Faithful servant, Hanuman

Long time ago, a legendary vanara was born to Anjana and the god of wind, Vayu. He was named Hanuman (Anjaneya) and he was destined to do many great and awe-inspiring deeds. Ever since he was a kid, Hanuman was taught by his father, Vayu, that he must serve under the legendary Vishnu when he grows up. Hanuman trained himself and educated himself further to become the best servant he could be when Vishnu showed up.

After years of waiting and training, Hanuman noticed two people walking through the kingdom of Kishkindha, when he was standing guard near the edge of the kingdom. Hanuman felt something from the travelers... He did not know what it was but he had to find out. Upon hearing Rama and Lakshmana's story of exile and kidnapping of Rama's wife, Sita, Hanuman realized that Rama was the avatar of Vishnu. At that moment, Hanuman felt the intense desire and urge to follow this man that he had just met moments ago. Hanuman politely asked Rama if he could join them on their adventure. Rama instinctively knew that Hanuman would make a great follower and allowed Hanuman to follow him . Hanuman convinced the brother of the king of Kishkindha, Sugreeva, to help Rama recover his lost wife, Sita. Sugreeva agreed to help but only if they could remove his brother, Vali, from the throne. After they successfully dethroned and killed Vali, Hanuman's adventure to rescue Sita began.

When Rama was describing Sita to Hanuman, Hanuman did not interrupt a single word and listened in silence as he had nothing but respect for Rama. When Hanuman heard that Sita was in Lanka, Hanuman realized only he could cross the sea due to his ability to control wind, being a son of the wind god Vayu. Hanuman leaped the sea and flew across it with ease and landed on Lanka's shore. Here he began his search for Sita. When he found Sita, he was amazed by her demeanor towards Ravana, rejecting all of his advances towards her. After Ravana left Sita, Hanuman showed up to rescue Sita. Believing that Hanuman could be fake, she asked Hanuman to prove to her that he was really sent by Rama. He proved that he was sent by Rama by presenting Rama's signet to Sita. Sita was very happy to hear that Rama was trying to rescue her but told Hanuman that she could not leave with him since it was Rama's destiny to save her. Sita gave Hanuman one of her jewelry to show it to Rama.

Before leaving Lanka, Hanuman decided to wreak havoc on Lanka to show Ravana his master's powers. Hanuman grew into a giant and destroyed Ashoka Vana and brought destruction on many parts of Lanka. Eventually he was captured by Indrajit, but was spared by Vibhishana. Ravana still set the monkey's tail on fire, which Hanuman used to burn down the city of Lanka before heading back to Rama. When Hanuman headed back to the camp, he joined up with Rama at the siege of Lanka. When Lakshmana was wounded in the following battle, Hanuman jumped to the mountains of Himalayas and, unable to find the antidote he was looking for, carried the whole mountain along with him so it could be used to heal Lakshmana. I will end my story here for the great servant Hanuman. Hanuman never questions Rama's authority and follows him with no doubt. A true servant any master could have wanted.

Author's Note: I rewrote the story of Hanuman and how he encountered Rama. Since my project is about Hanuman, I didn't want to edit too much to distort the original concept. Nothing's really been changed but I tried to come up with the story in my own words. Story I wrote above details the adventure of Hanuman that was covered in the book Ramayana. As shown in the story, Hanuman is very faithful to Rama and does not doubt him single bit. Hanuman also played crucial role in saving Sita and helping Rama whenever he needed assistance. Throughout the story, Hanuman's feats of strength can be shown such as growing big, lifting a mountain, and jumping across the ocean in one leap. He reminded me a lot of the Greek hero Hercules in a way that he is powerful and does heroic deeds. I hope I get to write more about him on his other adventures since his tales are very intriguing and full of actions. On the blog, I did not include the part where Hanuman goes to Lanka but in this version I added his whole adventure to give you guys a brief summary of Hanuman's adventure in Ramayana.

Bibliography: R.K Narayan, The Ramayana

Image of Hanuman provided by Pxhere. Link here.