Lord Hanuman - The Monkey God
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Hanuman is the monkey deity renowned
for his courage, power and faithful, selfless service. The Life of
Hanuman is related below in the form of short numbered and illustrated
accounts of some of the most important parts of his life.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
The Power of
Hanuman - of which becoming
big is just one example - only became available again when
Jambavant, King of the bears, remembered Hanuman that he has
that power.
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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 succes,
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, untill
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.
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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 all 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;
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.
Click here to view all of
Lotus Sculpture's statues of Hanuman
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