Hanumân has the face of a monkey and the body of a man, a golden crown and a long tail that follows him in all his movements. He is often depicted as the Hindu god with his chest open to reveal an image of Rama, the incarnation of the dharma and the seventh incarnation of the god Vishnu, the god of conservation and time.
After thousands of years, Hanumân is still revered in Hindu culture today. The new movie Monkey Man is inspired by the legend of Hanumân, with Dev Patel’s character embodying the god’s loyalty and devotion as he avenges his mother’s death.
Also known as Maruti, Bajrangabali and Ajaney, Hanumân is much more than a monkey god: he is the god of courage, strength and self-discipline. Hanumân plays a central role in the Ramayanaone of the greatest ancient epics ever written.
He Ramayana, attributed to the wise man Valmiki, is the oldest text that refers to the monkey god. Scholars estimate it was written around the 3rd century BC. The epic follows the exiled prince Rama on his journey across the ocean to rescue his wife Sita from the evil king Ravana.
Hanumân stars in many stories in the text, but perhaps his best-known feat is leading an army of monkeys to help Rama rescue Sita. Hanumân is also mentioned in the epic Mahabharata and in the puranas, a Hindu literary genre that encompasses legends and other traditions.
He Hanuman Purana, the story of Hanumân’s birth, names Vayu, the wind god, as the father of the monkey god. Hanumân’s mother, Anjana, was a apsara (a type of nymph or fairy) who was transformed into a monkey by an angry wise man. The sage said that Anjana could return to her original form if she gave birth to a powerful son. He succeeded with Hanumân, whose strength appeared from childhood.
In one of the best-known stories of Hanumân, he jumps into the sky at dawn, thinking that the sun is a yellow ball or a ripe fruit.
In it Ramayana From Valmiki, the king of the gods Indra struck the monkey god with his thunderbolt to knock down Hanumân from the sky. The lightning struck him in the jaw and he fell dead to the Earth. Vayu, angry at what Indra did to his son, took all the air from the Earth, leaving all living beings to suffer. Only when Shiva, the god of time and destruction and one of the main deities of Hinduism, resurrected Hanumân, did Vayu return air to the planet. Indra, realizing his mistake, granted Hanumân’s wish that his body be as strong as his vajra (lightning), and also granted him immunity to lightning.
Other gods have also granted wishes to Hanumân, including additional immunity to damage from fire, wind, and water. He was also granted immortality, allowing him to become a strong and skilled warrior who played a crucial role in the Ramayana. Valmiki’s version of the Ramayana It tells how, during a battle, Hanumân carried an entire mountain from the Himalayas just to deliver some herbs with which to cure the soldiers on the battlefield.
Despite his successes and his immortal status, Hanumân is characterized by his humility and selflessness, completely devoted to Rama throughout the Ramayanahe Mahabharata and the puranas.