Why did Hanuman not carry the whole army on his back? What was the need to build a bridge?

Hanuman was very strong, and could also change his size at will. But even if he became as tall as the highest mountain, he couldn’t possibly carry the sheer number of monkeys that were called by Sugreev from all directions. Sugreev commands Hanuman to summon the monkeys, bears and apes from the whole world and he specifically calls out different locations, starting from the Himalayas to the grasslands, forests, caves near sea  and so on. Hanuman sends his messengers, who are high jumpers and fast as the wind, to seek everyone out . The cavalry that finally assembles is as huge as the ocean, with the following numbers with their respective Generals**:


Shatabali brought 10,000 Crore monkeys
Sushena brought 1,000 Crore monkeys
Taara (not to be confused with Tara, the wife of Vali) brought 1,000 Crore monkeys
Kesari brought thousands of armies full of countless monkeys
Gavaaksha brought 1,000 Crore monkeys
Dhuumra brought 2,000 Crore bears
Panasa brought 3 Crore monkeys
Nila bought 10 Crore monkeys
Gavaya brought 5 Crore monkeys
Dariimukha brought 1,000 Crore monkeys
Mainda brought 1,000 Crore monkeys
Dvivida brought 1,000 Crore monkeys
Gaja brought 3 Crore monkeys
Jambavanta brought 10 Crore bears
Rumana brought 100 Crore monkeys
Gandhamaadana brought 10,000 Crore + 110,000 Crore monkeys
Angad brought 1,000 Padmas (10 to the power 27) + 100 Shanku (100,000 Crore or 10 to the power 12 or 1 Trillion)
Tara (this is also a different Tara) brought 5 Crore monkeys
Indrajaanu brought 11 Crore monkeys
Rambha brought 100 Ayuta + 1,000 Ayuta (10 to the power 9)
Durmukh brought 2 Crore monkeys
Hanuman brought 1,000 Crore monkeys
Nala brought 100 Crore + 1,100 monkeys
Dadimukha brought 10 Crore monkeys
Sharabha, Kumuda, Vahni, also even Ramha brought an unknown number of monkeys, probably too many to count

Grand Total: You do the math…
**Refer to Kishkindha Kanda – Sarga 39 for details

Once all the monkeys had assembled, Sugreev summarizes the battle strength of his army to Ram, and tells him the count of monkeys that will be joining the war. He uses the ancient Indian numbering system with units such as Aayuta (1000), Shanku (1 Trillion), Arbuda (1000 Shanku or 1000 Trillion) etc. (Kishkindha Kanda – Sarga 38)

So, it would’ve been pointless for Hanuman to carry all these monkeys in groups because if he drops one group in Lanka and heads back to gather another group, the first group might get attacked and killed by Lankans. But since these monkeys had super fast speed, it made sense to build a bridge so that the whole army arrives in Lanka together.

Why did Hanuman not carry Lord Ram to Sri Lanka? Why was there a need to bring the monkey army?

Being only a human being, Ram was still considerably stronger than celestials. The Army of Ravana consisted of fighters that had bested Indra, the king of Gods. It was important to take the monkey army alongside them as the monkeys were a huge help, considering that Ravana had billions of strong demons  under his control and fighting them head on would only lead to wastage of time. Even during the fight that ensued, there are several instances wherein both the demons and the monkeys are performing impossible feats, such as uprooting Sala trees and using them as weapons (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 46 – Verse 33, 34), breaking off mountain peaks thereby crushing elephants, horses, camels, demons etc underneath them (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 67 – Verse 9 to 18). Almost the entire ‘Yuddha Kanda’ (the section on the final war) is full of similar instances of extreme battle. The army of Ravana had countless generals who very strong and every single fight of those generals has been properly elaborated in the Yuddha Kanda.


Ram and Laxman were also very strong and given the chance, it was possible that they could eliminate the entire army of Ravana without the help of the monkey army. The prowess exhibited by Ram, by single handedly eliminating 14,000 demons in Janasthana had scared all the demons and they used to constantly remind Ravana of this feat performed by Ram (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 64 – Verse 12). But  fighting the entire army alone would unnecessarily take more time, which they did not have as Sita had threatened suicide (Sundara Kanda – Sarga 38). It was best that they took help from an army to fight off small battles on their behalf and take care of the leaders on their own. Had Ram and Laxman fought Ravana without an army, it would not have resulted in early rescue, but they would have wasted more time instead.  So it was pointless for Hanuman to carry only Ram and Laxman to Lanka, leaving the army behind, because then the battle would take months to complete.

Aside from this, there was another compelling reason for Ram to bring every single monkey with him to Lanka. Ravana had a boon from Lord Brahma, that made him invincible in battle against all kinds of divine beings. The list of those beings did not include humans, a  mistake that cost Ravana his life. However, humans were not the only beings that Ravana failed to mention in the boon. He also did not make any mention of monkeys, which technically made every single monkey qualified enough to slay Ravana, thereby increasing the chances of victory. It does not take a skilled war tactician to figure out that greater numbers mean higher chances of victory. Bringing the monkeys along by building the bridge was an excellent battle tactic by Ram

Where is the bridge that Ram built? Who is more powerful - God Ram or Devil Ravan? Would a god seek the help of another god to murder a third god?

The Ram Setu bridge was built by was Nala, the son of Vishwakarma  (the architect of the gods). Unlike popular belief, the bridge was not built in twelve years. Out of the total fourteen years of exile, Ram stayed in the forest happily for the first ten years, moving from one hermitage to another (Aranya Kanda – Sarga 11 – Verse 24 to 28). Later, they all moved to Panchavati on the advise of Sage Agastya, who was able to see the next course of Ramayana through his asceticism (Aranya Kanda – Sarga 13 – Verse 15 to 17). The events leading up to the extermination of Ravana happened in about final 2 years of exile, whose timeline has been discussed throughout the entire Kishkindha Kanda.

Considering that the events of Ramayana happened thousands of years ago, its highly unlikely that an artificial bridge would hold out for that long. So its not logical to go on a quest in order to locate that bridge. Still, remnants of the bridge remain to this day and can be easily spotted in Google Maps. Many researchers and marine biologists have even discussed the bridge and its origins at great length. There's also a video released by the Science Channel, sponsored by Discovery Communications around the mystical bridge.

Regarding the question of who was strongest between Ravana, Hanuman and Ram; there’s no doubt that Ram  was the strongest, followed by Hanuman and then Ravana. Ram was easily able to disarm, defeat and humiliate Ravana in front of his army and then allow him to go home (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 59). Also, considering that Ram was able to kill Ravana in the final battle in a fair fight, Ram was definitely stronger than Ravana. The only reason that the final battle lasted for over a week was because Ravana's boons were keeping him alive, despite receiving several mortal wounds from Ram's bow. Hanuman was also stronger than Ravana as he was able to bring Ravana down on his knees and made him cough up blood with a single punch (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 59 – Verse 114 to 116). Ravana almost fainted after being hit by Hanuman's mighty blow.

Now, between Ram and Hanuman, Ram was stronger because of the feat he performed after the death of Indrajit. He single handedly eliminated millions of demons by invoking the Gandharva Astra, that allows the caster to travel at the speed of light (details in a different section). This feat left everyone in awe. The helpless demons could do nothing but flee. After eliminating the demons, Ram speaks to Sugreev, Vibhishan, Hanuman, Jambavan, Mainda and Dvivida, who were standing close by and tells them that the wonderful power within this weapon lies only with either Ram himself or with the three eyed Lord Rudra (the Lord of Destruction). Throughout the entire war, the brave monkey warriors had fought with extreme valor and bested several thousand demons and their Generals by themselves. But none had accomplished a feat such as this and were happy witnessing the prowess of Ram first hand (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 93 – Verse – 37 to 39). Everyone knew that Ram was very strong, but after this incident, everyone was in awe of the strength and prowess of Ram. Even when Sita was asked for the trial by fire by Ram, Laxman quietly started to make preparations for the pyre. None of the monkey or bear warriors, including Hanuman, had the courage to object and interrupt to this. They beheld Ram, who looked like the god of death himself and were even scared to directly look at him (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 116 – Verse 22). From this, we can establish that Ram was definitely stronger than the combined  strength of the monkey forces.

For the last question about gods seeking help from other gods, there were no gods participating in this battle. This was a fight involving humans, monkeys, bears and demons.

What happened to Sita after being abducted by Ravana

Some people tell stories of how Sita left her dedication towards Lord Ram and instead got tempted by the riches of Lanka. This page specifically refutes the myth of Sita's wavering heart.

Sita never stepped into Ravana’s palace. She was taken directly to Ashok Vatika (Ashok Garden) and was constantly guarded by female demons. When Hanuman was searching for Sita, he looked everywhere in the city of Lanka but couldn’t find her. When he finally checked Ashok Vatika, he saw Sita and was instantly depressed on her condition. Despite being the daughter of the king of Mithila and the wife of the scion of Ayodhya, she was dressed in rags. She had become completely thin and weak due to continued fasting and her face was gloomy due to continued crying (Sundara Kanda – Sarga 15).

Ravana enters Ashok Vatika and attempts to persuade Sita to give in, by offering her all the comforts of the world, along with all kinds of riches. He also threatens her and states that none could stand up to him in fight and she should abandon her reluctance. However, Sita turns down all the offers of Ravana and tells him to either gracefully return her to Ram, or face death at the hands of Ram (Sundara Kanda – Sarga 21)
Hearing this, Ravana gives Sita two months to consider the offer. If she still does not accept Ravana at the end of two months, he threatens to kill her and eat her in breakfast (Sundara Kanda – Sarga 22). After Ravana leaves the garden, Sita attempts suicide by strangling herself using her own hair (Sundara Kanda – Sarga 28). After some deliberation, Hanuman decides to confront Sita and inform her about the upcoming invasion on Lanka by Ram. They both have a conversation about Ram and Hanuman convinces Sita that he truly is a messenger from Ram. Hanuman further asks Sita to remain patient and await Ram, who would come to rescue her (Sundara Kanda – Sarga 37). Towards the end of their conversation, Sita informs Hanuman that she will not wait for the whole duration of two months allotted by Ravana and will kill herself if she is not rescued within the next one month (Sundara Kanda – Sarga 38)

Moreover, when Ram finally invades Lanka, before the actual battle even starts, Ravana decides to fool Sita into believing that her husband had perished, by using an illusion. He calls for Vidyujjuha, who was a knower of conjuring tricks and asks him to create a fake replica of Ram’s severed head, along with his bow. Vidyujjuha creates the items and Ravana heads straight for Ashok Vatika. He then throws the fake head of Ram near Sita and tells her to submit to him (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 31). Sita starts crying and asks Ravana to kill her also and place her severed head next to Ram’s head; and place her remaining body at the spot where Ram’s body lay in the battlefield (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 32). Meanwhile, Ravana is called by one of his ministers to discuss the battle formation and Ravana leaves Ashok Vatika accompanied by Vidyujjuha . As soon as they leave, the fake head and bow disappear in front of Sita (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 32).

All the above points are proof that Sita never once felt a change of heart and was ever so devoted to her husband Ram.

Was Lord Ram only an ordinary human being?

Yes, its right to say that Ram was only a human being. The boons that made Ravana invincible made it mandatory for Lord Vishnu to incarnate in a simple human form, without any miraculous abilities. Otherwise it would’ve been impossible to slay Ravana.

However, this does not mean that Ram had no link with Lord Vishnu. Ram definitely was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and the link between the two has been made obvious at several occasions in Valmiki’s Ramayana. Some of the evidences from the book are depicted here:

Evidence 1: In Bala Kanda – Sarga 16, Lord Vishnu agrees to incarnate in the human form and chooses king Dashratha as his father. At that point, King Dashratha was already in the process of performing the Ashwamedh sacrifice, in order to beget children. After the sacrifice is complete, the celestial being Yana Purusha appears in front of King Dashratha from the sacrificial fire and offers him a divine sweet dessert, which was basically a medium through which Lord Vishnu would incarnate (Bala Kanda – Sarga 16). King Dashratha distributed the dish amongst his wives. He gave 50% of the dish to Kausalya, 25% to Sumitra, 12.5% to Kaikeyi and the remaining 12.5% again to Sumitra. Thus, Sumitra got the dish twice and gave birth to two sons namely Laxman and Shatrughan (Bala Kanda – Sarga 18). So, all four brothers were born with a portion of Lord Vishnu within them.

Evidence 2: While fighting with the son of Ravana (Indrajit), both Ram and Laxman are rendered unconscious by the serpentine weapons used on them by Indrajit. Indrajit breaks the code of the warrior by using magic and turning invisible; and shoots a net like weapon made up of snakes on both Ram and Laxman, thereby capturing them. The monkey army tries to fight back, but they were unable to locate the invisible Indrajit in the darkness of the night, and thus the army loses all hope of victory (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 44, 45). Indrajit assumed that he had killed off his enemies as it was impossible for a human to escape the snake weapon and heads back to his palace. While the monkey army sits dejected and hopeless, the mystical king of birds Garuda (the vehicle of Lord Vishnu) appears on the battlefield to everyone’s surprise. All the snakes binding Ram and Laxman flee when they see the giant eagle. Garuda heals both brothers with a single touch and also doubles their vitality. Both Ram and Laxman are surprised and they ask Garuda for an introduction. Garuda in response says that Ram should consider Garuda as a close friend, as close as his very breath. He then further explains the nature of the weapons used by Indrajit and finally embraces the brothers before heading out (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 50). Garuda, the private vehicle of Lord Vishnu, made an appearance in the middle of an ongoing war, just to heal two random humans within an army of monkeys, only goes to show the strong link between Ram and Vishnu. 

Evidence 3: While fighting head on with Ravana, Laxman was mortally wounded when the Brahma Spear (absolute weapon of destruction) was used on him. For some miraculous reason, Laxman does not lose his life. Seeing him still alive, Ravana springs forth and grabs Laxman and tries to lift him up. With the strength of thousands of elephants, Ravana had the ability to lift the three great mountains namely Himavat, Mandara and Meru. But despite using all his strength, Ravana was unable to lift Laxman (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 59 – Verse 111). With the weapon of Brahma still impaled in his chest, Laxman gets a premonition of sorts, making him realize that he is in fact a part of Lord Vishnu (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 59 – Verse 112). Hanuman steps in with the intention to help Laxman and temporarily incapacitates Ravana by punching him in the chest. Hanuman then thinks of carrying Laxman away from the battlefield in order to save his life. Judging by how greatly Ravana struggled to lift Laxman, but was unable to even move him, Hanuman should've had a hard time lifting Laxman and carrying him away from the battlefield. Instead, he lifts Laxman and is surprised to find that Laxman feels as light as a feather to him, probably because of his friendship, love and devotion for Laxman. Hanuman carries Laxman to safety and as soon as the Brahma weapon is removed from Laxman’s body with medicinal herbs applied on his chest, Laxman gets back on his feet and is completely healed. The spear of Brahma, the creator of the universe, was unable to take the life of Laxman, thus proving that Laxman definitely had some divine connection. Please note that this battle should not be confused with the one where Laxman was fatally wounded by Indrajit and was saved by the Sanjeevani herbs brought by Hanuman (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 101).

Evidence 4: After defeating Ravana in battle, Ram subjects Sita to a trial by fire. At that point, several celestials appear at Lanka to meet Ram. The celestials included Kubera (king of Yakshas), Yama (god of Death), Indra (Lord of the celestials), Varuna (Lord of the waters), the illustrious three eyed Lord Shiva (the lord of all gods), Lord Brahma (the creator of the universe) and the spirit of Ram's deceased father king Dashrath. These celestials then ask Ram why he is not able to recognise himself and Sita despite his divinity. Ram is surprised at this and asks the reason for their question. Lord Brahma then formally identifies Ram with Lord Narayana, the wielder of the divine disc in great detail (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 117). Lord Brahma also states that Sita was no other that the divine goddess Lakshmi, incarnated as a human. This is the most prominent evidence in the great book Ramayana that Ram was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

Many people claim that there is absolutely no account of Rama's divinity in the entire Ramayana. Please feel free to share this post with such individuals. The divine connection could not have been made more obvious by Valmiki and the account of this has to be brought to light.

How did Ram lift Shiva’s bow and defeat the invincible Ravana

All the four sons of king Dasratha had received their combat training from the best of the warriors in their time. All four brothers were scholars in the Vedas, were extremely valiant and skilled in handling chariots, mounting elephants and horses, and handling all kinds of weapons, with Ram excelling in all the fields (Bala Kanda – Sarga 18). In fact, Ram became so good at fighting, that sage Vishwamitra personally approached king Dasratha in order to borrow Ram for some time for slaying demons. In exchange, Vishwamitra also agreed to train Ram further in advanced combat using celestial weapons (Bala Kanda – Sarga 21).

King Dasratha gets alarmed at this request of sage Vishwamitra and states that Ram is still an adolescent, how then can he slay demons. The king offers a giant army of 1 Akshowni** to eliminate the powerful demons and even offers to go himself. But sage Vishwamitra says that Ram alone would be enough, given how skilled he was (Bala Kanda – Sarga 20). After much debate, the king agrees after consulting his ministers and his royal sage Vashishta. This goes to show that Ram was not a push over, but was stronger than the combined force of 1 Akshowni.

**1 Akshowni = 21,870 chariots , 21,870 elephants, 65,610 cavalry and 109,350 foot soldiers

When Sage Vishwamitra reached the city of Mithila, he requested king Janaka to show the celestial bow of Lord Shiva to Ram. The king hesitates at first, seeing that Ram is only a young boy and recalling that the greatest of the Demigods, Yakshas, Demons, Gandharvas, Nagas etc. were unable to even lift the great bow, let alone string it and take aim. But since he was commanded directly by the illustrious sage Vishwamitra, he agrees to show the bow and orders to bring it forth. The bow was transported to their location on an eight wheeled casket cart, pulled by five thousand strong men, who were trying to pull the cart with great difficulty (Bala Kanda – Sarga 67). 

Ram grabs the bow right from the middle handgrip and lifts it up like a toy. He exerts absolutely no effort at lifting the illustrious bow and starts to string it while the crowd is still trying to understand what just happened. He then pulls the string with one hand and stretches it up to his ear just to check the tightness and rigidity of the bow. The bow snaps in half right at the middle, near the handgrip, and creates a huge shockwave with a thunderous sound that renders everyone unconscious. Only Sage Vishwamitra, King Dasratha, Ram and Laxman were able to remain in their senses and the rest of the crowd just faints (Bala Kanda – Sarga 67). Absolutely no tricks were used in the process of lifting the bow as the masters of magical arts, warriors with celestial weapons and divine beings with superhuman abilities had already tried and failed at this task. Ram broke this bow purely with brute strength without even breaking a sweat.

Killing Ravana was also not a fluke. Laxman alone was able to subdue Ravana in a one-on-one battle, chopping off the head of Ravana’s charioteer and also breaking Ravana’s bow with a single arrow in the middle of battle. When Ravana in turn manages to cause a fatal injury to Laxman, Ram attacks Ravana with great fury and makes Ravana flee for his life from the battlefield out of fear (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 100). On another occasion, Ram completely defeats Ravana by obliterating his Chariot and destroying all his weapons, thereby rendering him helpless and allowing him to return to Lanka (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 59).

While fighting Ravana, Laxman was wounded and his life was in danger. Ravana starts approaching him with the intention of harming him. Seeing Laxman in that state, Hanuman gets enraged and rushes towards Ravana with the speed of the wind. Striking a thunderous punch on the chest of Ravana, Hanuman manages to fatally wound him. The blow was so intense that blood started oozing out from the mouth, ears and eyes of Ravana. The punch literally bought Ravana to his knees and he was unable to move for some time. (Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 59 – Verse 114 to 116). While Ravana is subdued, Hanuman carries Laxman to safety. 

Had it been a one-on-one battle between Ram and Ravana, the battle would've ended the first day with Ram coming out victorious, as Ravana was absolutely no match for the brute strength, swift dexterity and skill of Ram. If we compare the armies of both sides, the troops of Ravana were afraid of him and were mostly his slaves. Where as every single troop in the army of Ram loved him like their own brother. 

Its a common misconception that Ram was very soft on his enemies and he barely fought in the great war. This is mainly due to the different versions of Ramayana floating in the market, including what is shown on popular television shows. The original version written by Valmiki thousands of years ago portrays Ram as an unparalleled warrior. He acquired great strength, knowledge of Vedas and unmatchable skill from the best teachers in the world including the great Vashistha and the illustrious Vishwamitra. In fact, Ram first became a Rathi (warrior capable of fighting 5000 troops), then Atirathi (warrior that can battle 12 Rathi's) and then a Maharathi (warrior that can battle 12 Atirathi's), all of that in his teenage. Although Ravana was also a Maharathi class warrior, he was outdone by Ram while fighting mid-air in a one-on-one battle.

These points show us that despite the great strength of Ravana, he was powerless against the great army of Shri Ram. I will cover some of Ram's great battles in a different section.

Was it really necessary for god to incarnate himself to kill Ravana

As per Vedic literature, God is not a part of the created universe, but the universe exists within god. In order to introduce changes within the universe, divine beings (demi gods) with special abilities were created to carry out the will of god. Human beings interact with these celestials through prayers and offerings in exchange for material gains. But since these celestials were designed only to manage the universe, they have very limited strength when it comes to battle. So, when things get beyond their control, they ask one of the higher authorities for help.

Lord Vishnu, the maintainer of the universe, takes the responsibility to clear any anomalies within the universe. But Lord (Karanodakasayi) Vishnu’s form is huge, with entire galaxies blooming and dying within his form. If he directly attempts to intervene, the Universe might fall apart. Since Lord Vishnu cannot make major changes within the universe because of his form, he needs to first enter this universe by means of an incarnation.

Now, lets look at the situation as a whole. Ravana’s father was Vishrawa, whose father was Pulastya, whose father was Lord Brahma himself. Being a direct descendant of the creator of all beings, Ravana was blessed with several boons from many gods and was extremely powerful. He had created chaos throughout the universe and was completely unstoppable, especially because of the boons he received directly from his great grandfather, Lord Brahma .


These boons were narrated by Vibhishan to Ram in Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 19 and were also discussed between Lord Brahma and the Gods in Bala Kanda – Sarga 15. The primary boon was that Ravana could not be killed by several types of creatures including Gods, Demons, Kinnars, Gandharvas etc. with the exception of human beings. Being too proud of his own strength, Ravana thought he could not be bested by a mere human. So he did not bother to include humans in his boon. After receiving many complaints from the Gods (Bala Kanda – Sarga 15) and after consulting with Lord Vishnu, it was agreed that an incarnation of Lord Vishnu will be born in the realm of humans to fix this problem. Ravana was technically immortal, since a regular human being could never actually defeat him. If Lord Vishnu had not incarnated, Ravana would still be at large, killing innocent people for no reason and raping their wives. That’s right, Ravana was a serial rapist and Sita was not the only woman Ravana had abducted (Bala Kanda – Sarga 16 – Verses 5 to 8). He would not have died a natural death and was beyond the control of any created being. It was very important to stop him but because of his boons, the demigods were helpless against him. This is the reason why Lord Vishnu had to reincarnate as a human in order to get things done.

Please note that Lord Vishnu is different from God, and yet all the same. Besides the 3 great forms of Lord Vishnu (Karanodakasayi, Garbhodakasayi and Ksirodakasayi), there's also the absolute Brahman. But this will be discussed in a different section.