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 A Long and Winding Tail: Hanuman in History and Historiography

Philip Lutgendorf

in Hanuman's Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey

While surveying textual sources, iconography, and other historical evidence for the development of Hanuman's popular cult, this chapter also interrogates the explanatory narratives that have been ... More

While surveying textual sources, iconography, and other historical evidence for the development of Hanuman's popular cult, this chapter also interrogates the explanatory narratives that have been constructed around this evidence by earlier scholars. After examining attempts to locate Hanuman's origins in pre-Vedic religion or in the Rig Veda, and in the cult of yakshas or earth-spirits, it examines the role of the wind (Hanuman's legendary father) in Ayurveda, and Hanuman's additional kinship with Shiva and Shaivism. It then traces the development of Hanuman's persona over roughly two millennia from the Valmiki Ramayana to the Rama tales in the Puranas, in the literature of Jainism, and in vernacular language epics. Interrogating a recent and influential theory that Hanuman's cult reflects a Hindu response to the excesses of Muslim hegemony, the chapter reexamines three historical periods that often figure in this argument: the late Vijayanagara empire, the early Maratha kingdom, and the “warrior ascetics” of the Ramanandi sadhu order in the late Mughal Empire and early colonial periods. It is argued that the apparent efflorescence of devotion to Hanuman in each of these contexts reflects a more complex range of historical and social factors than has generally been recognized.Less

The Hanumāyana: Forty Tales of Hanuman

Philip Lutgendorf

in Hanuman's Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey

This chapter presents a representative selection of well-known tales and variants that emphasize Hanuman's heroic role both within and outside the conventional Ramayana narrative. Selections include ... More

This chapter presents a representative selection of well-known tales and variants that emphasize Hanuman's heroic role both within and outside the conventional Ramayana narrative. Selections include ancient tales adapted from the Puranas and regional Rama literature, as well as modern folktales and oral narratives. Collectively, these tales add a new installment to the Hindu mythology available in English translation.Less

Like Mother, Like Son: Hanuman, Goddesses, and Women

Philip Lutgendorf

in Hanuman's Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey

Whereas Hanuman is sometimes alleged to be primarily a “men's deity”, this chapter takes a fresh look at his cult through the lens of gender relations and of discourses about sexuality and its ... More

Whereas Hanuman is sometimes alleged to be primarily a “men's deity”, this chapter takes a fresh look at his cult through the lens of gender relations and of discourses about sexuality and its control. It re-examines the controversial Vrishakapi (“bull-monkey”) hymn in the Rig Veda as well as the emotional portrayal of Hanuman's encounter with Sita in the Sundarakanda of the Ramayana of Valmiki. It then turns to several modern temple cults in which an independent, virginal Mother Goddess is accompanied by a simian bodyguard and familiar, whose close relationship with her is celebrated in legends and folksongs. The final section of the chapter examines lore that questions or problematizes Hanuman's famed celibacy by making him (e.g., in the Rama stories of Jainism) either a lusty adventurer or (in much modern Hindi-language lore) the unwitting “husband” of a submarine wife and father to a mighty son.Less

The “Radio-Active” Gīta-Rāmāyaṇa: Home and Abroad

Mandakranta Bose

in The Ramayana Revisited

This chapter considers one of the many performance modes in which the Rāmāyana has appeared — a musical adaptation of the Rāmāyana from Maharashtra. Created in the early 1950s for radio audiences, ... More

This chapter considers one of the many performance modes in which the Rāmāyana has appeared — a musical adaptation of the Rāmāyana from Maharashtra. Created in the early 1950s for radio audiences, the Gīta-Rāmāyana was a series of fifty-six songs in the Marathi language set to music in the classical style. Broadcast every week, the program quickly won large audiences, and more recently it has again become popular. The instant success and enduring appeal of the series is analyzed.Less

 The Temple Mandala and the Bottom‐floor Sanctum

D. Dennis Hudson

in The Body of God: An Emperor's Palace for Krishna in Eighth Century Kanchipuram

The chakrabja mandala is described as the foundation of the temple's plan and program. The three sanctums, atop one another, form a three‐dimensional mandala; each sanctum houses a black stone icon ... More

The chakrabja mandala is described as the foundation of the temple's plan and program. The three sanctums, atop one another, form a three‐dimensional mandala; each sanctum houses a black stone icon of Narayana as Supreme Vasudeva: bottom, sitting; middle, reclining; top, standing (though missing, a relief sculpture of it is on the prakara wall). At the very top is a closed, hollow cube representing Vasudeva as the nonempty brahman. On each side of the outer wall of the bottom sanctum is a representation of one of the vyuhas of Vasudeva: Samkarshana (the Plower), Pradyumna (the Pre‐eminently Mighty), Aniruddha (the Unobstructed). Each manifests a pair of Vasudeva's glorious excellences, and is embedded in an interlocking network of stories expressing theological teachings. The mandala's mapping of the two axes of directional space illuminates the structure of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and points to the structure of chronological time.Less

The Great Men of Jainism In Utero: A Survey

Eva De Clercq

in Imagining the Fetus: The Unborn in Myth, Religion, and Culture

In “The Great Men of Jainism In Utero,” an overview is provided of the intrauterine lives of the sixty-three heroes of the “Universal History” of the Jains. A central motif in these accounts is a ... More

In “The Great Men of Jainism In Utero,” an overview is provided of the intrauterine lives of the sixty-three heroes of the “Universal History” of the Jains. A central motif in these accounts is a series of prophetic dreams that the mothers experience upon conception. In general, these dreams and other events surrounding the hero’s time in the womb parallel what happens to him in his life beyond the womb. The chapter further examines some similarities in Hinduism and Buddhism.Less

Introduction: Sītā and Rādhā, Role Models for Women?

Heidi R. M. Pauwels

in The Goddess as Role Model: Sita and Radha in Scripture and on Screen

The introduction sets up the basic question of the book: when are goddesses as role models potentially empowering or oppressive for women? It situates this question within contemporary feminist ... More

The introduction sets up the basic question of the book: when are goddesses as role models potentially empowering or oppressive for women? It situates this question within contemporary feminist debates. It contrasts the role models of Sita and Radha and counters a monolithic understanding of these goddesses, arguing for a historically nuanced study of how their stories change over time as told in classical Sanskrit sources, the bhakti or devotional tradition, and the popular culture frameworks of television series and movies. Three hypotheses will be tested. First, are bhakti texts in privileging love above duty and celebrating women's subjectivity liberating for women? Second, does the modernity of the medium of television and film result in a more progressive view? Finally, how is the increasing influence of Hindutva in the public sphere reflected on screen? The introduction establishes the methodology of “siting” Sita and Radha, introduces the sources used and outlines the overall organization.Less

Representing the Rāmāyaṇa on the Kūṭiyāṭṭam Stage

Mandakranta Bose

in The Ramayana Revisited

This chapter examines innovations in both plot construction and gender representation with regard to the kūtiyāţtam theater of Kerala, in which three classical Sanskrit plays feature prominently. All ... More

This chapter examines innovations in both plot construction and gender representation with regard to the kūtiyāţtam theater of Kerala, in which three classical Sanskrit plays feature prominently. All of them depart from Valmiki's text and are tailored to the unique features of the kūtiyāţtam style of acting, which affect the representation of the story. In this style of performance, which can be traced back to the 10th century, characters mimic the mental states and actions of other characters across lines of gender and species (such as Ravana enacting Sītā's moods, or Hanumān enacting Rāma's), whereby gender identities in particular are loosened. It is shown how the kūtiyāţtam performance tradition transforms the plot of the epic and challenges the audience with complex, multiple-identity characters.Less

Mysticism and Islam in Javanese Rāmāyaṇa Tales

Mandakranta Bose

in The Ramayana Revisited

This chapter delves into the historical and evolutionary process of the movement of the Rāmāyana story in Indonesia and its religious and political implications. It argues that cross-cultural traffic ... More

This chapter delves into the historical and evolutionary process of the movement of the Rāmāyana story in Indonesia and its religious and political implications. It argues that cross-cultural traffic between Hindu-Javanese social and religious practices, on the one hand, and those of the Muslim immigrants who arrived in the 18th century, on the other, have resulted in a synthesis in which Javanese shadow puppeteers not only find audiences for Hindu myths across religious boundaries but also adapt Mahābhārata puppets to tell Rāmāyana stories. The process subverts the linearity of the Rāmāyana and builds a discourse in which the puppets serve as material objects that encode ideas of character, ethics, behavior, and morals.Less

Chasing Sītā on a Global/Local Interface: Where Cartographies Collide, Silent Vessels “Tell in Full”

Mandakranta Bose

in The Ramayana Revisited

This chapter inquires into the use of the story in East Timor as a framework within which the nation's troubled and erased history is being reconstructed. The use of the Rāmāyana as a mediating ... More

This chapter inquires into the use of the story in East Timor as a framework within which the nation's troubled and erased history is being reconstructed. The use of the Rāmāyana as a mediating artifact between politics and semiotics is examined. In East Timor, the historical experience of foreign domination and destruction is sought to be recovered, interpreted, and validated within an allegorical framework supplied by the theme of Sītā's abduction by Ravana, which is conveyed through a unique medium, that of embossed shell casings depicting the Rāmāyana episode. It is argued that this ekphrastic entry into sites of domination and contest from which conventional language has been erased has been made possible by the availability of the Rāmāyana as a narrative model.Less

The Rāmāyaṇa in the Arts of Thailand and Cambodia

Mandakranta Bose

in The Ramayana Revisited

This chapter examins the place of the Rāmāyana in the performing arts and traditions of Thailand and Cambodia, tracing their roots, evolution, and impact on contemporary cultural and social life. ... More

This chapter examins the place of the Rāmāyana in the performing arts and traditions of Thailand and Cambodia, tracing their roots, evolution, and impact on contemporary cultural and social life. While the epic has been the single richest source of inspiration for sculpture, it has a a more dynamic relationship with the indigenous cultures of Southeast Asia in dance dramas. Although these performance forms are deeply rooted in the original Indian narrative, their plot and characters are altered to fit the literary and artistic traditions of Thai-Khmer culture. This has occasionally resulted in deviations from the Indian sources in plot and character, leading to different ethical points of view.Less

Investiture

Michael Madhusudan Datta

Clinton B. Seely (ed.)

in The Slaying of Meghanada: A Ramayana from Colonial Bengal

This chapter presents an English translation of the first canto of Michael Madhusudan Datta's epic poem The Slaying of Meghanada.

Weapons Acquisition

Michael Madhusudan Datta

Clinton B. Seely (ed.)

in The Slaying of Meghanada: A Ramayana from Colonial Bengal

This chapter presents an English translation of the second canto of Michael Madhusudan Datta's epic poem The Slaying of Meghanada.

Reuniting

Michael Madhusudan Datta

Clinton B. Seely (ed.)

in The Slaying of Meghanada: A Ramayana from Colonial Bengal

This chapter presents an English translation of the third canto of Michael Madhusudan Datta's epic poem The Slaying of Meghanada.

Ashoka Grove

Michael Madhusudan Datta

Clinton B. Seely (ed.)

in The Slaying of Meghanada: A Ramayana from Colonial Bengal

This chapter presents an English translation of the fourth canto of Michael Madhusudan Datta's epic poem The Slaying of Meghanada.

Preparations

Michael Madhusudan Datta

Clinton B. Seely (ed.)

in The Slaying of Meghanada: A Ramayana from Colonial Bengal

This chapter presents an English translation of the fifth canto of Michael Madhusudan Datta's epic poem The Slaying of Meghanada.