The Story

Hanuman's name originates from the Sanskrit hanu, meaning “jaw,” and man.

Hanuman was the son of Vayu, the god of the wind, and Anjana, a celestial nymph, also known as Punjikastala, from the kingdom of Lord Indra. One day while she was roaming the heavens. She saw a monkey rishi deep in meditation. The sight of the cross legged monkey made her giggle. Rather than admiring his devotion, she was unable to control herself and burst out laughing. The monkey rishi was so deep in meditation that he did not even know that someone was laughing at him. She thought that he was ignoring her, so she started to pester him even more and unkindly threw fruit and stones at him. When one of the mangoes hit the rishi on his head, he opened his eyes and was startled, his meditation was broken. He looked around furiously and saw Anjana ready to throw another stone.

The monkey sage lost his patience and was enraged at Anjana's behaviour. He was even more angry that she had interrupted his meditation. He was so angry that he cursed her. The curse was that she would take the form of a monkey, as she had made fun of a monkey.  She pleaded to the sage to take back his curse she was so sorry for her actions and truly repented.  The rishi could see that she was genuinely sorry and was unable to take back the curse as the words had been spoken. He then told her that the curse would only be broken when she gave birth to an incarnation of Lord Shiva. The monkey vanished into thin air, and she was left with her new face of a monkey.

She continued to pray to Lord Shiva. She decided to go for a walk in the forest and came across and Ashram.  The people inside the ashram were kind and holy people and did not make fun of her monkey face. She was feeling very hungry after a long day, and accepted the fruits they offered. The people of the ashram ‘priests’, wanted to know who she was and where she had come from. She was too embarrassed to tell her tale of the curse, and who she was previously.  She told them her name was Anjana, and decided to make up a new identity, leaving her past life behind her and start a new beginning. She felt this new name was destined for something special.

The priests told Anjana that she was a very brave lady, they looked scared.  They told Anajana that they would not go to the forest at night. They told Anjana of a huge demon Sambasadan who lived there. He was as monstrous demon and had been terrorising people in the forest.  They were worries that he was going to attack the ashram and were preparing to defend themselves. Anjana told the priests, that she would help them.

Anjana made a small Shivling on the ground and began to pray to Lord Shiva, and Goddess Parvati.  She prayed to help these good and kind people and protect them from the demon. She prayed for strength and bravery. Anjana suddenly heard the words fill her ears, “Sambasadam can be defeated only by his own blood my child...May you be victorious...'

Anjana knew her prayers had been answered and she was filled with hope, which would guide her to victory. She got ready for the battle. As she was picking up the weapons she saw another man standing beside her, she could not see his face. The man looked like a warrior and was very well-built. Anjana thought the priest had called this warrior or King to help fight the demon. The man wore a coat of scars and looked like he had fought many battles. When the man turned to face Anjana she could not believe her eyes he had a face of a monkey.  The monkey man introduced himself as Kesari, the king of the monkeys, and this was his territory.

Suddenly there was a thunderous roar, the huge demon was hurtling towards the ashram. Kesari picked up his weapon and charged at the demon. Together the two of them along with some people from the ashrama and a small monkey army fought with the demon. Kesari could not defeat the demon, even with his skills.  The demon moved very quickly and changed forms. Finally Kersari hurt the demon, his blood flowed to earth. Anjana raced over and dipped the arrows in the demon’s own blood. She rapidly fired the arrows at the demon. The demon let out mighty cries as each arrow pierced him. Kesari saw what Anjana had done and dipped his own weapons in the demons blood, and continued to fight. As each blood dipped weapon hit the demon he began to melt. His deafening cry echoed through the forest. He had finally been defeated and the forest was safe again.

A priest approached Anjana and told her that when someone has helped their people win a battle they offer a gift as custom. She asked Anjana if she would consider marrying Kesari, Anjana looked surprised. She knew he was a brave and extremely intelligent man. Anjana was willing if she thought Kesari would be. The priest told Anjana that Kesari was already willing to marry Anjana. A special and auspicious day was chosen and Kesari and Anjana got married. After their marriage, both Anjana and Kesari daily worshiped Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. They led a very happy married life.

Meanwhile in the city of Ayodhya, King Dasaratha had no children of his own and was performing a ritual for children. He was given a sweet pudding to share with his three wives. King Dasaratha gave the pudding to Kausalya and Kaikeyi.  However as the king was about to give the pudding to Queen Sumithra, and a bird snatched the pudding and flew away. Both Kausalya and Kaikeyi immediately gave a portion of their own pudding to Queen Sumithra, and that is why she gave birth to twins – Lakshmana and Shatrugana. Queen Kausalya gave birth to Rama, the hero of the Ramayana and Queen Kaikeyi gave birth to Bharata.

The bird who stole the pudding was actually an apsara (heavenly being) named Suvarchala. Suvarchala was very hasty and often would act without thinking. He had been cursed by Lord Brahma to take the form of a bird due to his previous wrong doings. Lord Brahma however changed the curse and said that Suvarchala would only be  freed from her curse if she touched the pudding given by Lord Agni to King Dasaratha.

Suvarchala saw his chance to lift the curse and snatched the pudding from Queen Sumitra. Immediately she changed form and became an apsara. The pudding fell towards Vayu, the Wind God following the orders of Lord Shiva, Vayu blew the pudding straight towards the forests where Anjana and Kesari were staying.

Anjana and Kesari had just finished thier morning prayers when Anjana saw the pudding. Anjana and Kesari looked surprised when they heard a heavenly voice, 'Take this offering Anjana. It has the power of the Wind God as he was the one who blew it you and the essence of Lord Shiva inside it. You will have a healthy brave boy, who will be the incarnation of Lord Shiva...Take the pudding...'Anjana gave birth to one of the most powerful heroes of Ramayana – Hanuman. Our beloved Monkey god. Anjana was freed of her curse (her face returned to normal) as she had given birth to an incarnation of Shiva. 

Hanuman was named  Anjaneya [Son of Anjana]. He was also called as Pavanputra, (Son of the Wind God). He was called so because he had the essence of the Wind God, he has many names and was alsio called  Hanuman was also called as Kesharinandan  (Son of Kesari) 

Even as a child, Hanuman had great powers. One morning, he saw the sun rising and thought it was a great yellow ball. He decided to get hold of it so that he could play with it. Indra, the king of gods, saw Hanuman leap into the sky and wanted to stop him. And how did he do that? He threw his weapon, the Vajra (thunderbolt) at the child. Hanuman fell to earth, wounded.

Hanuman’s enraged father decided to go on a strike until the one who hurt his child was punished. Imagine if there is no wind on earth! How would it be? No gentle cooling breeze when the sun blazes down. No power to move the rain-bearing clouds. Why, after a point, both humans and animals couldn’t breathe. Vayu’s strike made life on earth difficult.

The gods knew they had to make Vayu less angry,  so they offered the baby a multitude of boons. Brahma said that no weapon would ever hurt Hanuman and that he would be able to change his form at will and travel wherever he chose. Indra’s boon was that the Vajra would no longer hurt the child and that his body would be stronger than the weapon. Varuna, the god of the ocean, offered him protection from water. Agni, the god of fire, blessed him with immunity to fire. Surya, the sun god, gave him the power to change the size of his body. Yama blessed him with good health and immortality. Vishwakarma, the divine architect, offered a boon that Hanuman would be safe from all objects of his creation. With all these boons, Hanuman became a great warrior who played a crucial role in the Ramayan.

The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic which follows Prince Rama's quest to rescue his beloved wife Sita from the clutches of Ravana with the help of an army of monkeys. It is traditionally attributed to the authorship of the sage Valmiki and dated to around 500 BCE to 100 BCE.  It is comprised of seven different books.

Dasharatha was the King of Ayodhya and had three wives and four sons. Rama was the eldest and his mother was Kaushalya. Bharata was the son of Dasharatha’s second and favorite wife, Queen Kaikeyi. The other two were twins, Lakshmana and Shatrughna whose mother was Sumithra. In the neighboring city the ruler’s daughter was named Sita. When it was time for Sita to choose her bridegroom (at a ceremony called a swayamvara) princes from all over the land were asked to string a giant bow which no one could lift. However, as Rama picked it up, he not only strung the bow, he broke it. Seeing this, Sita indicated that she had chosen Rama as her husband by putting a garland around his neck. Their love became a model for the entire kingdom as they looked over the kingdom under the watchful eye of his father the king.

A few years later, King Dasharatha decided it was time to give his throne to his eldest son Rama and retire to the forest. Everyone seemed pleased, save Queen Kaikeyi since she wanted her son Bharata to rule. Because of an oath Dasharatha had made to her years before, she got the king to agree to banish Rama for fourteen years and to crown Bharata, even though the king pleaded with her not to demand such a request. The devastated King could not face Rama and it was Queen Kaikeyi who told Rama the King’s decree. Rama, always obedient, was content to go into banishment in the forest. Sita and Lakshmana accompanied him on his exile.

One day Rama and Lakshmana wounded a rakshasas (demon) princess who tried to seduce Rama. She returned to her brother Ravana, the ten-headed ruler of Lanka. In retaliation, Ravana devised a plan to abduct Sita after hearing about her incomparable beauty. He sent one of his demons disguised as a magical golden deer to entice Sita. To please her, Rama and Lakshmana went to hunt the deer down. Before they did though, they drew a protective circle around Sita and told her that she would be safe for as long as she did not step outside the circle. After Rama and Lakshmana left, Ravana appeared as a holy man begging alms. The moment Sita stepped outside the circle to give him food, Ravana grabbed her and carried her to his kingdom in Lanka.

Rama then sought the help of a band of monkeys offer to help him find Sita. Hanuman, the general of the monkey band can fly since his father is the wind. He flew to Lanka and, finding Sita in the grove, comforted her and told her Rama would come to save her soon. Ravana’s men captured Hanuman, and Ravana ordered them to wrap Hanuman's tail in cloth and to set it on fire. With his tail burning, Hanuman escaped and hopped from house-top to house-top, setting Lanka on fire. He then flew back to Rama to tell him where Sita was.

Rama, Lakshmana and the monkey army built a causeway from the tip of India to Lanka and crossed over to Lanka where a cosmic battle ensued. Rama killed several of Ravana’s brothers and eventually confronted the ten-headed Ravana. He killed Ravana, freed Sita and after Sita proved here purity, they returned to Ayodhya where Bharata returned the crown to him.