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In the Ramayana, the Vanara Sena (monkey clan) made a glorious impact and registered its strong presence headed by Lord Hanuman, Vali, and Sugriva.

But after that there is no major presence or mark made by this clan. What happened to the clan of mighty warriors of the Vanara Sena after the Ramayana?

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    The Vanara sena was with Sugriva. So one can assume they went with Sugriva to their Kingdom. but lets see :)
    – Mr_Green
    Commented Jul 15, 2014 at 14:02
  • @Mr_Green but why they have not marked there presence in later wars, though only Lord Hanuman was present at mahabhrata and no other vanara was involved) though it was a dharam yudha
    – Trialcoder
    Commented Jul 15, 2014 at 14:04
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    AFAIK, @Mr_Green is right. AND, at the end, when Lord Rama descended back to his abode, they all went with him. It is also revealed then, that they were all some sacred people, and they came on Earth to get Moksha with Lord Rama. Commented Jul 15, 2014 at 14:09
  • @Trialcoder After war, there is no much documented story about Vanara sene. They all board Pushpaka Vimana and return to their homes. :)
    – Bharadwaj
    Commented Jul 15, 2014 at 14:10
  • @AwalGarg As I describe in my answer, only some Vanaras went with Rama when he departed the earth. Oh, and thanks for your confidence in me. Commented Jul 15, 2014 at 21:33

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This excerpt from the Uttara Kanda of the Ramayana describes the fate of various Vanaras. When Rama was told by Yama the god of death that his time on Earth was over, he prepared to depart the Earth by going into the Sarayu river. And when Sugriva heard about this, he put Vali's son Angada in charge of the Vanara kingdom of Kishkindha and then he and a bunch of other Vanaras went to Ayodhya to join Rama in departing the Earth:

[M]onkeys assuming shapes at will, bears and Rakshasas [demons] began to assemble there. Apprised of Rama's determination of going to heaven, monkeys, born of celestially, Rishis and Gandharvas taking Sugriva before them, came there to see Rama. And they all said: "O Rama, O foremost of men, if thou dost repair to heaven forsaking us all, it will be hurling Yama's rod upon us." The highly powerful Sugriva too saluting Rama said: "O lord of men, having placed Angada on the throne I have come hither. I have determined upon following thee, O King." Hearing the words of monkeys, Rama said that their desire would be fulfilled....

Kakuthstha said to Hanuman: "It is settled that thou shalt live forever, do thou, now observe thy promise. As long as my history shall run current in this world do thou at my command live happily." Being thus addressed by the high-souled Raghava Hanuman attained to great delight and said: — " As long as the sacred theme shall pass current in this world I shall live here carrying out thy commands." Thereupon he said to the Jambhuvan, Brahma's son, Mainda, Dwrivida and five others in his company: "As long as the Kali Yuga exists do ye all live." Having thus addressed them all Kakuthstha said to bears and monkeys: "Do ye come all with me."

So Sugriva and the Vanaras who came with him departed the Earth along with Rama, except for Hanuman, Jambavan, Mainda, Dvivida, and five other Vanaras (presumably including Nila and Nala), most of whom are still alive today. And then there was Angada and all the other Vanaras who decided not to go to Ayodhya, who presumably would have lived for an ordinary length of time, but then they would have had descendants.

And there are lots of references to Vanaras and their kingdom of Kishkindha in the time of Krishna and the Mahabharata:

  1. Among the most famous appearances of a Vanara are Hanuman's encounters with the Pandavas. The Vana Parva of the Mahabharata describes how Hanuman, in the Gandhamadana mountains in the Himalayas, once blocked the path of his brother Bhima (since they're both sons of Vayu the wind god) and then blessed him. And then there is the story, told in the Bengali version of the Mahabharata at least, of Arjuna meeting Hanuman at Rameshwaram and betting him that he could make a sturdy bridge of arrows; this encounter is said to be responsible for Arjuna putting the flag of Hanuman on his chariot, which is why Arjuna is often called Kapidhwaja.

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  2. The Srimad Bhagavatam describes how Krishna was once falsely accused of stealing the Syamantaka gem, and his quest to find it to clear his name. The gem had fallen into the possession of Jamabavan, who was living In a mountain cave, and Jamabavan gave it to his son to play with. So Krishna fought Jamabavan to get the gem back. Jamabavan realized that Krishna was an incarnation of Vishnu, and thus a rebirth of Rama whom Jamabavan had the utmost loyalty to. So he gave Krishna the Syamantaka gem, and he also gave him his daughter's hand in marriage. Jamabavan's daughter Jamabavati thus became one of Krishna's eight queens.

  3. The Sabha Parva of the Mahabharata describes how Yudhishtra conducted a Rajasuya Yagna, during which he sent his four brothers in all four directions, and each king they encountered had to either accept the sovereignty of Yudushtra or fight them. Sahadeva was sent South, and he conquered the Vanara kingdom of Kishindha after a week-long battle with Mainda and Dvivida, who were ruling it at the time:

    The long-armed hero ... marched further to the south. And then he beheld the celebrated caves of Kishkindhya and in that region fought for seven days with the monkey-kings Mainda and Dwivida. Those illustrious kings however, without being tired an the encounter, were gratified with Sahadeva. And joyfully addressing the Kuru prince, they said, "O tiger among the sons of Pandu, go hence, taking with the tribute from us all. Let the mission of the king Yudhishthira the just possessed of great intelligence, be accomplished without hindrance."

    So the Vanara kingdom still existed at the time of the Mahabharata.

    (Note that Sahadeva was the son of one of the Ashvini Kumaras, and Mainda and Dvivida were also sons of the Ashvini Kumaras, so he was fighting his own brothers.)

  4. The Srimad Bhagavatam describes how Dvivida wanted to take revenge on Krishna for killing the demon Narakasura, who was for some weird reason friends with Dvivida:

    There was an ape named Dvivida who was a friend of Narakāsura’s. This powerful Dvivida, the brother of Mainda, had been instructed by King Sugrīva. To avenge the death of his friend [Naraka], the ape Dvivida ravaged the land, setting fires that burned cities, villages, mines and cowherd dwellings. Once Dvivida tore up a number of mountains and used them to devastate all the neighboring kingdoms, especially the province of Ānarta, wherein dwelt his friend’s killer, Lord Hari. Another time he entered the ocean and, with the strength of ten thousand elephants, churned up its water with his arms and thus submerged the coastal regions. The wicked ape tore down the trees in the hermitages of exalted sages and contaminated their sacrificial fires with his feces and urine. Just as a wasp imprisons smaller insects, he arrogantly threw both men and women into caves in a mountain valley and sealed the caves shut with boulders.

    Finally Dvivida harassed a group of young women who were with Krishna's brother Balarama, so Balarama killed him after an epic battle:

    Lord Balarāma saw the ape’s rude behavior and thought of the disruptions he had created in the surrounding kingdoms. Thus the Lord angrily took up His club and His plow weapon, having decided to put His enemy to death. Mighty Dvivida also came forward to do battle.... Dvivida, the most powerful of apes, now clenched his fists at the end of his palm-tree-sized arms, came before Lord Balarāma and beat his fists against the Lord’s body. The furious Lord of the Yādavas then threw aside His club and plow and with His bare hands hammered a blow upon Dvivida’s collarbone. The ape collapsed, vomiting blood.

    enter image description here

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    And what about Angad? Commented Jul 16, 2014 at 4:53
  • @AwalGarg Angada didn't come to Ayodhya, so he wasn't one of the nine Vanaras who were blessed by Rama with either eternal life or life until the end of the Kali Yuga. So presumably he would have lived for an ordinary span of time. The Oriya version of the Mahabharata claims that Angada was reborn as Jara the hunter who shot Krishna: books.google.com/… But take that with a grain of salt, because it also claims that Arjuna was the reincarnation of Sugriva, which is ludicrous. Commented Jul 16, 2014 at 15:26
  • @AwalGarg I've also seen claims on the Internet that Angada was reborn as Arjuna's son Abhimanyu, which has a certain symmetry to it, because Arjuna and Vali were both sons of Indra, and thus Abhimanyu and Angada were both grandsons of Indra. But I'm not aware of any scriptures that back up this claim. The (actual) Mahabharata says that that Abhimanyu was an incarnation of Chandra's son Varchas, but I'm not sure whether any scriptures discuss who Angada was the incarnation of. Commented Jul 16, 2014 at 15:36
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    Thanks for the info. I am a bit biased with first one, that he lived for an ordinary span of time, maybe cus thats how I always thought of it. Good answer though :) Commented Jul 16, 2014 at 16:49
  • @AwalGarg If either of those stories about Angada being reborn as Jara or Abhimanyu is true, then that would presumably mean that Angada did live for an ordinary span of time. And I have not heard of any claims of Angada being immortal or anything like that. Commented Jul 16, 2014 at 17:13
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As described in [MahAbhArata - Vana Parva]:

  • Those monkeys (VAnaras) got killed during the war were brought back to life
  • Lord Hanuman got the boon of living as long as the fame of RAma lives; He also acted as an envoy (messenger) to Bharata about giving good news of Shri RAma's return
  • Other monkey chiefs were worshipped & pleased by RAma & they left to their kingdoms
  • Angada was installed as king of Kishkindhya
  • Sugriva accompanied with RAma till Ayodhya and then took his leave towards his kingdom

Rama, thereupon, prayed them to grant him firm adherence to virtues and invincibility in respect of all foes. And he also asked for the restoration to life of all those monkeys that had been slain by the Rakshasas, and after Brahma had said--So be it, those monkeys, O king, restored to life, rose up from the field of battle, and Sita too, of great good fortune, granted unto Hanuman a boon, saying, 'Let thy life, O son, last as long as (the fame of) Rama's achievements! And, O Hanuman of yellow eyes, let celestial viands and drinks be ever available to thee through my grace! ...


the virtuous king, with all the monkeys, pitched his temporary abode. And the son of Raghu then, bringing the monkeys before him in due time, worshipped them all, and gratifying them with presents of jewels and gems, dismissed them one after another. And after all the monkey-chiefs, and the apes with bovine tails, and the bears, had gone away, Rama re-entered Kishkindhya with Sugriva.


And having arrived at Kishkindhya, Rama, that foremost of all smiters, installed the successful Angada as prince-regent of the kingdom. ... And having reached the city of Ayodhya, the king despatched Hanuman thence as envoy to Bharata.


And after his installation was over, Rama gave leave to well-pleased Sugriva the king of the monkeys, along with all his followers, as also to rejoicing Vibhishana of Pulastya's race, to return to their respective abodes.

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Ramayana describes as Mainda and Dwiwida as having drunk Amruta and thus became immortal i.e. could not be killed. Brahma give them boon which gave them this capacity. They were alive till the time of rajasooya yaga by Pandavas, but bhagavata describes them as being slain by balaram which is somewhat inconsistent as someone who had drank amruta cannot be killed.

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