Note: See the 05-14-22 update for two additional dissertations analyzing Hanuman.
Last updated: 05-14-2022
I previously posted a paper that explores the evidence connecting Sun Wukong with the Hindu monkey god Hanuman. Here, I present a wonderful book that explores Hanuman’s origins, worship, and popular image.
Blurb:
This book offers a comprehensive introduction to one of the most beloved and widely worshiped of Hindu deities: the “monkey-god” Hanuman. It details the historical expansion of Hanuman’s religious status beyond his role as helper to Rama and Sita, the divine hero and heroine of the ancient Ramayana storytelling tradition. Additionally, it surveys contemporary popular literature and folklore through which Hanuman’s mythological biography is celebrated, and describes a range of religious sites and practices that highlight different aspects of his persona. Emphasizing Hanuman’s role as a “liminal” deity who combines animal, human, and divine qualities, and as a “middle-class” god within the Hindu pantheon, the book argues that such mediatory status has made Hanuman especially appealing to upwardly-mobile social groups as well as to Hindus of many sectarian persuasions.
Archive Link:
Update: 05-14-22
I’d like to update this page with two additional sources, this time written by Arshia Sattar. The first is her Master’s thesis titled A Structural Analysis of Hanuman as a Mythological Figure (Sattar, 1987).
Abstract:
This thesis traces the career of Hanumān in Valmiki’s Rāmāyana, Tulsidās’ Rāmcaritmānas, and the Hanumān Calīsa. In each of these texts, Hanumān is presented in a different light and thus performs a different function. Hanumān is analyzed in terms of the various aspects of his personality, and his antecedents and heritage.
The thesis finds that in making his leap to Lanka in the Rāmāyana, Hanumān changes from a superior monkey into a bhakta. He also sets up the bhakti universe. Hanumān enters the Rāmcaritmānas a bhakta, and is here presented as the model for Tulsi’s creed of Rāma-bhakti. In the Hanumān Cālīsa, he reaches the pinnacle of his career. He has the status of a demi-god, a result of his devotion to Rāma. The thesis includes a translation of the Hanumān Cālīsa and a brief commentary on the text.
Archive Link
Click to access A-Structural-Analysis-of-Hanuman-as-a-Mythological-Figure-1987.pdf
The second is her doctorial thesis titled Hanuman in the Ramayana of Valmiki: A Study in Ambiguity (Sattar, 1990).
Info from the Introduction:
This dissertation will look closely at the monkey Hanumān primarily as he appears in Vālmīki’s Rāmāyana (henceforth VR). Hanumān appears in many texts in the Hindu tradition, both Rāmāyana-s, as well as texts outside the Rāmāyana tradition. The other appearances Hanumān makes will not be the focus of this project, though many of them will be referred to en passant.
The present work will discuss the major feats that Hanumān performs in the VR–his birth, his leap to the sun as an infant, his later leap to Lanka as an adult monkey, and his meeting with Sītā. It will employ theoretical frameworks that are based in the narrative structure of the VR, with an intensive focus on those acts for which Hanumān is best known. This method will make possible an understand of Hanumān in the VR that is not based on Rāma’s divinity or lack thereof, but rather is more solidly related to Hanumān’s status as a mythological figure and a monkey. It will also provide construct that will illuminate the way in which Hanumān’s depiction in the later tradition is dependent on and circumscribed by the role that he plays and the abilities that he has in the VR.
The main organizational principle of the present work will be the analysis of Hanumān in terms of his miscegenated birth and its consequences. Hanumān’s parents, the apsaras Anjana and the Wind-god Vayu, do not belong to the same category of being. This mixed parentage bestows a categorical ambiguity on the monkey: he can appear as more than one thing, or as something other than what he appears to be.
[…]
Despite exceptions, it is reasonable to postulate that miscegenated creatures carry the ability to change form as a mark of their mixed parentage and are also categorically ambiguous. In fact, the ability to appear as something else and/or more than one thing at the same time (as shall be demonstrated in the case of Hanumān) is a wonderfully graphic representation of categorical ambiguity.
Archive link:
Click to access Hanuman-in-the-Ramayana-of-Valmiki-A-Study-in-Ambiguity-1990.pdf
Disclaimer:
These have been posted for educational purposes. No malicious copyright infringement is intended. Please support the official release.
Citations:
Lutgendorf, P. (2007). Hanuman’s Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sattar, A. (1987). A Structural Analysis of Hanuman as a Mythological Figure (Publication No. 1332031) [Master’s dissertation, The American University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
Sattar, A. (1990). Hanuman in the Ramayana of Valmiki: A Study in Ambiguity (Publication No. T31149) [Doctoral dissertation, The University of Chicago]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.