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In this context it is worth noting that Hanuman is eternally celibate and his many
encounters with threatening female energy are triumphs for him precisely because
he does not get beguiled like most men would. His lack of a sexual predatory
gaze has made him one of the heralds of the goddess Kali, who has very low tolerance
for males around her. His huge reservoir of creative spiritual energy as a result
of this unbroken celibacy has made him a Tantrik icon too; they practice sexuality
too well not to understand the immensity of his achievement. There has always been
a sneaking regret in the Indian mind however, conditioned as it is towards progeny,
that Hanuman has no children. Some versions of the story, written much later actually
have a peculiar episode connected with his flight. A beauty of the nether world
had risen to the surface of the sea to witness the spectacular flight of the Vaanara.
The hot sun had caused him to perspire and driblets of sweat were dropping into
the water. Realizing that an eternal celibate's secretions are potent at all times
she swallows it and becomes pregnant! Thus she gets the stature of being the mother
of Hanuman's child, a boy he meets up with only many years later in a minor series
of adventures when he descends to the underworld. The tale and tradition are not
really authentic, but it is revealing as to mindsets.
Landing in Lanka, he encounters the female (again!) guardian spirit of the city
and answers her threats and rudeness with one backhanded blow that sends her sprawling.
This was theoretically impossible and she realizes that the destiny of the Demon
city was on the down turn and abandons them. Hanuman meets up with Sita and offers
comfort that she will soon be rescued. He could have taken her back himself but
she wanted her husband to do it. He then proceeds to destroy the royal gardens of
Ravana and single-handedly kills thousands of demons before he lets himself be captured.
Ravana is impressed and infuriated with this amazing being. He asks Hanuman if Rama's
glory can compare to his and Hanuman makes his famous reply that Ravana is indeed
a full moon as compared to the new moon of Rama. The full moon depletes
while the new moon grows in stature so the compliment was an elegant putdown. Ravana
wishes to punish him and orders his tail to be set on fire. That is one of the greatest
blunders ever made as Hanuman is invulnerable to fire and he reciprocates by burning
down the whole golden city. This action has become proverbial for the comeuppance
of pride and belief in riches.
Hanuman flies back, and soon returns with Rama and the Vaanara army. He performs
many deeds of valor and slaughters many demon heroes. One of his more endearing
tricks was to inflate his body and then perch Rama on his shoulder so that the great
archer got a dominant position to let his shafts fly. When Indrajit, son of Ravana,
uses magical weapons to render Rama and Laxmana unconscious, he flies to the Himalayas
in search of the Sanjeevani, the universal panacea for all ills and wounds. Unable
to identify the specific plant, the great hero uproots the mountain itself and flies
back with it, an action that is much beloved of Indian art to this day as a theme
for depiction. He has a run-in before that with Kalanemi, uncle of Ravana,
who disguises himself as a hermit and advises Hanuman to wash in a nearby lake before
he touches the magical plant. He is attacked by a crocodile that has just made the
biggest mistake of its life. The slain crocodile turns out to be an apsara, the
female tempter motif again, who is thus released from a curse. Warned by her against
Kalanemi, he hurls the demon back to Lanka before setting off himself. On the way
he is reputed to have established three Shiva-lingams in Kerala, which grew to be
the famous temples of Ettumanoor, Kaddathirithi and Vaikom. They are all exactly
eleven Indian miles from each other in a dead straight line with Kaddathirithi in
the middle, supposedly planted by Hanuman with his mouth, as both his hands were
full and the auspicious time for the establishment of the icons was swiftly passing
by. We also get to understand that his wingspan was a good 22 miles!
The rest of the Ramayana has Hanuman take on the familiar role of Rama's man for
all seasons. He has become an ideal now, the wise epitome of strength, and
in most cases he is too well known for there to be any trouble, he merely has to
turn up for it to be defused. In one famous instance he rashly promises assistance
to a king who has insulted Rama's guru and finds himself opposing his master in
battle. Incredibly Rama loses as he uses weapons and Hanuman merely repels all attacks
with the divine name - which is "Rama!" His great love for Rama has resulted in
a tradition, which states that wherever the Ramayana is read, Hanuman is the invisible
participant. His being immortal sees him pop up in ages and times that are not his
own, the most famous being his encounter with his half brother Bhima in the Mahabharatha,
also a son of Vayu and another epitome of strength. Hanuman was distressed to observe
that Bhima, usually the most humble of men was developing a swollen head and demonstrated,
rather humiliatingly, that the concepts of strength Bhima held were feeble by his
standards.
In India today Hanuman is greatly popular but he is never regarded as the Supreme
God. One tradition states that he is actually an emanation of Shiva, being his Eleventh
Rudra. As already mentioned he is a Tantrik favorite too. In the popular imagination
he is best known as Sankat Mochan, the destroyer of danger and trouble and he is
much called upon to save the faithful from ghosts and spells and other things that
go bump in the night. He is also the patron of wrestlers, traditionally
regarded as the opposite of intellectuals. Such effortless blending of opposites
is not least amongst the powers of Hanuman.
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