Hanuman

Hanuman, formally recognized as a vānara, a class of monkey-like semi-divine beings, has been known in the Hindu literature of South Asia since his appearance in the Sanskrit epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which gradually took shape in the centuries immediately preceding and following the advent of the Common Era. In the Ramayana, Hanuman is praised as the exemplary devotee of Rama, the god Vishnu’s avatāra or manifestation on earth. Hanuman played a vital role in the struggle to win back Rama’s consort, Sita, after her abduction by the dastardly King Ravana of Lanka. Thus, esteemed as a heroic literary character, Hanuman’s renown spread wherever the Ramayana was adopted as an integral part of Sanskritic court life, even reaching parts of Southeast Asia. Additionally, beyond the confines of the court, Hanuman, as a physically invincible deity, began to attract devotion in popular practice in South Asia during an era of conflict among various rulers in the second millennium. Hanuman’s images thereupon became a common feature at small village shrines throughout the subcontinent, where he performed much like other folk deities, such as the Goddess, Bhairava (an angry form of Shiva), and ancestral and chthonic beings geared to villagers’ everyday needs. In the 16th century, one poet, Tulsidas, rewrote the Ramayana in an early form of Hindi prevalent in his time. Since then, that Hindi narrative has become the preeminent devotional literature for Hanuman. In the colonial era, Hanuman received somewhat muted attention from Brahmins and Western scholars, inasmuch as the latter more often regarded him as a demi-deity of lesser importance than the major canonical deities of Sanskrit literature that Brahmins upheld, such as Shiva and Vishnu (and Vishnu’s avatāras). But by the end of the 20th century, Hanuman had acquired enhanced cultural significance throughout India to the extent that one could now argue that he is among the most popular deities. This appraisal is based on Hanuman’s seemingly unmatched reputation for performing miracles, his frequent promotion as a heroic figure in ascendant Hindu nationalism, and the many new temples lately dedicated to him to an extent far beyond what we see for other deities. Along with this new prominence, one can see an escalation of popular literature and performance art in which Hanuman is accorded the highest level of affection. For this reason, any account of the literature of Hanuman necessarily tracks his historical trajectory of increasing popularity.