Hanuman Logo

Hanuman is one of my favorite JPEG images. The Hanuman likeness to the left was scanned from a silver painting on black cloth that I purchased in Thailand in 1967. After several attempts, over the past fifteen years, at reduction, coloration, and editing the original black and silver image, I have settled on Hanuman as my personal Logo.

Hanuman first appears in Indian literature, specifically in the Ramayana. He is described as the Monkey King and has special powers that allow him to make himself small or large whatever the case may require. The full story of the Ramayana can be found at many web links. This is a really good link to start with, http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/maxpages/special/ramayana/.

The Thai culture, as with all Southeast Asian cultures, was heavily influenced by Indian domination of the region, Hinduism, and the spread of Buddhism. Intermingled within these cultures are the remnants of Animism. The Ramakien, the classical Thai version of the Ramayana, has evolved Hanuman's face to specific masks used for different episodes of the drama. A good web site depicting the many faces of Hanuman as used in traditional khon performance of the Ramakien can be found at http://www.thaimyway.com/article/Hanuman/hanuman.htm.