Hanuman

Hanuman Hanuman Sanskrit Transliteration: हनुमान् Affiliation: Rama Weapon: Gada (Mace) Consort: None

Hanuman (from the Sanskrit "having a large jaw") is one of the most important personalities in the Indian epic, the Ramayana. He is a vanara who aided Rama (an avatar of Vishnu) in rescuing his wife, Sita from the Rakshasa king Ravana. The faith he exemplifies in his relationship with Lord Rama has become conceived as the ideal for followers of the bhakti or devotional movement.

Mythology

Hanuman was born to Anjana, an apsara or a celestial being who was born on the earth as a female vanara due to a curse. Although Anjana was the wife of Kesari, a might vanara warrior, it was Vayu, the wind god, who sired Hanuman. Taken by her beauty, Vayu made love to Anjana, impregnating her with Hanuman. In some versions of the story, Vayu conceives of Hanuman by entering Anjana through her ear. This has earned Hanuman the moniker Anjaneya, which literally means "arising from Anjana". Hanuman's parentage, a combination of monkey and the celestial, allowed his to develop both physical strength and quick wits, his defining characteristics.

Legend has it that Hanuman was so hungry at birth that his mother's milk alone did not sate his hunger. This prompted him to fly into the sky and eat the sun, which he had mistaken for a giant fruit. Indra, the warrior monarch of the sky, stopped Hanuman in mid-flight by hurling his thunderbolt at him. The thunderbolt struck Hanuman, sending him hurtling back to earth and causing his chin to break. Incensed with Indra's behaviour, Vayu transported Hanuman to a cave in order to give him shelter, taking the atmosphere with him. With Vayu gone, however, human beings became asphyxiated and struggled for breath. In order to draw the wind god out of hiding, the devas petitioned Brahma to heal Hanuman's wounds. In addition, the gods saw to it that Hanuman was blessed with multiple boons of eloquence and expression. However, his jaw remained swollen from that point on, earning him his name.

Hanuman is said to have been mischievous in his childhood, and sometimes teased the meditating sages in the forests by snatching their personal belongings and disturbing their well-arranged articles of worship. Finding his antics unbearable, but realising that Hanuman was but a child, albeit an invincible one, the sages placed a mild curse on him. This curse dictated that Hanuman would live in forgetfulness of his own prowess, and recollect it only when others reminded him about it. This so-called curse actually proved to be particularly helpful for Hanuman and his followers in the Ramayana war.

Hanuman in the Epics

A 17th century painting depicting Hanuman worshiping Lord Rama and his wife Sita. Lakshmana is also seen in this painting from Smithsonian Institute collection.

Hanuman is an important character in both of the major Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. However, it is his role in the former for which he is best known.

Ramayana

Meeting Rama

Hanuman is introduced in the Sundara Kanda, the fifth book in the Ramayana, which focuses mainly on the adventures of Hanuman. Hanuman meets Rama during the latter's 14-year exile in the forest. With his brother Lakshmana, Rama is searching for his wife Sita who had been abducted by the rakshasa emperor Ravana. Their search brings them to the vicinity of the mountain Rishyamukha, where Sugriva, along with his followers and friends, are in hiding from his elder brother Vali, the Vanara emperor who has falsely accused him of plotting regicide. Refusing to listen to Sugriva's explanation, Vali had banished him from the kingdom while holding Sugriva's wife captive in his (Vali's) own palace.

Having seen Rama and Lakshmana, Sugriva sends Hanuman, his minister, to ascertain their identities. Hanuman approaches the two brothers in the guise of a brahmin. When Rama introduces himself, Hanuman reveals his own identity and falls prostrate before Rama, who embraces him warmly. Thereafter, Hanuman's life becomes interwoven inextricably with that of Rama. Hanuman negotiates a friendship between Rama and Sugriva. With this alliance sealed, Rama aids Sugriva in regaining his honour and makes him king of Kishkindha; in return Sugriva and his vanaras, most notably Hanuman, agree to help Rama defeat Ravana and reunite with Sita.

The Search for Sita

In their search for Sita, a group of Vanaras reaches the southern seashore. Upon encountering the vast ocean which stands between them and their destination on the island of Lanka, every vanara begins to lament his inability to jump across the water. Hanuman too is saddened at the possible failure of his mission, until the other vanaras, and especially the wise bear Jambavantha begin to extol his virtues. Hanuman then recollects his own godly powers, and flies across the ocean. On his way, he encounters a number of obstacles, but overcomes each of them in order to reach Lanka.

Hanuman reaches Lanka and marvells at its beauty. He also regrets that it might be destroyed if Rama has to do battle with Ravana. After he finds Sita sitting depressed in captivity in a garden under an asoka tree, Hanuman reveals his identity to her, reassures her that Rama has been looking for her, and uplifts her spirits by presenting her with Rama's signet ring. He offers to carry her back to Rama, but she refuses his offer knowing that it is the destiny of Rama and only Rama to rescue her. After meeting Sita, Hanuman begins to wreak havoc, gradually destroying the palaces of Lanka and killing many rakshasas. To subdue him, Ravana's son Indrajit uses the Brahmastra, a weapon of mass destruction. Though immune to the weapon, Hanuman, out of respect to Brahma, allows himself be bound by the weapon, using the opportunity to meet the renowned ruler of Lanka and to assess the strength of his hordes. When he is produced at Ravana's court, Ravana seeks to insult him by denying him a seat that was due to him as a messenger. In response, Hanuman lengthens his own tail and coils it into a seat that rises much higher than Ravana's throne. He conveys Rama's message of warning to the powerful rakshasa, and demands the safe return of Sita. He also informs Ravana that Rama would be willing to forgive him if he returns Sita honourably. Insulted, Ravana orders that an oil-soaked cloth be wrapped around his tail and ignited. Once the fire is lit, Hanuman escapes from his captors and flies about Lanka, burning down large parts of Lanka. After extinguishing his flaming tail in the sea, he heads back to Rama.

At War with the Rakshasas

Rama returns to Lanka with his army of vanaras in tow, and declares war on Ravana and his rakshasas. In an attempt to create divisions in Rama's ranks, Ravana tries to convince the vanaras that Rama considers them to be no more than lowly, expendable animals. However, the faithful monkeys, lead by Hanuman, angrily dismiss Ravana's claims and continue to fight.

Hanuman is extremely helpful on the battlefield. When Rama's brother Lakshmana is severely wounded by Indrajit during combat, Hanuman is sent to fetch the Sanjivani, a powerful life-restoring herb from the Dronagiri mountain in the Himalayas to revive him. Ravana realises that if Lakshmana dies, a distraught Rama would probably give up, and so has his uncle Kalnaimi tempt Hanuman away with luxury. However, Hanuman is tipped off by a crocodile (actually a celestial being under a curse) and kills the Rakshasa. When he is unable to find the specific herb before nightfall, Hanuman again displays his might by lifting the entire Dronagiri mountain and bringing it to the battlefield in Lanka, so that others can find the herb to revive Lakshmana.

The Aftermath

After Ravana is defeated and the war ends, Rama's 14-year exile has almost elapsed. Rama then remembers Bharata's vow to immolate himself if Rama does not return to rule Ayodhya immediately, on completion of the stipulated period. Realising that it would be a little later than the last day of the 14 years when he would reach Ayodhya, Rama is anxious to prevent Bharata from giving up his life. Once again, Hanuman comes to the rescue – he speeds to Ayodhya to inform Bharata that Rama is on his way back.

Shortly after he is crowned Emperor upon his return to Ayodhya, Rama decides to ceremoniously reward all his well-wishers. At a grand ceremony in his court, all his friends and allies take turns being honoured at the throne. When Hanuman is called up, an emotionally overwhelmed Rama embraces him warmly, declaring that he could never adequately honour or repay Hanuman for the help and services he received from the noble Vanara. Sita, however, insists that Hanuman deserved honour more than anyone else, and asks him to seek a gift. Upon Hanuman's request, Sita gives him a necklace of precious stones adorning her neck. When he receives it, Hanuman immediately takes it apart, and peers into each stone. Taken aback, many of those present demand to know why he was destroying the precious gift. Hanuman answers that he was looking into the stones to make sure that Rama and Sita are in them, since the necklace would be of no value to him without them. At this, a few mock Hanuman, saying his reverence and love for Rama and Sita could not possibly be as deep as he was portraying. In response, Hanuman tears his chest open, and everyone is stunned to see Rama and Sita literally in his heart.

A Hanuman painting from Bali (1880)

Afterward, Hanuman retired to the Himalayas to continue his worship of the Lord. There he scripted a version of the Ramayana on the Himalayan mountains using his nails, recording every detail of Rama's deeds. When Maharishi Valmiki visited him to show him his own version of the Ramayana, he also saw Lord Hanuman's version and became very disappointed. When Hanuman asked him the cause of his sorrow, he said that his version, which he had created very laboriously was no match for the splendour of Hanuman's, and would therefore, go ignored. At this, Hanuman took those rocks on one shoulder and Valmiki on the other, and went to the sea. There he threw his own version into the sea, as an offering to Rama. This version, called the Hanumad Ramayana, has been unavailable since then.

Mahabharata

Hanuman is also considered to be the brother of Bhima, since he was the son of Vayu too. During the Pandavas' exile, he appeared disguised as a weak and aged monkey before his half-brother, the Pandava prince Bhima in order to subdue his arrogance and teach him the value of humility. Bhima entered a field where Hanuman is lying with his tail blocking the way. Bhima, unaware of his identity, told him to remove it. In return, Hanuman told him to remove it himself. Bhima tries all his might but is unable to do it. Being the mighty strong warrior that he was, he realized that this being must be much more powerful and greater than him. So he asked him for his real identity. This is when Hanuman got up and revealed his identity, and the two brothers then hugged. Upon Bhima's request, Hanuman is also said to have enlarged himself and shown him the same size in which he had crossed the sea to goto Lanka, looking for Sita.

More significantly, during the great battle of Kurukshetra, Arjuna entered the battlefield with the flag of Hanuman on his chariot. The incident that led to this was an earlier encounter between Hanuman and Arjuna; Hanuman appeared as a small talking monkey before Arjuna at Rameshwaram, where Sri Rama had built the great bridge to cross over to Lanka to rescue Sita. Upon Arjuna's wondering out aloud at Sri Rama's taking the help of monkeys rather than building a bridge of arrows, Hanuman (in the form of the little monkey) challenged him to build one capable of bearing him alone, and Arjuna, unaware of the monkey's true identity accepted. Hanuman then proceeded to repeatedly destroy the bridges made by Arjuna who became depressed and suicidal, and decided to take his own life. Vishnu then appeared before them both, chiding Arjuna for his vanity, and Hanuman for making the accomplished warrior Arjuna feel incompetent. In another version, when Arjuna becomes suicidial, Lord Krishna places his Sudarshana Chakra (Discus) below the Arjuna's last bridge of arrows and thus, Hanuman is unable to break the bridge and accepts defeat. As an act of penitence, Hanuman decided to help Arjuna by stabilising and strengthening his chariot during the imminent great battle. Legend goes that Hanuman is one of the three people to have heard the Gita from Lord Sri Krishna himself, the other two being Arjuna and Sanjaya (due to his divine vision).

Worship

File:Hanuman20a.jpg

A temple to Hanuman near Nuwara Eliya[1] in Sri Lanka

Hanuman is one of the more popular deities in the Hindu pantheon, and is commonly worshipped as a magical deity who has the ability to conquer evil spirits. He is particularly popular with body-builders, since his exemplary life of celibacy parallels him with the Hindu notion that sexual desires must be controlled in order to strengthen the physical form. Hanuman is perhaps even more important in the Hindu consciousness as a prototype of the ideal worshipper than he is as an object of worship. In later Ramayanas, Hanumna is conceived to be the supreme devotee of Rama. Hence, his devotion became the prototype for people who subscribed to bhakti movement, a form of religious activity which espouses single-minded love and dedication toward god. Ideal bhaktins dedicate every aspect of their life to the service of god, attempting to recapitulate the devotion of Hanuman. It is believed by Hindus that the easiest way to attain Lord Rama is to worship Hanuman — verse 33 of the Hanuman Chalisa begins, "Tumharae bhajan Ram ko paavae", which means "by singing hymns about You, we reach Rama".

Not surprisingly, there are numerous temples for Hanuman, and his images are usually installed at all temples where images of avataras of Vishnu are installed. Some of the most famous of his temples in India include The Hanuman temple at Nerul, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, where the Hanuman idol is 33 feet tall and is installed on a pedestal of height 12 feet, bringing the total height to 45 feet, and Sri Hanuman Vatika located at Rourkela, Orissa, which features an idol of Hanuman almost 75 feet high. Hanuman temples can also be found in Sri Lanka, where the god is also very popular. The grounds surrounding temples dedicated to Hanuman are considered to be free from 'Rakhshasas' and 'evils'. Thus, his temples can be found in a wide variety of locations. Likewise, Hanuman idols are found on mountain roads because it is believed that he protects people from accidents.

Festivals

Hanuman also plays a part in Rama Navami, a celebration marking the end of a larger nine day festival called Vasanthothsavam (Festival of Spring) which acknowledges Rama's mythological exploits. In addition to readings and performances of the Ramayana and oblations to Rama and Sita, prayers are also directed to Rama's close companions including Hanuman.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Sri Ramakrishna Math (1985): Hanuman Chalisa. Chennai (India): Sri Ramakrishna Math. ISBN 81-7120-086-9.
• Mahabharata (1992). Gorakhpur (India): Gitapress.
• Anand Ramayan (1999). Bareily (India): Rashtriya Sanskriti Sansthan.
• Swami Satyananda Sarawati: Hanuman Puja. India: Devi Mandir. ISBN 1-887472-91-6.

External links

• Lord Hanuman by Swami Sivananda
• The life of Hanuman

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