Hanuman

About Hanuman

Hanuman (हनुमान्) — also known as Anjaneya, Maruti, Bajrangbali, and Pavan-putra — is the immortal vanara deity whose bhakti (devotion) to Lord Rama is held across Hindu tradition as the highest example of surrender and service. The son of the wind god Vayu and Anjana, and raised as the son of the vanara chieftain Kesari, Hanuman possesses powers inherited from the Wind and sanctified by the Sun — he can expand to any size, leap across oceans, bear the weight of mountains, and kindle strength in others simply by taking Rama's name.

Hanuman enters the Ramayana in the Kishkindha Kanda, as minister to the exiled vanara prince Sugriva. Recognising Rama's divinity at first sight, he brokers the alliance between Rama and Sugriva that will eventually take Lanka. The Sundara Kanda — the fifth and the only Kanda named not for a place but for a quality (Sundara, 'beautiful') — is effectively Hanuman's Kanda: his leap across the ocean to Lanka, his reconnaissance of Ravana's city, his meeting with Sita in the Ashoka Vatika, his confrontation with Ravana's son Indrajit, his burning of Lanka, and his return with the news that Sita lives.

In the Yuddha Kanda, when Lakshmana falls unconscious from Indrajit's weapon, it is Hanuman who flies to the Himalayas and — unable to identify the exact herb — carries back the entire Dronagiri mountain so the physician Sushena can find the Sanjivani herb and revive Lakshmana. Blessed by Sita herself with immortality, Hanuman is chiranjīvī — one of the eight ever-living beings — and is said to reside wherever the Ramayana is recited. Recitation of the Sundara Kanda and the Hanuman Chalisa is traditionally prescribed for protection, courage, and victory over obstacles.