Like Mother, Like Son and Hanuman1

 Philip Lutgendorf

ANARANAM naranam ca devas, danavas, , nagas, pointed out the worldwide presence kathamasit samagamah (How etc.—who might potentially cause his of the motif of the “animal Vcan there be a relationship death.3 The incongruity so apparent helper”—a clever supernatural between men and monkeys?) to Sita is thus paradoxically linked to sidekick of the hero of tales. the devious workings of the devas, for, Generally, however, the treatment Women and Monkeys as we all know, the nearly-immortal of this motif assumes a male point Roughly midway through the , tyrant of the universe, is fated of view, and the diminutive assistant Sundarakanda of ’s to be slain by a mortal man assisted typically facilitates a hero’s , Sita, doubting whether the by monkeys. material attainment of the goals of monkey is truly an emissary Let me extend the quest for his quest—victory, fortune, and a of her husband, incredulously poses missing links in this verse by princess bride. The materials that I the above question, which suggests the monkeying around with Sita’s will be considering, however—a implausibility of a “coming together” question in order to pose several late-vedic hymn, various versions or “union” (samagama) of the human more: first, what have women to of the Sundarakanda, and and simian species.2 Thereby hangs do with monkeys? More contemporary folk practices and a tale, for the query leads to a long specifically, what relationship or songs—give us pause to consider recital of the events since Sita’s “union” could the chaste wife of that a woman’s “animal helper,” abduction, and especially of the an Aryan prince have with a feral especially if he is a man-like alliance forged between the Raghu forest-dweller? These questions monkey, may assume a different and brothers and , the monkey will lead me to yet two more: indeed wider range of roles, not ruler of . But Sita’s what do certain kinds of divine excluding the provision of pointed query suggests deeper ironies women—independent, virginal, protection, emotional support, and relevant to the larger epic: first, to and potent Mother goddesses— various kinds of intimacy. the low status of the monkey ( have to do with monkeys? And or kapi) in the hierarchy of the ancient finally: what, if anything, does and Vrishakapi Indian bestiary, and hence to its being Sita, whom many regard as the The creators of the 1933 Hollywood a singularly inappropriate companion patriarchally-regulated “spouse film King Kong were not the first for an Aryan prince who exemplifies goddess” par excellence, have to artists to fantasize that a large, virile civilization and decorum (maryada). do with these wild, independent monkey might have erotic designs on Moreover, the pairing of human women? My interest in all these an attractive human female. An beings and monkeys, which seems so questions arises from my interest inspired poet in northwestern India inappropriate to the princess, has in in the Ramayana tradition and in appears to have had a similar idea fact been made previously in the story, Hanuman himself, and in the some three millennia earlier. It found not in order to magnify the human at meanings which his monkeyhood expression in an anomalous hymn in the expense of the simian, but rather (kapitva) seems to encode for the tenth mandala or anthology of the to signal their shared cosmic Hindu society. I will argue that —the so-called vrishakapi insignificance, as creatures unworthy the relationship of this so-called hymn, 10.86. Louis Renou called this of a mighty lord’s attention, “men’s deity” to Sita, and to “the strangest poem in the Rigveda” when Ravana solicits the boon of women in general, is in fact a (quoted in O’Flaherty: 257) and immunity from all classes of baings— “special” one. Folklorists have generations of vedic scholars have

22 MANUSHI puzzled over the question of why it was placed in the sacred collection at all, a problem sharpened for many, especially in the Victorian era, by the evident obscenity of certain verses. My aim in revisiting this problem hymn is necessarily modest; not being a vedic scholar I cannot hope to “explain” it, only to examine and summarise the explanations of others. My interest arises from the fact that vrishakapi is generally taken to mean “bull-monkey” or “virile monkey.” Scholars who have studied the history of Hanuman-worship in South Asia have examined this hymn closely for evidence of a vedic “proto- Hanuman,” and a few have claimed Philip Lutgendorf (below, in photo) to find it, or to find signs of a “non- Aryan” cult of “monkey-worship” being acknowledged and somewhat aroused (6-7). and his spouse allegorical interpretations nervously incorporated into the continue to argue over the beast (8- associating Vrishakapi with various brahmanical fold via this enigmatic 9), and the monkey, and possibly his climatic and astronomical text (Lutgendorf 1994:219-20). wife (vrishakapayi, “Mrs. phenomena (e.g., the sun, the Hymn 10.86 belongs to the Vrishakapi”) get into the discussion moon); Joshi observes that these genre of akhyana or dialogue, a in verses 10-11, praising Indrani, theories are “far-fetched” and form which occurs particularly in whose “husband will never die of “seem to neglect the general spirit the first and tenth mandalas, old age.” In verses 12-15, Indra, of the Rigvedic hymn” (Joshi: 115- generally assumed to belong to the who says he is not happy without 16). There was good reason for later strata of the Rigveda. Here the his friend, again receives an such neglect, since the hymn’s conversation is between at least abundant offering of soma, together “spirit” is best described as jauntily three speakers—Indra, his wife with meat of “fifteen bulls,” which bawdy, even obscene; thus Ralph (referred to as Indrani) and fully satisfies him. Verses 16 and Griffith, in his 1896 translation, Vrishakapi—though some find 17 mirror each other with riddling took recourse to several evidence of four or even five assertions regarding the sexual act. euphemisms and skipped verses 16- participants. The hymn opens with Verses 18-22 allude to the distant 17 entirely, “which I cannot Indra (or possibly his wife) wanderings of the monkey, perhaps translate into decent English” complaining of a decline in both in banishment, and entreat him to (Griffith 1896:597). Scholars in the Indra-worship and soma offerings, return “home.” second half of the twentieth century, a situation which succeeding verses The history of interpretation of including Joshi’s teacher R. N. (2, 4-5)—evidently spoken by the the hymn was summarised by J. R. Dandekar, began to take a more wife—blame on the monkey’s Joshi in Minor Vedic Deities (1978). forthright look at the imagery and “erring ways” and defilement of The medieval commentator Sayana innuendo of the hymn, and “precious, well-made, anointed (perhaps following up on verse 7, advanced the view that it related to things.”4 Indra defends the monkey, wherein Vrishakapi addresses the worship of “fertility gods” or whom he characterizes as his friend. Indrani with the vocative Amba— embodied “a virility-charm”; There follows an exchange in which ”mummy” or “little mother”) “Indra...is spoken of as having been Indrani boasts of her ability to identified the monkey as the “son exhausted when a bold lascivious satisfy a sexual partner—an of Indra”—although we may feel monkey administered to him some invitation to which the monkey that this only adds incest to injury. medicine through which Indra apparently responds, at least Late-nineteenth and early-twentieth regained his manly power.” verbally and by being physically century scholars typically advanced Western scholars of the post-

No. 114 23 “sexual revolution” have plunged “symbolic.” Euphemism and coarse revolutionised biology and unblushingly into the debate, with parody were made necessary on the scandalised the Western unexpurgated translations and bold verbal level, she argues, by the fact establishment by postulating a new speculations on the meaning of that the required “body language” direct genetic link between simians the hymn and of its presence in the of the rite was disturbing and even and humans, the latter speculated, holiest of ancient brahmanical shocking for the participants. pondered, and joked about the collections. Just as Jamison rejects earlier unmistakable resemblances Of late, several scholars have arguments that the “crude” hymn between themselves and these entertained the suspicion that the somehow accidentally stumbled (mainly) diminutive primates. I word kapi (“monkey”) itself is into the stately vedic corpus when have argued elsewhere that there is being used in the hymn as a slang no one was looking (hence her no convincing evidence for a or mocking euphemism; the most surmise that it must have had a role “monkey-worshipping cult” in sustained such argument yet to in some important ritual), so she ancient India, and that textual appear in print is that of Stephanie insists that the ashvamedha’s references, on the contrary, show Jamison in her 1996 study of the “showcasing of extreme public that monkeys were commonly role of women in vedic ritual, sexuality....is not a freakish and viewed as feral, promiscuous, dirty, Sacrificed Wife, Sacrificer’s Wife. aberrant spectacle, as it is sometimes cunning (though not Following the observation of sometimes presented, but the particularly intelligent), and O’Flaherty on the resemblance logical, if extreme, fulfillment of generally inauspicious (Lutgendorf between elements of the hymn and woman’s function in ritual....” 1997:323). Jamison likewise of the great royal ritual of the horse (Jamison: 65). Further, she reminds observes that “Though it is hard to sacrifice (O’Flaherty: 261), us that the horse sacrifice was not know where a monkey would fit in Jamison offers a meticulous simply a costly and elaborate way the system, I would wager that analysis in support of her bold to glorify a king; its invocation in he would be a ” (Jamison: hypothesis that the hymn presents, narrative literature points to its 77). To call a consecrated royal in effect, a “mock ashvamedha,” performance at times of crisis, stallion a “bull-monkey” is thus a possibly preserving an earlier, especially when a king was without transgression and a taunt. We may uncodified version of some of the issue and hence potentially seen as similarly observe—putting aside obscene banter ritually exchanged “impotent” or flawed, and thus unfit the ashvamedha theory for the by key participants (priest, to rule. The well-established moment—that to call a subordinate sacrificer, and sacrificer’s wives) homologising of the stallion with male a “bull-monkey” (as Indrani during one of the climactic events the king (through its consecration does in the hymn) is likewise an in the rite: the period when the and year-long processional ambivalent indicator potentially of sacrificer/king’s chief queen “campaign”) and the transfer of its both desire and hostility. “mimes” sexual intercourse under potency to him when he ultimately Whether the ritual and the hymn a cloth with the just-slain inhales the vapor of the broth in are indeed related, the purpose of consecrated stallion (Jamison: which its dismembered body the taunting of the animal-surrogate 75,88). The uncouth, sexually simmers, both presuppose, Jamison in both cases would appear to be the forward “monkey,” in this insists, the active participation of same: to restore vigour and interpretation, was a sarcastic, his wives as sexual partners, who credibility to the “real man” diminutive euphemism for the huge likewise absorb the stallion’s (O’Flaherty’s translation, in this and stately horse—one of the most virility. context, of vira): the husband/ revered animals for the vedic people We think we understand why the sacrificer/Indra. Thus Indrani, in and a surrogate for the king vedic people homologised kings verse 9, calls the monkey an himself—which had just suffered a with stallions; as a result, the “imposter” who has set his sights on ritual death by suffocation and structure of the ashvamedha is at her “as if I had no man,” adding hence was in a state of “reflex- least partially comprehensible to us. immediately, “But I have a real conditioned tumescence and But, assuming for the moment that man, for I am the wife of Indra....” emission,”5 so that, as Jamison Jamison’s hypothesis about Rigveda (O’Flaherty: 259-60; emphasis in persuasively shows, the sexual 10.86 is correct, why would an original). Like the horse in the manipulation explicitly prescribed ancient poet call a horse a royal ritual, the bullish-monkey of in the ritual manuals was hardly “monkey”? Long before Darwin the hymn is ultimately used to

24 MANUSHI heighten the stature of another male. epic, as both a literary and Ramakatha itself is inscribed within This is achieved through a curious ideological exemplar, on many the book even as the book is and erotically-charged triangle in subsequent retellings; hence its contained within the Ramayana” which the monkey is at once the portrayal, at a key moment in the (Goldman: 15). This special status “raffish pal” (as Jamison puts it) of narrative, of the interaction between has long been maintained by Indian the husband and the desired/ Sita and her husband’s monkey- audiences, hence the widespread detested familiar of the wife. Just emissary deserves close scrutiny. tradition that the book represents as the verbal obscenities released at This is all the more so in view the bija or “seed” from which the the climactic moment of the of the fact that the Sundarakanda greater epic grew (sometimes more ashvamedha serve to ultimately has long enjoyed a special status as specifically identified as shloka reconstitute a weakened king via his the “heart” of the epic, both 5.34.3, in which Hanuman hands wife’s ambivalent union with an structurally and emotionally. ’s signet-ring to Sita). We animal surrogate, so the hymn’s Located almost exactly midway may likewise note the fact that, in descent into lewdness ultimately through the text, it marks the point both manuscript and printed serves to restore sacrificial at which the protagonist’s fortunes, editions, this “epic within an epic” offerings and even self-confidence having reached their nadir, take a is the portion of the poem most to Indra—a reading which explains, decisive upward turn. In addition, frequently reproduced at least, why this puzzling hymn its multiple recapitulations of the independently and used for ritual concludes each verse with the greater story (most of which are recitation (Goldman: 5, 20, 37, 80). ringing affirmation “Indra above narrated by Hanuman) “enhance Equally striking is the fact of the all!” (vishvasmad Indra uttarah). still further the sense that the poem physical absence, from virtually the is centered here, that the whole of the book, of the Sita and Hanuman Ramayana’s titular hero, In this section I will who reappears only in the focus on the final five chapters as a Sundarakanda, the passive listener to “Beautiful Book,” of the Hanuman’s account of Ramayana of Valmiki, meeting which has recently Sita. As the translators appeared in a readable note, Rama’s absence and richly-annotated contributes in its own way English translation by to an atmosphere of Robert and Sally “profound and pervasive Sutherland Goldman. devotion to him,” but it Since academic scholars also provides the in the past were often audience with alternate inclined to unduly ideals. Through the epic’s privilege this earliest- most detailed and surviving written version emotionally-compelling of the complete story, portrait of its heroine, much recent Ramayana “the Sundarakanda scholarship (my own emerges in many ways as included) has focused the Book of Sita”; and it instead on the immense likewise constitutes “a variety of later kind of epiphany of Ramayana tellings in Hanuman... to the status regional languages, of a divinity” (Goldman: visual arts, and 19, 60, 40). performance genres (see, Thematically, the e.g., Richman). Yet there book divides into two is no denying the principal components: influence of Valmiki’s Hanuman hands Rama’s ring to Sita descriptions of Hanuman’s

No. 114 25 extraordinary feats, which are in effect, brings Rama to Sita, witness the fabrication, through characterised by ferocious energy first through language (his the medium of language, of the (his great leaps, his sudden growth recounting of the Ramakatha), body of the ideal man to colossal stature, and his and then through a physical token (purushottama). This “restoration” destruction of enemies and of the (the ring, which causes Sita to of Rama—which finally convinces physical environment); and his feel—in the book’s celebrated, Sita that the ludicrous monkey is encounter with Sita, which is pivotal verse—”as joyous as if truly his emissary—is not merely bracketed by these passages and she had rejoined her husband”; “symbolic,” for in renewing Sita’s comprises, both in its placement 5.34.3). Despite her concern over hope it also saves her life and thus and in its emotional tenor, the very a monkey’s inherent literally effects Rama’s eventual heart of the book (sargas 28-39). “inauspiciousness” (on which she success. These two components suggest the twice remarks; 5.30.4, 5.32.21), This leads to my second theme: twin themes of and Sita literally drinks in Hanuman’s the intense emotional flavour of the (“power” and “devotion”) that, in words, and when she begs him for interaction which follows, modern times, are often cited in more, he obliges with a beginning with the message from explanation of the divine monkey’s remarkable word-portrait of her Rama which the monkey proceeds great appeal. The action of the husband. In twelve couplets to deliver. Its portrait of a prince book is launched—literally—with (5.33.8-19) Hanuman catalogues suffering the pangs of separation the account of Hanuman’s leap and Rama’s physical attributes in a from his beloved (5.34.39-44) in flight to (at 190 shlokas, the minute detail that seems to fact exceeds in tenderness anything longest chapter in the entire anticipate both the nakha-shikha that we have heard Rama say in Ramayana), which is punctuated conventions of classical literature dispatching Hanuman. Sita with aggressive encounters with and the on temple responds accordingly: “No one is challenging supernatural females. iconography. In effect, we dearer to him than I or even as dear: This mood of virya not his mother, his father, (heroism/virility) is or anyone else” (5.34.29). replaced by one of She completes the voyeuristic adbhuta exchange by offering two (wonder) during his tokens of her own—again, subsequent tour of Lanka one verbal and one in search of Sita, in which tangible. For the first, she he witnesses the spectacle discloses an intimate of the post-orgy slumber incident from their life in of Ravana’s half-naked exile—beginning with wives (5.9.38-39). When Rama asleep with his head at last his gaze falls on Sita on her lap—of which the herself, the mood changes audience has till now been to one of karuna (pathos), unaware (the story of the as Hanuman watches Sita crow, 5.36.12-32). For the threatened by Ravana and second, she hands hears her despairing Hanuman an “exquisite, resolution to end her life, heavenly hair ornament,” which finally cements his which she has likewise resolve to reveal himself. kept concealed (5.36.52). Here I wish to point to Soon after, as Hanuman two aspects of their prepares to leave, Sita encounter which are begins to cry and begs relevant to my present him repeatedly to stay topic. The first is the another day, as she theme of restoration cannot bear “my grief at through an intermediary not being able to see or surrogate. Hanuman, you” (5.37.19-22).

26 MANUSHI This exchange But my purpose in citing between Sita and the rite here is not to Hanuman constitutes, in suggest any direct or effect, one of Rama and conscious parallel Sita’s tenderest moments between the sequence of within the epic narrative; the ritual and the narrative indeed, it is their only of the Sundarakanda ; extended intimate rather it is to point to a “conversation.” The shared way of thinking quotations are necessary, about or “through” animal of course, since Rama is surrogates who become not actually present, his vital intermediaries. The place being taken by his vedic sacrificial horse is messenger. It is hardly not a “scapegoat” in the surprising, then, that the Biblical sense, but rather audience has always an extension of the king found it to be singularly himself; hence his “beautiful” (sundara), in transformation into a a way that Rama’s later victim (bali or pashu) is reunion with his wife will problematic and must be most emphatically not be. bracketed with verbal At the risk of going out denials both sublime (the on a limb, I propose that famous hymn to the dying this scene, nestled in the horse at Rigveda 1.162, “heart” of the containing the verse “You Sundarakanda, is about as do not really die through close to “lovemaking” as this, nor are you Rama and Sita ever harmed....”; 1.162.21) publicly come in Valmiki’s dignified sends Hanuman on a crucial and ridiculous (the obscene banter narrative. mission, giving him his signet ring. about “horsikins” during the At this point I wish to return to Accompanied by an armed force, queen’s night with the dead animal; the coarse dialogue and imagery of the monkey ranges far before he see Jamison: 69). Like the horse, the vrishakapi hymn and its ultimately proceeds alone to his Hanuman is an animal-surrogate postulated linkage with the fateful encounter and exchange of capable of effecting the reversal of disturbing climax of the tokens with the princess. In the a king’s waning fortunes, and he is ashvamedha in order to point to course of their interaction, the likewise, in certain contexts, a some structural resemblances. The princess’ absent husband— comical figure. The German king who wished to perform a horse represented at every moment Indologist Herman Jacobi sacrifice consecrated an animal- through his animal surrogate—is complained of the often surrogate and outfitted him with similarly “reconstituted,” though “burlesque” quality of the tokens of himself (royal parasol, not through the gross mimesis of the Sundarakanda and concluded that etc.), and then sent him on a long vedic rite, but on the refined level large portions of it were “spurious,” journey, accompanied by an army, of language and feeling. a judgment rejected by more recent in order to ultimately effect, The author of the Ramayana scholarship (Goldman: 28). Unlike through the returned animal’s was of course well aware of the the vedic horse or Vrishakapi, sacrificial death and union with the details of the ashvamedha; he had however, Hanuman serves only as king’s wife, the restoration or described one—performed by King a go-between for sundered lovers enhancement of the king’s virility in order to obtain and can play no direct sexual role (virya) and his “royal fortune” sons—at length in (1.11- himself; hence Valmiki’s monkey is (shri). Rama, deprived of both his 13), right down to the three “a virile but largely de-eroticised kingdom and his wife and hence in principal queens’ night under the figure whose libidinal energies are the deepest crisis of his career, blanket with the horse (1.13.27-28). sublimated in the service of his

No. 114 27 master” (Goldman: 55). I believe been understood is as a symbolic diminished” (5.35.57; 5.54.3). that this sublimation, at least, was “son,” a fictive kinship that is These passages reveal the a conscious strategy on the epic expressive of their intimate but de- importance of the theme of poet’s part, an intentionally eroticised relationship. It also sublimation and subordination—to supernatural transformation of the reflects psycho-social patterns in the authority of “Rama’s orders” observed behaviour and popular Indian families, in which a son often and to Rama himself—that is such conception of aggressive, virile appears as a young woman’s a central preoccupation of the epic monkeys. “saviour” in the context of her in- poet and that provides a firm In dealing with most of the laws’ home, and as a sustaining counterweight to the glimpses of moral dilemmas presented by the replacement for the affection of a rampant shakti that periodically story, the Ramayana’s main sometimes emotionally-distant punctuate his Sundarakanda. Later characters do not behave husband. Here, Rama’s physical storytellers, however, would often according to baser human or distance from Sita—which, in her expand on this shared characteristic animal instincts of self-protection desperate ruminations, she of the heroine and the monkey, in and self-aggrandisement; in short, periodically interprets as the willful some cases tilting the balance away according to “normal,” worldly withholding of his affections—is from subordination to a more expectations. It is precisely this bridged by his messenger, who first autonomous exercise of power and that makes them exemplars of a appears to her in tiny form, “the size agency. culturally-cherished ideal of of a cat.” When Sita laughs at this behaviour. The Indian audience childlike being’s claim to be able and Langurvir scarcely needs to be reminded of to rescue her, Hanuman proudly Here I leap forward more than a the fact that, as Rama remarks to swells to display his “mountainous” thousand years to consider two sets Sugriva in Book 6, “In this world, form, inviting her to climb on his of narratives, icons, and practices Friend, all brothers are not like back. One need not be a strict that again pair a divine female with , all sons do not behave Freudian to suggest that Hanuman’s a powerful monkey, and that begin toward their fathers as I did, nor behaviour invokes the boy-child’s to appear in medieval texts but are all friends like you” (6.18.15). wish to “show-off” and “be big,” remain widespread to the present We may add that most worldly (like his father) for his mother. The day. The first set comprises inheritance disputes are not fact that Hanuman and Sita’s narratives that belong to what A. K. resolved like the one in Chitrakut, relationship invokes the traditional Ramanujan sometimes termed the in which two brothers attempt to closeness of the mother-son bond in “meta-Ramayana,” which is give away a kingdom to each patriarchal families suggests one inclusive of variant but related tales other (2.98-104)—a scene that sense in which these characters are in all the languages of South and Indian audiences must inevitably indeed “akin.” Southeast Asia. The second set is contrast with the equally familiar They are akin in another sense much more loosely related—if but bloody climax of the too—as embodiments of shakti or related at all—to the Ramayana . It is the Raghu “power.” Hanuman repeatedly narrative as it is generally brothers’ ability to sublimate their observes that Sita herself possesses understood, and is attested personal desires to the higher law “the blazing power” to destroy primarily through modern of , and the poet’s ability Ravana and his city (5.49.21,33, 35; ethnographic accounts of popular to project adharma beyond the 5.53.18, 23); he attributes all of his religious practices. All these realm of the patrilineal family— deeds to the power of Sita’s materials highlight an ambivalent to animals, demons, and a handful asceticism, and declares that as a relationship between a mother of women—that makes their story result, Ravana is as good as dead, goddess and a monkey sidekick; a important and exemplary. However, and that Rama will serve as “the relationship expressed through the powerful characterisation of Sita mere instrument of his destruction” devotion, protection, violence, and and Hanuman in Sundarakanda (5.57.2-5, 16). Hanuman likewise (more occasionally) transgressive further extends this moral reveals that he is capable of sexuality.6 exemplification beyond the story’s rescuing Sita himself, and she twice Several popular stories place inner circle of human male siblings. confirms that this is so, but each Hanuman in encounters with One way in which Hanuman’s time asks him to refrain from acting, menacing supernatural women. relationship to Sita has traditionally lest “Raghava’s reputation would be There are, of course, the challenges

28 MANUSHI of the “mother of snakes,” sexual encounter—a , and the rakshasi motif in keeping with Simhika, which he faces the general Jain in the course of his flight portrayal of Hanuman as over the ocean, defeating a heroic playboy and also the first by trickery and found in most Southeast the second by violence Asian retel-lings (5.1.130-178). In both (Govindcandra: 37). cases, Hanuman’s victory More peripheral to the is achieved through central Ramayana swelling his body to narrative, but very enormous stature in popular and widely response to the demoness’ circulated is the story of gaping maw, then quickly Hanuman’s defeat of a contracting it (in the case bloodthirsty tantric of Surasa) to rapidly enter goddess of the and exit her mouth, then netherworld in the course salute her and receive her of his journey there to blessings, and (with rescue Rama and Simhika) to enter and kill , who have her by piercing her vitals been captured by with his tiny but Ravana’s subterranean “adamantine” form. The alter-ego Ahiravana psychosexual overtones Surasa (a.k.a. Mahiravana, of this scenario—the boy- Mayiliravana). This story child’s response to the devouring fulfillment of a prophecy is best characterised as a semi- maternity of an approving “good regarding the downfall of Ravana, independent narrative cycle in mother” and a threatening “bad gives him her blessing to enter the which Hanuman, rather than Rama, mother”—seem too obvious to city. She then disappears from becomes the central hero (Smith: warrant comment. Valmiki’s account, but in some 153, Zvelebil: xxxix-xl). Again, the A third challenge, however, retellings she is ordered by besting of the goddess involves, in appears as Hanuman is about to Hanuman to leave Lanka (since different versions of the story, enter Lanka, in the form of a Rama will be unable to conquer varying degrees of violence or female gatekeeper who is the city as long as she, the collusion (e.g., Hanuman kills or generally understood as the personification of Ravana’s shri, deposes her, and assumes her form personification of the city itself remains present) and is to greedily consume food offerings (she bears the name Lanka or dispatched elsewhere, sometimes from the demon-king before Lankini) and hence as its bhudevi under his escort, on the promise ultimately slaying him; alternatively or protective local goddess. that she will receive worship the goddess herself reveals how the Though deleted from the critical there. Thus the story figures in demon may be destroyed, and edition of the Valmiki Ramayana, the origin myths of certain local receives the boon of being this passage of some seventy lines goddess temples and explains worshipped elsewhere). The is found in most of the epic’s Hanuman’s presence at the monkey’s sexual potency is southern manuscripts and modern shrines as a guardian/sidekick to highlighted in this tale as well, printed vulgate versions, and is the resident Mother. Hanuman’s though not in his encounter with the retold in many later . “besting” of the local goddess resident Devi; instead, we learn that Again, it involves a violent takes another form, however, in Ahiravana’s subterranean city is challenge and an increase in size the Padmapurana, a ca. seventh guarded by a monkey-champion on Hanuman’s part, but the century Jain retelling by Ravishena; known as Makardhvaj (“fish- exchange stops short of murder here Hanuman’s battle with a banner”) who is identified as the when the gatekeeper-goddess, princess named Lankasundari (“the son of Hanuman, sired through a recognizing the monkey as the Lankan beauty”) ends with their drop of sweat which fell into the

No. 114 29 ocean and was swallowed by a challenges the assumption that maiden named Trikuta, who female fish. In some racier southern “Vaishnava” and “Shaiva/Shakta” undertakes austerities in order to and Southeast Asian variants, this elements can be decisively win as her husband. When incident is linked to another long separated (Lutgendorf 1994: 240- Vishnu (incarnate as Rama) tale in which Hanuman romances a 42), and he evidently enjoys a protests that he can have but one serpentine fish-queen who had peculiar relationship with and wife, Sita, he promises to marry challenged the construction of the influence over the martial her in his future advent as Kalkin, causeway to Lanka, thus achieving goddess, though this needs to be the tenth avatara of the current Rama’s purpose while enjoying explored further. cosmic cycle, who will bring the himself and siring a chthonic son/ To do so, I will take a field trip dismal yuga to a close. He double (Govindcandra: 236). to the northwestern states of then sends her to the Himalayas, The final goddess encounter I Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal accompanied by Hanuman, to will mention is with Sita herself, Pradesh, western Uttar Pradesh, practice austerities and await his though not as the desperate, and eastern Rajasthan, where coming, but she is pursued imprisoned queen of the local mother goddesses with enroute by the lustful Bhairo, who Sundarakanda, but as a ferocious strong mythical connections to desires to unite with her and martial goddess celebrated in both Vishnu and are whom she eventually decapitates several Bengali and Assamese sometimes worshipped together with her trident, granting him the narratives as the destroyer of yet with two servants or bodyguards: boon of receiving worship near another Ravana—this time a Langurvir (“hero monkey/virile her shrine. hundred- or thousand-headed monkey”), who is identified with In Erndl’s astute interpretation, clone against whom Rama and his Hanuman, and Bhairo (a.k.a. Langurvir and Bhairo incarnate the forces are powerless. In several Bhairava), who is understood to dual roles of the vir or virile hero: versions of this story, Hanuman is be a manifestation of Shiva. The the devotee who embodies bhakti dispatched to to fetch “seven mothers” of the Punjab (Hanuman), and the tantric adept Sita, who emanates or assumes a hills were recently the subject of “who seeks union with the ferocious form, assisted by a comprehensive study by goddess through meat, wine, and bloodthirsty “mothers,” and Kathleen Erndl, who associates sex” (Erndl: 161). Yet to directly destroys the demon. In an Hanuman’s presence in the aspire to sexually possess the anonymous Assamese play on this shrines with the gradual goddess is to court death, and theme summarised by William “Vaishnavisation” of older Nath, Erndl suggests the parallel Smith, the Shataskandharavana tantric, and Shakta cults in the between Bhairo and another vadha, the aroused goddess then region. This process has led to unlucky “bullish” figure, the emits a fiery brilliance that the partial “taming” of these buffalo-demon Mahishasura, who threatens to destroy the universe; goddesses, who are understood to is decapitated by in the Rama is unable to face her and be both virgins and mothers, classic praise-poem Hanuman must again be through linkages with Vaishnava Devimahatmya.7 The alternative summoned. He falls at the narratives (including the is to become a non-threatening goddess’s feet and delivers a song Ramayana), and through the “son/servant,” and in the popular of praise which transforms her, at abandonment of animal sacrifice but sanitised posters of Vaishno last, into a modest and auspicious and other tantric, power- Devi now sold throughout India, wife. In analysing the play, Smith generating rites at their shrines her narrative is compressed into finds himself puzzled by its mixed (Erndl: 43). The most popular of an icon of a benevolent lion- Vaishnava-Shaiva/Shakta subject these goddesses today is Vaishno riding Durga/Vaishno Devi, matter, and offers the opinion that Devi, who is worshipped in the flanked by a rampant, banner- Hanuman’s climactic role in form of three stone mounds in a waving Langurvir/Hanuman and a appeasing the goddess “could cave-temple high on a mountain smiling, childlike Bhairo (who have been played just as well by above Jammu, which has in recent nevertheless holds a bloody one of the other characters” times become the goal of large- sword and severed head). (Smith: 141). However, as I have scale pilgrimage. Her origin story Significantly, Vaishno Devi’s suggested elsewhere, the divine places her birth in the south supposed original name, Trikuta monkey’s own cultic career during the lifetime of Rama, as a (“three summits,” also the name of the

30 MANUSHI mountain on which she (or indeed, virulent) presently resides) was modes. The former is likewise the epic name of most common in the the peak on which shrines built and Ravana’s capital was frequented by the urban situated in the Ramayana, middle classes; the and was thus another latter is more com- epithet for the local monly worshipped on bhudevi of Lanka, who the outskirts of villages had to be overcome in (Kothari 1996). This order for the city to be distinction suggests the vanquished. There are widespread identifica- two ways to “vanquish” a tion of Hanuman as an protective goddess (who, exemplar of both being the life force or bhakti (self-sacrificing shakti herself, cannot be devotion) and shakti slain): by marrying her, (self-empowering or by devotionally energy), frequently submitting to her as a made by his devotees “son/protector.” Rama, and analysed in recent being already married, published research (Al- defers the former course ter: 204-212; to a future incarnation, Lutgendorf 1994:240- and pursues the latter 41)—with the differ- course through his ence that the “power” subordinate, Hanuman. here is of a more raw Bhairo, who like and ambivalent, even Hanuman is popularly malevolent sort. Ac- understood to be an cording to Kothari, avatara of /Shiva, veneration of Hanuman embodies the darker, Poster of Devi (usually identified as Vaishno Devi) as “the great vir” pre- tantric side of goddess accompanied by Langurvir and Bhairo supposes the worship (in which the Rajasthani folk and Mother can become the sexual conveniently linking them to the tribal cult of “the fifty-two partner of the power-seeking adept, respectability of a (recently arranged) virs”—prematurely-slain heroes who aspires himself to become future match with Vishnu/Rama. who demand propitiation—and Shiva); he too is present at the shrine, To answer this question I un- their female counterparts, the though he must sacrifice his “head” dertake another field trip, though sixty-four (or joginis)— to remain there. Erndl notes that the not far this time—to eastern Uttar wild women who feast on blood myths which link Vaishno Devi and Pradesh and western Rajasthan, and entrails. Both these catego- other foothill goddesses to the Rama where several contemporary re- ries of spirits pose a threat to hu- narrative appear to be late and searchers have documented the man beings, especially children. contrived, but fails to consider the worship of Hanuman, often under Mahavir is understood to control possibility that the virile monkey the name of Mahavir (“great vir- them because, with his ferocious himself may not be merely a recent ile one/hero”) as well as energy and Shaiva/Shakta Vaishnava import. Certainly, India Langurvir and Languriya (to be resonances, he partakes of their abounds in mother goddesses who do explained below). In Rajasthan, nature. His shrines are normally not require monkey guardians at their Komal Kothari distinguishes placed outside villages and doors; one is inclined to ask whether, between two aspects of the god avoided after dark, except by in the case of these particular local that he terms das and vir those who seek to appeal to his mothers, their monkey-bodyguard Hanuman—the deity in tamas rup (“dark side”). These serves any other function apart from respectively “servile” and “virile” may include women, who under-

No. 114 31 take a vow of going to him on nine particularly of their simian wine, and hashish, as always successive Mondays after imagery. Languriya is the name sleepy (due to nocturnal midnight, applying a coating of both of their predominant activities), and (in more vermillion-and-oil (sindur), melodies and of their principal devotional lyrics) as waiting on offering garlands, and finally, character, a being who (in the the richly-ornamented goddess in themselves: removing their context of popular goddess her mansion, fanning her as she clothing to embrace his image (cf. temples such as those of the reclines on her sandalwood bed. Crooke 1:87, on a similar rite in “seven sisters” of Punjab or of Entwistle adds that other songs, Maharashtra). The practice is Kaila Maiya in eastern Rajasthan, “not recorded here, deal in thought to cure barrenness, but it where the songs are often sung at sexually-explicit terms with their can have more selfish aims: a fairs) is readily identified with relationship” (Entwistle: 92-95). woman who completes the vow Langurvir/Hanuman, the Kothari similarly reports that can obtain one of the virs in Mother’s bodyguard. Some of the village Languriya songs Hanuman’s entourage as her songs are indeed simply sometimes identify him as a personal servant, though she will to the goddess, but others appear helpful friend to barren women, have to keep it satisfied (tusht) by “secular” in theme, and involve but warn, through sexually- allowing it to feed on the livers the singer’s address to an explicit lyrics, of his wayward of children—such a woman thus imaginary companion whose ways, “He’ll come by night, he’ll becomes a dreaded dakin or relationship to her own body is sleep with you, he’ll do this, he’ll “witch” (Kothari). Kothari’s evidently as something other than do that” (Kothari). In the Braj observations on Rajasthani folk a guard. Indeed, many of the region, Manuel likewise notes the practices (now fast disappearing, songs (sung with gusto by both widespread popularity, great he says, as urban ways invade the women and by men assuming variety, and imaginative but countryside and the divine women’s voices) are plain lewd, coarse imagery of Languriya monkey’s das aspect obscures which is hardly surprising since songs, such as the automotive- that of the vir) both resonate with the genre’s name derives from the metaphor-laden “Langur’s bore is and counterpoint themes implicit word laangur (and its variant down” (Manuel: 45). in wider public worship—thus langul) which identifies a species Although Entwistle’s short popular devotional poems like the of black-faced, long-tailed article offers the best study to date Hanuman chalisa note his power monkey, but also means both of the Languriya phenomenon, in over malevolent spirits, and “tail” and “penis.” It also has the my view it misses the point of the several shrines under his adjectival sense of “impudent” tradition’s simian imagery. jurisdiction cater to their and “mischievous,” and, in the Overlooking data from other exorcism, while the well-known slang of the Braj region, can refer goddess temples, it briefly tries to taboo against women touching his to a woman’s paramour and/or to link the Devi’s ambivalent sidekick “chaste” temple icons appears as her younger brother-in-law with Krishnaite themes, before a kind of diurnal counterpoint to (devar) with whom she is intimate concluding that Languriya lacks “a the reported midnight liasons with and can exchange saucy and fixed identity,” and that hence “the the potent vir. teasing remarks, or more popular imagination has been free The fact that Hanuman can (Entwistle: 90). Entwistle glosses to make up songs about him more facilitate a woman’s acquisition the name as “one who has a large or less at whim” (Entwistle: 91). I of an aggressive yet servile tail/penis” (I personally favour would argue, however, that “familiar” is especially “the long-tailed rogue”) and although Languriya songs are interesting in light of a further describes Languriya as “a boyish clearly imaginative and whimsical, body of lore in this region: the or youthful figure” who shares the the tradition reveals enough genre of folksongs known as task of guarding Kaila Devi with consistency to suggest that his fluid languriya. Attested in both a shadowy “low-caste” devotee identity—as trickster, son, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, known as Bahora Bhagat.8 confidant, servant, protector, ardent these songs have received modest Entwistle’s brief study flirt, and paramour—is connected scholarly attention (cf. Entwistle, includes lyrics to fifteen with a desirable sort of deviousness, Manuel), but (in my view) Languriya songs, in which “long- and is broadly consistent with the inadequate explanation, tail” is described as fond of meat, longtime characterisation of “virile

32 MANUSHI monkeys” as both protective and no conscious link to previous divide which separates them, both threatening, comical and alluring, monkey lore, albeit with affinities reflect an indigenous and archaic as well as with mythological motifs to the worldwide motif-type of folklore in which women (and men) (albeit often sanitised in recent “animal helper” in heroic tales. fantasize about a diminutive but times) still found in numerous The association of Devi and oversexed monkey “other” who goddess temples in the northwest. Langurvir may likewise have might threaten and/or tantalize a arisen independently, and the woman. At a certain historical Scholars and Their Tales latter’s identification with moment, this theme was adopted I have presented three examples, Hanuman may be only a weak and and transformed through a brilliant spanning as many millennia, of the retrospective attempt to connect literary narrative that became so relationship between a divine local traditions to a prestigious influential that it largely effaced the woman and a monkey: a single, and pan-Indian narrative. Having older lore, and that transformed enigmatic hymn from the early first stated it, I will quickly add that I both monkey and woman into millennium BCE; an epic narrative find this explanation unappealing powerful but ultimately subordinate dating at least to the fifth century and uninteresting. It is not much figures, “united” primarily in their BCE and continuously retold ever of a story. extreme self-restraint and shared since; and a series of stories, icons and A second approach is to suggest devotion to a male authority figure. folk practices documented in recent that the Vrishakapi and Languriya The old lore subsequently survived times but of indeterminate age. It themes, despite the vast temporal only in marginalised retellings (e.g. remains to consider their Jain and Southeast Asian meaning, by pondering Ramayanas). In this what connections—if interpretation, the any—may exist between modern Languriya folk- them; in short to lore would represent a construct (as scholars are modern resurfacing, in a wont to do) an non-elite context, of explanatory narrative some of the repressed linking them. I can but implicit themes of suggest three ways of the encounter. This inter- doing so. pretation is in keeping The first is to with much modern conclude that, scholarship which views interesting as these high-culture, normative sets of materials may texts like the Valmiki be in themselves, Ramayana as ideologi- there is in fact little or cal tools in the mainte- no connection nance of the caste and between them. The gender-based hierarchi- vrishakapi hymn is cal status quo, and re- anomalous within the gards dissenting or non- Rigveda, and so standard practices and obscure and burdened retellings, especially with wildly different among women and low- interpretations caste or otherwise disad- (including some that vantaged males, as lack a monkey at all) marginalised but per- that we can conclude sistent forms of “subal- nothing from it. tern resistance.” Valmiki’s talkative Though it is still highly and shape-shifting speculative in view of simians may be his Cover of cassette of Languriya songs the thin ancient evi- own invention, with dedicated to Kaila Devi of Rajasthan dence, this explanation

No. 114 33 seems to me to have merit, at least (in everyday terms) distanced to ples, which often reflect themes as a partial approach to this rejoin or supplant Vishnu as su- of violence (e.g., myths of body of material. It should be preme deity, or else is abstracted decapitated devotees, and spo- noted, however, that it is a into the two syllables of his radic though controversial animal decidedly “etic” view, from the “unmanifest” name (ram-nam), sacrifices), risqué outbursts (the (assumed) Olympian perspective which is used as a mantra even by Languriya songs), and, most char- of the modern academy, and is people who have little interest in acteristically, possession phe- pervaded by that intellectual the details of his earthly story nomena, in which the goddess community’s own (mostly (e.g., Nath , and sant-poets “plays with” her (mainly female) unacknowledged) post-Freudian, of the nirguna orientation). But devotees in the form of pavan or post-Marxist ideology, which as Rama recedes into the celestial “the wind” (incidentally, presumes the pursuit of self- background, the goddess and Hanuman’s father and alter-ego), aggrandisement and power (mainly monkey come to the fore, a making them prophesy, dance ec- in the form of wealth) to underly phenomenon strikingly illustrated statically, or whip their unbound and explain most human behaviour. in the temple cults of northwest- hair about them wildly. A third explanation also pos- ern India, where the force of “de- Although this third paradigm its a historically-based develop- votion” continues to counterbal- involves elements that are alien to mental trajectory, but of a differ- ance that of “power,” but it is now Hindu conceptions, it may also be ent sort. This theory sees the first the monkey’s devotion to her that seen from an “emic” perspective. and second narratives as rela- is important. Erndl notes that Indeed, it readily adapts to the tively closely linked, both tempo- these virginal yet maternal god- traditional temporal scheme of rally and thematically, since the desses don’t fit neatly into the two four ages, since the Veda—in portrayal of the woman and the categories, postulated by much which Indra is truly “supreme intrusive animal in both is essen- recent scholarship, of “spouse” above all”—belongs (as everyone tially as a foil or surrogate to and “independent” mothers (or knows) to the Golden Age (krita highlight a male authority figure. “breast” and “tooth” mothers), yuga), and the Ramayana The woman is utterly devoted to, but seem to lie in between (Erndl: narrative unfolds at the end of the or but a feminine shadow of, her 156), a fact that may have some- treta and the beginning of the husband. Indrani is important, in thing to do with the social profile dvapara yugas. The , the long run, because she is the of their devotees. Thus a goddess medieval Ramayanas, and of wife of a “real man, a hero” (two like Vaishno Devi gets to have all course modern Languriya songs readings of vira), who, in the last the respectability of marrying all belong to the Dark Age (kali analysis, stands “above all”—as Vishnu/Rama, but this is put off yuga), which is a time of decline does Sita’s spouse in the to the distant future. In the or disappearance of dharma, Ramayana. However, moving meantime—and for the duration when society is in disarray and beyond the simple narrative of the of this interminable kali yuga— women no longer obey their hus- Sanskrit epic to a consideration of everyone’s two favourite charac- bands or servants their masters. its historical destiny, both in its ters from the Ramayana’s most Yet whereas people may conven- own right and as a source for later popular book are back, “playing” tionally bemoan this, they may retellers, we note that, over time, in the spotlight at center stage: also note that the present age is the woman and the monkey gradu- the goddess and her frisky son/ not without its perks: salvation, ally begin to steal the spotlight. servant/paramour. once reserved for high-born males This process becomes particularly The “Vaishnava” connection at who sponsored intricate sacrifices apparent in the late-medieval such shrines, reflected in the or practiced interminable austeri- recastings in regional languages, Mother’s generally benign tem- ties, is now accessible to all and in the dramatic upsurge, af- perament, vegetarianism, and through simple, inexpensive de- ter about 1000 CE, of both Devi long-standing “engagement” to votional practices: pilgrimage, and Hanuman as relatively inde- Rama, make it acceptable for ur- faith, and repetition of the holy pendent deities. Though this ban middle class devotees to Name (see e.g., process is also accompanied by make pilgrimages there. Yet these 7.102a, b; 103). Nowadays, both much devotion to Sita’s husband, associations are largely periph- Devi and Hanuman are commonly he is simultaneously elevated and eral to actual activities at the tem- cited as “deities of choice”

34 MANUSHI (ishtadevi/ishtadev) for stressful this essay opened—albeit one that with Shiva, and especially with Shiva’s modern times, and are said to be defies Darwinian evolutionary aggressive alter-ego Rudra/Bhairava, as an avatara (“incarnation, jagrit or “awake”—especially logic—is that, in the long run, an embodiment”), amsha (“portion”), or alert and responsive to devotees’ impish, bullish, love-able and indirectly-begotten son. I have needs. faith-full monkey may supersede discussed this linkage at some length Yet if I posit an evolutionary even the most ideal man. (Lutgendorf 1994:225-29, 240-42), and will merely note here that although it is trajectory for goddess-monkey Moreover, when this happens, familiar and unproblematic to most of his narratives, I do not mean to imply women may not even mind. ‰ contemporary worshippers throughout India and is textually attested at least as that a later one ever fully effaces ------its antecedents. Apart from the far back as the twelfth century C.E., it Notes: continues to surprise some modern Rigvedic hymn, all of the 1. The author is grateful to the Dharam scholars who perhaps place undue faith traditions I have described enjoy Hinduja Indic Research Center and to in the distinction between the abstract some currency in popular its then-Director, Professor Mary categories of “Vaishnava” and “Shaiva/ , and individual McGee, for the invitation to present this Shakta” in their understanding of Hindu religious orientations—a distinction worshippers exercise agency in paper in the “Sita Symposium” held in May, 1998. which collapses in the persona and cult determining which to highlight. 2. The half-pada occurs in the second line of Hanuman. This is a point overlooked in some of 5.33.2 of the Baroda Critical Edition, 7. Cf. Indrani’s threat to cut off Vrishakapi’s recent scholarship, with its and in 5.35.2 of the so-called vulgate head in 10.86.5. 8. Although Entwistle identifies the name as penchant for labelling people as edition. I quote Robert P. Goldman and Sally J. Sutherland Goldman’s recent a corruption of bahula meaning “subjects,” only to stress their translation, p. 201. “abundant,” and connects him with the subjugation to various hegemonic 3. The actual pairing of men and monkeys swaggering Balarama of Braj folklore powers—especially those of the is not made in ’s recounting of (Entwistle: 89-90), I am more inclined to think, based on evidence from other shrines modern state—while giving little the boon or initial suggestion (of Vishnu’s incarnation as a human being) in the region, that it is a variation on importance to their subjective for its countering (1.14.13-19), but is Bhairava. values and experiences (which implicit in his order, immediately ------may run counter to the scholar’s following Vishnu’s incarnation as the This paper is a revised version of own ideology). The same woman sons of Dasharatha, that the other gods a paper presented at the “Sita assist him in a disguised fashion through who adores the pativrata Sita and fathering sons “in the form of monkeys” Symposium” organised in May, the servile Hanuman in the (1.16). The importance of as 1998 by Prof. Mary McGee, the context of urban, Sanatan Dharmi exempt from the boon is again pointed then director of Dharam Hinduja temple worship, may undertake a out in Hanuman’s speech to Ravana Indic Research Centre, Colombia (5.49.25-26), in which he warns that pilgrimage to the independent and Rama’s ally Sugriva “is not a god, an University, New York. This essay more ambivalent Vaishno Devi asura, a human, a , a will be included in a forthcoming and her sidekick Langurvir, or, in , a , or a serpent.” anthology on Sita to be jointly the context of a wedding or fair, 4. I use O’Flaherty’s translation throughout; edited by Mary McGee and Madhu pp. 259-61. may herself assume the sung-role 5. Jamison: 68, citing J. Puhvel, “Aspects of Kishwar. of mistress to the lecherous Equine Functionality,” in Myth and Law ------Languriya. Respectability and Among the Indo-Europeans, ed. by J. The author is a Professor in the “dignity” (maryada) may at times Puhvel; Berkeley: University of California Department of Asian Languages Press, 1970: 162. be a straitjacket, but it may also be 6. A full examination of the complex and Literature at the University of a strategy, and female agency may mythological character of Hanuman and Iowa, USA. equally express itself through the his historical development as a deity is choice of a moral standard based on beyond the scope of this paper. I have written of it elsewhere (Lutgendorf self-satisfaction or on self-restraint. 1994, 1997), following on the research We invite our readers to To close with a final bound back of others (e.g., Govindcandra, Narula, to my title, in the Dark Age it is now Nagar). Here I wish to examine a group send us material on Sita possible to “like” both Mother and of related stories that concern from the folk songs of their Hanuman’s interaction with female simian “son,” without necessarily region or Sita's portrayal in deities in the course of his adventures different versions of having to like, be like, or even in Rama’s service. A necessary bother with her husband. This also background to this discussion is an Ramayana for possible suggests that one answer to the understanding of Hanuman’s longtime inclusion in our linkage in popular narrative and practice forthcoming book on Sita. question posed by Sita with which not only with Vishnu/Rama but also

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