Lord Hanuman

Hanuman is a vanara, one of the forest-dwelling monkey people of the Ramayana, and the chief minister of the vanara king Sugriva. He is described as the son of the wind god Vayu and of Anjana, wife of the vanara chief Kesari, which is why he is called Pavanputra and Maruti (son of the wind) as well as Anjaneya and Kesarinandan. Many Shaiva traditions, following the Shiva Purana, regard him as an incarnation of Shiva himself.

In the Valmiki Ramayana, Jambavan tells the story of his name: as an infant, Hanuman leapt towards the rising sun thinking it was a ripe fruit, and Indra struck him on the jaw (hanu) with his thunderbolt. When Vayu withdrew the breath of the world in grief, the gods restored the child and showered him with blessings.

Hanuman unites qualities that rarely meet: immense strength and total humility, learning and childlike devotion, power and self-control. He is a lifelong brahmachari, a scholar of grammar and the Vedas, and the patron of wrestlers' akharas. Above all he is Ramadoota, Rama's messenger, and the ideal of dasya bhakti, devotion as loving service. He is also counted among the seven chiranjivis, the immortals, and devotees believe he is present wherever the Ramayana is recited.

Hanuman is shown in several familiar forms, each expressing a different side of him.

Meeting Rama. In the Kishkindha Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana, Sugriva sends Hanuman, disguised as a brahmin, to find out who the two princes wandering the forest are. Rama is so impressed by his flawless speech that he remarks that only one who has mastered the Vedas and grammar could speak so. From that meeting Hanuman becomes Rama's devoted servant.

The leap to Lanka. When the search party reaches the ocean, no one can cross it. Jambavan reminds Hanuman of the powers he had forgotten since childhood, and Hanuman grows huge and leaps across the sea. The Sundara Kanda, named, tradition says, for the beauty of Hanuman's deeds, tells how he finds Sita in the Ashoka grove, gives her Rama's ring, destroys the grove, is captured and has his tail set on fire, and then burns Lanka before returning with the news.

The mountain of herbs. In the Yuddha Kanda, when Lakshmana is struck down in battle, Hanuman flies to the Himalaya to fetch healing herbs. Unable to identify them, he lifts the whole mountain and carries it back, and Lakshmana is revived.

Devotion over reward. In later tellings, when Sita gives Hanuman a pearl necklace, he bites into each pearl looking for Rama's name, saying that whatever does not contain Rama is worthless to him. When teased, he opens his chest to show Rama and Sita in his heart. This story belongs to devotional tradition rather than Valmiki's text.

Hanuman's mother is Anjana and his father Kesari, with Vayu as his divine father. He is a lifelong brahmachari. His lord is Rama, and he is equally devoted to Sita and Lakshmana; in Rama darbar images he kneels at their feet. His companions are Sugriva, Jambavan, Angada and the vanara army. Hanuman has no vahana: he flies by his own power, and in some images he carries Rama and Lakshmana on his shoulders.

Tuesday (Mangalvar) and Saturday (Shanivar) are Hanuman's days. Many devotees fast on Tuesday, and Saturday worship is linked in popular belief with relief from the difficulties of Shani. In Lucknow and parts of Uttar Pradesh, the Tuesdays of Jyeshtha are celebrated as Bada Mangal.

Common offerings are sindoor mixed with jasmine oil (chola), red flowers, garlands of betel leaves or tulsi, boondi or besan laddoos, jaggery and roasted chana. Red and saffron are his colours. The Hanuman Chalisa, forty chaupais in Awadhi by Goswami Tulsidas, is recited by millions, often seven or eleven times on Tuesdays, and families read the Sundarkand of the Ramcharitmanas for protection and success. The Bajrang Baan and the Hanuman Ashtak ('Sankatmochan naam tiharo') are also popular. Because Hanuman is the servant of Rama, chanting 'Shri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram' is said to please him most.

Hanuman Jayanti is celebrated on different dates in different regions. In North India it falls on Chaitra Purnima (March-April). In Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Hanumath Jayanthi is observed on the new moon of Margazhi (December-January), and in Karnataka on Margashirsha Shukla Trayodashi as Hanuman Vratam. In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana a 41-day observance begins on Chaitra Purnima and ends on Vaishakha Krishna Dashami. At Hanumangarhi in Ayodhya, his birth is celebrated on Kartik Krishna Chaturdashi, the day before Diwali.

Hanuman is also honoured on Rama Navami and during Ramlila and Dussehra, and his temples are crowded every Tuesday and Saturday.

Hanumangarhi in Ayodhya is traditionally the first stop for pilgrims before Ram Janmabhoomi. The Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi is associated by tradition with Goswami Tulsidas. Rajasthan has the hugely popular Salasar Balaji and Mehandipur Balaji. The Jakhu temple in Shimla, the Hanuman Mandir at Connaught Place in Delhi and the reclining Hanuman (Bade Hanuman ji) at Prayagraj's Sangam are well known. In the South, the 18-foot Anjaneyar of Namakkal in Tamil Nadu and the Anjanadri hill near Hampi in Karnataka, identified by many with Kishkindha and Hanuman's birthplace, draw large crowds. In Maharashtra, Samarth Ramdas is credited with founding the eleven Maruti temples.

Hanuman belongs to every tradition. For Vaishnavas, especially the Ramanandi sampradaya, he is the supreme devotee and the guardian of Rama's devotees. In the Madhva (Dvaita) tradition, Vayu is the chief of the souls and is believed to have appeared as Hanuman, then as Bhima, and then as Madhvacharya himself. Many Shaiva traditions regard him as an incarnation of Rudra, and Shaktas worship him as a guardian of the Goddess. Samarth Ramdas made Hanuman the ideal of disciplined strength in Maharashtra, and wrestlers across North India keep his image in their akharas.

His teaching is simple and deep: strength becomes divine when it serves, and true greatness lies in forgetting oneself in love of God. Tulsidas puts it in the Chalisa: whoever remembers Hanuman is freed from fear and trouble.