Virtually everyone familiar with Hindu tradition knows Hanuman. Yet, when pressed, few scholars (or devotees) could recount all of the narratives about him or visit all of his temples in places as far flung as Sidhabari (Himachal Pradesh), Menhdipur (by the Agra-Jaipur highway), Varanasi, Belgaum, and Marutvamalai (near Kanyakumari). The range of Hanuman's powers and the diversity of his manifestations demand a study that attends to the complexity and scope of the topic, so scholars and general readers will welcome Hanuman's Tale. Not only does it contribute to ethnographic knowledge about forms of Hindu devotion, it also analyzes a strikingly heterogeneous corpus of Hanuman stories. Philip Lutgendorf has set for himself the ambitious task of investigating popular literature about, and visual images of, Hanuman to explore what kinds of messages the deity has embodied and delivered in the past and today.
The first three chapters set out the volume's scope,...
