Hanumān Janma (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa)

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa gives a long account of the birth of Hanumān. It comes in Sarga 13 of the Sāra Khaṇḍa, inside the talk that the ṛshi Agastya gives to Rāma after the war. Agastya first tells how Vāli and Sugrīva were born. Then he tells of Hanumān’s birth, which has several strands: Añjanī, the deva Vāyu, a divine pāyasa (sweet rice pudding), and the śāpa (curse) of the forest ṛshis that made Hanumān forget his own power. He also tells how the infant Hanumān tried to eat the sun.

Birth of Vāli and Sugrīva

Agastya begins with the births of Vāli and Sugrīva. The great ape Ṛksha-viraja was born from Brahmā’s tears of joy. Drops of divine bliss fell from Brahmā’s eyes during a gathering of the devas and became a great vānara (forest-dweller, ape). Brahmā gave Ṛksha-viraja the kingdom of Kishkindhā.

One day Ṛksha-viraja wandered to a divine lake on Mount Meru, built of wonderful maṇi (jewel) stones. He saw his own reflection in the water. He took it for another ape and jumped in to fight it. When he came out of the water, he had become a beautiful woman.

Indra came to that place and was overcome with desire. His śukra (seed) fell on the tail of the ape-woman. From this Vāli was born, with the strength of Indra. Then Sūrya deva (also called Bhānu) came, saw the woman, and his śukra fell on her neck. From this Sugrīva was born, swift as the sun.

The woman slept through the night. By morning she had become male again, Ṛksha-viraja, with the two baby sons beside her. Brahmā arranged that the kingdom of Kishkindhā would pass to Vāli when Ṛksha-viraja died.

Añjanī and the divine pāyasa

Añjanī was one of the wives of the ape Keśari. She lived on Añjanā mountain, the mountain named after her. One day she and a co-wife, Mārjārāsya, were playing on the mountain peaks. Their husbands were not there. A sudden wind blew away their clothes.

The deva Vāyu watched them from a distance. He desired Añjanī and came to her, and he joined with her through the wind (vāyu-saṃyoga). At the same time the deva Nirṛti (the deva of misfortune and dissolution) came and joined with Mārjārāsya. To Añjanī and Vāyu, Māruti (Hanumān) was born. To Mārjārāsya and Nirṛti a piśāca (a harmful spirit) with a terrible voice was born.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa also says that Añjanī had eaten a divine pāyasa-piṇḍa (a ball of ambrosia-like pāyasa). This pāyasa had first been part of Kaikeyī’s share from the Putrakāmeshṭi yajña (the fire ritual for sons) that Daśaratha performed. A kite or hawk snatched the share and dropped it on Añjanā mountain. Añjanī found it and ate it. This divine food added to Hanumān’s great powers.

The text also gives another strand, marked as coming from the Śiva Purāṇa. Bhagavān Śiva took the form of Mohinī, the enchanting form that Bhagavān Vishṇu had taken. Seeing that form, he was filled with longing, and his vīrya (seed) fell to the earth. The divine ṛshis gathered it in a leaf. They knew its divine purpose and placed it through the ear of Añjanī, the daughter of Gautama. Through this divine substance, together with the part of Vāyu, Māruti was born.

The day Hanumān was born

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa gives two dates for the birth of Hanumān:

• Caitra Śukla Ekādaśī (the eleventh day of the bright half of Caitra), under the nakshatra (star) Makhā. The text gives this as the main date.
• Caitra Śukla Pūrṇimā (the full-moon day of Caitra). Some hold this as the other date.

The infant Hanumān eats the sun

Even as a baby, Hanumān showed great divine power. One morning at sunrise he looked east and saw the sun rising, a huge, bright red ball. He thought it was a ripe fruit and wanted to eat it. In one jump he leapt 500 yojanas up into the sky toward the sun.

On that same day Rāhu, the shadow planet, was coming to swallow the sun in an eclipse. When he arrived, he found a monkey child already going to eat the sun. Rāhu was frightened and went back. He complained to Indra: “You gave me the right to swallow the sun. Now a creature is going to eat it before me. Remove this obstacle!”

Indra came on his elephant Airāvata with the divine company. Hanumān saw Airāvata and thought it was another wonderful fruit. He leapt toward it. Indra threw his vajra (thunderbolt) at Hanumān. It struck the child, and he fell into a mountain gorge and hurt his jaw (hanu). This is how he got the name Hanumān, from hanu (jaw) and man (one who had an injured jaw).

Vāyu’s anger and the varas of Brahmā

Vāyu saw his son hurt by Indra’s vajra and was filled with great anger. He drew himself back from all creation. No wind blew anywhere, and no breath moved in any being. All creatures in the three worlds began to choke and fall.

Brahmā hurried to Vāyu and begged him, promising varas (boons) for the child. Vāyu agreed. Brahmā came to the infant Hanumān lying in the gorge and gave these varas:

• “You will have a body that cannot be broken (vajra-deha). No weapon can harm you.”
• “Nothing will block your movement. No barrier anywhere will stop you.”
• “You will have the highest devotion to Hari.”
• “Through my vara, you will be able to help even Vishṇu Himself.”

After Brahmā gave these varas, Vāyu took up his work again, and the universe came back to life.

The śāpa of the forest ṛshis

Even as a young vānara, Hanumān was very naughty. He troubled the ṛshis in their āśramas (hermitages). He pulled up the kuśa grass they used in rituals, broke their sacred vessels, and disturbed their meditation.

One day a group of forest ṛshis gathered, tired of this. They gave a śāpa (a curse) to the young Hanumān: “From this moment you will not remember your own power. You will forget your great strength and your abilities. You will remember them only when others praise you and remind you of your greatness.”

This is why Hanumān, though very powerful, did not know his full strength when he lived among the vānara army of Sugrīva. Then, in the crisis of the search for Sītā, the old Jāmbavān praised Hanumān’s power. He named Hanumān as a Rudra avatāra. At that, Hanumān’s forgotten power came back to him in full.

Hanumān as Rudra avatāra

Through the words of Jāmbavān, the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa names Hanumān as a Rudra avatāra. He is an avatāra (descent) of Śiva (Rudra) who came in the form of a vānara to serve Bhagavān Rāma.

Sources

• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Sāra Khaṇḍa, Sarga 13
• Śiva Purāṇa, as named in the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa for the other strand of the birth