Famous Hanuman Devotees

Sri Vyasaraya Tirtha (1447 - 1539)

Dvaita, the philosophy propounded by Sri Madhwacharya, has been graced by several divine personalities. Vyasaraya was a prominent figure in what is considered as the golden-age of Karnataka. He was born at Bannur on the banks of the Kaveri River in Karnataka in 1447. The baby grew up under the care of Bramhanya Tirtha and later, he was sent to Sripadaraya Swami, a great saint, for further training in philosophy. He is regarded as the incarnation of Prahlada. Devotees also believe that he re-incarnated as Sri Raghavendra Swamy.

He was the Royal Pontiff to the emperors of Vijaynagar; Sri Krishnadevaraya, the great emperor of Vijayanagar was his staunch devotee. Once, Vyasaraya foresaw that the emperor would come under the bad influence of planets known as Kuha Yoga. The king sought guidance from his spiritual mentor, who advised him to ‘give away’ the kingdom to him during the specific period. To protect his devotee, and the empire, he himself ascended the throne during those evil moments. The king obeyed and the saint occupied the throne. The upper garment of Sri Vyasaraya caught fire and he threw it away. The ill effect of the planets was thus warded off and the king was saved from the clutches of death. Hence in recognition of this gesture, even today a court is being held daily in the evenings in the Math established by the saint. Later, he handed the empire back to the emperor.

He cast off his mortal body in 1539, at the ripe old age of 92 years. His resting place is Nava-Vrindavana, located on an island in the Tungabhadra River, near Anegondi, very close to Hampi.

He wrote Pranava Nodirai, Mukya Prana Padirai, and Sadguna Charita on Sri Hanuman. He has also given 732 instances (prana prathikas) like Varijavadana samiraja kapi nrupa dvijana bhavi ajana explaining the three manifestations of Sri Madhwacharya. He went on a padayatra (pilgrimage on foot) and installed 732 idols of Sri Anjaneya in different parts of the country. The Anjaneya Temple at Nallattur in Tiruttani Taluk in Andhra Pradesh is one such temple. He blessed Sri Purandara Dasa and Sri Kanaka Dasa and made Dvaita philosophy to spread all over through Kannada language.

Saint Tulsidas (1532 – 1623)

Tulsidas was born in 1532 to a Brahmin family in the town of Rajapur. His father Atmaram was an official in the ministry of Akbar, the mughal ruler. He suffered separation from his parents at a very young age and was not taken care of by relatives. He met some saints who advised him to surrender to Lord Rama. He got associated with a Hanuman temple and ate whatever was given to him. He got married to a woman named Ratnavali. Once his wife went to stay with her parents for a while. Tulsi, unable to bear the separation, hurried to meet her. Ratnavali admonished him that he should have loved Sri Rama with the same fervour instead of being lured by flesh. Tulsi contemplated on this remark and left all connections with the family life.

While seeking alms, he came to the house where his wife and father-in-law lived, but he could not recognize them. Recognising him, his wife food. When she insisted that he partake spices like pepper, salt etc, he replied that he had spices in his possession. Early next morning, when Tulsidas was preparing to leave the house, his wife requested him to take her with him. But he said that he had renounced family life. Ratnavali remarked in anguish that he was a strange renunciate who carried spices with him but not his own wife. He recognized the folly of being attached to food, and threw away all possessions and migrated to Kashi.

Scholars opine that the Ramacharitamanas would never have been written but for Ratnavali's remarks. Atlast he had the vision of Sri Hanuman and Sri Rama along with Sita Devi, Lakshmana, Bharata, and Satrughna. Sri Rama advised Tulsidas to narrate His story with the help of Sri Anjaneya. He wrote the famous Ramacharitamanas, also known as the Tulsi Ramayan, and Hanuman Chalisa.

Nabhaji, the author of Bhaktamala, writes that Tulsidas was an incarnation of Sage Valmiki born again to explain the Ramayana in the vernacular language. The Ramacharitamanas and the Ramayana are both biographies of Lord Rama and naturally, there should not be major differences between the two. Tulsi is an independent poet who created a world using metaphors and similies which though overall consistent with Valmiki's rendition differs considerably in many places. 

Sri Raghavendra Swami (1595 – 1671)

He belongs to the Dvaita tradition established by Sri Madhwacharya. He was the head of the Math during 1623-1671 and was a prolific writer on the scriptures and works of the Dvaita school. He is believed to be the reincarnation of Sankukarna who offered flowers for Brahma's worship of Lord Narayana in His divine abode. The Lord willed that the glory of this faithful devotee be known to the world. In the Krita Yuga he was born as Prahlada, in Treta Yuga as Vibhishana and in the Dwapara as king Bagaliga. In Kali Yuga, he was born as Vyasaraya first and then as Raghavendra. Named as Venkatanatha by his parents, he joined the service of the Math when Sudindra Theertha was the pontiff. He became known as Raghavendra Swami and entered Jiva samadhi on the banks of the Tungabhadra River at Mantralayam in 1671. The Panchamukha Anjaneya idol at Mantralayam was consecrated by him.

Bhadrachala Ramadas (1620 –1688)

It is said that Lord Rama once appeared in the dream of a woman called Pokala Sammakka and informed her about the existence of idols on Bhadragiri. To her astonishment, the idols were found on the hill and she got a modest structure built at the place. The temple, dedicated to Lord Rama, is situated on the left bank of the Godavari River at Bhadrachalam in Khammam District. The uniqueness of the temple is that the deity here is a combination of two incarnations - Sri Rama with kodandam (bow) and Vishnu with his shanku (conch shell) and chakra (discus, a symbol of destruction of evil).

Later, Gopanna, a Tahsildar in the court of Abdul Hassan Tana Shah, spent the tax revenues lavishly to renovate the temple to its present form. He was a fervent devotee of Lord Rama. In order to embellish the temple, Gopanna used the money from the royal treasury. As a punishment, he was arrested and confined to a dark cell in the Golconda Fort. Even in solitude, Gopanna's devotion to Lord Rama was undeterred. It is believed that his prayers were soon answered when Lord Rama appeared in Tana Shah's dream and repaid the money taken from the royal treasury. The king was awestruck and released Gopanna from prison and also restored his position as Tahsildar. Tana Shah also announced annual grants to the temple. Some of the jewels which Gopanna adorned the deities with can be seen at the temple. He became famous by the name Bhaktha Ramadas and Bhadrachala Ramadas.

Saint Tyagaraja adopted Sri Ramadas as his role model and admired the latter for his devotion to Sri Rama and efforts to propagate Rama Nama Siddhaantha. Saint Tyagaraja referred to himself as the servant of Ramadas.

Samartha Ramadas (1608 – 1681)

Saints played a prominent role in Maharashtra and they had a large following. Prominent among the followers are the Varkari sect, who worship Vishnu in the form of Vittal, the Dattatreya, who worship a combination of Vishnu and Siva, and the Samarth, founded by Ramadas (a devotee of Sri Rama). Ramadas gave special importance to Sri Hanuman. A religious teacher of Chatrapathi Sivaji, he encouraged gymnastics and the martial arts among his devotees and wrote many religious treatises. 

Chatrapathi Sivaji (1627 – 1680)

Chatrapathi Sivaji, the great Maratha warrior, who fought the Mughals, Turks of Bijapur, the Portuguese, the English, the Dutch, and the French was an ardent devotee of Sri Hanuman. His teacher was Samartha Ramadas another ardent devotee of Sri Hanuman. Sivaji is characterised as adventurous, intrepid, polite, magnanimous, intelligent, ambitious, disciplined, an expert strategist, a good organiser, and far sighted.

Saint Tyagaraja (1767 – 1847)

Saint Tyagaraja was an ardent devotee of Sri Rama. It is believed that he recited the Thaaraka Naamam of Sri Rama ninety six crore times and had the fortune of darshan of Sri Rama with Sita Devi, Lakshmana, and Sri Anjaneya in front of his house on the Thirumanjana Street in Thiruvaiyaru.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahans (1836 –1886)

Born in a rural village outside Calcutta, Sri Ramakrishna was attracted to spiritual life even as a boy. When he became a temple priest, he was seized by an unquenchable thirst for God realisation, and he immersed himself in intense meditation and spiritual practices. He was constantly absorbed in the thought of God. He would often go into high spiritual states and would merge with the Infinite Reality. For him, the vedantic teaching of unity of all existence was more than theory; he literally saw, and knew, this to be true. His life was a testament to truth, universality, love, and purity.

In his thirst for the divine, Sri Ramakrishna followed different religious paths including Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity, and experienced the same divine Reality. He concluded, based on his direct experience that all religions lead to the same goal. His exposure to Sikhism and Buddhism further confirmed his experience of the universality of spiritual truth. He often said that human beings were the highest manifestations of God. His disciples saw this love firsthand, and the monastic order inspired by him achieved the distinction of being the first order in India to serve humanity.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahans has stated that at the peak of his devotion he identified so closely with Sri Anjaneya that his vertebra almost started growing as if to form a tail.

Swami Vivekanand (1863 – 1902)

Swami Vivekanand was the foremost disciple of Sri Ramakrishna and a world spokesperson for Vedanta. His lectures, writings, letters, and poems are published as The Complete Works of Swami Vivekanand. He represented Hinduism at the first World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, and subsequently he was invited to speak all over America and Europe. He was a man with a great spiritual presence and great intellect. After his first visit to the West, Swami Vivekanand returned to India and founded the Ramakrishna Order in 1898.

Swami Vivekanand used to inspire his disciples and audience with the story of Sri Anjaneya. Anjaneya was his childhood idol and hero. Once he happen to attend a discourse on the Ramayana during the course of which the narrator said that Anjaneya was fond of plantain and that He frequents places where plantain abounds. He returned home and visited a plantain grove nearby and waited there hoping that Anjaneya would visit the grove! He advised his disciple Saratchandra Chakraborty to follow the ideals of Sri Anjaneya in life.

Sri Shirdi Sai Baba (1838 - 1918)

Akkalkot Swami, considered as an incarnation of Dattatreya, reincarnated as Sri Shirdi Baba in Pathri, 16 kms from Manmad Railway Station in Maharashtra. According to a biography, Sri Shirdi Sai Baba was born in the Bhusari family whose family deity was Sri Hanuman of Kumbharbawadi, on the outskirts of Pathri. It is recorded that Baba had great admiration and respect for Sri Rama and Sri Hanuman. There is atleast one recorded instance of Sri Shirdi Baba appearing as Sri Hanuman to a devotee. 

Sri Madhwacharya (1238 - 1317)

Among the philosophers of the Vedantic tradition, Madhwacharya propounded the Dvaita system of philosophy. He took to a life of recluse at a very young age and established eight Maths in Udipi. The icon of Sri Krishna in Udipi installed by him is believed to be the one worshipped in Dwaraka. Madhwacharya was born in 1238. It is believed that Sri Hanuman, Bheema and Madhwa are the three manifestations of the Wind God, Vayu. As Anjaneya, He was present on the flag of Arjuna in the Kurukshetra battlefield and listened to the Lord's sermon, the Bhagavad Gita. According to him, Lord Hari is the Supreme Reality; the universe is absolutely real; the groups of souls are His servants; moksha is liberation from rebirths and the enjoyment of inherent bliss; pure devotion is the means to secure salvation and the Lord can be known only through scriptures

Note: This blog ends the series of articles posted with subject Legend of Lord Hanuman. Hope these series of blogs helped you understand Lord Hanuman better. We will repeat this series once again after another 6 months so that we will continue to remember Lord Hanuman and His Glory. Starting next e-mail we will post Ramayana - Story of Rama in a series which is always the favorite of Lord Hanuman.