South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c8.s7.39

c8.s7.39

HANUMĀN. Hanumān, the monkey-god, has been already referred to as a great devotee of Vishnu intimately connected with the incarnation Rāma-avatār. In Southern India he is very popular, even insignificant villages containing a shrine for Hanumān. He is represented in two postures.³ When included in the group of Rāma, Lakshmana and Sītā, he stands at a distance on one side, or opposite to them, in a humble and devotional attitude, with the two hands folded together, the tail hanging down close to his feet.⁴ In shrines exclusively dedicated to him he is always the heroic Hanumān, who, on seeing his beloved masters Rāma and Lakshmana faint with fatigue on the battle field of Lankā, flew in an amazingly short time to the Himalayas and, uprooting a whole hill containing drugs that have power to raise a dead man to life, returned to revive Rāma and Lakshmana and with them also the millions of dead monkeys. His heroism, strength and devotion are always admired and the one aim of sculptors in cutting a figure of Hanumān is to give effect to these three special characteristics. No wonder that even the Muhamadans (or, rather Muhammadan converts of later ages) who set high value on physical strength and individual heroism came to appreciate the story of Hanumān and to erect shrines for him. There is inscriptional evidence to prove that in the Ceded districts, where the Muhammadan influence has been very strong, certain classes of Mussalmans are still devoted to this heroic servant of Rāma. This must also have been the object of Chiefs in erecting shrines for Hanumān at the gates of their forts, viz., to infuse into the hearts of their fighting men the spirit of loyal attachment to their masters and indomitable heroism. Sometimes Hanumān may also be represented with hands showing the abhaya and the varada postures.