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Synopsis Sri Ram is the most popular deity among the Hindus. Hanuman ji is his greatest devotee-and also the keeper of the gates that lead to Sri Ram. The devout believe that the only way to reach Sri Ram is through Hanuman ji. The Hanuman Ji and the Vanars were monkeys is a belief that has been with the Hindus at the folk level for centuries-perhaps for more than three thousand years.

This book asks:
i) Who was Hanuman Ji? Was he a person given to deep reasoning or a simple monkey-like creature? Beliefs about a deity who might have been Hanuman Ji have been traced to the earliest Hindu sriptures-the Rig Ved downwards.

ii) Who were the Vanars? If they were monkey, how come their women looked like human women and did not have tails? Were the tail of the male Vanars mere ornaments (bhushan)?

iii) Where was Kishkindha? Most devout Hindus believe that it was in present day Karnataka, but the original Ramayan says that is was north of the Vindhya Range of Hills.

iv) Where was Ravan’s Lanka? Was it the same as modern Sri Lanka? All the Ramayans say that is was southeast of India and a hundred yojans from the nearest peninsular shore.

v) Who were the Rakshases? If they were Dravidians-and the Dravidians are a linguistic group, not a race-why did they not speak a Dravidian language?

vi) What kind of a person was Ravan, the king of the Rakshas clan? He had in the past, too, abducted women-and married them. This book looks at the good as well as evil within him.