Ram Leela — Archived from September 2008
In the many centuries of its existence, Hinduism has built a rich array of characters and stories. Not only that, but seemingly unrelated characters, probably invented in different eras altogether, have intertwined themselves in obscure tales.
Ramayana, Valmiki's epic tale about the prince of Ayodhya, is one of the more important documents of Hinduism. And several characters from the story are found again in later tales. Hanuman, the monkey devotee of Ram and an incarnation of Shiva the Destroyer, aggravates Bheem in a delightful side tale in the other major epic, the Mahabharata.
As the story goes, Bheem was walking through the forest one day when he came upon an old monkey lying on the road. The tail of the monkey lay across Bheem's path. The arrogant prince of Hastinapur was not to take this obstruction lightly and demanded that the monkey move his tail out of his way. The monkey replied that he was old and feeble and unable to do as the prince wanted. He invited Bheem to move the tail himself or leap over it. When Bheem attempted to move the tail, he found that it was too heavy to even lift. He tried for a long time until finally he lay defeated and realized that this monkey was no ordinary one, but Hanuman himself.
The biggest paradox of the characters Ram and Hanuman is that Ram worships Shiva, who, in the form of Hanuman, worships him back. Rather mysterious. But then, who are we, mere mortals, to understand the doings of the Gods.