Hanuman Ji

Contents The Story of Sri Ram and Hanuman Ji 9 The Exile of Lord Ram 10 The Abduction of Sri Sita Ji 13 Was Jatayu a Bird? 16 Sri Ram and Lakshman look for Sita Ji 16 The issue covered by this book 19 Who Was Hanuman Ji? 21 The Rig Ved and the Brahm Puran Vrishakapi 22 Hanuman ji in the Veds: claims made by secondary sources 24 Hanuman Ji some important dates 25 How when and why Hanuman ji is worshipped 28 What do devotees pray to Hanuman Ji for? 30 What Hanuman Ji stands for 37 Hanuman ji turns the tide of events 38 The Master of senses 41 What Hanuman ji Symbolizes/ A spiritual interpretation of the story of Ram 41 Vayu the symbol of selflessness 44 Hanuman ji relationship with Sri Ram as viewed by different scholars 47 The only perfect Sanyasi 47 The Qualities of Hanuman Ji 47 Responsibilities towards mankind 47 A Bridge between denominations 48 Hanuman Ji’s relative importance 48 Hanuman Ji as an ally of Ravan! 50 Iconography 50 How idols of Hanuman Ji should be installed 59 Famous temples 59 Women 62 Lanka The Rakshases and Ravan 63 1. The evidence of the valmiki Ramayan 66 Was the Lanka of the Ramayan the same as Sri Lanka? 66 Location 66 Geography 66 Vegetation 67 Sacred Trees 67 Lanka was in a Seismic Zone 67 2. The Evidence of other sources 68 Was Lanka a land of savages? 73 Technology 74 Affluence 74 Architecture 74 The Rakshases 79 Is Rakshas a generic word? 80 Were all Rakshases evil? 80 Praise of the Rakshases 83 The Jet set (Literally) 84 Culture 88 Intelligence 88 The Sciences 88 Black magic 88 Cannibals? 88 Were the Rakshases Non- Aryans? 89 Brahmin Rakshases 90 People are not born Rakshas 90 Their physical Features 91 A cosmopolitan population 91 Matrimonial Relations 91 The Same deities the same faith 91 Sanskrit names 93 Sita ji and Vibhishan and Called unarya 93 Ravan 95 Was Ravan all evil? 96 Negative 96 The Stud 96 His physique 96 His ancestry (and that of the other Rakshases) 98 Sri Ram praises Ravan 101 His learning and his caste 101 The Kshatriya Ravan 101 Ravan and Vedic Rituals 101 Who were the Vanars? 103 1. The evidence of the Valmiki Ramayan 104 Were they monkeys? 104 Their rituals the coronation of sugriv 107 Customs 108 Political institutions 108 Social stratification 108 Town planning and architecture Kishkindha the Vanars capital 108 The Vanars palace 110 The Royal vehicle 110 Their bodies 110 Their Clothes 111 Intelligence and scholarship 111 The Clincher 113 Food Habits were they vegetarians? 113 Were the Vanars Dravidians? 114 The Unarya Sugriv 117 Language 117 Names 117 Race/color of skin 118 Were they merely a different ethnic group? 118 Were the Vanars at least south Indians? 121 At the very least did sugriv’s clan live in south India? 122 2. The Evidence of sources other than Valmiki Ji 125 Va Nar? 130 Glossary 133 Bibliography 136 Index 137