Vishnu
Vs Shiva
In one corner you have Vishnu
or as he is called in the Ramayana Rama in the other you have Shiva or Hanuman. Both of these gods are thought of as the
supreme god (Vishnu more so in the north and Shiva in the south.) So it
makes me think about how in the Ramayana Rama is so clearly Hanumans better (at
times he is even shown to be greater than Shiva in his devine form.)
Shiva is never mocked in the
Ramayana in fact there are many parts of this epic tale that glorify how might
and powerful Shiva is but Rama (Vishnu) even as a just man is more powerful . One
of the defining moments of this is when Rama Snaps Shiva’s Bow (Shiva Dhanush); now
the story says that the bow is over 8 feet in length and took many men to even lifting
it? So when the bow is brought to Rama not only does he pick it up with little
effort he snaps it in half when he tries to string it (is it because not even
the greatest weapon can stand before the strength of Vishnu?)
There is another major reason I feel like
Vishnu in the Ramayana is greater than
Shiva is that Vishnu commands Shiva to reincarnate as one of the Vānara ( group of monkey-like humanoids) true they were a brave and
magical people (they had many supernatural powers and could even shape change.
At one point in the epic he even carries a mountain.)but they are thought of as
less than human ; in fact the Vanaras were
created by Brahma (Brahma is the Hindu god of creation) just to help Rama in his battle against the Asura(Or Rakshas ; Asura and Rakshasa are used interchangeably In
the Ramayana .According to the Ramayana, Rakshasas were
created from Brahma's foot; They
are also shape changers much like the Vānara.) While Vishnu is born as a prince
his father is the greatest king the world has ever known While Shiva is the
King of the Vānara a group of
beings that were made to serve Rama.
While there is no denying
that Hanuman is a great hero in the Ramayana; he saves the life of Rama’s
brother Lakshmana (he is severely wounded during the battle against
Ravana.) fighting a evil sorcerer while saving a celestial maiden, carries a
mountain (with a wounded leg because Rama’s brother Bharat shoots him in the
leg with a arrow that has Rama’s name on it so he won’t try and stop it because
that would go against the will of Rama.) and even stops the sun from rising. For all of these great acts Rama declares
Hanuman, as dear to him as his own brother.
Now there are many myths about
Hanuman in fact many of the myths about Monkey Kings in fact could come from
Hanuman (such as Goku) but in the Ramayana Rama is greater than Hanuman in all
ways; does this mean that Shiva is lesser than Vishnu? I could not tell you
without many more hours of research but if I use just the Ramayana as my guide
I would say it does.
