Hanuman ~ From China to Caribbean islands - Tale of two Hanumans

Hanuman ~ From China to Caribbean islands - Tale of two Hanumans...

An interesting article put together by Twitter user 

Adivaraha

@vajrayudha11

https://twitter.com/i/moments/979886925095096320

Sun Wukong - Legendary monkey hero of Chinese legend whose character is directly inspired from Hanuman himself.

One can get some idea of close resemblance between two from the fact that Just like Hanuman, Sun Wukong is also immortal & son of wind.

Similarly other exploits of Sun Wukong like threatening Jade Emperor of heaven in childhood & subsequently receiving blessings from him transforming into various shapes & sizes, entering into mouth of a female monster named Rakshasi & then changing back to his true form stealing fruits & uprooting the tree in grove of immortal Chen yuan, making giant leaps in the sky & so on has close resemblance with Hanuman's exploits as anyone with cursory reading of Ramayana can tell! Not only that, description of Sun Wukong's eyes, his tail his residence in forest all have remarkable similarities with analogus descriptions of Valmiki Ramayana. In words of noted sinologists

Tales of Hanuman reached China probably through Central Asia along with Chinese Buddhist pilgrims like Xuangzang who traveled to India or via Hindu traders to China along the maritime trade routes of South East Asia.

Who knows perhaps it was indeed Chiranjivi lord Hanuman himself who was guarding Xuangzang on his pilgrim towards the land of Dharma

While Sun Wukong is legacy of our vibrant ancient past, tiny island of Trinidad on north coast of South America has other story to tell

Here in Trinidad stands the tallest Murti of Hanuman outside India, benevolently looking after the Hindus of tiny Caribbean islands.

But ofcourse it didn't happen out of nowhere. It has a long history of struggle and hardships behind it. In 19th Century with expansion of western colonization many poor Indians were taken as bonded laborers to work in Sugar plantations of such far away islands for meager income. But Despite facing extreme hardship in far away lands ~150 yrs ago, they kept alive their religion alive. Today they are prosperous & thriving. In 2010 Kamla Persad-Bissessar became the first lady PM of Trinidad & Tobago for instance

However they haven't forgotten their roots. Giant Murti of Hanuman at Trinidad is perhaps the apt tribute to all those brave Indians who ventured into those far away islands of the world with spirit of Hinduism in their heart and kept it alive for all those years.