Intro
Hanuman is the monkey deity renowned for his
courage, power and faithful, selfless service.Some say
Hanuman was born as the son of the King and Queen of the Monkeys. To others, he
is the son of Anjana, an female Apsara who had been transformed into a monkey
by a curse, and Vayu, the wind god. It is also said that from his father Vayu,
Hanuman received the ability to fly.
Story
Brihaspati (the
preceptor of the gods) had an attendant by the name of Punjikasthala who was
cursed to assume the body of a female monkey. The curse was to be removed on
her giving birth to an incarnation of Lord Siva. Accordingly, she was born as
Anjana and, together with her husband Kesari (so named on account of his being
as brave as a lion), lived a life of chastity and purity. She performed intense
Tapasya (austerities) for a great many years, during which period she
worshipped Lord Siva who being pleased with her granted her a boon. She asked
that He (Lord Siva) be born to her so that she may be freed from the curse.
When Dasaratha, the king
of Ayodhya was given the sacred payasa (pudding) by Agnideva to share among his
wives so that they may have divine children (Ram, Lakshmana, Bharata and
Shatrughna), by divine ordinance, a bird (kite) snatched a fragment of that
pudding and, whilst flying over the forest, dropped it where Anjana was engaged
in worship. Vayu (the deity presiding over the wind) delivered that fragment of
pudding to the outstretched hands of Anjana who immediately swallowed it. With
that grace, she, in due course, gave birth to Hanumanji. Thus we find that Lord
Siva incarnated as Hanumanji in the bodily form of a monkey through the grace
and blessings of his god-father Vayu, with Anjana and Kesari as his earthly
parents.
As soon as Hanuman was born he felt hungry
and his mother could not satisfy him. Then he caught sight of the Sun and
thinking it was a fruit he leapt after it. The Sun took flight but Hanuman
chased him as far as Indra's heaven. Here however, Indra intervened and injured
Hanuman's jaw with his thunderbolt.
But his father was quick to avenge him and
entered the bodies of all gods and gave them colic. Indra apologized to Vayu
and agreed that Hanuman should become immortal. All the gods came together to
bless young Hanuman in a cave.As a young monkey god, Hanuman was quite
naughty and abused his powers to pester the saints living in the nearby forest.
Finally all the gods prayed to Brahma to
find a solution. Thus a curse was created to protect the world from the
mischief that young Hanuman created, by removing his knowledge of his powers.
Hanumanji
mentally chose Surya (the Sun-god) as his preceptor. Therefore he approached
Surya with the request to be taught the scriptures so that he may manifest
spiritually in daily life. Surya agreed to have Hanumanji as his disciple but
pointed out that it was not possible for him to stop his journey across the sky
as that would cause chaos in the world. But Hanumanji was so mighty that he
surprised all the gods by facing his Guru, who had to be constantly moving,
thus (Hanumanji) traversing the sky backwards and at the same time
concentrating fully on his lessons.
In this way
Hanumanji enabled Surya to perform his duty and to impart knowledge at the same
time. Within a short period of 60 hours, Hanumanji mastered all the scriptures.
Surya considered the manner in which Hanumanji accomplished his studies as
sufficient dakshina (tuition fees), but Hanumanji pressed him to accept more.
Surya then asked Hanumanji to assist his son Sugriva, who was living in
Kishkindha, by being his minister and constant companion.
The Power of Hanuman - of which becoming big
- only became available again when Jambavant, King of the bears, remembered
Hanuman that he has that power.
And that power was really great. Hanuman
could easily fight an elephant for example, since he could become much bigger
than the elephant at will.
At the time of the Ramayana, Hanuman was
send as an advance spy to Lanka. To reach the island he had to fly over the sea
but there was blocked by Sursa, who wanted to test him. She had a boon that
everybody who comes before her must pass through her mouth. However, when she
wanted to swallow Hanuman, he became bigger and bigger so she also had to
become bigger and bigger. Then Hanuman suddenly became very small and went in
through her ear, coming out of her mouth, thus fulfilling the boon.
In
the Ashokvatika or forest of Ashoka trees on Lanka, Hanuman spies on Ravana,
who is trying in vain to press Sita into becoming his wife. Later he contacted
Sita in the gardens of Ravana's palace, told her of the plans being made for
her deliverance and gave her Rama's signet ring as a token.
Pleased with his success, Hanuman fought the
demon Meghnaath, son of Ravana, in the gardens of the palace of Lanka. He won
over Meghnaath, but was finally captured by Ravana's demons.
Brought before the demon king, Ravana
ordered that while as a messenger of Rama he could not be killed, his tail
could be set afire with cloth and oil. But Hanuman used his powers to enlarge
his tail indefinitely, until the demons had no cloth left to cover it. While
they still tried to put fire to his tail, Hanuman became suddenly very small
and escaped from his ropes.
Trailing his burning tail behind him,
Hanuman then set fire to all of Lanka and flew back to the mainland. He
rejoined Rama and gave him valuable information on Ravana's forces. The army
crossed a bridge to Lanka that was made by another monkey leader and master
architect called Nala.
During the mighty battle that followed,
Hanuman defeated the Demon Lankini, who was the principal guard of the city of
Lanka.Hanuman's greatest feat during the battle of
Lanka however was to bring back the herb that cured Lakshman from a fatal wound.
He flew al the way to the Himalayas to find it, harassed by many demons, such
as Kalanemi. Because Indra was confusing him, Hanuman could not find the herb
and finally brought the entire mountain to Lanka.
Ravana was defeated by Ram and Ram and Sita were
crowned King and Queen of Ayodhya. Obviously Hanuman was present, remained
Ram's favorite general and continued his life in service to him. When Rama
offered him any boon that he cared to name, he asked to live for as long as men
spoke of the deeds of Rama.
Hanuman acquired immortal fame after rendering
invaluable service to Lord Rama. Hanuman is regarded as the epitome of
sacrifice, devotion, bravery and loyalty. A character of highest morals,
Hanuman is worshipped throughout the country with great zeal. Sri Bhaktha
Anjaneya Temple, Sri Veeramangalam Anjaneyar Temple, Sri Yoga Anjaneyaswamy
Temple, Sri Anjaneya Temple, Sankatmochan Temple are some of the Hanuman
Temples in India.
|
