Historical development
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| Standing Hanuman, Chola Dynasty, 11th century, Tamil Nadu, India |
Vedic roots:-
The earliest mention of a divine monkey,
interpreted by some scholars as the proto-Hanuman, is in hymn 10.86 of
the Rigveda, dated to between 1500 and 1200 BCE. The twenty-three verses
of the hymn are a metaphorical and riddle-filled legend. It is presented as a
dialogue between multiple characters: the god Indra, his wife Indrani and
an energetic monkey it refers to as Vrisakapi and his
wife Kapi. The hymn opens with Indrani complaining to Indra
that some of the soma offerings for Indra have been allocated to the energetic
and strong monkey, and the people are forgetting Indra. The king of the gods,
Indra, responds by telling his wife that the living being (monkey) that bothers
her is to be seen as a friend, and that they should make an effort to coexist
peacefully. The hymn closes with all agreeing that they should come together in
Indra's house and share the wealth of the offerings.
Tamil roots:-
The
orientalist F.E. pargiter (1852–1927) theorized that Hanuman was
a proto-Dravidia deity. According to this theory, the name
"Hanuman" derives from the Tamil word for male monkey (ana-mandi),
first transformed to "Anumant" – a name which remains in use.
"Anumant", according to this hypothesis, was later Sanskritized to
"Hanuman" because the ancient Aryans confronted with a popular monkey
deity of ancient Dravidians coopted the concept and then Sanskritized it. According
to Murray Emeneau, known for his Tamil linguistic studies, this theory does not
make sense because the Old Tamil word mandi in Cankam
literature can only mean "female monkey", and Hanuman is male.
Further, adds Emeneau, the compound ana-mandi makes no
semantic sense in Tamil, which has well developed and sophisticated grammar and
semantic rules. The "prominent jaw" etymology, according to Emeneau,
is therefore plausible.
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