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The Birth Valmiki Never Dated

The poet who could date a birth down to the exact star and planet left one hero's birthday completely blank. Centuries later, different regions are still filling in that gap with different answers.

Valmiki's Ramayana tells the story of Hanuman's birth directly, in the Kishkindha Kanda, its fourth book. The old bear king Jambavan tells this story himself. He is trying to remind Hanuman of his own forgotten strength, just before Hanuman's great leap across the sea to Lanka.

Hanuman's mother was Anjana, once an apsara named Punjikasthala. She had been cursed and reborn on earth as a vanara, given birth as the daughter of a vanara king. Her husband was Kesari, a vanara chief. But according to Valmiki's own account, Vayu, the wind god, was Hanuman's true father. He delivered him to Anjana through divine means, while Kesari remained his father in name and upbringing.

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