Sonu Goswami (SaaS content writer) Is Hanuman one of the rudra avatar of Lord Shiva?
Hanuman is believed to be Lord Shiva’s 11th Rudra avatar. Discover his divine birth, Panchamukhi form, and role as Rama’s greatest devotee and protector.
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I’ve always been fascinated by the deeper connections in our Hindu traditions, and one that really moves me is the relationship between Lord Shiva and Hanuman ji. Our scriptures tell us that among Mahadev’s 19 incarnations, Hanuman is his 11th Rudra avatar — and honestly, this is something I love exploring because it reveals such beautiful layers of devotion.
When you think about it, Hanuman ji embodies everything we associate with both Shiva’s power and pure bhakti. He was born specifically to serve Lord Rama, carrying within him that incredible strength, that fearless heart, and that complete surrender that makes him Rama’s greatest devotee. There’s a reason people say that if any divine presence walks among us today, it’s Hanuman — our beloved follower of Sri Rama.
This connection between Shiva and Hanuman makes so much sense when you see how Hanuman ji operates in the world — protecting dharma, blessing devotees, and showing us what true devotion looks like.
Let me share with you these 19 forms of our beloved Mahadev:
- Nandi Avatar — Nandi, who’s Shiva’s ride and divine gatekeeper, is actually considered one of his incarnations.
- Piplad Avatar (Immortal — born to protect righteousness and justice) — According to the legends, Lord Shiva was born as Piplad in sage Dhatichi’s home. Devotees worship this form of Shiva to get relief from Saturn’s bad effects.
- Veerabhadra Avatar — This is Shiva’s fierce and wrathful form. Veerabhadra was born when Sati sacrificed herself in her father Daksha’s fire ceremony. In this form, he cuts off Daksha’s head, scatters all the gods with his rage, and then goes back to Mount Kailash. This is his most aggressive and destructive Rudra avatar.
- Ashwatthama (Immortal — one of the Saptachiranjeevi who survived the Mahabharata war and has eternal life) — In the Mahabharata, the one born to Drona and Kripi as Ashwatthama is also considered an avatar of Lord Shiva.
- Sharabha Avatar — Part lion, part bird, Sharabha is an eight-legged creature more powerful than both lions and elephants, who appeared to kill Lord Vishnu’s Narasimha avatar.
- Bhairav Avatar (Immortal — eternal form to protect the Shakti temples) — In his terrifying Bhairav form, Lord Shiva protects all these sacred Shakti sites. Kala Bhairav, Annadhani Bhairav, and other Bhairav forms are Shiva’s fierce aspects connected to destruction. Every Shakti temple also has a shrine dedicated to Bhairav.
- Durvasa Avatar (Immortal — born to maintain cosmic order) — The great sage known for his angry nature — this avatar of Lord Shiva is considered his true form.
- Sureshwar Avatar — This form shows just how much Shiva loves his devotees — he takes care of his true followers like Upamanyu with endless love.
- Vrishabha Avatar (Immortal — born to kill demons) — This bull form of Lord Shiva appeared to destroy Vishnu’s demon sons in the underworld.
- Krishna Darshan Avatar — In this form, Shiva shows up to remind people why our religious ceremonies matter and what yajnas are really all about.
- Hanuman Avatar (Immortal — devotee of Lord Rama and eternal power) — Lord Hanuman, who was Rama’s ultimate devotee and mighty companion, was another important avatar of Lord Shiva.
- Brahmachari Avatar — Shiva appeared as a celibate wanderer to test Sati and see if she really, truly loved him enough to marry him.
- Avadhut Avatar — Here, Shiva knocked Indra down a peg when his ego got way too big.
- Kirat Avatar — This avatar tested Arjuna and fought with him in combat, then blessed him with the Pashupata weapon.
- Grihapati Avatar — Lord Shiva’s 7th avatar, where he’s the master of all directions.
- Yatinath Avatar — A peaceful form of Lord Shiva who blessed Ahuk and his wife on Mount Arbudachal.
- Bhikshuvarya Avatar — In this form, Shiva looks out for poor people and shows everyone why giving to those in need really matters.
- Yaksheshwar — This form told the gods to stop getting cocky about beating demons — their arrogance wasn’t cool at all. He reminded them that real victory comes through divine grace and blessings.
- Sunatnartak — This is Lord Shiva’s avatar where he goes to the Himalayas to ask permission to marry his beloved daughter Parvati.
Now, we all know this story from our Hindu Sanatan Dharma.. after they churned the ocean, amrita came out, but the demons grabbed it. To get the nectar back to the gods, Vishnu took the form of Mohini, this absolutely beautiful woman. Her beauty was beyond words — everyone, gods and demons alike, were completely captivated by how stunning she was. Shiva heard all this talk and said he wanted to see this amazing trick too. So Vishnu became Mohini again. Now, Shiva’s supposed to be way beyond all this stuff — lust, desires, getting attracted to anyone. At first, he was totally unaffected. His mind was pure, completely focused.
But Mohini’s power was just too much. Even Shiva started chasing after her! Can you imagine? The guy who burned Kamdev to ashes was now running around like crazy, totally lost his mind. Shiva got so messed up he didn’t even remember himself and just kept following her around, completely driven by lust.
Vishnu saw all this and revealed what was really going on. Shiva realized the power of Vishnu’s divine maya.
Now this is the important part — when Shiva got all excited chasing Mohini, his divine essence was released, and this sacred essence was later carried by the wind god and transformed into kheer. A bird took some of that kheer in a bowl, and with Shiva’s blessing, the wind carried it and dropped it into Anjana’s hands while she was sitting there meditating. And that’s how Hanuman came into being — which is why folks call him Pavan Putra, the wind god’s son.
So this is where Hanuman’s story actually begins 🙂🙏. Everyone knows about his mom Anjani, but most people don’t know her backstory. Before all this, she was an apsara — one of those heavenly dancers — called Punjikasthala in Indra’s court. Beautiful girl, but man, was she troublesome as a kid. One day she was fooling around and ended up disturbing Sage Durvasa who was deep in meditation. The sage got angry and cursed her — you’ll become a monkey. She panicked and begged him to take it back. The sage softened up and said, “Alright, you’ll still look good even as a monkey, and your son will be famous everywhere. ”At least she got something out of this disaster. When Treta Yuga came around, the curse kicked in and Anjani was born on earth as a female monkey. Indra asked her what she wanted, so she told him everything — the curse, the whole deal. Apparently when she was young, she’d been throwing fruits at some monkey sage doing his meditation and totally ruined his concentration. He got mad and cursed her that when she fell in love, she’d look like a monkey but still feel everything just as deeply. Down on earth, she met Kesari in the forest. Even with her monkey appearance, they fell in love and got married. Problem was, no kids were coming. She went to sage Matang who said, “Go to Narayan Mountain and do serious tapasya for twelve years.” So she did — twelve years surviving just on air, nothing else. One day after her bath, she dressed up nicely. The Wind God got happy and told her through her ear that her boy would be bright like sun and fire, would know all the holy books, and be super strong. While she was meditating, Anjani kept asking Shiva for a child. Shiva told her his own avatar would come through her womb as her baby. That’s how Hanuman came into this world in Treta Yuga. Folks call him Anjaneya — means he’s Anjani’s boy. Also Pavan Putra and Vatatmaj. Anjani came to earth for one reason — to give birth to our Bajrangbali.
When dharma was going through a really tough time on earth, Lord Shiva decided to send his eleventh piece of his Rudra form down here — and that turned out to be Hanuman. This form packed serious power and would never die, but at the same time was full of love and always ready to serve his devotees. That’s exactly why Hanuman’s always there protecting what’s right and helping out his followers.
We also pray to his Panchamukhi form. Hanuman had to grow five faces to save Lord Rama and Lakshmana from this demon called Ahiravana. See, Ahiravana had dragged them down to the underworld and basically tied their lives to five burning lamps. The tricky part was, Ahiravana had this special blessing that nobody could kill him unless all five lamps got snuffed out at exactly the same moment.
So Hanuman figured out what to do — he sprouted five faces and managed to blow out all five lamps from different directions all at once. Boom, Ahiravana was done for, and Hanuman got Rama and Lakshmana out of that mess.
His five faces work like this:
The Hanuman face looks east and helps you beat your enemies.The Varaha face points north.
The Narasimha face faces south.
The Garuda face looks west.
The Hayagriva face points straight up to the sky.
How Ahiravana got killed: Hanuman used his five-faced form and had all five mouths blow out those five lamps together. That’s how Ahiravana died and Hanuman got Rama and Lakshmana out of there.
When folks read Hanuman Chalisa, Sundarkand and Bajrang Baan these days, they feel his power working.
Problems and scary stuff don’t feel so overwhelming. When things get really hard, your patience and guts get stronger. You feel inspired to stick to your path and keep your faith strong. It even helps deal with Saturn’s bad effects and keeps you safe from dangers. So Hanuman’s Rudra form is still our protector, source of courage, and eternal strength in today’s world.
रुद्रांशसंज्ञकं वीरं, महाबल पराक्रमम्,अजेयमशुभं हन्तुं, रावणस्य विनाशकम्।
रामदूत अतुलित बलधामा, अंजनि-पुत्र पवनसुत नामा।
ॐ हनुमते नमः
Fierce in Rudra form, protector of devotees, Invincible and unwavering with Panchamukhi power. Rama’s messenger, great son of the wind, “Om Hanumate Namah” brings proof of protection.
Hope your Sunday is filled with blessings 🌸 We’ll meet again soon on Sunday with some more fascinating tales, sharing our spiritual experiences and being in the presence of God’s precious messages. Until then, my heartfelt greetings to all of you 🙏✨
Images used in this post are sourced from the internet.