Hanuman

Hanuman is a semi-divine, shape-changing warrior whose strength and discernment make him central to the search for Sita and the campaign against Ravana. Sugriva’s chief general and trusted envoy, he crosses the sea to Lanka, reaches the captive Sita, and returns with news that turns an apparently hopeless search into a course of action. The poem’s account of his power is shaped by a striking qualification: a curse once left him unconscious of the very might that later makes his mission possible.

Identity and Nature

The commentary identifies Hanuman as the son of the Wind God and Sugriva’s chief general. It also describes him as semi-divine and capable of assuming whatever shape he chooses, a power shared in the commentary’s account with gods and demons. This ability makes him suited to work that requires more than force: he can approach, speak, and move through a hostile city without relying on open battle alone.

His identity is repeatedly connected with exceptional physical power. In an episode recalled by the commentary, the child Hanuman leaps from a mountain toward the sun, intending to intercept it, and Indra strikes him with a thunderbolt, causing him to fall back onto the mountain. The account associates this story with Hanuman’s broken jaw and treats it, in one mythological interpretation, as an image of the sun entering darkness and emerging again. That solar reading belongs to the commentator’s interpretation; the narrative’s more immediate emphasis is on a being whose capacity exceeds ordinary measure.

Envoy and Interpreter

Hanuman first enters the action as Sugriva’s representative. When Sugriva fears that Rama and Lakshmana may be part of a plan devised by Bali, Hanuman begins by addressing that fear rather than dismissing his king’s concern. The narrative presents him as skilled in speech that can both charm and instruct: his diplomacy is a practical form of judgment, suited to a moment when an uncertain encounter could become a danger.

He then approaches Rama and Lakshmana on Sugriva’s behalf. In introducing himself, he explains that Rama has been exiled from his royal position and wanders in distress, and that Sugriva sent him to seek out the brothers. His speech establishes the circumstances linking the two parties: Rama needs help in his search for Sita, while Sugriva is a dispossessed ruler living away from his kingdom. Hanuman’s role is not simply to carry a message between them; he gives each side a way to understand the other’s situation and opens the exchange that can lead to cooperation.

The poem later recalls that Hanuman was acting under Sugriva’s express command when he went to Rama. This makes his eloquence part of his service as a general and envoy, rather than an incidental personal display. His success depends on reading fear, explaining circumstances, and making a meeting possible before either side can know whether the other is safe.

The Mission to Lanka

When the search for Sita reaches an impasse, Hanuman resolves to cross the sea and trace the captive to her hiding place. The poem frames this decision against the despair of the assembled leaders: the chiefs sit in silence, while Hanuman undertakes the journey that none of them can readily accomplish. Rama later calls the task a mighty achievement and singles out the ability to spring across the sea as beyond the conception of others. The praise gives the leap its narrative weight: it is not merely a display of strength, but the action that carries the search from uncertainty to direct knowledge.

In Lanka, Hanuman finds Sita and speaks with her. Their encounter gives him knowledge of her immediate danger: she reports that only two moons of hopeless suffering remain before the captive is to be slain. The deadline turns the mission into an urgent report as well as a discovery. Hanuman has reached the person the search sought, but what he learns makes delay newly consequential.

Hanuman is eventually brought before Ravana, who fixes his angry gaze on the captured envoy. The episode shows how a mission of observation and communication becomes entangled with open confrontation. Hanuman is bound and dragged before the king; later commentary stresses that he could have freed himself from the cords but chose not to do so. Ravana orders his tail burned in an effort to shame him, treating the feature as especially prized by monkeys. Instead, Hanuman’s burning tail sets Lanka ablaze. The instrument of intended humiliation becomes the means by which fire spreads through the city.

Return and Recognition

After the destruction, heavenly voices praise Hanuman’s exploit, and his return is met with a different scene: the leaders who had sat in despair now rejoice at the sight of him. He greets Jambavan with due reverence and bows to Angada and the other chiefs. The gestures preserve the order of the group even in celebration; his achievement does not erase his regard for its elders and leaders.

Hanuman then brings his news to Rama. Before relating it, he places the token he has carried into Rama’s hand, making the report tangible as well as verbal. Rama’s response recognizes the scale of the deed and the particular capacity that made it possible. Hanuman has returned not with speculation but with direct knowledge of Sita’s whereabouts and the urgency of her situation. His journey therefore changes the search party’s despair into actionable certainty.

The Curse and the Meaning of Strength

The commentary addresses a question raised by Hanuman’s later reputation: if his strength is so immense, why did he not defeat Bali and secure the throne for Sugriva? Agastya explains that Hanuman was then under a sage’s curse and consequently did not know his own might. The explanation distinguishes possessing power from being able to recognize and deploy it. Hanuman’s earlier restraint is not evidence that the later feats are exaggerated; it is explained as a temporary limit on his awareness.

Other commentary gives the Lanka episode a mythological reading. It compares Hanuman’s binding by Indrajit, his refusal to free himself, and the burning of his tail with the story of Samson. De Gubernatis interprets the fiery tail as an image of the morning or spring sun consuming the dwelling of nocturnal or winter powers. These readings extend the episode beyond a report of military action, but the plot’s own reversal remains clear: Ravana’s attempt to disgrace a captive envoy produces the fire that ravages his city.

Across these episodes, Hanuman’s effectiveness joins physical power to judgment. He can speak persuasively when fear blocks an alliance, undertake a crossing that others cannot, endure capture without immediately escaping, and return with the knowledge needed to act. The delayed awareness of his strength gives that sequence an added irony: the hero whose mission alters the course of the search had once been prevented by a curse from knowing what he could do.