href="#ulink_a28c400c-2d45-5595-8d14-ce968ba0f505">2 More extended analysis will probably show that the obligations of Brâhmanism to the local cultus are much greater than is commonly supposed.
Hanumân.
First among the heroic godlings is Hanumân, “He of the large jaws,” or, as he is generally called, Mahâbîr, the “great hero,” the celebrated monkey chief of the Râmâyana, who assisted Râma in his campaign against the giant Râvana to recover Sîtâ. Hardly any event in his mythology, thanks to the genius of Tulasî Dâs, the great Hindi poet of Hindustân, is more familiar to the Hindu peasant than this. It forms the favourite subject of dramatic representation at the annual festival of the Dasahra. There Hanumân, in fitting attire, marches along the stage at the head of his army of bears and monkeys, and the play ends with the destruction of Râvana, whose great body, formed of wickerwork and paper, is blown up with fireworks, amid the delighted enthusiasm of the excited audience.
It is almost certain that the worship of Hanumân does not come down from the earliest ages of the Hindu faith, though it has been suggested that he is the legitimate descendant of Vrisha-kapi, the great monkey of the Veda.3 Besides being a great warrior he was noted for his skill in magic, grammar and the art of healing. Many local legends connect him with sites in Northern India. Hills, like the Vindhya and that at Govardhan, are, as we have seen, attributed to him or to his companions. The more extreme school of modern comparative mythologists would make out that Hanumân is only the impersonation of the great cloud-monkey which fights the sun.4
But the fact of monkey-worship is susceptible of a much simpler explanation. The ape, from his appearance and human ways, is closely associated with man. It is a belief common to all folk-lore that monkeys were once human beings who have suffered degradation,5 and according to one common belief stealers of fruit become monkeys in their next incarnation. But the common theory that the monkey is venerated in memory of the demigod Hanumân is, as Sir A. Lyall6 remarks, “plainly putting the cart before the horse, for the monkey is evidently at the bottom of the whole story. Hanumân is now generally supposed to have been adopted into the Hindu heaven from the non-Aryan or aboriginal idolaters; though, to my mind, any uncivilized Indian would surely fall down and worship at first sight of an ape. Then there is the modern idea that the god was really a great chief of some such aboriginal tribe as those which to this day dwell almost like wild creatures in the remote forests of India; and this may be the nucleus of fact in the legend regarding him. It seems as if hero-worship and animal-worship had got mixed up in the legend of Hanumân.”
At the same time, it must be remembered that the so-called Aryans enjoy no monopoly of his worship. He is sometimes like a tribal godling of the aboriginal Suiris, and the wild Bhuiyas of Keunjhar identify him with Borâm, the Sun godling.7 It is at least a possible supposition that his worship may have been imported into Brâhmanism from some such source as these.
HANUMÂN AND HIS PRIEST.
Hanumân as a Village Godling.
But whatever may be the origin of the cult, the fact remains that he is a great village godling, with potent influence to scare evil spirits from his votaries. His rude image, smeared with oil and red ochre, meets one somewhere or other in almost every respectable Hindu village. One of his functions is to act as an embodiment of virile power. He is a giver of offspring, and in Bombay women sometimes go to his temple in the early morning, strip themselves naked, and embrace the god.8 Mr. Hartland has collected many instances of similar practices. Thus a cannon at Batavia used to be utilized in the same way; and at Athens there is a rock near the Callirrhoe, whereon women who wish to be made fertile rub themselves, calling on the Moirai to be gracious to them.9
On the same principle he is, with Hindu wrestlers, their patron deity, his place among Musalmâns being taken by ’Ali. Their aid is invoked at the commencement of all athletic exercises, and at each wrestling school a platform is erected in their honour. Tuesday is sacred to Mahâbîr and Friday to ’Ali. Hindu wrestlers on Mahâbîr’s day bathe in a river in the morning, and after bathing dress in clean clothes. Then taking a jar of water, some incense, sweets, and red or white flowers, they repair to the wrestling school, bow down before the platform and smear it with cow-dung or earth. After this the sweets are offered to Mahâbîr and verses are recited in his honour. Then they do the exercise five times and bow before the platform. When the service is over they smear their bodies with the incense, which is supposed to give them strength and courage. Care is taken that no woman sees the athletes exercising, lest she should cast the Evil Eye upon them.
One special haunt of the monkey deity is what is known as the Bandarpûnchh or “monkey tail” peak in the Himâlayas. They say that every year in the spring a single monkey comes from Hardwâr to this peak and remains there twelve months, when he makes way for his successor.
Hanumân is a favourite deity of the semi-Hinduized Drâvidian races of the Vindhya-Kaimûr plateau. “The most awe-inspiring of their tremendous rocks are his fanes; the most lovely of their pools are sacred by virtue of the tradition of his having bathed in them.” He was known as Pawan-kâ-pût, or “son of the wind,” which corresponds to his older title of Marutputra, or “son of the wind god.” And the Bhuiyas of Sinhbhûm, who are, as Colonel Dalton gravely remarks, “without doubt the apes of the Râmâyana,” call themselves Pawan-bans, or “sons of the wind,” to this day.10 But in the plains his chief function is as a warden or guardian against demoniacal influence, and at the Hanumângarhi shrine at Ajudhya he is provided with a regular priesthood consisting of Khâki ascetics.
The respect paid to the monkey does not need much illustration. The ordinary monkey of the plains (Macacus Rhesus) is a most troublesome, mischievous beast, and does enormous mischief to crops, while in cities he is little short of a pest. But his life is protected by a most effective sanction, and no one dares to injure him.
General Sleeman11 tells a story of a Muhammadan Nawâb of Oudh, who was believed to have died of fever, the result of killing a monkey. “Mumtâz-ud-daula,” said his informant, “might have been King of Oudh had his father not shot that monkey.” In the Panjâb an appeal to the monkey overcomes the demon of the whirlwind. There is a Bombay story that in the village of Makargâon, whenever there is a marriage in a house, the owner puts outside the wedding booth a turban, a waist-cloth, rice, fruits, turmeric, and betel-nuts for the village monkeys. The monkeys assemble and sit round their Patel, or chief. The chief tears the turban and gives a piece to each of them, and the other things are divided. If the householder does not present these offerings they ascend the booth and defile the wedding feast. He has then to come out and apologize, and when he gives them the usual gifts they retire.12 The feeding of monkeys is part of the ritual at the Durgâ Temple at Benares, and there, too, there is a king of the monkeys who is treated with much respect. Instances of Râjas carrying out the wedding of a monkey at enormous expense are not unknown. Where a monkey has been killed it is believed