These days, Lord Hanuman is getting new castes and religions by the politicians of India. One of the BJP MP Hari Om Pandey claims that the Lord Hanuman was a Brahmin and Jatayu was a Muslim. BJP’s Religious Affair Minister Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary dubbed Lord Hanuman as a Jat, saying that like Jats, the deity never tolerated injustice to anybody, anywhere. Another BJP leader dubbed Lord Hanuman as a Muslim on the ground that his name rhymed with Islamic names like Rahman, Arman, Qurban etc. All the politicians of the ruling party are hell-bent on, sticking caste and creed labels on Lord Hanuman but that would displease the voters. There should be stringent action against those making such unsavoury remarks about God. The politicians must not drag God’s name to reap political dividends. So far, BJP was playing politics on Lord Rama and they won with the majority on several occasions, but now the BJP leaders have gone one step ahead by labelling Hanuman with different caste and community for their own publicity. Incidentally, a Jain priest Acharya Nirbhay Sagar Maharaj, who heads a Jain temple in Samasgarh, nearly 25 km from Bhopal, claimed that according to Jain scriptures, Lord Hanuman was a Jain. He was one of the 169 great persons identified in Jainism.
Maybe, Lord Rama was the erstwhile political agenda of the ruling party, and now they are trying to hijack Hanuman, his ardent devotee and one of the central characters in the various versions of the epic Ramayana. Several later texts also present him as an incarnation of Shiva. Hanuman is the son of Anjana and Kesari and is also the son of the wind-God Vayu, who according to several stories played a role in his birth. His theological origins in Hinduism are unclear. Alternate theories include him having ancient roots, being a non-Aryan deity who was Sanskritised by the Vedic Aryans, or that he is a fusion deity who emerged in literary works from folk Yaksha protector deities and theological symbolism. In the modern era, his iconography and temples have been increasingly common. He is viewed as the ideal combination of “strength, heroic initiative and assertive excellence” and “loving, emotional devotion to his personal God Rama”, as Shakti and Bhakti. But these days he is a central character of Indian politics too. Till now he was purely worshipped as GOD having no caste, but yes, the religion as Hindu. In the recent time BJP leaders are trying to change his religion for political advantage.
One of the BJP leaders Yogi Adityanath who is the CM of UP said that Hanuman is Sudra. Maybe his logic was of those days (even until 1,000 years ago), only Shudras addressed themselves as ‘das’ of so and so. Vaishya would refer to themselves as either ‘Shresti’ or ‘Gupta’ (occupational). Kshatriyas would refer to themselves as ‘Raja’ or ‘Verma’. Hanuman constantly referred to himself as das of Shri Rama in Valmiki Ramayana. When Shri Rama approaches him with his hands on one occasion, he also backs away sort of refusing to be touched by Shri Rama as Rama was of a higher caste than him (in those days Sudras hesitated in such cases due to Varna respects). There are other examples in Valmiki Ramayana. His achievements defined him and they are the reason why all four castes held him to a godly status since then, not his caste. Poor pandits/purohits, all of whom they worship are born in other caste households, Kshatriya (Shri Rama) or Sudra (Hanuman, Matangi, Shri Krishna, Balaji) or Dalit i.e. not fit into any caste (Shiva). Heck, even the three main scriptures/Puranas they hold most sacred and read and preach to masses, Mahabharata, Bhagavatam and Ramayana, are written by (ST) Vyasa and an (OBC) Valmiki in today’s caste hierarchy. But let’s blame pandits/purohits for “writing the history of winners only in our Puranas” and other such nonsensical fabrications about “evil brahmins” and their imagined “casteism”, because it feels good to blame someone else when we are lazy and don’t bother to know the truth. He is a servant of Lord Shri Ram. In all the worlds he is most powerful. In all the Times he is known. If you surrender to him then he can lead you to the supreme truth. If you are connected to him then you are connected to all the supreme powers and you are free from all the dangers of this world, which may obstruct your path in moving towards the SUPREME.
Caste is nothing but the classification for human according to their way of living and their occupation. A person who is aware of the supreme knowledge, who has Brahma Gyan is Brahamin. Hanuman is not a “normal person”, he is the attainee of all eight Siddhis, means merging with the supreme. He needs no religion or caste. This is absolutely wrong and simply despicable. Lord Hanuman is worshipped by a large section of the society cutting across religious lines. Those leaders making such frivolous remarks must be punished. How can we categorise God as belonging to one or the other religion, when the five elements of nature – fire, water, earth, space and air have none? Just like the people of all caste and creed inhale air, his followers from various religions too worship Lord Hanuman.
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