Who were the Vanaras?

The Agencies of Dharma

Growing up with our itihasas, I have often wondered who were the Vanaras? Were they monkeys? and if so, how are they different from other descriptions such as markata or langula? Why are they there in Ramayana but not in Mahabharata (a different yuga)? From an evolution standpoint, I have also wondered about the inaccurate dating of our history, and if some other humanoid species described in our itihasas are the Denisovans of India? Could it be possible that the Vanaras were the Homo Apriliensis of India? How do the dating and geography of these humanoid species relate to the dating of the Ramayana? I have also wondered if these are mythical creatures overlaid on a real piece of history to create the right bhava -- a technic that we see even today in India's traditional performing arts. Some have even theorized that the Vanaras of Valmiki's Ramayana are Vana Naras (forest dwellers) - Vanena Charati iti Vaanarah, and that they were just humans who wore face masks and tails just as some tribals wear horns and other head dresses. 

To get an an authentic description of the Vanara's, let us understand how Valmiki portrays them.

Behavior & Character

Through out the Ramayana, Valimiki makes a distinction between vanaras (वानर) and black monkeys (गो लान्गूल) and other animals. He talks about their ape like appearance (कपि रूपम्), describes them as tree branch animals (शाखा मृगाः) and as fly-jumping strong creatures (प्लवमाना महाबलाः) 

Valmiki not only describes their ape-like physical characteristics but also their nature. For example in Kishkinda Kanda, seeing Sugreeva concerned that the two strangers (Rama & Laxmana) are Vali's spies, Hanuman tells Sugreeva to not let his innate nature of shakha-mrugam that hops from branch to branch reflect in his mind, and that he must keep his mind firm like a king. 

Later, Rama tells Hanuman that they are looking for the scholarly, sugreevam plavageshvaram (the ishvara of leapers or super jump-hoppers/gliders). This is no ordinary monkey hopping; clearly this aspect is shown to be an extra-ordinary quality of some Vanaras. The characteristics therefore, are clearly established, but were they human?

Human or Non-Human

As many modern-day writers, researchers and Ramayana enthusiasts have suggested, were they really human who just wore masks, lived in the forest, and adopted ape-like mannerisms?
The 40th shloka of the 18th Sarga makes it very clear that they were not human. When Vali blames Rama for playing an unfair game by killing him by deceit which is adharma, Rama gives him several reasons to tell him that nothing he did was adharma. One of the reasons Rama gives as justification of killing Vali seems to clearly point to Vanaras not being humans:

यान्ति राजर्षयश्चात्र मृगयाँ धर्मकोविदाः ।
तस्मात् त्वं निहतो युद्धे मया बाणेन वानर।
अयुध्यन् प्रतियुध्यन् वा यस्माच्छाखामृगो ह्यसि ॥ ४० ॥

पदछेद:

यान्ति राजर्षयः च अत्र मृगयाम् धर्म कोविदाः 
तस्मात् त्वम् निहतो युद्धे मया बाणेन वानर 
अयुध्यन् प्रतियुध्यन् वा यस्मात् शाखा मृगो हि असि 

Kishkinda Kanda 18.40

अनुवादः
'वानर! धर्मज्ञ राजर्षि भी इस जगत् में मृगयाके लिये जाते हैं और विविध जन्तुओंका वध करते हैं। इसलिये मैंने तुम्हें युद्धमें अपने बाणका निशाना बनाया है। तुम मुझसे युद्ध करते थे या नहीं करते थे, तुम्हारी वध्यतामें कोई अन्तर नहीं आता; क्योंकि तुम शाखामृग हो (और मृगया करनेका क्षत्रियको अधिकार है)  - (Hindi translation from Gita Press Edition)

"In this world even the kingly sages well-versed in virtue will go on hunting, and hunting is no face to face game, as such, oh, vanara, therefore I felled you in combat with my arrow because you are a tree-branch animal, whether you are not combating with me or combating against me." - (English translation by Late Sri Desiraju Hanumanta Rao)

While the above establishes that they were not humans, it does not clarify who they were. For that, we need to understand where they came from. But before we go there, it is important to understand the backdrop of the Ramayana. 

Backdrop: The Rise of Adharma

In the presence of Brahma, as Rishyashringa performs the putrayeshti yagna for King Dashratha, the devas, gandharvas and the siddhas receiving these oblations appear and share their torturous plight with Brahma. Adharma was on the rise and many with evil intent were getting emboldened with Ravana’s increasing audacity and oppression. The devas pleaded with Brahma to save them from Ravana at the yagna. Brahma had earlier given Ravana a boon which meant he could be killed neither by the devas nor by beasts. In his arrogance, Ravana had sought immunity only from devas and beasts but not humans. Hearing the devas, Brahma asks them to procreate offspring having their own qualities with various female creatures of the forest. The shlokas on the art are Brahma’s instructions to the devas. These offspring would neither be devas nor animals - but the Vanaras! Twelve months after the yagna, one half of Vishnu incarnates in human form as Rama, who leads them to annihilate Ravana and re-establish dharma.

The story beautiful illustrates the inherent quality of the cosmos and its substrate of the formless divine being to coalesce and manifest in unique ways to quell adharma. In the Vana that represents the cosmos, the vanaras represent agencies of energetic action that are overwhelmingly all around. The lesson here is that no matter how clever a perpetrator of adharma maybe, no matter how powerful and unconquerable he or she may appear to be, adharma is an unsustainable condition - the inherent divine code (the rita) of the cosmos will overpower it through various agencies of action. In todays age, we are all agencies of action to uphold dharma. In the end, satyam eva jayate (truth alone triumphs). This is the essence of our itihasas, stories in the Puranas, and the message of the Gita.

The Creation of the Vanaras

In the 17th Sarga of the Bala Kanda, Valmiki states that under the instructions of Brahma, vanaras were the progeny of divine beings through the wombs of ape-like (vanaras) & bird-like(kinnaras) forest dwellers.

मायाविदश्च शूरांश्च वायुवेगसमान् जवे |
नयज्ञान् बुद्धिसंपन्नान् विष्णुतुल्यपराक्रमान् || १-१७-३
असंहार्यानुपायज्ञान् दिव्यसंहननान्वितान् |
सर्वास्त्रगुणसंपन्नानमृतप्राशनानिव || १-१७-४
अप्सरस्सु च मुख्यासु गन्धर्वीणां तनूषु च |
यक्षपन्नगकन्यासु ऋक्षविद्याधरीषु च || १-१७-५
किंनरीणां च गात्रेषु वानरीणां तनूषु च |
सृजध्वं हरिरूपेण पुत्रांस्तुल्यपराक्रमान् || १-१७-६

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"Let monkey-shaped* progeny equalling Vishnu's valour be procreated from the physiques of prominent apsaras and gandharvas, from the girls of yakshas and pannagas, and also thus from the bodies of kinnaraas, she-vidyaadharaas, she-rikshas and she-monkeys, and they shall be wizards of miracles and audacious ones, in travel they shall have air's speed, bestowed with intellect they shall be the knowers of ideation, and with their divine physique they shall be ineliminable, they shall be endowed with all the assaultive aspects of all missiles, and they shall be untiring in their efforts, like you who thrive on amrita, the ambrosia, unmindful of thirst and hunger"

(- Translation by the late Shri Desiraju Hanumantha Rao)

Accordingly, Vali was Indra's son; Sugreeva was Surya's son; Brihaspati's son was Tara; Kubera's son was Gandhamaadana; Vishwakarma fathered Nala; The son of Agni was Neela; The Ashwini twins father Dvivida & Mainda; Sushena was the sun of Varuna; Sharabha was the son of Parjanya; and the son of Vayu was Hanuman!

Who were these Fathers?

There is a revealing conversation between Rishi Yaagnyavalkya and Sakalya in the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad. In reply to Sakalya's questions regarding the actual number of gods, the Rishi tells him that there are thousands, but they are all manifestations of 33. Then tells him that there is only one all pervading supreme consciousness - Brhman. The one Brhman manifest in thousands of ways as the material universe but these 33 are principal ways we experience him (त्रयस्त्रिंशदिति अष्टौ वसवः, एकादश रुद्राः, द्वादशादित्याः, ते एकत्रिंशत्, इन्द्रश्चैव प्रजापतिश्च त्रयस्त्रिंशाविति)

The Experienced - 8 Vasus: Fire-earth-air-sky-sun-heaven-moon-stars (अग्निश्च पृथिवी च वायुश्चान्तरिक्शं चादित्यश्च द्यौश्च चन्द्रमाश्च नक्शत्राणि चैते वसवः) 

The Means of Experience -  11 Rudras: 10 Organs + Mind (दशेमे पुरुषे प्राणा आत्मैकादशः)

Time as a condition of Experience - 12 Adityas: Months of the Year (द्वादश वै मासाः संवत्सरस्य, एत आदित्याः)

The Enabler & Primordial Law of Experience:  Indra & Prajapati: Thunder-cloud & Yagna (स्तनयित्नुरेवेन्द्रः, यज्ञः प्रजापतिरिति)

Each of these 33 devas further manifest into thousands of forces that facilitate the unfurling of the universe. These forces are powered by the inherent code of the universe rtam (ऋतम्).The cosmos has a ‘way’ to its existence; there is an inherent order of how it exists, sustains, propels, perpetuates itself. Voluntary acts that disrupt this rtam is Adharma and those that are in unison and uphold it is Dharma.

Whenever adharma is on the rise, the supreme consiousness - brhman incarnates and through the multifarious manifestations to quell adharma. This is captured in this famous shloka from the Bhagavad Gita:

यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत ।

अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ॥

As adharma was on the rise due to the evil deeds of Ravana, the devas started preparing through their progeny. The disruption of Dharma triggered a series of events that came together to reestablish Dharma. In a way, the Ramayana is also the story of the Vanaras who act as the agencies through which Rama eventually upholds Dharma.  In it lie lessons about Dharma. Valmiki was instructed by Brahma to compose the Ramayana for a clear purpose - to help & inspire generations to come as they strive achieve the purusharthas.

Intent of Ramayana

Valmiki Ramayana’s own purpose “to attain purusharthas & approach with a bhakti bhava”

धर्मार्थकाममोक्षाणां साधनं च द्विजोत्तमाः

 श्रोतव्यं च सदा भक्त्या रामायणपरामृतम्

इदं पवित्रं पापघ्नं पुण्यं वेदैश्च सम्मितम् |
यः पठेद्रामचरितं सर्वपापैः प्रमुच्यते || १-१-९८

This Ramayana is holy, paapa-eradicating, merit-endowing, and conforms with the teachings of Vedas. Whoever reads this Legend of Rama, will be verily liberated of all paapas

पठन् द्विजो वागृषभत्वमीयात् |
स्यात् क्षत्रियो भूमिपतित्वमीयात् ||
वणिग्जनः पण्यफलत्वमीयात् |
जनश्च शूद्रोऽपि महत्त्वमीयात् || १-१-१००

"By reading this Ramayana, that person if a Brahmana obtains excellency in speech, if a Kshatriya obtains land-lordship, if Vaisya attains profit in trade and even if a Sudra attains excellence." Thus Sage Narada gave a gist of Ramayana to Sage-poet Valmiki. [1-1-100]

तत्सर्वं तत्त्वतो दृष्ट्वा धर्मेण स महामतिः |
अभिरामस्य रामस्य चरितं कर्तुमुद्यतः || १-३-७
कामार्थगुणसंयुक्तं धर्मार्थगुणविस्तरम् |
समुद्रमिव रत्नाढ्यं सर्वश्रुतिमनोहरम् || १-३-८

Discerning all of Ramayana in its actuality by his yogic prowess that highly intellectual Valmiki pioneered to author all of the legend of Rama, for Rama is a delighter of all in all worlds, and whose legend is abounding with the real functional qualities of earthly pleasures and prosperities, and which clearly elaborates the meaning of probity and its operative qualities, and thus this legend is like an ocean replete with such gems called thoughts, and an ear-pleasing legend, as well. [1-3-7, 8]

Concluding Remarks

Itihasas are poetic versions of some true events and they are told in a way to serve a purpose. Their intent is to inspire and enlighten us through poetry, drama, music, and power of chanda/rasa to help us lead our lives (in this often seemingly confusing/conflicted samsara) and achieve purusharthas. What is fact and what is fiction is sometimes hard to differentiate and is not the point of these itihasas. We know that places, geography, time keeping and many aspects of these stories are true.

For example, Yakhshas and Gandharvas are all described along with their abodes & locations throughout our literature and it is plausible that they may have been tribes. And based on these tribes, places and incidences, great works of literature were perhaps written.

To understand who the Vanaras were, it important to understand who they were according Valmiki. As such, I have focussed on key shlokas that clearly establish not only who the Vanaras are but also why and how they came into existence according to Rishi Valmiki.

The debate that they were humans is hardly subject to interpretation as Rishi Valmiki is very clear in the Ramayana.