wounded and bleeding.

In VI.70, Nila and Hanuman come to Angada’s aid when three rakshasas surround him. Nila’s thrown mountain peak is shattered by Trisiras’s arrows; more arrows wound him. He recovers and casts a tree-covered mountain that kills Mahodara in Griffith’s version of this battle. The passage gives him both extraordinary movement and the capacity to be injured, and should be read as this translation’s sequence rather than an unqualified harmonisation of every epic recension.

Origins & earliest records

South Asian epic religious narrative

Records & interpretation

Actual Griffith canto passages directly read in the hosted complete edition.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   The Ramayan of Valmiki

   Ralph T. H. Griffith (translator) · 1870–1874

   I.16; VI.73; printed title-page edition range, not epic composition date.

2. 02

   The Ramayan of Valmiki — further episodes

   Ralph T. H. Griffith (translator) · 1870–1874

   VI.59; VI.70; complete cited passages directly read.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Historical primary epic translationGriffith, Ramayan — I.16; VI.73Research access: 2026-10-05
2. Historical primary epic translationGriffith, Ramayan — VI.59; VI.70Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.