Hanuman is one of the most important personalities of Ramayana, the Hindu epic. Hindus believe in ten avatars of Lord Vishnu. One of Vishnus avatars is Rama, who was created to destroy the evil Ravana. In order to aid Rama, Lord Shiva incarnated as a monkey, and was born as Hanuman to Anjana, by the blessings of Pavana, who thus became Hanumans Godfather. Hanuman selected Surya, the sun god as his teacher, and approached him with the request to teach the scriptures. Hanuman's phenomenal concentration took him only 60 hours to master the scriptures. As fees, the sun god asked Hanuman to assist his son Sugriva, by being his compatriot. Hanuman met Rama and his brother Lakshmana while Rama was in exile in the jungle, and searching for his wife Sita who was abducted by Ravana. Hanuman's initial words highly impressed Rama. After he revealed his identity as the prince of Ayodhya, Hanuman fell prostrate before him in respect of the Lord. Rama picked him up and embraced him. There began the story of Hanuman, which is inextricably interwoven with Rama, and dealt with in detail in Valmiki's Ramayana and the Tulsidas' Ramacharitamanas. Hanuman then introduced Rama to Sugriva, and began his massive search for Sita. Finding out her whereabouts, he consoled Sita, and burnt down the city of Lanka. Hanuman then brought Rama to Lanka, fought the battle against Ravana with his simian army, and vanquished the demons.
