Hanuman and Ram: The Story from the Ramayana
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Hanuman's part in the Ramayana is the heart of his legend. This page follows the story step by step, from his first meeting with Ram to Ram's coronation.
- Where it is told
- Kishkindha Kanda, Sundara Kanda and Yuddha Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana; Kishkindha, Sundara and Lanka Kandas of the Ramcharitmanas
- Key allies
- Ram, Lakshman, Sugriva, Angada, Jambavan
- Key opponents
- Ravana and his sons, including Indrajit
- Signature deeds
- Leap across the ocean, burning of Lanka, Sanjeevani mountain
Meeting Ram on Rishyamukha
While Ram and Lakshman searched for Sita, they reached Rishyamukha mountain near Kishkindha. Sugriva, hiding there from his brother Vali, sent Hanuman to learn who the two strangers were. Hanuman approached in the guise of a humble mendicant and spoke so well that Ram remarked no one who speaks so could be an enemy. Hanuman then revealed his true form, carried the brothers on his shoulders to Sugriva and helped them form the friendship that changed the course of the story.
The search for Sita
After Sugriva regained his kingdom, he sent search parties in all directions. Hanuman travelled south with Angada and Jambavan. Ram gave Hanuman his signet ring as a sign of trust. At the southern shore the vanaras learned from the vulture Sampati that Sita was held on the island of Lanka, a hundred yojanas across the sea. Jambavan reminded Hanuman of his forgotten strength.
The leap across the ocean
Hanuman climbed Mahendra mountain, grew to a colossal size and leapt. The mountain Mainaka rose from the sea to offer him rest, but Hanuman only touched it and moved on. The serpent-mother Surasa tested him by growing her mouth wider, so Hanuman shrank, slipped in and out of her mouth and won her blessing. The shadow-demoness Simhika seized his shadow to drag him down, and Hanuman killed her. The Hanuman Chalisa says that crossing the ocean with Ram's ring in his mouth was no wonder for him.
Lanka and finding Sita
Hanuman reached Lanka at night, shrunk to the size of a cat. Lankini, the guardian goddess of the city, tried to stop him, and he struck her, after which she told him Lanka's end was near. He searched the palaces of Ravana without finding Sita and finally saw her in the Ashoka Vatika, sitting sadly beneath a simsupa tree, guarded by demonesses. Hanuman dropped Ram's ring where she could see it and spoke Ram's name until she trusted him. In the Ramayana, Sita gave him her crest-jewel, the chudamani, as a token for Ram.
Capture and the burning of Lanka
Hanuman uprooted the grove, fought Ravana's guards and killed Ravana's son Akshakumara. Indrajit bound him with the Brahma weapon, and Hanuman allowed himself to be taken to Ravana's court. There he gave a fearless message from Ram and advised Ravana to return Sita. Ravana ordered his tail set on fire. Hanuman grew larger, slipped free and leapt from roof to roof, setting Lanka ablaze while sparing the grove where Sita was. The Hanuman Chalisa remembers him taking a tiny form before Sita and a fearsome one to burn Lanka.
The report to Ram
Hanuman leapt back across the ocean and told the vanaras and Ram everything, giving Ram the chudamani. Ram embraced him and said he had nothing to give in return but himself. Preparations for war began.
The war and the Sanjeevani mountain
In the war with Ravana, Hanuman fought many demon warriors, including Dhumraksha. When Lakshman fell unconscious in battle, the physician Sushena said that life-restoring herbs from a Himalayan mountain were needed before dawn. Hanuman flew north in an instant. Unable to identify the herbs, he lifted the entire mountain and carried it to Lanka. The Ramcharitmanas adds that the demon Kalanemi tried to delay him with a disguise, and Hanuman defeated him. Lakshman was revived, and Ram embraced Hanuman with joy, as the Hanuman Chalisa says. Some tellings add that Bharata mistook him for an enemy as he flew over Nandigram.
Other retellings: the story of Ahiravana
Later regional versions of the Ramayana tell how Ravana's kin Ahiravana (Mahiravana) carried Ram and Lakshman to the netherworld, and Hanuman went after them, defeated Ahiravana and rescued them. This is the story connected to the five-faced Panchmukhi Hanuman.
Return to Ayodhya and Ram's boon
After Ram's coronation in Ayodhya, gifts were given to all his allies. Sita gave Hanuman a precious necklace. Tradition says he broke each pearl and looked inside, searching for Ram's name, and when asked why, he tore open his chest and showed Ram and Sita within his heart. When Ram offered Hanuman any boon, he asked only for unbroken devotion to Ram. Ram granted it, and tradition says Hanuman would live as long as Ram's story is told.
Read the story as verses in the meaning of the Hanuman Chalisa, or continue to Hanuman in the Mahabharata.
A note on sources: the story of Hanuman is told in the Valmiki Ramayana (Sanskrit), Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas (Awadhi), the Mahabharata, the Puranas and many regional retellings. The accounts agree on the main events but differ in details, so this guide says so wherever traditions differ.