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| Hanuman, a street print purchased in Delhi, India. |
With the monkeys and the bear filled army gathered round, great Jambavan told to all within earshot the tale of Hanuman's birth and his birthright.
"Born of the Wind God, Vayu, were ye, Hanuman, to your mother Anjuna, when she was in labor with you among the mountains. And as you grew, your friends were the mountains, the trees and the forest. You had no fear of the Sun, but thought it to be another fruit in the sky for your pleasure. Oh, Hanuman! You were convinced it was in reach for you! How merrily you learned to spring forth then, youthful Hanuman, when you were reaching for the Sun -- 3,000 leagues you taught yourself to reach. So, what then, is 100 leagues across the sea to Lanka, when as a young boy you taught yourself to leap 3,000? Remember, Hanuman, that it was you who befriended the mountains, and the forests and wanted the Sun for yourself. The Ocean, then, is a friendly Ocean, and surely she, too, will befriend you in your journey to Lanka. Fear not the creatures in her depths, but ask her to aide you in your righteous and noble journey. For you, Hanuman, this journey was designed, and it is why you are aligned with Sugriva in Rama's task to retrieve Sita to her rightful place beside her husband. Gather yourself, Hanuman, and race forward to gain back that which is rightfully Rama's!"
The monkeys howled and began jumping up and down, clapping, and stomping their feet. The youthful among them raced to a forest grove a little ways off, and began leaping into the trees and back down, as their excitement for Hanuman rose into a swell that overtook the army. The bears moaned, raised onto their back haunches, front paws in the air clapping, and snorted their snouts in approval.
Hanuman, being reminded of his birth and who he was, gathered himself together: he wove tight his inner strength in his core, sparked the fire of success in his mind, stomped his feet to warm them up for the journey ahead and roared with all his breath the great howl of a howler monkey. The army roared and cheered back their approval. Confidence gathered, Hanuman wheeled back up the mountain Mahendra just behind them that overlooked the ocean. Prepared for the hard task ahead, and his innerself aflame with the knowledge that this was a task he alone could complete, he shook the mountain, preparing his body for his leap. Muscles taught, he bounded down the mountain, feet spinning as fast as flames, tail afire with the speed from which he went, past the army on the shore and over onto the Ocean waters he spun. He was not sinking, in fact he was making as good of speed over the Ocean as he was over the land. Using the waves as footholds to push off of, he pressed on towards Lanka.
On his way, however, he began to grow tired. For the wave-like footholds he thought were giving him advantage in moving forward were in fact slowing him down. His might pushed through the water, instead of responding to and pushing off of a hard surface, such as a mound of land or tree limb, as he was accustomed to. "Oh, this shall be harder than I expected," thought Hanuman. "Jambavan was wrong... I am a friend to the land dwelling places, but I am no friend to the Ocean, and she is no friend to me." As the spark of confidence in his mind faltered, so too did his feet, and his pace slowed.
Knowing there was a strange new creature in her midst, the Ocean had been watching Hanuman curiously. He was not diving down into her waters, but was merely brushing her surface. She was accustomed to creatures swimming down into her depths, and enjoying the feel of the play of movement among her inner waters, and she changed her waves to play with Hanuman's feet, washing this way and that in unexpected directions. It was to Hanuman's hindrance, in fact, that she did this, but she did not know that he was about the hard and noble task of reaching Lanka to rescue Sita. Inferring that he was in fact tiring, and not understanding her playful methods, the Ocean grew worried for Hanuman, and called to Mount Mainaka to come and give rest to the land creature who had lost his way amongst the top of her waters.
Mount Mainaka responded happily to the Ocean's bidding, for she had been banished from roaming about where she pleased on the landmasses, but had been given free reign to move as she desired among the Ocean and her friends. The Ocean rarely called for her, so this time when she did, she came quickly. Hearing about this lost Hanuman above the waters, Mount Mainaka raised up under Hanuman's feet and moved with him as he continued traveling forward, for he did not realize that land had suddenly sprung up underneath him where water should have been.
Finally, as Mount Mainaka matched Hanuman's speed, he realized he was no longer pushing against moving currents and difficult water, but that he was in fact back up on land again. "It has not been 100 leagues, yet" Hanuman wondered out loud to himself, "How then, are my feet finding solid ground again?"
"Hello Hanuman! How have you been all of these years? It's been so long since I have seen you! We used to play together when you were little, do you remember? It's so good to see you, but tell me, what are you doing out here away from land's edges and on the Ocean waters?"
Hanuman, thinking to himself of Jambavan's words that he is a friend to the mountains, and to the trees, besought Mount Mainaka for assistance in reaching Lanka. For he was growing weary, and his legs were feeling heavy.
And Mount Mainaka, pleased with being reunited with an old friend who has grown to adulthood and now aims to achieve a noble deed, agreed to help Hanuman by carrying him on her Mountaintop, through the waters, and over to Lanka so that he may retrieve the beautiful Sita.
Author's Note: This story was an adaptation of "Hanuman's Leap", a translation from Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita, available in the Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana.
Sugriva's monkey and bear army is downtroddn, for they have searched the lands and cannot find the beautiful Sita, whom has been taken from Rama. They cannot go over the waters to the island of Lanka where they have been told she is kept, and they are unsure of what to do next. Then, Jambavan tells Hanuman that he is capable of traveling the 100 leagues over the sea to Lanka when all the others will tire and grow weary. An ocean dwelling Rakshasi does come to take Hanuman in the original telling, but I ommitted that to play up the interaction between Hanuman and Maint Mainaka. In the original, Mount Mainaka rises up to give him rest in her forest and on her lands, offering fruits for him to replenish hi energy with. Hanuman ignores Mount Mainaka and continues on his arduous quest towards Lanka. Having read some backstory on Mount Mainaka's boon to be granted the ability to travel where she wishes, but only in the Ocean, and having been banished from traveling where she wishes on land, I thought it would be a more interesting tale to see the interactions between Mount Mainaka and Hanuman. I leave it as a secret between them that she, Mount Mainaka, was in fact the one who got Hanuman across the sea to Lanka, which is my own addition to the story.
