Who can forget the iconic image of Hanuman gracefully flying across the skies holding up a mountain in one hand while cradling his favourite weapon mace with the other? In the Yuddhakand of Ramayana, Valmiki describes the episode in detail. During the battle of Lanka, Lakshman was grievously wounded by Indrajit, son of Ravana. Seeing Lakshman was close to death, Jambavan the leader of bears commanded Hanuman to fetch immediately ‘Sanjivani booti’, a powerful medicinal herb that has the power to revive the dead found only on the Mahodaya or Dronagiri mountain. Hanuman leapt up and soared through the skies across a great distance to Dronagiri to fetch the life-saving herb. But having reached Dronagiri mountain Hanuman could not identify the plant Sanjivani. As he could not afford to waste time searching for the herb, he quickly tore up the whole mountain and flew back with it to Lanka.

However, there are two sides to this story that highlights how some villages adore Hanuman for bestowing gifts to them in the form of rare plants; while others fault Hanuman for ripping off their natural wealth.

There are many assumptions about the location and identity of the Dronagiri mountain in India. Some identify it as the present-day Dhauladhar range extension of Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh, near Kasauli & Dharamshala. The villagers of of the tiny hamlet of Dronagiri in Uttarakhand, identify the nearby mountain worshipped by locals to be the mythical Dronagiri mountain mentioned in the Ramayana.

Who is the supreme devotee of Vishnu? Garuda or Hanuman?

According to Puranic accounts Garuda was once filled with pride since he helped the gods acquire the pot of nectar from asuras, also he had aided Krishna steal Parijat tree from Indra’s abode. Other than that, Vajra- or thunderbolt the ultimate weapon of Indra was ineffective on him and he was instrumental in killing and wounding innumerable asuras with his strength and speed. Lord Vishnu had given him the coveted position of his Vahana or carrier. Thus Garuda was filled with arrogance to be superior to all other devotees of Vishnu.

Noticing Garuda’s arrogance, Krishna decided to test Garuda. He summoned Hanuman to Dwarka aksed him to help shatter Garuda’s pride and arrogance. After crossing the gates of Dwarka, Hanuman began destroying the palace orchard. He ate all the fruits, uprooted a number of trees, and in no time demolished the whole orchard. The palace guards rushed to Krishna to inform of the unruly monkey wreaking havoc on the orchard.

Krishna called Garuda who was beside him, and asked him to attend to the problem.” You better go with your army and capture the monkey” Krishna advised Garuda.

“O Lord, I don’t need an army to catch an insignificant monkey. I myself can tackle the problem and bring the monkey before you ” Garuda replied brimming with over confidence.

Hanuman and the mind immediately conjures up an image of him carrying the Sanjeevani mountain or kneeling at the feet of Lord Rama and Sita. Hanuman is the most favourite god in the Hindu pantheon in the recent times. He belongs to the tribe called Kimpurushas who are mystical beings that are half animal and half human. Did you know that Hanuman fought his first battle when he was still in his womb?