Life of Hanuman

One of my earliest drawings from Indian Mythology was of the life story of Hanuman. Looking back, I’ve always felt that the first one was very crudely done and could be done better. (New version above, old version below)

And so I went back to the original, picked out the parts that I liked, added some new events, re-drew some ones which I thought I could improve and then put them all together in one big circle of his life. Can you identify all of them?

1) Hanuman as a child reaching for the sun as his mother Anjani and father Vayu look on
2) Learning the mysteries of the universe from the sun
3) Meeting the exiled prince Rama
4) Growing to a giant size in order to cross the ocean
5) Overcoming the snake demon ‘Surasa’, the shadow demon 'Simhika’ and the captivating mountain 'Mainaka’
6) Meeting Sita in the Ashokavana in Lanka
7) Burning down Lanka’s capital city
8) Building a bridge of floating rocks
9) Defeating a cursed crocodile while on his way to…
10) Retrieve the mountain where the Sanjeevani medicinal herbs grew
11) Carrying Rama and Lakshmana on his back to give them a vantage point during the battle of Lanka
12) Witnessing the coronation of Rama and Sita
13) Showing that Rama and Sita forever reside in his heart

Celebrating Diwali!When I was thinking about the festival of Diwali, I was reminded that it was to commemorate and celebrate the event of Rama killing Ravana. Along with the bursting of firecrackers, I’ve seen celebrations in North India wher… — Celebrating Diwali!
When I was thinking about the festival of Diwali, I was reminded that it was to commemorate and celebrate the event of Rama killing Ravana. Along with the bursting of firecrackers, I’ve seen celebrations in North India where they burn effigies of Ravana filled with firecrackers resulting in dazzling displays of light and color.

This created an image in my head of Ravana actually bursting like a firecracker when Rama killed him, literally becoming a symbol for the festival of light. The second departure I had was from traditional depictions of Ravana with 10 heads. I thought to myself, attaching 10 separate heads to a neck would be anatomically impossible! But if he had heads in all directions, then they would fit neatly on one neck. Also, you could only see a few at a time, so all you needed to do was to convey the illusion that there were more heads around the corner. And this is what I came up with :-)

The Demon King Ravana orders Hanuman’s tail be lit on fire. As Ravana’s forces try to wrap cloth around his tail, Hanuman begins to lengthen it. After frustrating them for a while, he allows it to burn. He then escapes from his captors w… — The Demon King Ravana orders Hanuman’s tail be lit on fire. As Ravana’s forces try to wrap cloth around his tail, Hanuman begins to lengthen it. After frustrating them for a while, he allows it to burn. He then escapes from his captors with his tail on fire and burns down large parts of Lanka.
Reading the stories from the Ramayana, it always fascinated me that one monkey could cause so much destruction to an entire city all on his own. That combined with being impervious to fire created a very powerful symbolism.

This is a pivotal scene from the Ramayan represents the moment where the humble Hanuman learns of his innate powers from the ever-wise Jambavan. He then grows to a giant size and readies himself to take a mighty leap towards Lanka as the vanaras che… — This is a pivotal scene from the Ramayan represents the moment where the humble Hanuman learns of his innate powers from the ever-wise Jambavan. He then grows to a giant size and readies himself to take a mighty leap towards Lanka as the vanaras cheer him on.
Often we find that we have a lot of hidden talents within ourselves that only a keen external eye can discern and point out. That is the whole point of having wise mentors or coaches around, not just to correct your mistakes but to also make you realize your true potential.

Lanka represents the goal, Sampati represents the identification of the goal, Hanuman represents the means to attain the goal and Jambavan is the identifier of the means to attain the goal. These four components together lead to goal fulfillment.