The Great Monkey God

I WONDER about the monkey menace in so many Indian cities. The devilry of monkeys and their harassment of people, the destruction of propert...

I WONDER about the monkey menace in so many Indian cities. The devilry of monkeys and their harassment of people, the destruction of property and the terror they evoke are all factors we are familiar with. Yet, we are loath to remove them from our environs and send them into their natural habitat.

We relate this ordinary monkey with Hanuman and Rama8217;s monkey army. We believe them to be descendants of our gods. In the Ramayana, while preparing for the monkey army Brahma had instructed the devas, that 8216;8216;through the principal apsaras, the wombs of Gandharva women, maidens of Yaksas, she-bears, the women of female Kinnaris and she-monkeys procreate sons in the form of monkeys equal in strength to you.8217;8217; I find it hard to relate the two. On the one hand is the stuff of fascinating myth and religion; on the other is the stalking, hungry, urban monkey.

I prefer to see Hanuman and his army as metaphors of a way of being. To have traces of the frisky and mischievous monkey in us keeps us light-hearted and child-like, good for ourselves and others. Hanuman, however, is a metaphor of great profundity and it8217;s inevitable on my part to talk about the Thai monkey god as well as our own Hanuman.

The Thai Ramakien is about performance, dance and music. Hanuman is the super hero, leaping and bounding about the stage, centre of all the action, wise man and buffoon integrated. Rama8217;s role is decorative; he is majestically seated in the background while he bends and sways to the music. For the Thais, he is the perfect leader who has selected his deputy well and has withdrawn from action until required.

Both the Thai monkey god and Hanuman, however, make one thing clear: that devoted as they might be to Rama, they cannot change his destiny or mitigate his suffering.

It is easy for Hanuman to fly to Sita in Lanka, where Ravana has kept her hidden, and give her Rama8217;s ring. Yet it takes Rama many years before he can set eyes on Sita again. For his destiny is different from that of Hanuman.

The monkey god of Thailand has been influenced by an allegorical adventure story written in China around the 15th century. Journey to the West is about Hsuan-Tsang8217;s mythological voyage to India. Like Rama he is human and therefore fallible and is accompanied by four supernatural companions, one of whom is the monkey god, Wu-K8217;ung. In other words, Hsuan-Tsang is actually Rama.

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Wu-K8217;ung boasts about 8216;8216;the capacity of my cloud-somersault, which with one leap can cover a hundred and eight thousand miles.8217;8217; Says Pa-chieh, another companion, 8216;8216;If it is so easy all you need to do is to carry Master on your back; nod your head, stretch your waist and jump across.8217;8217;

Wu-K8217;ung responds, 8216;8216;But it is required of Master to go through all these strange territories before he finds deliverance from the sea of sorrow. You and I are only his protective companions guarding his body and life, but we cannot exempt him from his woes.8217;8217;

Our destinies are all different, whether we justify it through karma or through the swings of good fortune or bad luck. But we all need Hanumans in our lives to protect us, give us hope and good cheer and send us on our way.