Who Is Hanuman? Learn About the Hindu Deity Centered in “Monkey Man”

Murali Aithal Photography

Believers is a series running throughout April, examining different facets of faith and religion among young people.

Dev Patel’s new movie Monkey Man starts with the image of a boy and his mother in the forest. She’s reading from a picture book and narrating the story of Hanuman, the Hindu deity who is half-human and half-monkey. She’s telling Kid, the film's protagonist, the story about when Hanuman tried to eat the sun because he thought it was a juicy mango, but he was punished by the gods for his mistake.

In the movie, Patel plays a grown-up Kid attempting to take down the people who razed his village and killed his mother. Kid invokes Hanuman by donning a monkey mask, and many have pointed out that the film seems to be an indictment of India’s far-right Hindu-nationalist government (it's still not clear if the film will be released in India).

As CNN reported, Patel has addressed this: “Really, it’s a revenge film about faith and how faith can be a beautiful teacher,” he said at SXSW. “But at the same time, faith can be weaponized. Faith can be monetized. And you see that in the opposing end.”

In using Hanuman to drive his point, Patel is calling on one of Hindu’s most beloved deities, and one that has recently been used in a somewhat controversial way.

Hanuman’s form may have derived from the knowledge Indians had of evolution and a connection to primates, according to Philip Lutgendorf, author of Hanuman's Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey and professor emeritus in the Department of Asian and Slavic Languages and Literature at the University of Iowa. “The sort of affinity, the closeness of anthropoid primates, to human beings was something that ancient Indians were very conscious of long before Darwin,” Lutgendorf tells Teen Vogue.

Like most Hindu Gods, there isn’t just one characteristic, one narrative, or even one origin story that defines Hanuman. While multiple stories depict Hanuman in varying ways, there are a few themes that tend to crop up. “He becomes an exemplar of self-control, self-sacrifice, loyalty, love," says Lutgendorf, "as well as power and strength, heroic qualities.”

It was these qualities that Patel said drew him to Hanuman since his childhood. “What baffled me growing up was this iconography of this super strong being who could hold mountains in one hand and split his chest open. It reminded me of the iconography of Superman. I was like, ‘This is amazing, I wish the world knew about it,’” Patel said, according to the Hindustan Times. "When you go deep into it, he is sort of a guy who has lost faith in himself and had to be reminded of who he was.”

In Monkey Man, a young Kid listens to his mother tell the mango story. The image of a mother and child reading stories about Hanuman is nothing new — his devout, kind nature has often made him the type of god parents encourage their children to be like.

“I think Hanuman, the character, is always very popular with children,” says Bulbul Tiwari, an adjunct professor in the Theology and Religious Studies Department at Georgetown University. In modern-day depictions, such as animated cartoons for kids, Hanuman is ever present. “Even in traditional Indian art forms like the Ramleela [a popular type of puppet show] and other street theater and so on, he’s a very appealing actor for children because he's very mischievous, he has a great sense of humor, he's very playful. All these aspects have always connected into childhood.”

The complexity of Hanuman is underscored in one of his most notable depictions, in the Hindu epic Ramayana, where he is a devoted and loyal servant to Lord Ram in his quest to defeat the demon king, Ravana.

Monkey Man uses storylines from Ramayana in modern-day contexts to situate Kid as a sort of stand-in for Hanuman. In one scene, Kid takes a hallucinogen and opens his chest to find a glowing ball of light. This depiction mirrors one of the most famous images of Hanuman, in which he opens his chest, and in his heart there are images of Ram and Sita, Rama’s wife, to show his devotion to them.

These parts of Hanuman, as connected to nature and as a devout follower of Lord Ram, have traditionally been the ones associated with him. In recent years, though, the rise of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has used the imagery of Hindu gods and rituals to both marginalize anyone who does not strictly follow their interpretation of Hinduism and entice more followers to their cause. The party has pursued policies in service of Hindutva, or a Hindu country, at the expense of Muslims, Christians, Adivasi (or Indigenous peoples), and Dalit, or historically marginalized communities within Hinduism. This, despite the fact that the country’s constitution states the country is a secular democracy, with no reference to a particular religion as dominant over another.

Hanuman, in particular, has become a symbol for those on the far right, with an especially angry depiction of Hanuman popping up in the country and becoming incredibly popular within the last few years. Says Lutgendorf, “It's everywhere. It's on cars, it's on motorbikes, and it's on saffron banners.”

The proliferation of images of strong and angry gods marks a shift, one that serves to intimidate non-devotees of Hinduism, according to Lutgendorf. “The artist says it was just meant to show Hanuman with attitude,” he explains. “But what attitude means in this context is being threatening to people that you don't like, to people who don't think the way you do or don't belong to your particular community, and Hanuman is being invoked that way all the time.”

Additionally, the youth arm of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the right-wing Hindu-nationalist organization responsible for the destruction of a prominent mosque in 1992, is called Bajrang Dal, or Brigade of Bajrangbali, another name for Hanuman.

Monkey Man also invokes a more violent depiction of Hanuman, which, given the right’s co-option of this image, might be confusing. Tiwari says she found it “odd,” given the past depictions of Hanuman that are more gentle and devout. Siddhant Adlakha, who reviewed Monkey Man for Time magazine, told CNN that the violence in the film touched on the exact tenets Patel seemed to criticize: “It’s more like he’s battling these vague echoes of Hindutva using Hinduism as a central philosophy that is then imbued with violence. His character ends up embodying all the things that Patel the filmmaker is trying to fight in the real world.”

Still, others have brushed off the violence as being in line with both Hindu mythology and popular movies at large, according to CNN. Patel has noted that the film is intended to uplift the marginalized. “For me, this is an anthem for the underdogs, the voiceless, and the marginalized,” he told Variety. This, GQ pointed out, can be seen, in part, in how Patel portrays the Hijra community, India's third gender, as saviors.

According to Lutgendorf, Hanuman largely emphasizes unity, devotion, and harmony with nature. “Hanuman is a good fit for this role because of his kind of connection — he's the link between so many things,” he explains. “He's the link between India and Lanka in the Ramayana, he's the link between Vaishnavas and Shaivas [different sects of Hinduism], but he's also the link between nature and culture.”

As India’s political environment becomes increasingly discordant, Hanuman’s example might be the perfect antidote to religious extremism.

Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue