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Later in the month, the full moon of Chaitra brings Hanuman Jayanti, the birthday
of Rama's greatest devotee and chief of the monkey army which fought Rama's war
with Ravana, the demon king of Lanka.
The legend relating to Hanuman's birth is interesting. Dasharath, the king of
Ayodhya had three wives- Kaushalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi. None of them had any
children. So the king performed a homa or havan to pray for progeny. As a reward,
Agni, the fire god, gave him three portions of payas, a sweet which his queens
would eat and then conceive divine children.
When each of the queens received her share, Kaikeyi dropped hers by mistake and
the payas was blown away by Vayu, the wind god. He dropped it into the willing
hands of Anjani, a she-monkey, who ate it. She gave birth to the powerful Hanuman
or Anjaneya (because he is Anjani's son), who leapt to catch the shining sun
in the sky. The sun, chased into the firmament by this divine power, gave Hanuman
golden garments which could be seen only by Rama and enable him to recognise
his greatest devotee.
Kaushalya and Sumitra gave half of their payas to the grieving Kaikeyi. In fulfilment
of the boon granted by Agni, the queens in the course of time, gave birth to
Rama, Lakshmana, Bharat and Shatrughna. The latter two were t\vins, born to Kaikeyi
who had received two halves of the payas. Each of these four princes of Ayodhya
were born of half portions of the heavenly payas. Hanuman was the child of a
full share. Many scholars of the Ramayana believe Hanuman to be a more powerful
deity than even the great Rama.
Hanuman is a symbol of health, physical strength and steadfastness. One of the
most loved deities of Indians, he is worshipped in small temples in every village.
The stories of his innocent and total faith in Rama are sagas of devotion and
loyalty.
[Above] Elephants are most auspicious to all celebrations in India. The Pooram
festival of caparisoned elephants is a spectacular pageant.
