Hanuman

by Vanamali

  Kesari regained his normal stature and started pelting the demon with his arrows. Even though blood was oozing from the wounds, he seemed to be completely unaffected and laughed in scorn. Anjana felt desperate and mentally begged Lord Shiva to save Kesari. Immediately, she felt a response.

  Shiva told her that the rakshasa could not be killed with anything but his own blood. She asked how this could be managed. The reply was that she should think of a ruse herself.

  She cogitated deeply on the matter. Suddenly, she spied an arrow that had fallen a little distance from the place where the two heroes were engaged in a desperate battle, which they both knew would be a fight to the finish. She could see that Kesari’s strength was flagging. Spurred by this, she crept forward, rescued the arrow, and smeared it with the blood that had fallen from the rakshasa. Now she was on the lookout for an opportune moment to pass this to Kesari.

  The demon now assumed the form of a gigantic buffalo and came with lowered horns to gore Kesari. The latter immediately fixed two arrows on his bow and aimed them at the buffalo’s eyes. It was a real bull’s-eye, and the buffalo reeled and bellowed in pain.

  Anjana took this opportunity to rush to Kesari’s side. She whispered Shambasaadana’s secret to him, gave him the blood-smeared arrow, and told him to shoot the arrow at the earliest opportunity. By this time, the demon had realized that his best bet would be to discard the buffalo form and with it the fatal injury to its eyes. Anjana hardly had time to run off when Shambasaadana rushed at Kesari, shouting imprecations all the while.

  He raised his huge iron mace above his head and flourished it.

  “This will make an end of you once and for all, you puny little monkey!” he shouted.

  Before he could hurl the fatal weapon, Kesari prayed to Lord Shiva and let fly the arrow that Anjana had given him. The arrow poisoned with Shambasaadana’s own blood flew unerringly toward its mark and buried itself in the demon’s heart. Shambasaadana gave a mighty roar and started reeling with pain. At last, he fell with a tremendous thud that made the whole earth shudder.

  The relieved rishis now rushed out with shouts of joy and praised Kesari, thanking him for having rescued them from this constant pestilence. Once more they could conduct their rituals without fear of being molested by the demon. Kesari told them to thank Anjana, for she was the one who had disclosed the secret of the demon’s weak point, and had he not been told of it, he would never have managed to kill him. The rishis now turned to Anjana and thanked her also.

  “How can we show our gratitude to you both?” the rishis asked. They discussed the matter among themselves and then came and spoke to Anjana.

  “My child! Will you be prepared to do our bidding? It is something for your own good.”

  Anjana promised to obey the rishis, no matter what they said.

  The rishis then smilingly asked her, “Will you consent to marry Kesari?”

  Anjana bent her head shyly. They took this as a sign of consent. Kesari also professed his willingness to this happy alliance, and the wedding was conducted on a modest scale by the joyful ashramites.

  O valorous one! With body like a thunderbolt,

  Exterminator of evil thoughts and companion to the good.

  HANUMAN CHALISA BY TULSIDAS

  Aum Sri Hanumathe Namaha!

  Aum Vayuputraaya Namaha!

  4

  Vayu Putra

  Son of Vayu

  Lankadwipa bhayankaram, sakaladam,

  Sugrivasammanitam,

  Devendradi samastha devavinutam,

  Kakasthadutam bhaje.

  I worship the emissary of Rama,

  Who is worshipped by all the gods starting with Indra,

  Who subdued the terrible island of Lanka to Sugriva’s great delight.

  HANUMAN STOTRA

  Some years passed before their passion for each other was fully abated. Swinging from tree to tree, Kesari would pluck the sweetest and most luscious fruits for his beloved, and thus they spent many happy years. However, their love did not produce any fruit. This again was her guru’s blessing, for he had told her that the moment she held her first-born in her arms, she would be free from the curse and be able to return to her heavenly abode. He wanted to give her a chance to exhaust all her desires for physical pleasures before granting her a child. A time came when Anjana started to feel unhappy at the thought that, though she had spent so many years as a wife, she still had not become a mother. Kesari knew the cause of her unhappiness, and he told her that it was best that they should undergo some penance in order to be blessed with a son. Anjana told him that the only way was to do tapas to Shiva and Parvati and they would surely grant their wish for a noble son. Thus the couple prayed intensely to the divine couple to grant their desire. They had only one meal during the day. They no longer slept with each other. The whole day was passed in deep prayer and puja to the divine couple. Summer came, and then the rainy season, followed by autumn and finally winter. But the couple continued their tapasya unabated.

  At last the divine pair decided to bless this couple who were so engrossed in their worship. They took on the form of monkeys and came and ate up all the fruits and food that had been spread out for the morning ritual. Kesari was annoyed when he saw the mischievous antics of the two monkeys and was all set to drive them off when Anjana stopped him. “My Lord!” she said. “I don’t think these are ordinary monkeys. I believe they are Shiva and Parvati who have come to bless us. So let us start worshipping them.” Kesari agreed with her, and they started to worship the monkeys as Shiva and Parvati.

  They were seated deep in meditation when they heard a voice saying, “O Anjana! O Kesari! We are pleased with your prayers and austerities and will certainly grant your desire. Deep in the forest, there is a huge mango tree. Go there daily and circumambulate this tree and pray to Shiva to grant your desire. Within a week, you will find a wondrous mango on the tree. Let Anjana eat this fruit, and she will be blessed with a baby boy who will be equal in strength to the wind god Vayu.”

  The couple was delighted to hear this and prostrating themselves, thanked Shiva and Parvati for their blessing. Immediately they started to search the forest for this wondrous tree and very soon found it in the middle of a grove. The next morning they did their ablutions and proceeded to worship the tree, circumambulating it three times and doing puja as prescribed by the divine pair. This went on for seven days. On the eighth morning when they reached the tree, they were told by a divine voice to prepare themselves for the emergence of the celestial fruit. At that moment, the whole tree was lit up by a heavenly radiance that slowly started to descend. The radiance proved to be a majestic celestial being that was holding the fruit in his hands. He came to a halt in front of the couple. They stood wonderstruck by the vision before them.

  The Being now spoke. “O Kesari! Have no fear! Accept the fruit that I have brought you and give it to your wife Anjana. Let her eat it, and she will surely conceive a child.”

  In a tremulous voice Kesari asked, “We are indeed most grateful to you. Pray deign to tell us your identity.”

  The Being replied, “I’m Vayu. I have come here at the behest of Lord Shiva. This mango contains his seed as well as my powers. Have no fear. Accept this fruit in your hands and invest it with your own prowess and give it to Anjana to eat. You will get a son who will be renowned in all the three worlds as the strongest, the bravest, and the foremost in devotion.” Thus Hanuman was endowed with the best of both divine and simian qualities.

  Kesari accepted the fruit and held it to his heart and prayed that all his strength would go into the fruit. He than handed it over to his wife, who accepted it with great devotion. She took the mango in her hands and prayed to Lord Shiva and to Vayu. Then she fell at her husband’s feet and asked for his blessings also. Only then did she eat the divine fruit. Immediately, she was impregnated. The fetus soon started to grow within her womb. It was filled with all three qualities: divine, mortal, and animal. Kesari looked after her with
great love and care. As the fetus within her started to grow, Anjana was filled with a heavenly radiance. At last she knew her time had come. It was Tuesday, the full moon day of the month of Chaitra. She bathed in the stream and prayed to her favorite deities, then lay down on a bed of freshly plucked leaves and flowers that Kesari had lovingly arranged for her inside a bower. Very soon, she gave birth to a beautiful baby monkey. As soon as he was born, he let out a loud roar. Kesari was anxiously waiting outside and as soon as he heard the roar, he came inside to take in the beautiful scene of his son being fed by his wife.

  Many exceptional traits marked his birth. He did not come into the world as a naked little monkey. His golden-colored furry body was adorned with supernatural ornaments. He had a tight red loincloth, a sacred thread of twisted munja grass, and a pair of heavy, elaborately carved earrings. The normal sacred thread worn by humans is made of cotton thread, but the one worn by Anjana’s son was made of a wild, coarse grass, or munja, which resembled a rope made of hemp. This was a kind of omen of his future life as a celibate and an ascetic. It was also suggestive of his animal origin as well as his humility.

  His earrings were said to be invisible to the eyes of most mortals. His mother told him that only the one who would be his Master would be able to perceive the earrings. Rama, of course, was the only one who did see them. These earrings have an interesting legend connected with them.

  At the time of Hanuman’s birth, the undisputed leader of the monkey world was Vaali, a strong and powerful ape. When Vaali came to know that Anjana was pregnant with a child who was bound to develop into a dominant rival, he decided to put an end to all competition while the child was still in its mother’s womb. He created a dart using five metals: gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin. When the unsuspecting mother was asleep, he sent the missile into her womb. A normal child may have succumbed to this dastardly attack, but not one born of Shiva’s fiery seed. As soon as it touched the baby’s body, the dart melted and transformed itself into a pair of beautiful earrings. Thus wearing the trophies of his first battle, fought while still in his mother’s womb, Hanuman entered this world.

  At that moment, Shiva and Parvati took the form of monkeys and arrived to bless Anjana’s son. Vayu also arrived to gaze at his son. All those who had contrived to produce the child arrived to bless him. Vayu told the parents to call him Maruti.

  How Shiva’s seed came into the mango is another story. Shiva was the eternal ascetic who had conquered lust. He had reduced Kama, the God of love, to ashes. However in order to please his wife Parvati and fulfill her desire for sexual pleasures, Shiva took on the form of a male monkey and Parvati of a female monkey, and thus they sported in the woods, hanging from the branches, swinging about, and making love in a wild and abandoned manner, as monkeys are wont to do. At that time, Parvati discovered to her dismay that she was expecting a child. Her first-born had an elephant’s head, so she was not at all anxious to have another in the form of a monkey. She confided her fears to her Lord. Shiva teased her about this and told her that all creatures were one with him and a child born of his seed would indeed be perfect in every way, whatever his form. She was not convinced and begged him to remove the seed from her womb and transfer it to a more fitting receptacle. Shiva called Vayu to come to his aid and told him to take the seed and place it in a suitable womb. Vayu took the seed and impregnated the mango and further endowed it with his own powers and bestowed it to the pious couple who were praying for a son.

  Golden-hued and splendidly adorned,

  With heavy earrings and curly locks.

  HANUMAN CHALISA BY TULSIDAS

  Aum Sri Hanumathe Namaha!

  Aum Marutaatmajaaya Namaha!

  5

  Maruti

  Flight to the Sun

  Kyatha Sri Rama dhuta, pavanatanubhava,

  Pingalakshashikhavan,

  Sitashokapahari Dashamukha vijayi,

  Lakshmana pranadhata.

  You are known as the son of the wind and messenger of Rama,

  With red eyes,

  Dispeller of the sorrows of Sita and vanquisher of the ten-headed one,

  And the giver of life to Lakshmana.

  HANUMAN STOTRA

  Indeed, having both Shiva and Vayu as his illustrious fathers, Maruti was no ordinary child. He was restless, spirited, energetic, and inquisitive. He was obviously endowed with awesome strength, and the scriptures abound in tales expounding his remarkable feats. One of his most remarkable feats, recounted in all his tales, has to do with his jump to the sun. In fact, this amazing achievement is the one that gave him his most popular name—Hanuman.

  The baby was a voracious eater. His appetite could never be totally appeased. The poor parents did their best to satisfy him, but he was never completely satisfied and was always demanding more food. By the time he was a year old, he started climbing and eating all the fruit in the surrounding area. One day, Anjana took him with her to the river and allowed him to do whatever mischief he wanted on the banks while she had her bath. After having eaten as many fruits and shoots from the trees as he could get, he was still hungry. Suddenly, he spied the huge orange orb of the sun rising in the sky and thought to himself that this must be an exceptionally big type of fruit. He called out to his mother to come and have a look at this new fruit. She thought that it must be some fruit on a tree and told him to go for it. Undaunted, the child gave a magnificent leap and soared up to the sky toward the orb of the sun. When Anjana came out of the river after her bath, she couldn’t see her son and looked anxiously for him. At last, she spied him flying toward the sun. She shouted to Kesari to come and see what their son was up to. He jumped toward the little fellow to try and catch him but was unable to do so and fell back, dejected. The parents didn’t know what they should do now.

  The celestials watched his progress with wonder. “Neither the wind god nor Garuda or even the mind can move as swiftly as this son of Vayu. If this is his speed as a mere babe, what will be his speed when he becomes a youth?”

  The wind god was also closely following him to protect him from the danger of getting scorched. The sun god realized that he was an innocent child. He also knew of the great purpose that Lord Vishnu in his form as Rama would accomplish through him and thus he did not harm him.

  Unfortunately, that day happened to coincide with the day of the solar eclipse when Rahu (the north node of the moon, associated with malefic forces) was supposed to swallow the sun. Suddenly, Maruti saw Rahu shaped like a serpent making his way toward the sun in order to devour him. Mistaking him for a huge worm, the inquisitive monkey dashed toward him and attempted to catch hold of his tail. Rahu fled for his life and sought shelter at the feet of Indra, the lord of the gods. He spoke angrily to Indra, “You have allotted the sun and the moon to me for appeasing my hunger on certain days, and now I find that my share has been given over to some other creature. Today is the night of the new moon, and this is the day on which I have been told to devour the sun. Now look what’s happened! Here comes another creature to thwart me.”

  Indra picked up his deadly thunderbolt, mounted his white elephant named Airavata, and went toward the impudent monkey. The clouds rumbled and lightning thundered across the vast skies in an expression of Indra’s wrath. But neither this scary scenario nor the mighty-armed Indra on his high mount was sufficient to induce even a trace of fear in the heart of the little monkey. On the contrary, the spectacle only added fuel to his excitement. He decided that an elephant was just what he needed as a vehicle and tried to grab it. He caught hold of its trunk and leaped on its back. Taken aback by the sudden appearance of a baby monkey behind him, Indra was all set to strike him with his thunderbolt. Vayu arrived on the scene at this opportune moment and tried to stop him, but Indra was not to be deterred.

  “He is only a child! What sort of a god are you that you are prepared to wage war against a small child?”

  Indra retorted, “He may be a child, but he tried to swallow Surya and catch hold of Rah
u, and I merely came to their aid.”

  Vayu did his best to dissuade him, but Indra hit Maruti on the chin with his bolt and left a mark on it forever. Hence, Anjana’s child got the name Hanuman. Hanu means “chin” in Sanskrit. But even Indra’s thunderbolt was unable to kill him, although the impact threw him off the back of the elephant. As he hurtled through the air, unconscious, his father Vayu sprang to his rescue and caught him in mid-air.

  The sight of his beloved son lying helpless in his arms infuriated the wind god. He drew in a mighty breath and sucked away all the air from the cosmos. “Let all those who have harmed Anjana’s son choke to death,” he thought out aloud. Vayu went into seclusion, taking the atmosphere with him. All living beings began to get asphyxiated. There was panic in the cosmos. Without air, life on every level was threatened. Nothing stirred in the universe. The recitation of the Vedas by the Brahmins ceased and the stomachs of the gods began to shrink.