This is the twelfth of a series of short articles on various deities. As I am not a Hindu myself, I would appreciate any feedback from Hindus.
Hanuman: god of athletes
The strong and agile Hanuman (Anuma/Maruti), born to Anjara, one of the ape-like vanara, was god of athletes and gymnasts. He was also deft, shrewd and devoted to his friends. A nature-loving vegetarian, Hanuman fought only with either his hands, rocks or uprooted trees. He avoided relationships with women. He was a protective deity who destroyed the ‘death rays’ which the planets emitted.
Indra’s mistake
Hanuman was born hungry. On seeing the sun he mistook it for a ripe fruit and charged towards it, knocking all of the planets aside. This so infuriated Indra that he threw his club at him. This proved to be a costly mistake. Hanuman was knocked unconscious and, as he lay slumped on the mountain, Vayu, his father and god of the winds, refused to work, stilling all winds. Panicked by the suffocating earth, the gods revived Hanuman. As an atonement, Indra donated his club while Brahma made Hanuman invincible.
Sita’s rescue
Hanuman was an ally of Rama’s. When Rama’s beautiful and virtuous wife, Sita, was abducted and taken to Lanka by the demon Ravana, Hanuman traversed the distance to Ravana’s palace in a leap. Wanting Rama to claim the honour of victory, Hanuman merely reassured Sita of her imminent rescue and then lit the fires of war. Hanuman, followed by his army of monkeys, joined Rama in battle and Lanka was destroyed (below left), Ravana killed and Sita finally freed.
Do you have any personal experience of, or interest in, Hanuman or Hinduism that you would like to share? If so, please leave a comment below.
References/Sources used (please use my bookstore if you want to order the books):
Comte, F. (1991) ‘The Wordsworth Dictionary of Mythology’, Wordsworth, Kent
Image attributions
Main image licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Sharealike 3.0 Unported license by Sujit kumar
Smaller image licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Sharealike 3.0 Unported license by Nina Paley
Are you a Dream Spirit? Sign up for free!
In 2009 I launched a members site for those of you who are interested in dreams. It’s called Dream Spirit and has lots of free content, including a searchable dream dictionary and forum. To join, please click
here. There is also a summer offer of a third off for those who want to upgrade and a generous referral program. Check it out by July 31st!
Read your stars with Earthpulse
Click here to read your weekly stars.
Please note that my stars (as with all horoscopes of this nature) make use of limited, widely applicable astrological factors and can be interpreted in many ways. This does not reflect the full scope of the art and science of astrology.
NB. The rights to my horoscopes are currently for sale to other online or offline publications. Please contact me for more information.
Now on radio!
I am also on radio, approximately once a month, here in the UK. The radio station is ‘Magic 999′,part of the ‘Rock FM’ group and I take calls for about 40 minutes from 0830 on the Breakfast Show. The show broadcasts to Lancashire but non-Lancastrians can listen online on www.magic999.co.uk. My next show is likely to be in July 2010.
Coming next: The Hindu Deities: Kamu
Shiva is part of the Hindu Trinity of powerful deities. Science Nature