A Book on Hanuman for Chinese Readers

The book, titled The Divine Anjaneya, is written by Rama Bhat, who is Associate Dean, Graduate Programs and Research, in the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science in Concordia University, Montreal Canada.

Barbara Black writes in Concordia Journal:

Bhat relates in his introduction, he went to Nanjing in 2001 with his colleague in the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, Ming-yuvan Chen, who subsequently gave him a book on Chinese mythology called Journey to the West. A mythological novel written in the 16th century, it tells of a Chinese Buddhist priest who travels to India during the Tang dynasty (618-907 CE) to acquire Buddhist scriptures. 

Bhat was intrigued because of the resemblances of the Indian figure Anjaneya to a Chinese monkey-god called Sun Wukong. He decided to write his book in English, and another colleague, Professor Chun-Yi Su, is having it translated into Mandarin. 

The Divine Anjaneya is about the divinity in the form of an ape, a figure well known to Hindus. Bhat remembers being told stories about Anjaneya by his father when he was a child, but he wrote this 220-page book to communicate with readers in China. To Western readers, Anjaneya’s life resembles that of a modern superhero or one of the gods of Greek or Roman antiquity. There are miraculous transformations, stupendous love stories, fierce battles and acts of vengeance — all the ingredients of enduring myth.

Bhat says that divinity in non-human form is common in Hinduism. “Hindus believe in the incarnation of the supreme in all living forms. The fish, the turtle, the bear, the man-lion form are among the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu known as Dashayatara.”

Anjaneya is revered not for his monkey shape but despite it, for his many virtues. Bhat says children who are afraid when the lights are turned out are told to concentrate on Anjaneya.

“The attributes of Lord Rama, Lord Vishnu, or God, are considered to be divine, and some of those individual attributes are personified in Anjaneya. He is courageous, a loyal devotee of Rama, a scholar, an excellent musician and a teacher.”