Hanuman- Hindu GodDeity"The Monkey God"

Birth

Hanuman's mother Anjana was a celestial nymph cursed to live as a vanara until she bore an incarnation of Shiva. She married Kesari, king of the monkeys at Mount Sumeru, and performed severe austerities to conceive a divine child. The wind god Vayu carried a portion of sacred prasad from King Dasharatha's fire sacrifice and delivered it to her. From that blessed food, infused with the essence of Vishnu, Hanuman was born: an incarnation of Shiva animated by the power of the wind.

The Sun and the Curse

As a child Hanuman saw the rising sun and mistook it for a ripe mango. He leapt into the sky to eat it, crossing cosmic distances in an instant. Indra struck him with his thunderbolt, breaking the child's jaw and sending him plummeting to earth. The name Hanuman comes from hanu, the jaw that was shattered.

Vayu, enraged, withdrew all air from the universe. Gods and creatures suffocated, gasping, falling. Brahma intervened and each god granted Hanuman a boon to appease his father. Brahma gave immunity from his weapons. Indra granted that the child's body would be harder than the thunderbolt that broke it. Hanuman became nearly indestructible.

But unlimited power in a child's hands proved dangerous. The young Hanuman overturned sages' sacrificial fires and scattered their rituals for sport. Unable to harm him, the sages cursed him to forget his own powers until someone reminded him at the hour of greatest need. Hanuman grew up humble and unassuming, a minister to the exiled monkey king Sugriva, unaware of what he carried inside him.

Meeting Rama

When Rama, the exiled prince of Ayodhya, wandered the forests searching for his abducted wife Sita, he came to Rishyamukha mountain where Sugriva was hiding from his brother Vali. Hanuman was sent to determine whether the approaching strangers were allies or enemies. He descended disguised as a brahmin ascetic.

The moment he beheld Rama, his heart recognized its master. Rama, for his part, was struck by Hanuman's eloquence, remarking to Lakshmana that anyone who spoke so perfectly must have mastered all the Vedas and the science of grammar. Hanuman revealed his true form and offered his service. From that hour his devotion never wavered.

The Leap to Lanka

The monkey search parties reached the southern ocean at the tip of India. Lanka lay a hundred yojanas across the churning waves. No vanara could cross such a distance. Then Jambavan, the wise bear king who remembered Hanuman's birth, spoke to him of who he truly was. Memory flooded back: he was the son of the wind.

Hanuman expanded his body to the size of a mountain, the earth trembling beneath his growing form. He leapt from the peak of Mount Mahendra and soared across the ocean. The mountain Mainaka, grateful for a past kindness, rose from the sea to offer rest; Hanuman touched it briefly in respect but did not stop. The serpent Surasa blocked his path and demanded he enter her mouth. Hanuman shrank to the size of a thumb, entered and exited in a single breath, satisfying her condition while losing no time. The demoness Simhika tried to seize his shadow from below. He killed her without breaking stride.

Landing in Lanka, Hanuman shrank to the size of a cat and searched the golden city by moonlight. He found Sita in the Ashoka grove, imprisoned but unbroken, surrounded by rakshasi guards. He presented Rama's signet ring as proof of his identity. Sita, weeping with relief, gave him her chudamani as a token for Rama, along with a private memory only Rama would recognize.

The Burning of Lanka

Before departing, Hanuman allowed himself to be captured to assess Lanka's defenses and deliver a warning. Brought before Ravana in his glittering court, Hanuman declared Rama's message: return Sita or face destruction. He spoke without flinching, his tail growing to such length that no throne could be built high enough for him to be looked down upon.

Ravana ordered the tail wrapped in oil-soaked cloth and set ablaze. As the flames caught, Hanuman expanded his tail to enormous length, then shrank free of his bonds. He leapt from building to building across Lanka, dragging his burning tail across the golden towers and crystal palaces. Only the Ashoka grove where Sita dwelt was spared. He extinguished his tail in the ocean and flew back to Rama with a full report of Lanka's defenses.

The Mountain of Herbs

During the battle for Lanka, Lakshmana fell to Indrajit's Shakti weapon, a celestial lance that could slay even gods. The physician Sushena declared that only the Sanjeevani herb, growing on Mount Dronagiri in the distant Himalayas, could save him. It had to be brought before dawn.

Hanuman flew north faster than thought, crossing the length of India in moments. At Mount Dronagiri he found thousands of luminous herbs glowing in the darkness but could not tell which was Sanjeevani. Rather than risk choosing wrong, he uprooted the entire mountain, carried it across the sky on his palm, and arrived in Lanka before first light. Lakshmana was revived. The Ramayana records that herbs fell from the mountain along the flight path, and where they landed, medicinal plants still grow.

After the War

When Rama was crowned king of Ayodhya, he offered Hanuman any boon. Hanuman asked only to live as long as Rama's name was spoken on earth. Rama embraced him, and Hanuman became one of the seven Chiranjeevis, the immortal beings who still walk the earth, present wherever the Ramayana is recited.

Sita offered Hanuman a pearl necklace. He broke the pearls open one by one. Asked why he was destroying her gift, Hanuman said he was looking for Rama and Sita inside. Anything without Rama had no value. Critics mocked him: was Rama in his body, then? Hanuman tore open his chest and revealed Rama and Sita enthroned within his heart.

Bhima and the Tail

During the Pandavas' exile in the Mahabharata, Bhima encountered an enormous aged monkey blocking a forest path, its tail stretched across the trail. When Bhima demanded the creature move, the monkey asked him to simply lift the tail aside. Bhima, who had slain rakshasas with his bare hands, could not budge it. The monkey revealed himself as Hanuman, Bhima's elder brother through their shared father Vayu.

Hanuman blessed Bhima and promised to appear on Arjuna's chariot banner during the coming war at Kurukshetra. When the great battle commenced, his war cries from the flag terrified the Kaurava forces.