Níla

Also known as: Nila · Family: Vánars · Role: Vánar · First appears: Book I, Canto 16 · The Vánars

Born in Book I as Agni’s child, Níla later joined the southern search party in Book IV. When Sugríva sent him to gather the armies and their chiefs, he threatened death for any Vánar who took more than fifteen days to report.

In Book VI, Ráma placed Níla at the head of the vanguard to scout the route to the coast, then assigned him to the eastern gate against Prahasta. Níla crushed Prahasta with a huge tree. During the fighting at Lanká, he obeyed Ráma’s orders to position troops at the gates and block the lanes; when the Vánars fled before Kumbhakarṇa, he rallied with the others under Angad’s command. Kumbhakarṇa killed Níla with a blow from his fist. In Book VI, Canto 70, Níla crushed Mahodar beneath a mountain, and in Canto 73 he was wounded by Indrajít’s arrows.