HANUMAN

THE MATCHLESS MARUTHI.- 1

J K SIVAN

There cannot be a Hindu without knowing the name of Hanuman. He is an household name as he is worshipped by most of them. He is immortal, (Chiranjeevi). Hanuman is an incarnation of Lord Siva, the Mruthyunjaya, an immortal with no birth and death.

Factually, Hanuman is the main character and almost the hero of the great epic Ramayana, as Rama's messenger and devotee with enormous power and dedication. He is praised in the well known devotional poem Hanuman Chalisa. It has 40 stanzas memorised by many and it is a fact that many who have sincerely memorised and chanted the Hanuman Chalisa have overcome their difficulties in life. It creates in the mind of the devotee chanting the poem, a positive attitude, and gets strength, and purification of the mind. Thus undoubtedly Hanuman is a highly powerful deity, known for his unequalled cleverness, wisdom, and shrewdness.

One of the Saptha Rishis, Sage Angirasa once visited Lord Indra in the heaven. In order to welcome and entertain the Rishi, Indira arranged for a dance by the beautiful celestial dancer Punjiksthala. When she began dancing the sage closed his eyes to meditate on Paramatma. The dance was over. Indira asked ''O Maharishi, how was the dance?''

"Oh I was completely absorbed in meditation of the Parabrahmam, and the dance did not interest me."

While Indra hung his head ashamed, the dancer was angry that her performance was ignored by the rishi. She retorted

"How can this roaming rishi appreciate a heavenly dance performance?

"You dancer, dont speak ill of my meditation on Bagavan, being arrogantly proud of your dance. You shall immediately fall down from this heaven, and your proud face will become a female monkey's face when you land in the mountain forests on the earth''

The dancer falls at the feet of the sage and apologises and seeks forgiveness.

Sage Angirasa then says to her '' A great devotee of Paramatma will be born to you. He will forever serve Paramatma."

The dancer becomes a female monkey and found by the Kapiraj Kesari of Mount Sumeru and marries him. Both Kesari and Anjana being devotees of Lord Siva, and Anjana continuously prayed for Lord Siva's mercy and grace. Siva, pleased with Anjana's prayer granted a boon and she asked Him '' I want you to be born as my son'' .Hanuman was thus born. There is an interesting version that when King Dasrath performed the Puthra Kameshti Yaga, the performing sage obtains the Payasam, the kheer from the Yaga which Dasaratha distributes among this three wives who gave birth to Rama, Lakshmana, Bharatha and Chathrugna. Kousalya, the eldest queen, who got a share of the Payasa, was holding the pot of Payasa, the keer before drinking it when a kite from somewhere snatched a portion of it and it was given to Anjana, who was meditating. She is directed to consume it and gives birth to Hanuman. As the lord of Wind brought and gave her the payasa from Kousalya, Hanuman is also known as Pawan Putra Hanuman , the son of the Lord of the Winds.

When he was a young boy, Hanuman flew up to swallow the scorching Sun, taking the sun to be an attractive red ripened mango.. The lord and guard of heavens, Indra, prevented Hanuman from swallowing the Sun and hit him with his powerful Vajrayudha, (thunderbolt) .Anjaneya''s face was disfigured and he gets his name Hanuman. 'Hanu' means 'Jaw' and 'Man' means 'Disfigured'. This incident changed his face and He was known as Hanuman instead of Anjaneya, son of Anjana.

Hanuman, the greatest devotee of Rama, once asked why Sita was wearing sindoor on her forehead.

''My dear Hanuman, As a wife of imense devotion to my husband Rama, I wear sindoor, which signifies my unconditional love, respect and devotion to Him''

''Is it Maa ji ? I am also a sincere devotee of Rama with immense respect and devotion for Him. I shall therefore from now on wear sindoor, not only on forehead but all over my body. We find Hanuman ji completely painted red with sindoor in the North and at some places in the

After Rama becomes the King of Ayodhya, Narada once creates a disharmony between Hanuman and sage Viswamithra. Viswamitra was told Hanuman has disregarded him and did not respect the sage. Viswamitra gets enraged and approaches Rama to punish Hanuman. As Viswamithra was his Guru , Rama had to punish Hanuman and shot his powerful arrows on Hanuman to kill him, which failed to near Hanuman as Hanuman closed his eyes, meditated and was chanting Rama Nama. Rama's Brahmasthra was powerless before Hanuman..

There is another interesting incident. The immortal Hanuman after the Ram Ravana war, proceeds to Himalayas to meditate. He uses his finger nails and etches his version of Ramayana on the sides of the Hills. Maharishi Valmiki once visits the Himalayas and happens to read the Ramayana etched by Hanuman on the sides of the hills, and is astonished. He decides that Hanuman's Ramayana was certaily superior and feels sad that his hard effort of writing the Ramayana would go unnoticed before Hanuman's excellent version. Hanuman observes the Rishi's sadness and at once discards and erases what he etched on the hills so that only the VALMIKI RAMAYANA IS THE SUPREME EPIC.

We all know that in Mahabharatha one of the Pandavas Bhimaa was the son of the God of Winds Vayu. Mahabharatha has a scene in which Bhima while searcing for the Sougantha flower for Drowpathy meets with a huge old monkey obstructing his way and obliges the old monkey to find the way by removing the monkeyh's tail lying on the way. Bima the strongest could not move the tail away and realises who it was. Bhima when he realises the monkey was none but his elder brother Hanuman, worships him and gets blessings from him.