Hanuman: Gods and Goddesses of India- 8

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Lord Hanuman is essentially a deity of the masses. There is hardly any village or even a hamlet, let alone the big cities, which does not have a temple or idol dedicated to this popular deity. Adored by the children and the grown ups, the scholars and the wrestlers the commoners and the elite alike, Hanuman is regarded as the ultimate symbol of loyalty and devoted service. All his these aspects have been logically discussed in this book which also encompasses his all popular hymns, the Chalisa etc. in Roman and Nagari scripts along with their English and Hindi renderings for the benefit of the curious and devoted readers alike. A complete book on Lord Hanuman!

Dr. B.K. Chaturvedi born in a village, Holipura (Agra, U.P.) on 3rd August 1945, in a reputed family, he had his education in Allahabad (M.Sc.) and Bangalore. Having served for a couple of years in HMT, he is now a free- lance author, journalist and poet based in New Delhi for about two decades.

He has many articles/poems/books published in both Hindi and English to his credit. among them is a mattered verse-translation in English the famous epic of modern Hindi: KAMAYANI. He has also rendered "Srimadbhagawat Gita' and 'Sriramcharitamanas' into English. A prolific writer, he often writes for TV and Radio.

Lord Hanuman is a very popular deity, possibly because he is said to be easily propitiable and believed to be bestowing quick reward to his devotees. It is because his extreme popularity that there are innumerable legends attached to his name, which gained local flavour and colloquial importance with the passage of time. While it is not possible to include all of them, those that have been included in the book are the ones that reveal his character's different aspects. The purpose is to present Lord Hanuman before the curious or devoted reader in the total perspective. No doubt some might find some details rather illogical or ultra conventional and to some they might appear rather irreverent. But it must be understood that the subject of the book is a mythical character and the myth is the end result of the reality and fantasy working overtime! Any effort to separate them lead to a silly outcome while killing the source of relish in the process. So, they should be understood as they are and the reader may derive his or her own conclusion according to his or her bent of mind. The moon may be a lifeless satellite full of craters and other obnoxious objects to a scientist but it continues to be a source of divine inspiration to a poet or a painter. The same is true for the mythological lore which tries to explain the known happening by the unknown reason, thus linking the finite with the infinite. This phenomenon cannot be dismissed as sheer bunkum for the process has been in continuation since hoary past and still many legendary figures and noble rules are being accorded godhead by their devotees. What their stature is the test of time through which if these legends survive, they grow with time. This is equally true with the hymns and orisons written in the glory of these mythological characters. Hence our choice of culling them from various theological and folk based sources is their immense popularity. The 'Hanuman Chalisa,' 'Bajrang Ban' and other shlokas and Aarties are those famous verses which are well known and remembered. It is hoped that the original texts of these with their Romanised version and Hindi-English translations will prove beneficial to those who remember them merely as the nostalgic sounds especially our those brethren who have settled in the foreign strands but still want to keep their roots well nourished. It is for their benefit that a separate chapter is added in the book which discusses the character of Hanuman vis-a-vis the modern outlook based upon the logical thinking.