Hinduism | The Ramayana: The Birth of Hanuman (Hindu monkey-god)

Hinduism | The Ramayana: The Birth of Hanuman

The Ramayana is an ancient Indian epic written in Sanskrit by the Hindu sage Valmiki. The Ramayana is one of the two major Sanskrit epics in Hinduism, the other being the Mahabharata. Although the original date of composition is unknown, it is believed to have been composed in the 5th century BCE. Scholarly estimates for the earliest stage of the text range from the 8th century BCE to 3rd century CE.

The word Rāmāyaṇa is composed of the two words: Rama and ayana, meaning 'Rama's journey' in Sanskrit. In the fourth Veda, the Atharvaveda, the word Rama represents dark or black, which has a relation to the word rātri, which means darkness. The other meaning found in the Mahabahrata is pleasing or charming.

The Ramayana belongs to the genre known as Itihasa, narratives of past events; this includes the Mahabharata and the Puranas. Not only one version of Ramayana is found in the Indian languages, but there are also Buddhist, Jain and Sikh adapted versions of it. Since Sanskrit finds its identity in the Brahminical religion of the Vedas, Buddhism and Jainism adopted other literary languages, such as Pali and Ardhamagadhi. The modern language of northern India has emerged mainly from them. And these languages largely depended on the ancient background of India, which includes the Ramayana and Mahabharata, and the Bhagavata-purana and other puranas.

The Ramayana has spread to various countries of Asia, and it has been translated by many different regional languages and adapted from various regions in it; Cambodia has its own version of Ramayana called Reamker, and there is a Thai version of it, Ramakien. It has been translated into many other regional languages in Asia, such as in Burma, Nepal, Laos, Malaysia, Japan and China, usually with plot twists and thematic adaptions.

The epic begins with the descriptions of the north of the Ganga. The word Ganga represents the goddess worshiped by Hindus, which is the personification of the river Ganges. She is the goddess of forgiveness and purification, and commonly portrayed as a beautiful woman, riding a crocodile-like creature called the makara. The stories of Ganga first appear in Rigveda, an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns, which is one of the four canonical Hindu texts known as the Vedas.

The tale of how Ganges came to earth is well illustrated in the book Ancient Tales From Many Lands written by Rachel M. Fleming, the collection of stories of the creation, found from various religions:

"Long ago the great river Ganges proudly rolled over the plains of heaven, and scorned to descend to earth. At that time a great misfortune fell upon Sagar, King of India. His sons were searching for a horse that should be beautiful enough for him to sacrifice to the gods.

So eager were they that they did not notice a saint who was praying, and rudely broke in upon his prayers and disturbed them.

In order to punish them for this sin, they were told that unless their ashes could be washed by the waters of the Ganges, they should never enter heaven. As the river was in heaven and not on earth, there seemed no way for Sagar to reach it and obtain the water to wash his sons' ashes. So he prayed Siva, the mighty Lord of Heaven, to order the Ganges to come down to earth.

He not only prayed, but he lived a very hard life, denying himself all comforts and enduring many hardships in order to persuade Siva to grant his prayer.

At last he died, but his son, who had not been with his careless brothers when they disturbed the saint, continued to pray to Siva, and to live just as saintly a life as his father had done. It was no good, for Siva's heart was still hard. Then the son of Sagar died, and his grandson came to the throne. He too, prayed to Siva, and lived in the same way as his father and grandfather had done. Alas! it was all in vain, for he too died, and the Ganges still remained in heaven.

Then Sagar's great grandson took up the task, and his prayers and his saintly life touched Siva's heart, and he ordered the Ganges to leave the plains of heaven and descend to earth.

As you can guess, this did not please the river at all. In fact she was so very angry that she made up her mind to come down with such mighty force as to wash away the earth, and even to wash away great Siva too.

Gathering together all her waters, she hurled the mighty, raging torrent at Siva. So much mightier was he, however, that he caught the angry river on his giant head, where the hair grew thick and tall as the trees in the forests on Himalaya's slopes.

Here the raging Ganges rushed wildly about, trying in vain to find some way of escape, and here she stayed for many a year till her pride was quite tamed.

Then at last Siva once more bade Ganges descend to earth. This time she was quite pleased to obey, for she was weary of wandering about among Siva's hair.

With a deafening roar, her waters poured down upon the solid rock with such great force that the very earth shook beneath the blow. Picture what a pretty sight it must have been to see the waters sparkling with all the colors of the rainbow, as they came falling through the air. White clouds of foam and silvery spray were tossed in every direction, and the light shone and sparkled on the gleaming scales of the fishes as they too came tumbling down amidst the waters.

Kings and peoples, and even gods in their shining cars, came to see the wondrous sight. Soon the river became calm and quiet, and flowed proudly and steadily over the sandy plain to the sea.

Then Sagar's great-grandson brought the ashes of Sagar's sons to the side of the stream, and bathed them in its waters. So Sagar's sons entered heaven at last, and Sagar's great grandson gave praise and thanks to mighty Siva."

The Ramayana tells the story of Rama, prince of Ayodhya, who is banished from his kingdom through the plotting of his jealous stepmother, Kaikeyi, who wants her own son Bharata to become the king. When Rama is forced into exile and goes into the forest for 14 years with his beautiful princess, Sita, and his younger brother, Laksmana, they confront the chief antagonist of the Ramayana, Ravana, a multi-headed rakshasa (demon) king, who has 10 heads and 20 arms, but he is sometimes depicted with nine heads, for he cut one off in order to convince Shiva. Ravana, after performing 10,000 years of penance, received a boon from Brahma that he cannot be killed by gods, demons or spirits. However, after he was given a special power, he begins to lay waste to the earth. The primary conflict in the Ramayana takes place as Ravana abducts Rama's wife, Sita, and takes her to his kingdom of Lanka. So Rama gathers up an army of monkeys called Vanaras and bears to search for her. Vanaras represent a group of race that are either monkeys, apes, or forest-dwellers, which are commonly portrayed as humanoid apes in Hinduism. According to the Ramayana, they speak and dress like humans, and they have funerals, weddings, and consecrations just like us; yet, at the same time, portrayed with the characteristics of monkeys: They have a tails, hair, fur, and leap like monkeys.

The Vanaras, in the Ramayana, were created by Brahma to help Rama in battle against Ravana. Brahma is in Hinduism a god of creation, one of three supreme divinities, which are called trimurti (meaning three forms, or trinity.) The trimurti, in Hinduism, represents a triad of the three gods - Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. Brahma has four arms, and four heads, from which are said to have originated the four Vedas. Brahma is believed to be born out of a golden-egg called Hiranyagarbha. This also is well portrayed in in the book Ancient Tales From Many Lands:

"In the beginning this world did not exist, but everything lay in the darkness that falls on those who sleep. At last came the moment of awakening. The Great Power who cannot be seen or heard or felt, who is eternal, and who is the soul of the world and all the life upon it, determined to create the world from his thoughts.

He first willed that the great waters should appear. Upon the waters he willed that there should be a golden egg which shone like the brightest of the stars of the morning. Within the egg was the beginning of all the life in the world, and from it there came forth Brahma, the Lord of all the Stars.

Brahma rested in the golden egg for a year of the gods—which is longer than an age of men—and did nothing but think. At the end of that time he willed that the egg should break into two parts, from which the sky and the earth were formed, while the space between them became the air, which is the storehouse of all the refreshing showers.

He then made the mind, and gave it power to rule the senses. He made all living creatures, and gave to each of them their special work in the world. He created the gods. He made time, and divided it into days and months and years. The stars, the seas, the rivers, the mountains, the valleys, and the plains were all made by him.

He gave to men the power to choose good and evil, and to all creatures that breathe he gave the power to feel pain and pleasure.

Brahma, the Lord of Creation, looked upon the men whom he had created, and said to them, "What shall be your tasks?"

They replied, "We are not our own masters, O Lord: command what we shall undertake."

Then Brahma said that the first set of men whom he had created should be priests, and told them to study the Sacred Books of India. These Sacred Books Brahma had drawn out of fire, and air, and sun. This first set of men are the caste of priests in India called Brahmans. The next set of men he ordered to be soldiers, and to protect all other men from their enemies. They are the caste of Kshatriyas or soldiers. The next set he ordered to buy and sell, to till the ground, and to look after the cattle. They are the caste of the Vaisyas. The fourth set were to be slaves and servants of the other three. They are the Sudras.

As men had been made subject to pain and suffering by Brahma, they were forced to build houses to shelter in when the rains and the heat and the cold were too much for them. They also had to build cities in which they could take refuge from their enemies. At last there came a time when their food failed them. In great distress, and worn out by long hunger, they called upon Brahma. He at once drew forth from the earth very many different sorts of seed, which he gave to men so that they might sow them, and reap harvests from which to satisfy their hunger.

Many years afterwards a worshipper of Brahma, named Manu, was seated by a stream thinking upon Brahma, the Lord of All. To him there swam a fish, who asked to be saved from the stream. Manu took the fish and put it in a jar. Soon, however, the fish grew so very large that the jar would not hold it. Then Manu threw it into a pond. Here again the fish went on growing, so that it was at last too large even for the pond. Then it called to Manu, and said, "Bring me, O Holy Man, to Ganges, the Ocean's Beloved Queen. In her I shall dwell." Then Manu took the fish and threw it into the Ganges.

There the fish continued to grow, so that at last it was too great even for the wide river. Then Manu brought it to the ocean and threw it in. As soon as Manu had done this, the fish told him that a great flood was coming upon the earth. He added, "Thou must cause a strong ship to be built and a cable to be fastened to it. Then take all manner of seeds with thee, and go on board with seven wise men, and wait for me to come."

Manu did as he was told, and, taking all the seeds, floated on the billowy sea in the beautiful ship, with the seven wise men. Soon the fish swam up to the ship, and the cable of the ship was fastened to the horn of the fish. The fish, being thus fastened to the ship, drew it very rapidly over the salty waters, and carried its crew over the ocean, whose waves danced wildly and whose waters thundered loudly.

Tossed by the raging winds, the ship whirled wildly on the waters. Soon the waters covered everything except the ship and the mighty fish that drew it. For many years, the unwearied fish drew the ship through the heaving mass of waters. At length, however, it brought the vessel to the highest peak of the Himalaya. Here it ordered the companions of Manu to fasten the ship without delay to the mountain peak.

Then the fish revealed himself as Brahma, Lord of All, and ordered Manu to create anew all living beings, gods and men, the world and all things in it, both movable and immovable."

However, in Hinduism, unlike Shiva or Vishnu, Brahma, through the ages, has lost much of its theological significance. Now only several numbers of temples are dedicated to Brahma worldwide, while Shiva and Vishnu have tons.

Vishnu, on the other hand, is considered to be the most important god of Vaishnavism, which is the largest Hindu sect. Vishnu, the Preserver, in Hinduism, is the guardian of men, and the preserver of the order of things that is called dharma, and is believed to appear on earth in various incarnations (avatars) to fight demons.

Vishnu also is worshipped as Jagannath, an abstract representation of Vishnu, or Krishna. The idol of Jagannath is depicted with large round eyes, a symmetric face, and the absence of hands and legs.

According to the Brahmavaivarta Purana and Devi Bhagavatam, the Hindu god Vishnu was married to Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth), Sarawati (the goddess of wisdom) and Ganga (the personification of the River Ganges). However, there was no unity among the three wives. Vishnu, being unable to live with the quarrels between his wives, eventually sent them to Brahma.

The last member of the trimurti, Shiva, the god of destruction, is believed to destroy the universe at the end of each cycle which then allows for a new creation, since, in Hinduism, the universe is thought to regenerate in cycles (every 2,160,000,000 years). For the Shaivism sect, Shiva is the most highly revered Hindu god. Shiva has a child, Ganesha, with his wife Parvati.

Shiva is also is believed to be an incarnated form of Hanuman, the leader of the Vanaras. Hanuman, also known as Maruti, Bajrang Bali, or Anjaneya, is one of the central characters in the Ramayana, and he is known for his utmost dedication to Rama, an incarnation of the god Vishnu, in the battle against Ravana, the king of the island of Lanka. Hanuman, in Hinduism, is a divine Vanara, possessing the ability of shapeshifting. The Vanara Hanuman changes shape several times in the Ramayana. When Hanuman sneaks into Ravana's palaces in search of the kidnapped Sita, he contracts himself to the size of a cat, as well as, later on, he takes on the size of a mountain.

After Sita was safely rescued, and when it was time for Rama and the Vanaras to part ways, Hanuman fervently prayed so that his affection for Rama would never dissipate. It is believed that the separation from Rama makes one become even more absorbed in thoughts of the divine qualities of his, which is called samadhi, the highest state of consciousness one can achieve through meditation, deepening one's spiritual connection to Rama. Devotees of Rama, therefore, pray to Hanuman every year on his birthday, reciting the Hanuman Chalisa, a devotional hymn to Hanuman, in the hope of invoking his power.