Concept

Hanuman

Overview

Hanuman (; Sanskrit: हनुमान्, IAST: Hanumān), also known as Maruti, Bajrangabali, and Anjaneya, is a deity in Hinduism, revered as a divine vanara, and a devoted companion of Lord Rama. Central to the Ramayana, Hanuman is celebrated for his unwavering devotion to Rama and is considered a chiranjivi. He is traditionally believed to be the spiritual offspring of the celestial wind-god Vayu. In Shaiva tradition, he is regarded as an incarnation of Shiva, while in most of the Vaishnava traditions he is the son and incarnation of Vayu. His tales are recounted not only in the Ramayana but also in the Mahabharata and various Puranas. Devotional practices centered on Hanuman were not prominent in these texts or in early archaeological evidence. His theological significance and the cultivation of a devoted following emerged roughly a millennium after the Ramayana was composed, during the second millennium CE.

In the medieval Bhakti movement, figures such as Samarth Ramdas, have portrayed Hanuman as an emblem of nationalism and defiance against oppression. According to Vaishnava tradition, the sage Madhvacharya posited that Vayu aids Vishnu in his earthly incarnations, a role akin to Hanuman's assistance to Rama. In recent times, the veneration of Hanuman through iconography and temple worship has significantly increased. He epitomizes the fusion of "strength, heroic initiative, and assertive excellence" with "loving, emotional devotion" to his Lord Rama, embodying both Shakti and Bhakti. Subsequent literature has occasionally depicted him as the patron deity of martial arts, meditation, and scholarly pursuits. He is revered as an exemplar of self-control, faith, and commitment to a cause and his physical attributes as a Vanara for which he is worshipped. Traditionally, Hanuman is celebrated as a lifelong celibate, embodying the virtues of chastity. Hanuman’s abilities are attributed in part to his lineage from Vayu, reflecting the wind god’s role as both a vital force within the body and a cosmic principle.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

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The fourth and the fifth order of gods they assign to things and passions; to passions, Love, Venus, and Desire; the deities that preside over things, Hope, Justice, and Eunomia. The sixth order of deities are the ones made by the poets; Hesiod, willing to find out a father for those gods that acknowledge an original, invented their progenitors,-- Hyperion, Coeus, and Iapetus, With Creius: (Hesiod, "Theogony," 134.)…
Plutarch, Complete Works of Plutarch — Volume 3
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But by sacred things one must not understand simply those personal beings which are called gods or spirits; a rock, a tree, a spring, a pebble, a piece of wood, a house, in a word, anything can be sacred. A rite can have this character; in fact, the rite does not exist which does not have it to a certain degree. There are words, expressions and formulæ which can be pronounced only by the mouths of consecrated…
Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
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Therefore, it is written: "You served them who by nature are not gods," (Gal. 4:8), and a gloss adds, "Gods not in nature, but in human opinion." Nevertheless this name "God" is communicable, not in its whole signification, but in some part of it by way of similitude; so that those are called gods who share in divinity by likeness, according to the text, "I have said, You are gods" (Ps. 81:6).
Aquinas Thomas, Summa Theologica, Part I
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Hanuman

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