"Hanuman was born to 'Anjana', a female vanara in present day Aanjan village in Gumla, Jharkhand. Anjana was actually an apsara or a celestial being, named 'Punjikasthala', who, due to a curse, was born on the earth as a female vanara. The curse was to be removed upon her giving birth to an incarnation of Lord Shiva... Along with Kesari, Anjana performed intense prayers to Shiva to beget Him as her Child. Pleased with their devotion, Shiva granted them the boon they sought... Sri Aurobindo states that "vanara" does not refer to "monkey": "Prajapati manifests as Vishnu Upendra incarnate in the animal or Pashu in whom the four Manus have already manifested themselves, and the first human creature who appears is, in this Kalpa, the Vanara, not the animal Ape, but man with the Ape nature", i.e. primitive man such as Homo Erectus."
- Wikipedia
I was roped into a spontaneous art shopping tour of Ubud painter's colonies last time I was in Bali. Between quite deftly-reproduced classics and oddly flourescent landscapes, depictions of the great Hindu epics were rife, and centre stage among these was Hanuman - the half ape, half human hero of the Ramayana.
Like him.
To me, he represents our becoming - kind of like the centaur - a creature, like us all, midstream in the ascending path from animal origins to the heavens of actualisation.
goign to bali to fund myself. o fund my way to lord shiva... who jst happens to be who I was all along.
going to india... they're both hindu
exploring the myths and
