1. STORY OF HANUMAN’S BIRTH When Lord Vishnu decided to incarnate on earth in the form of Rama, Lord Shiva professed his desire to serve him. Shiva’s intention perturbs Sati as she would have to stay apart from her beloved husband. Learning of Sati’s concern, Shiva promised to send only a portion of him to earth so that he could fulfil both the purposes. But the form which Shiva should adopt for his reincarnation became a cause of great distress to both Sati and Shiva. Finally after much deliberation, Shiva decided to assume the form of a monkey, as the humble creature can sustain with a simple lifestyle and is free of all bondages of caste and traditions. Thus he took birth in the form of Hanuman, who served Lord Rama with utmost devotion.
2. HANUMAN WAS AN INCARNATION OF LORD SHIVA Hanuman was an incarnation of Shiva and considered to be an exemplification of strength, devotion, and perseverance. Anjana, a beautiful Apsara in celestial palace court of Lord Brahma was cursed by a sage that, the moment she fell in love her face would transform to that of a monkey. Lord Brahma thought of helping her and she took birth on Earth. Later, Anjana fell in love with Kesari, the monkey king and they both married each other. Being an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva, she continued with her tapasya to please the God. Lord Shiva was impressed and she wished him to be her son so that she would be freed from the curse of the sage. Few days later, King Dasrath was performing a yagna after which the sage gave him kheer to feed all his wives. A portion of Kaushlya, his eldest wife, was snatched by a kite who flew all the way where Anjana was meditating. Lord Vayu (aka Pawan – Wind) on the signal of Lord Shiva kept the kheer in Anjana’s hand. Thinking it as Lord Shiva’s prasad Anjana ate it and thus gave birth to his incarnation – Pawan Putra Hanuman, the son of the Lord of the Winds.
3. THE NAME HANUMAN MEANS DISFIGURED JAW In Sanskrit Hanu means Jaw and man means disfigured so Hanuman means disfigured jaw. No wonder, Hanuman’s jaw as a kid was disfigured by none other than Lord Indra who had used his vajra (Thunderbolt) against Anjaneya, who took sun as a riped mango and even went to trace it up in the sky. It was here in the sky that Lord Indra had used his vajra which threw Anjaneya straight on the earth damaging his jaw forever.
4. THE CURSE ON HANUMAN Lord Hanuman had earned the reputation of being notorious during his childhood. He used to pester meditating hermits, who had taken refuge in the kingdom of his father, King Kesari. During one such incident, an annoyed sage had hexed Hanuman. Due to the spell Hanuman was unable to remember the powers vested in him by the deities unless someone reminded him of it. When Sita was kidnapped by Ravana, Jambavantha had to remind Hanuman of his powers, so that he could pursue the search for Sita.
5. WHY HANUMAN IS COVERED WITH SINDOOR ALL OVER HIS BODY? Hanuman Once Applied Sindoor All over His Body for Lord Rama’s Long Life When Hanuman saw Sita applying Sindoor (Vermillion) in her hair, he asked the reason for the same. Sita replied that it was for long life and well-being of Lord Rama, her husband. Hanuman, the biggest devotee of Rama thought if a pinch of sindoor in the hair can increase the longevity of Lord Rama then why not apply on the entire body. He then applied sindoor all over his body for Rama’s long life. Seeing this innocence and unmatched devotion of Hanuman, Lord Rama gave him a vardan (blessings) that whenever the name of devotion takes place, Hanuman’s name will be taken first. Also, whoever will pay respect to Hanuman on Tuesday, not only will his/her wishes come true but will also be dear to Lord Rama himself. Another reason to believe is that Hanuman is also believed to be the incarnation of Lord Rudra, reason why devotees colour the idol with sindhur colour.
6. ALTHOUGH HE WAS A BRAHMCHARI, LORD HANUMAN HAD A SON – MAKARDHWAJA. A Mighty Fish Conceived Hanuman’s Son Makar Dhwaja Hanuman’s Son Makar Dhwaja was born to a mighty fish of the same name when Hanuman after burning the entire Lanka with his tail had dipped in the sea to cool off his body. It is said that his sweat was swallowed by the fish and thus was Makar Dhwaja conceived. The fish was caught by Ravana’s step brother Ahiravana who ruled Patal, the nether world. When Makar Dhwaja grew up, Ahiravana was impressed by his strength and virility. He then made him his soldier. Hanuman had lost in a duel with Makar Dhwaja when he went to rescue Rama and Laxman whom Ahiravana had kidnapped. Later, Hanuman killed Ahiravana and made his son Makardhwaja, the king and left the place with Lord Rama and his brother Laxman.
7. HANUMAN ONCE REJECTED SITA MAA’S GIFT Rama and Sita in his Heart When Sita Maa gave Hanuman a beautiful pearl necklace as a gift he politely declined it saying he doesn’t accept anything that is devoid of Lord Rama’s name. To prove his point to Maa Sita, the ardent devotee also ripped off his chest. This was his dedication towards Lord Rama.
8. ONCE, LORD RAM ISSUED A DEATH SENTENCE TO LORD HANUMAN! After Lord Ram became the King, once, when the court was adjourned, Narada – known for creating disharmony between Ram and Hanuman – asked Hanuman to greet all the sages except Vishwamitra, since he was a King once. Hanuman did so, but it did not affect Vishwamitra. Narada went on and instigated Vishwamitra, which angered him so much that he went to Ram and asked him to punish Hanuman to death. Vishmamitra being his guru, Ram could not ignore his command and punished Hanuman to death by arrows. Next day in the field, the statement was to be executed, but all arrows failed to do any harm to Hanuman as he kept chanting Ram! Since Ram had to abide by his Guru’s word, he decided to use the Brahmastra. To the surprise of all, Hanuman’s chants of Ram even failed the most powerful Brahmastra! Seeing this, Narada went to Vishwamitra and confessed his mistake, stopping the ordeal!
9. HANUMAN ALSO CREATED HIS VERSION OF RAMAY Hanuman also created his version of Ramayan – which was supposedly a superior version compared to that of Valmiki’s. After the war at Lanka, Hanuman went to Himalaya for continuing his reverence of Lord Ram, Hanuman etched his version of Ram’s tale on the walls of the Himalayas with his nails. When Maharshi Valmiki visited Hanuman to show his version of Ramayana, he saw the walls and felt sad as Valmiki believed that Hanuman’s Ramayana was superior and that his arduously created version of the Ramayana would remain unnoticed. Realising this, Hanuman discarded his version. Taken aback, Valmiki said he would love to be reborn to sing the glory of Hanuman!
10. LORD HANUMAN AND LORD BHIMA WERE BOTH BROTHERS Bhima was also the son of Vayu (the Lord of the Winds). One day, when Bhima was searching for a flower his wife wanted, he saw a monkey sleeping with his tail crossing the path. He asked him to move his tail. But the monkey didn’t do it and asked Bhima to move it. Bhima was very arrogant with his strength. Nevertheless, he couldn’t move or lift the tail. Therefore, he realized that this was not a mere ordinary monkey. It was none other than Hanuman. He lied there just to reduce the arrogance of Bhima.
11. HOW DID RAMA TRICK HANUMAN TO LET HIM DIE When Lord Rama’s time of death was at hand, Lord Hanuman barred Yama from claiming him. Ram wouldn’t die as Hanuman wouldn’t allow Yama (God of Death) to enter Ayodhya to claim Ram. To divert Hanuman’s attention Ram dropped his ring through a crack in the floor and asked Hanuman to fetch it back for him. Going down Hanuman reached the land of serpents and asked their King for Ram’s ring. The king showed Hanuman a vault filled with rings all of which were Ram’s. He told a shocked Hanuman that when in the cycle of time a Ram is to die he drops a ring down the crack so that a Hanuman can be diverted from his guard.
12. HOW SUGRIVA BECAME HIS COMPANION Hanuman was a minister in the army of king Sugriva, who was another ruler of the monkey clan. The story of how Hanuman came to assist Sugriva began when the monkey God was learning scriptures from Lord Surya. With his never ending inquisitiveness and dedication, it took him only sixty hours to become proficient in all the scriptures. Lord Surya was highly impressed with his disciple’s feat and waived off the gurudakshina. Hanuman though was insistent on paying the gurudakshina and when the Sun Lord asked him to become a companion of his Sugriva, he readily agreed.
13. HANUMAN’S HUNGER TALE Once during Sita’s exile, Hanuman went to meet her in priest Valmiki’s cottage. Sita was overwhelmed with happiness to see him and cooked many delicacies for Hanuman. Sita continued to serve food to Hanuman and was at the verge of exhausting all the food supplies but was unable to satiate his hunger. In despair, she prayed to Lord Ram who advised her to add a Tulsi leaf in the food being served to Hanuman. Since Tulsi is offered to the Lord and Hanuman was a die-hard follower of Ram, Sita was finally able to gratify the hungry Hanuman.
14. PANCH-MUKHI (FIVE HEADED) HANUMAN One of the very rare forms of Hanuman, he assumed it only once to kill the demon Ahiravan was that of Panch-mukhi Hanumna. Ahiravan was the brother of Ravan, who had kidnapped Ram and Lakshman and taken them away to the Nether world. The only way to kill Ahiravan was to extinguish 5 lamps in 5 different directions, which he did with this form. The 5 faces of Hanuman, apart from himself are that of Narasimha, Garuda, Varaha and Hayagriva.
15. HANUMAN RESCUED SHANI DEVA FROM LANKA Hanuman was sent to find the Goddess, Sita. He went to Lanka and fulfilled her function. But soon he was caught by the people of Ravana. He never become afraid of. Because Hanuman got various boon from the God and he was immortal. So there were nothing to fear about. There were many discussions about what they had to do to Hanuman. Ravana asked his servants to kill Hanuman. After a lot of suggestions, they decided to burn her tail as it is the significant organ for a monkey. They tied him and made a cloth round her tail end. Then they dip it into oil. After performing all this, they gave fire to it. What happened next was never anticipated by any of them. He ran, flew and walk through every corners of Lanka, causing the Kingdom of Lanka to catch fire. While doing this bravery, Hanuman find Shanideva in an underground room of Ravana’s palace. He freed the God. Then, Shani Deva also helped Hanuman to ruin everything easily. Shani Deva was very thankful to Hanuman for what he did. He gave a boon to Hanuman that whoever worships Hanuman will not get any bad effects of Shani. Chitrakoot is believed to be the resting place of Hanuman, who is considered as one of the few deities who were never troubled by Shani Deva. The scriptures also states that he rescued Shani Deva from Raavana during the Ramayana.
16. BHARATA ATTACKED HANUMAN When Laxman was injured in the war, and only the Sanjeevani herb could save his life, Rama instructed Hanuman to obtain the plant for him. Hanuman could not identify the herb and thus uprooted the entire mountain to bring with him. While he was crossing over Ayodhya, Bharat, who was the de-facto ruler of the kingdom then, mistook Hanuman for some demon who was trying to destroy Ayodhya and shot an arrow. As the arrow had the name of Rama inscribed in it, Hanuman did not obstruct it. The arrow hit Hanuman’s leg who then stopped to explain the situation to Bharat. Upon understanding his folly, Bharat was filled with grief and offered to help Hanuman by firing an arrow which the monkey god could ride to reach his destination. Despite being injured, Hanuman refused to take Bharat’s help and continued on his journey.
17. HANUMAN FOUGHT WITH RAMA AND DEFEATED HIM Upon his Guru VIshwamitra’s instruction Rama set about killing Yayati. But Yayati went to Hanuman to seek refuge. As it was the dharma to grant amnesty to all refuge seekers, Hanuman vowed to protect Yayati even though it meant he would have to fight with Ram. In the battle field, Hanuman refused to fight with weapons and instead started chanting Ram’s name. All the arrows shot by ram went in vain and Vishwamitra who was dumb-founded by Hanuman’s devotion relieved Ram of his dilemma.
18. THE HANUMAN’S DUTY After completing the fourteen year exile, when Rama returned to Ayodhya he was crowned as the king of the state. Hanuman as usual continued to remain at his beck and call thus leaving others with nothing to do. Sita decided to distribute all the work between the members of royal family and relieve Hanuman of all his duties. But Hanuman countered her proposal citing that one very important task is yet unassigned. When asked, he said who would click fingers when Ram yawns? As per popular belief not clicking ones fingers while yawning shortens their lifespan. Sita was amused by Hanuman’s diligence and assigned him the responsibility. Rama out of respect and love for his ardent devotee starts a yawning spree and Hanuman without fail clicked his fingers every time. A confused Sita approaches sage Vashistha who ended this tirade.
19. HANUMAN FIGHTS SHIVA After returning to Ayodhya, Rama decides to have Ashwamedha yagya and Shatrugan was given the task of protecting the horse with Bharat’s son Pushkal. The horse reached Devpur, owned by Veer muni- a devotee of lord Shiva and his son Angad. Angad tied the horse thinking no one can defeat his father. In the battle followed, Pushkal kills Veer muni and Lord Shiva then sends veerbhadra to tackle Pushkal and Shatrugan and defeats them. Hanuman hearing this, Attacks Shiva saying even though you are a devotee of Rama tonight you are his enemy. And he fought Shiva. Shiva was impressed by this feat of Hanuman and later helped look after Pushkal and Shatrugan while Hanuman got Sanjeevani from Himalayas to revive them.
20. HANUMAN’S LASTPROMISE TO RAM When Ram decided to leave for the heavenly abode, many including his wife Sita and Lakshman followed him. But his most ardent devotee vowed that he would stay on this earth for as long as the name of Rama is chanted by its inhabitants. His last promise to Rama is that he would stay on the earth in secret as long as the name of Rama was remembered and worshiped.