Ramayana – Hanuman flies to Lanka {Ep.142}

In this episode, we’re back to the Ramayana. We’ll see how Hanuman flies to Lanka. But first, he has to re-discover his superhero powers and use them, together with his wits overcome many dangers in the Ocean!

We have done several episodes of this epic before. There are links in the show notes to all of those, but here is a summary of the story so far.

Ram was an avatar of Vishnu, who is the Preserver in the Holy Trinity, together with Shiva the Destroyer, and Brahma the creator who also happens to be my dad. So Yeah, I am a bit of a celebrity if you haven’t heard Indian mythology before.

Ram should have become King of Ayodhya. But in a bit of ruthless power play, one of his father’s queens had him exiled for 14 years.

Ram went, and his wife Sita and brother, Laxman went with him.

Ram, Laxman, and Sita tackled one danger after another. It seemed like an adventure with increasingly difficult levels. All they had wanted to do was to find a quiet spot to live, spend 14 years, and get back to Ayodhya. 

But one excitement after the other presented itself. One of those was Surpanakha, and then her brothers Khara and Dushana. 

Ram and Laxman managed to deal with them easily enough. But the next escalation caught them by surprise.

Ravana, who was Surpanakha, Khar, and Dushana’s brother, stepped in. Ravana was the ruler of Lanka and also the mega villain of this story. He was like the Boss character if this were a video game. But it is not, and he was far worse than any Boss character imaginable. 

To avenge the death of Khar and Dushana, and to avenge his sister’s humiliation, he took revenge. But he didn’t come out Hollywood style, guns blazing. No, his revenge was far more sneaky and it hit Rama where it hurt. He carried off Sita.

Ram and Laxman pieced together what clues they could from their Vulture neighbor, Jatayu. With his dying breath, Jatayu told them that Ravana had carried off Sita. He tried to stop Ravana of course, but that’s what had hastened his own demise. 

Ram and Laxman found Sugreeva next, which was almost a side quest. They helped out Sugreeva, who was a Vaanar, with a little domestic dispute by killing his brother Vali.

They also met Hanuman, Sugreeva’s loyal advisor. Hanuman was himself powerful enough that you have to wonder why he didn’t just solve the Vali problem for Sugreeva. Anyway, after Sugreeva reluctantly accepted the crown of the King of the Vaanars, after his brother Vali’s demise. Or so he said. That unlocked an entire Vaanar army that Sugreeva dispatched in every direction to find any trace of Sita. Hanuman went out as well leading a search party. And he got lucky.

He ran into Jatayu’s brother, Sampati. Sampati knew exactly where Ravana lived and he could direct them there. That’s where we’ll continue the story today. Of course I’ve condensed an incredibly complex tale into that, but do check out the links in the show notes to previous Ramayana episodes if you want to do them justice.

But anyway, we return to the scene, with Hanuman standing staring in the direction that Sampati had pointed them in.

“There,” said Sampati. “It’s 54.8 km exactly, as the Vulture flies”

“How can you be so precise?” a Vaanar in Hanuman’s party asked with narrowed eyes.

“It’s easy. I looked it up on Google Maps” the Vulture replied. “But that’s irrelevant. The important point I’m trying to make is, just go in that direction and you’ll find Lanka”

That was easy for a bird with wings to say, thought all the Vaanars. Hanuman looked in the direction again. Sure, 54.8 km was nothing compared to the distance they had already covered in getting here. But how were they supposed to cross the Ocean? They couldn’t even see Lanka. What if the vulture was wrong? What if they tried to swim all that distance and not find Lanka. How could they swim back? Maybe he could, but he couldn’t risk the lives of his fellow Vaanars. And Jambavan the Bear was part of the group too. Hanuman was pretty sure Jambavan couldn’t swim.

He did what a good leader would do – opened it to his team to brainstorm.

“I know what! Let’s first build a house. Then we’ll fill up a whole bunch of helium balloons and attach them to the house. Helium will be lighter than air, so if we get enough balloons and enough helium we can carry all of us across the Sea”

“What an imagination! Have you considered joining an animation studio for kids stories?” asked one vaanar, sarcastically. “I for one think we should just give up and go back to Sugreeva. He’ll know what to do”

“Going back is not an option. Not when Sita could be so near.” replied Hanuman

“Near?! Yes, she’s nearer than when we started, but that’s a big Ocean. Even going a Kilometer across that is going to be a big deal.” replied another Vaanar.

A serious faced looking Vaanar had been consulting a book. He took off his glasses and addressed the crowd “Good news everyone! I’ve just been reading the Idiot’s guide to Boating and Sailing. I think I can build a boat large enough to carry us all across the Ocean”

“And how long will that take?” asked Hanuman, trying to hide his rising excitement

“Well, if I have the right materials, give or take 3 to 4 years” replied the Vaanar.

This time Hanuman did not hide his disappointment.

But a good leader listens to his team. To every member of the team. So he asked “Do you have any suggestions, Jambavan?….Jambavan? Jambavan”

The bear finally realized he was being spoken to. He asked Hanuman “did you say something?” while taking out his airpods.

When he was caught up, Jambavan replied instantly. “But we have the solution already”

Once bitten, twice shy. Hanuman asked cautiously “and what is that?”

“It’s you, Hanuman,” the bear replied calmly.

The Vaanar was stunned into silence, so Jambavan explained that what he meant was that Hanuman could totally fly across the Ocean. Hanuman had completely forgotten about his abilities. Yes, Jambavan had the proof. In fact he had been listening to it. Episode 25 of this show, which included a story of how Hanuman had reached for the Sun and would have grabbed and swallowed it. But he was stopped by the Gods, and in return he was given not one not two but 8 superpowers. All kind of like the robots in the Terminator movie, Jambavan said. The side effect of that incident was that Hanuman could not remember his powers until someone told him the story. And thanks to Jambavan, now he remembered.

“Yes! I can. I can fly, I can walk on water, I can change my size. And 5 other things, which I’ll skip over because I won’t use those powers in this episode. I could walk to Lanka since I can walk on water, but you know what? I won’t. That’s slow. I’m going to fly instead. ”

“Wise choice.” nodded the Bear. “I wish Elsa had thought of that in Frozen 2. I mean why run across the Ocean when she could have just made an ice airplane”

“We’ll have to discuss you and your pop culture references. Most Vaanars might not understand them. But that’s for later, for now I’m off”.

And just like that, Hanuman leapt off the cliff. He soared through the sky as if he had been flying every day of his life.

He also changed his size, thinking that might help him cover more distance, but there was a catch. He was burning more energy the larger he was. Ant Man from the Marvel movies got that right, Jambavan would have said if he had been here.

Just as Hanuman began thinking that he could use a rest, something popped out of the Ocean right in front of him. It wasn’t a school of flying fish, or a whale breaching. It was a mountain. It could talk and it called out to Hanuman. Could be a trap, but probably not. The voice had appeared friendly.

The mountain introduced himself as Mount Mainak. He was particularly cheerful in greeting Hanuman. “Your dad did me a solid. He’s been a rock star as far as I’m concerned”

When Hanuman didn’t know what favor his father Kesari had done Mainak, Mainak corrected that he meant Vayu, the wind god.
But didn’t Vayu and a mountain go into full battle mode once?

“No, that was Meru. But glad you brought that up, because that battle is how the island of Lanka was created. Your dad knocked off a piece of Mount Meru and it fell into the ocean, not quite submerged. My story is a little different, you’ll see. You can use this opportunity to rest here on me. I’ll keep it short, I promise.”

Hanuman welcomed this opportunity. His ability to walk on water precluded an ability to sit on water, and he could use this break, so he agreed.

Mainak explained how a long time ago, all mountains could fly. They were in the sky all the time, and people were always worried about the sky falling on their heads. 

Quick sidebar, we have seen that fear passed down generation to generation the whole world over, including with the Gauls, as we can observe from the Asterix comics.

So Indra, the chief of the Gods decided to not let the mountains fly around and park them in specific points on Earth. All except Mainak.

Indra tried hard to pin him down as well, but Vayu intervened on Mainak’s behalf. And Mainak was allowed to move around as long as he stayed under sea level so there was no danger of him falling on some people. And that worked out beautifully. Mainak explained that traveling on the Ocean floor, like a tourist was all he did now. He volunteered to show his guest some photos of his trip to the Marianas Trench last year, and then the Great Barrier Reef, but Hanuman politely declined. The Vaanar felt refreshed now and was now ready to take on the remaining part of the journey. But hey, he would be back again. Maybe they could go on a trip together? See the mid-atlantic ridge, right? Or maybe the volcanic ring of fire in the Pacific?

He moved on. He was optimistic. He was just trying to estimate the distance he had covered so far when something else emerged from the water. It wasn’t Mainak to say that Hanuman had forgotten his Hat or Umbrella or something. The creature that arose was far more sinister. 

It was a huge serpent with long fangs and a gaping wide open mouth. This serpent could talk as well. At first, Hanuman simply decided to ignore it and fly past. But the serpent was quick. It very quickly rose and moved so as to block Hanuman.

“Alright, let’s get this over with.” said Hanuman. “What do you want?”

“I’m the Ancient Indian version of a firewall. I stop traffic until I get a security token I can trust”

“And how exactly do I get this incredibly bureaucratic security token?”

“It’s not a physical token. You are automatically granted it when you enter my mouth.

“But I can’t. I’m too big to enter your mouth” which would not have been a true statement a second ago. Because as he said that, he grew in size. Very rapidly. The serpent not to be outdone opened her mouth wider. Her open mouth looking as tall as a mountain!

That is what Hanuman had been waiting for. As the Serpent kept opening its mouth wider and wider, Hanuman suddenly shrunk his size to that of a fly and buzzed very quickly in and out of the serpent’s mouth before she could snap it shut.

He was ready to move on, but the serpent hailed him. In a friendly voice. A lot friendlier than Hanuman explained. The serpent explained that she was Surasa. She was a daughter of Dakhsha whom we talked about in a recent episode. She had just made up the firewall story. She was here for a very specific purpose.

Hanuman sighed. “Alright, let’s fight it out”

“No, no, no. I’m on your side here. The gods sent me to test you. Some of them doubted your abilities, so they wanted to check you’re up to the task. This was a test, and you’ve passed with flying colors”

Hanuman rolled his eyes. “I appreciate you telling me, but I don’t need the validation of the Devs to know that I am up to this task. If the Gods really wanted to help, couldn’t they just strike Ravan with bolts of lightning? Or at least have you firewall him, when he was crossing the Ocean with the abducted Sita?”

Surasa couldn’t argue against that. Hanuman had a point. Hanuman politely bid Surasa farewell and continued on his way.

Finally, success! He could see some land in the distance. That must be Lanka. That lifted Hanuman’s spirits. The end was in sight! But little did he know, there was danger ahead.

To prove that these things come in threes not just in folk tales, Hanuman saw another shape rising out of the sea. It looked like a demoness. She seemed like a giant, and she was right there swimming in the ocean. At her size, she was probably standing on the Ocean floor. Well, Hanuman didn’t care. If he just flew high enough the demoness, whose name by the way was Simhika, wouldn’t be able to bother him. Or so he thought.

Simhika completely ignored Hanuman. She hadn’t even looked at him. He was chuckling to himself, that this level was easier than the previous one. He had expected them to get more difficult. But suddenly he felt something grab him and he wasn’t flying any more.

It was Simhika, she hadn’t been looking at Hanuman, but she had been intently looking at his shadow. The moment she reached for and grabbed Hanuman’s shadow, his progress was arrested as well. Simhika had the magical ability to control anybody or anything by controlling their shadow. If you’ve seen Duck Tales, and seen the character Magica DeSpell, you’ll see she did something similar.

Hanuman couldn’t do anything. It happened far too quickly. As Simhika’s hand shadow took Hanuman’s shadow towards Simhika’s mouth shadow, the same thing happened in real life. Hanuman was drawn by a force he could not control. He was swept straight into Simhika’s mouth.

Unlike Surasa, Simhika was quick enough to close her mouth once Hanuman was forced in.

Is that the end for our superhero? Of course not, but I like to end it on cliffhangers so that’s what we’ll do this time as well. Hanuman uses all his wits, strength, skills to turn around what would have seemed to be Mission Impossible.

We’ll continue that in a future episode

That’s all for now

Some notes on the show

The distance between India and Sri Lanka is indeed 54.8km. Back in the day, it was actually longer. There used to be a kind of a land bridge between India and Sri Lanka, called Rama Setu or Adam’s Bridge. There are some details about those that I will share when we get to that part of the Ramayana.

Valmiki’s origin story is in Episode 6 – Fish Highwayman

The Ramayana kicks off in Episode 7 – Kingdom by Horse. Episode 15 – Rishi vs Rishi: Un-civil war! and Episode 16 – Six….teen Flags are about Rama and Laxman’s encounter with Vishwamitra

A flashback to Dasharath’s past is in Episode 24 – Promises made, hearts broken

Ram, Laxman, and Sita begin their exile in Episode 30 – Banished! and continue it in Episode 41 – Forest Life and Episode 64 – The First Kidnapping of Sita

They encounter Shoorpanakha in Episode 78 – Ramayana – An Indecent Proposal

We have also covered three episodes that aren’t part of the main storyline but feature some central Ramayana characters:

Hanuman’s origin story is in Episode 25 – Up, Up, and Away!

Episode 55 – Saturnine is about an encounter between Shani and Ravana.

Episode 81 – Ramayana – Wolverine Claws is the origin story of Ravana and Shoorpanakha.

And Episode 92 – Ramayana – Shanta is the story of Ram and Laxman’s sister – Shanta.

Episode 101 – Ramayana – A Wild Stag Chase explained how Ravana engineered a diversion so he could abduct Sita. In Episode 112 Ram and Laxman got their first hint of what had happened to Sita and also were told that Sugriva could help them

In Episode 118, Ram and Laxman learned more about Sugriva and Vali’s rivalry before finally meeting Hanuman and ensuring Sugriva’s victory in Episode 125 – Ramayana – Sugriva and Vali. Most recently, Hanuman met Sampati in Episode 132. Vali was also the character of the Week in Episode 21.

Jambavan was character of the week in Episode 2. 

Jatayu and Sampaati’s story is mentioned in the Character of the Week section of Episode 11.

Mount Meru and Vayu’s conflict is described in the Character of the Week section of Episode 34.

That’s all for now. 

Next Time

In the next episode, we’ll do a folk tale again. It’s from the southern Indian state of Karnataka, and features a rather dark twist on the Sleeping Beauty story. And a curious case of mistaken identity that could so easily have been corrected. If only people talked to each other.