03-08-2006, 03:56 PM
someone tell me if i am right in the following analysis.
Hanuman is not a hindu "monkey god" (thats just how thewestern media chooses to descripe him). Hanuman is a character from the epic Ramayan, modelled on tribal indians of australoid or astro-asiatic origin. Since he was of immense help to Raam, the king of Ayodhya, and the hero of the epic Ramayan, hanuman is reverred and worshipped. In reality, Ramayan was written a good few hundred years after the Vedas were composed. And hindu society was doing just fine during the time interval. Hanuman is not a god that has ANY mention in the Vedas. Hanuman-reverence is a socio-cultural thing, that has taken religious proportions over time. In reality it has little to do with hinduism as such, since there is no mention of any "monkey-god" in vedas, nor any scripture about him in pre-ramayan hindu religious literature.
The reason why he is the "deity" of the so called "sankat mochan" (which literally means to be rid of trouble) temple, is because the tribal person on whom hanuman's character is based on, did precisely that - help raam overcome his troubles and problems.
BTW, even Holi is not a festival as such (no scripture, no mantra, no reference ion Veda). It was a cultural practice (to play with colours, so as to celebrate the comming of Spring or "vasant" as its called in india) thats taken religious proportions. It origin goes back to Vrindavan, in the same province as Varanasi, where one of the top players of this colour-game was a cow-herd called Krishna, who was later deified as an avatar of Vishnu (ie. its believed that Vishnu, the god of preservation of the world, showed up as Krishna, the epitome of a superman. Raam btw, is also deified as an avatar of Vishnu. Raam is considered the epitome of the "ideal man") and is the mentor of the hero (Arjun) of the epic Mahabharat. The practice of Holi also started many years after the Vedas were written and hindu society was doing just fine in that period between Vedas and Mahabharat.
Hanuman is not a hindu "monkey god" (thats just how thewestern media chooses to descripe him). Hanuman is a character from the epic Ramayan, modelled on tribal indians of australoid or astro-asiatic origin. Since he was of immense help to Raam, the king of Ayodhya, and the hero of the epic Ramayan, hanuman is reverred and worshipped. In reality, Ramayan was written a good few hundred years after the Vedas were composed. And hindu society was doing just fine during the time interval. Hanuman is not a god that has ANY mention in the Vedas. Hanuman-reverence is a socio-cultural thing, that has taken religious proportions over time. In reality it has little to do with hinduism as such, since there is no mention of any "monkey-god" in vedas, nor any scripture about him in pre-ramayan hindu religious literature.
The reason why he is the "deity" of the so called "sankat mochan" (which literally means to be rid of trouble) temple, is because the tribal person on whom hanuman's character is based on, did precisely that - help raam overcome his troubles and problems.
BTW, even Holi is not a festival as such (no scripture, no mantra, no reference ion Veda). It was a cultural practice (to play with colours, so as to celebrate the comming of Spring or "vasant" as its called in india) thats taken religious proportions. It origin goes back to Vrindavan, in the same province as Varanasi, where one of the top players of this colour-game was a cow-herd called Krishna, who was later deified as an avatar of Vishnu (ie. its believed that Vishnu, the god of preservation of the world, showed up as Krishna, the epitome of a superman. Raam btw, is also deified as an avatar of Vishnu. Raam is considered the epitome of the "ideal man") and is the mentor of the hero (Arjun) of the epic Mahabharat. The practice of Holi also started many years after the Vedas were written and hindu society was doing just fine in that period between Vedas and Mahabharat.