monkey power.

I’m having fun playing with tshirt designs for the annual Bhandara festival at the Hanuman Temple here in Taos!…trying to do something different than they have in the past–a little more kid-like and playful and less serious.

In Hinduism, Hanuman started off curious, naive and a bit mischievous–he also had superhero-like powers. Once he thought the sun was the juiciest piece of fruit he’d ever seen–he couldn’t help himself–and flew up to take a bite. Of course the great Lord Indra, ruler of the skies, struck him down instantly with a lightening bolt, hence his name, Hanuman, which means broken chin. Hanuman grew up to be the famous monkey god and most faithful servant to Lord Ram. There are so many stories of Hanuman. A couple classics are Hanuman flying over the ocean to save Sita (Ram’s greatest love) by burning down the palace of her evil captor, Ravana, with his tail (which he set on fire and grew miles and miles long.) Another is when Hanuman saves Ram’s brother Lakshman by flying to a remote mountain to retrieve a healing herb–he ends up carrying the entire mountain back since all the herbs looked alike to him.

I’m not sure yet, but I sorta like the idea of having one of the small images of Hanuman on the front center and the large image of him on the back reaching for the sun. Hmm, any thoughts?

Posted in illustration, india |