YOUNG HANUMAN

Hanuman is a vanara belonging to the kingdom of Kishkindha.He was a n ideal bhakta of Rama. He was born to Kesari, a vanara king, and the Goddess Anjana. He plays an important part in locating Sita and in the ensuing battle.

It was the beautiful palace of the King Dasaratha of Ayodhya. The great yajna for the birth of sons to the king had just been concluded. Following the rich carpets on the floor and the silks and the brocades of tapestries, we reach the interiors of the royal abode and to the chambers of the queen Kaushalya. The younger queens, Sumithra and Kaikeyi are also there with King Dasaratha. "Here you are, my queens," said King Dasaratha in a joyous mood. "Here is the kheer that has been blessed by the Gods." He handed over the bowl to his first wife queen Kaushalya. "You are to share this among yourselves and each one of you will be blessed with a child. After they had the kheer a very little was left and then the maid carried the vessel to the courtyard and placed it along with the other utensils for cleaning. The sun's rays caught the golden bowl which shimmered in the light. A passing crow attracted by it picked it up in its beak and flew far away onto a hilltop to eat the remnants in peace. As it put the bowl under its foot and got ready to eat it, the bowl slipped and fell down and landed amidst a crowd of monkeys whose chief, Kesari promptly picked it up and gave it to his wife Anjana who licked the aromatic remnants of the kheer that was stuck to the sides and the bottom of the bowl.

About a year later, King Dasaratha's wives gave birth to four sons and in the faraway hills, Anjana too gave birth to a cute looking baby monkey. As she caressed the child with all the maternal love flowing from within her, she saw something strange. The baby monkey was born with kundaas in his ears. That is, in his tender earlobes there was a pair of shining, gold danglers with precious stones. "Look here," called Anjana, beckoning to her husband, "look at his ears." Kesari said in awe, "He is no ordinary monkey, this son of mine." He had a very important role to play in Lord Narayana's Ramavatar. The baby grew by day and night. He was strong, sturdy and swift and was intelligent too.

One day, he saw the big red sun and thought it was a luscious fruit. He immediately set out to eat it. On the way he saw Rahu, the demon without a body and thought that he is bigger black fruit. As he got closer to Rahu with outstretched hands, Rahu started screaming. On hearing the scream, Indra, on his white elephant came out to see what the matter was. The monkey moved towards the elephant saying,"here is a larger fruit and white too." This made Indra very angry and he threw his special weapon at him, wounding him severly and the little monkey cried in pain. All these events were being watched by Pawan Dev, the Wind God. He rushed to catch him and turned towards Indra with anger. "He is just a prankster, Indra, and he would harm no one" he said with annoyance. Pawan Dev carried him down to Patala and slowly nursed him back to health. With the disappearance of the wind god, the whole world began to suffer with no air on earth. "Somehow his anger has to pacify and he must be made to return," said the wise after deep discussion. Finally Lord Brahma agreed to the mediator. "Henceforth, your ward will never be hurt by any weapon."

He blessed the little monkey solemnly. Indra too felt very bad for what he did for the impact of his weapon caused a deep cut on his chin and said "I bless him with the power to choose his own time of death," he said, "until then he will be Chiranjeev and from now on he will be famous in all three words as Hanuman- the one with the cleft chin. After this the wind God took Hanuman back to earth and before bidding Good Bye he blessed him saying, "You shall from now on possess all the powers that I possess," he said. "You will be able to leap as high as you please. You will be able to enter any place and take any shape as you wish to be. With this the wind god bade a fond farewell to his dear little monkey- Hanuman who now had immense powers. Hanuman could have decided to use these powers to trouble people but instead he thought, "I shall not be satisfied until I acquire all the knowledge of the Vedas which was in the care of the sun god, Surya Dev. So Hanuman went to the Sun God with folded hands and with all respect due to him and requested "Brilliance unlimited, light up my soul." Surya Dev was very pleased with Hanuman's manners and his eagerness to acquire knowledge. Hanuman repaid his teacher by serving Sugriva, the prince of Kishkinda who is said to be the son of Surya Dev.


Hanuman's loyalty to Rama is also legendary. There are many incidents in the epics to prove this. Once Rama had come to Kishkinda in search of his wife, Sita, whom Ravana had carried away by deceit. Rama helped Sugriva regain his throne from Vali, his brother and in return was promised help from Sugriva and his vanaras in locating Sita. It was then that Hanuman, Sugriva's friend and chief minister, volunteered the job. Rama gave his ring to Hanuman saying, "This ring will help Sita identify as my messenger. Show her this ring and give her my message." Hanuman went in search of Sita with a small band of followers and searched every nook and corner. On the way he met Jatayu's brother, Sampati who further directed them towards Lanka, across the raging seas. With renewed vigour, Hanuman and his Vanaras proceeded towards the sea. It was a vast sheet of stormy ocean that confronted them and beyond that, where the eyes could not reach, was the land called Lanka. "One of us will have to cross the ocean to reach there. Who will it be?" asked Hanuman, determined to proceed at all costs. "You, of course Hanuman. You are the only one to do so." The choice was unanimous. With all his powers Hanuman flew over the ocean for hours before landing in Lanka. After a long search, he finally found her amidst a grove of Ashoka trees. She was being guarded by Ravana's women guards. Being cautious, he waited for them to leave, and softly uttering the name, "Rama, Rama!" landed in front of Sita. To the disbelieving Sita, he gave Rama's message, "And here, this ring is for you. Rama gave it so that you could trust me as a friend." Sita was ecstatic. "I shall wait here for Rama to come and fetch me after punishing the wicked Ravana," she said and gave him an ornament of hers, which she had kept tied in her saree. As soon as Hanuman went back to Rama with the vanaras, he told the anxious Rama, "Seen have I, your wife Sita" which was a very happy news for Rama.

Another time was in the company of Vibheeshan, Ravana's brother and the future king of Lanka. It was after the war was over and Ravana had been defeated and killed. There were other dignitaries present in the company, like Jambahavan, Sugriva and Angad. Suddenly one of them made a remark. "It is unfortunate that the beautiful land of Lanka was destroyed by Hanuman's anger." This is what happened. After his visit to Ashok Vatika, where he met Sita, Hanuman was very annoyed with Ravana for making Sita suffer. He went around breaking branches of trees, pulling out plants, stamping on flowers and destroying the greenery. After a long struggle Ravana's men tied him with ropes and pulled him to Ravana's court. Once there, Hanuman fearlessly pleaded with mighty Ravana. "Please Ravana," he said, "this is not going to do any good at all. What you have done is an unpardonable sin. But even now it is not too late. Release Sita and ask the kind-hearted Rama's forgiveness. You may yet be saved. Then, after a pause he continued, "If you are not to follow my advise, I am going to bring total destruction upon yourself and your land." Ravana replied by ordering his men to set Hanuman's tail on fire and when this was done, Hanuman became very furious. He broke the ropes and went about Lanka setting fire to the buildings and houses. Nothing could stop him for a long time. At the end of it, Lanka's beauty had been destroyed to a great extent.

Therefore, when the above acusation was made by the dignitaries on that morning after the war, Hanuman sat quitely without replying. Then another man made the same remark. "Why are you all accusing me? I did no such thing." Finally, Vibheeshan turned around, "Then who did it?' he asked. "Um..I don't know. Rama must have done it," said Hanuman calmly. "Hanuman, you dare say such a thing against Rama? You liar. "Come with us to Rama." They all took Hanuman to Rama and narrated what happened. Rama was watching everything with a smile on his face. Then again the same argument arised and the crowd asked then "who did it?" "Rama did." Even Rama was taken aback by Hanuman's reply and was eagerly waiting for Hanuman's reply. Hanuman looked at Rama with folded hands and said in humble tone, "What can I do, my Lord?

"Mere Ram Ram Mein Ram Hai"

In every pore of my body lives Ram. And then, with tears in his eyes continued, "If at all, it must have been Rama who acted through me." At this reply, Rama embraced Hanuman, wiping his tears, while the others praised Hanuman's loyality. Even today, it is said, that wherever Rama's name is uttered with devotion, Hanuman, his loyal devotee, is always present at that place.