Vanara Physiology

The power to use the abilities and physical traits of a Vanara. Variation of Transcendent Animal, Mythic and Primate Physiology. Not to be confused with Monkey Deity.

Also Called[]

The Golangulas
The Plavangamas
The Vanaras [वानर (lit. 'forest-dwellers' in Sanskrit)]

Capabilities[]

The user with this ability either is or can transform into a Vanara, a member of a race of shapeshifting semi-divine forest/mountain dwelling anthropomorphic tailed apes who played a very important role in the Ramayana when they helped Rama (7th avatar of Vishnu) fight the deadly battle against the rakshasa king Ravana in Lanka and liberate Sita, Rama's wife. They possess the typical features of monkeys/apes with human and godly attributes. They coexist with the Rikshas, a race of semi-divine shapeshifting forest/cave-dwelling bears.

Applications[]

All[]

Authority (Only over other Vanaras)
Divine Combat
- Blunt Weapon Proficiency (The gada or mace, but most Vanaras fight with rocks and trees)
- Demonic Slayer
- Supernatural Unarmed Combat Mastery
Environmental Adaptation (Vanaras were known to dwell either in dense forests, mountain ranges or in caves.)
Hypercompetence/Omnicompetence (Vanaras can fight against many warriors at the same time.)
Mythic Physiology
- Divinity (On the supreme level)
  - Deity Soul
    - Divine Aura (They were generally divine warriors)
- Enhanced/Supernatural Condition
  - Supernatural Body/Mind
- Lesser Divinity
  - Decelerated Aging/Semi-Immortality (Hanuman is the only Vanara who is truly immortal.)
- Transcendent Demigod Physiology (Vanaras were born from the divine energies of various Hindu deities.)
One-Man Army (They were each able to annihilate scores of demons on their own.)
Primate Physiology
- Quadrupedalism
- Prehensility
  - Prehensile Tail (The tail is considered to be the most prized ornament for any Vanara, used for various purposes.)
Shapeshifting (Just like most races of beings such as the Rakshasas or Gandharvas, they could also shapeshift as and when they desired)
True Hero (All of them barring Vali)
- Pure Heart
- Undying Loyalty (The Vanaras were sincerely devoted to Rama and aided him in the war against Ravana.)
Unnatural Size (Vanaras are said to be very large in size with some of them being as huge as mountains, but only Hanuman has the power to manipulate his own size at will due to the eight Siddhis)

Notable Vanaras[]

Angada
- Authority (Prince of the Vanaras)
- Leadership Manipulation (Leader of the Vanaras)
- One-Man Army
  - Supernatural Strength (His feet could not be lifted by anyone in Ravana's court.)
- Negotiation Mastery (He was Rama's messenger of peace in the court of Ravana.)
- Strategy Manipulation

Hanuman
- Absolute Condition (He is the most powerful Vanara due to the boons granted by various deities)
  - Absolute Beauty (Is said to be incredibly beautiful such that no-one but Rama and Krishna are superior in this aspect)
  - Absolute Immortality (He is one of the seven immortal beings known as the Chiranjeevis; as a child, he withstood holding the sun within his hands but was later knocked unconscious with a broken jaw by Indra's Vajra, only to be revived with complete immortality.)
  - Absolute Invulnerability (He is invulnerable to all forms of harm, including Transcendent Weaponry such as the Brahmastra.)
  - Absolute Speed (He possesses a speed faster than the speed of light.)
  - Absolute Strength (His infinite strength allows him to perform great feats such as lifting the mountain full of medicinal herbs or going toe-to-toe with many powerful demons including Ravana himself; his strength is such that he is capable of lifting and carrying any burden for a cause. He is called Vira, Mahavira, Mahabala and other names signifying this attribute of his.)
  - Absolute Unarmed Combat Mastery
    - Blunt Weapon Proficiency (Mastery of his Gada (mace))
- Complete Arsenal (By virtue of being a reincarnation of Shiva)
  - Absolute Destruction (Due to bearing the Trishula and all of Shiva's weapons barring the Third Eye)
  - Genesis Creation (Created his son, Makaradhwaja from his own sweat according to the Puranas.)
- Flight (He can fly even faster than the wind deity Vayu and Garuda, the king of the birds.)
- Guardian (The guard of Rama's court as its doorkeeper.)
  - Door Manipulation
  - Indomitable Will (He was known to persevere even in the most difficult situations and is very innovative.)
  - Indomitable Loyalty (He has always been a faithful devotee of Rama and Sita.)
- Indeterminacy (Irrational as one who bears the eight Siddhis)
  - Omni-Healing and Absolute Restoration (Heals all kinds of diseases, pains and sorrows of devotees.)
- Monkey Deity (Constantly shown as a half-man, half-ape deity in iconography)
  - Trickster (Is sometimes said to be a trickster.)
    - Obstacle Transcendence (Limited. His name of Sankata Mochana means "the remover of dangers, hardships, or hurdles".)
- Spatial-Temporal Lock (According to the Hanuman Chalisa, he can lock people within Rama's court, a place outside of space and time.)
- Personal Size Manipulation (He can decrease or increase his size as per his will.)
- Nigh-Omnipotence Bestowal (Can bestow the eight Siddhis and nine Nidhis onto devotees.)
- Siddhi Mastery (He is a master of all the eight Siddhis, granting him various incredible abilities.)
  - Omnifarious (He can assume any form he wishes.)
- Tail Extension (He can extend or shorten his tail as desired.)
- Ultimate Jactitation (Immune to being immobilized)
- Victory Embodiment (Grants victory to himself, Rama or his devotees.)
  - Omnislayer (One of his many attributes is that of the Slayer of demons, evil and negative energies: Keeps away ghosts, evil spirits, demons, Brahmarakshasa, devils, Sakini, Dakini, and prevents effects of the planets in the sky, evil created by talismans, tantra done by others and evil chants. The following names of Hanuman describe some of these qualities, Rakshovidhwansakaraka, Akshahantre, Dashagreevakulantaka, Lankineebhanjana, Simhikaprana Bhanjana, Maharavanamardana, Kalanemi Pramathana.)
- Wisdom Deity and Archetype: True Friend (A very wise being)

Nala
- Architecture Mastery (Architect of the Vanaras)
- Enlightenment and Freedom (Attained Moksha; in Jain variants of the Ramayana)
- One-Man Army (Immensely capable in combat)
- Strategy Manipulation (Crafted many strategies for the Vanara armies)
- Supernatural Craftsmanship (Architect and Engineer of the Rama Setu, a bridge in modern-day Sri Lanka and creates a living quarter for Rama whilst in Lanka; is also the son of Viswakarman, the Principal Architect of the Universe.)
- Supernatural Defense (Her body)
- Weight Manipulation, Weight Negation and Meta Gravity Manipulation (Has the power to remove weight of objects such as stones and control their gravity above water in some versions of the Ramayana; according to Varuna, the god of the water, the stones would forever float.)

Nila
- Architecture Mastery (Described in the Ramayana as the "Kapishreshtha (foremost among the vanaras) in effulgence, reputation, and prowess".)
- Fire Immunity (The son of the god of fire, Agni.)
- Leadership Empowerment (He was the commander-in-chief of the huge Vanara armies.)
- Strategy Manipulation
- Supernatural Craftsmanship (Helped make a bridge alongside Nala)
- Supernatural Detection
- Tactical Genius (A genius in combat)
- Water Manipulation (Limited. The Krittivasi Ramayan narrates how the vanaras are sent to disturb the yajna (fire sacrifice) that Ravana is performing in order to make himself invincible with Nila stopping this by urinating on each of his heads.)
- Weight Manipulation, Weight Negation and Meta Gravity Manipulation (Has the power to remove weight of objects such as stones and control their gravity above water in some versions of the Ramayana; according to Varuna, the god of the water, the stones would forever float.)

Sugriva
- Army Manipulation (He was able to assemble the Vanara troops according to the specific tasks they performed.)
- Deity Companionship (He was known for his eternal friendship with Rama.)
- Kingdom Manipulation (Ruler of the Vanaras)
- Morale Manipulation (Controls the morale of the Vanaras.)
  - Supernatural Charisma (Charismatic enough to lead Vanaras to battle.)
- Supernatural Strength (Could fight Vali on equal terms)
- Supernatural Unarmed Combat Mastery (Mostly shown using his fists in older iconography)

Vali - A former monkey king who was the older brother to Sugriva and was granted a boon by Brahma; eventually dying at Rama's hands.
- Personal Domain (King of the Vanaras until his death.)
- Selective Invincibility (Was said to be invincible to certain things.)
- Strength Calling/Infinitum (He can gain half of his enemy's strength forever, always surpassing his opponent and being as strong as he needed or wanted to be also said that no-one could defeat him in a head-on battle)
  - Absolute Separation, Mathematics Manipulation and infinite Power Division (One analogy for his boon: Let’s say Vali’s strength is 1 unit. His challenger’s is 1,000,000. Because of the boon, Vali gains 500,000 and his challenger loses the same. The new strength ratings now are 500,001 units for Vali and 500,000 for his challenger. The math is obviously simple. Vali’s challenger fights at their half strength. Vali fights at his challenger’s half strength plus his own. Another analogy is: Strength of opponent is 1000 and Strength of Vali is 800 - Then half of his opponents strength is gained by Vali is greater than the opponent and now strength of Vali=800+(1000)/2=800+500=1300))
  - Absolute Invulnerability and Omni-Immunity (Over time to everything except the Trimurti. In the Ramayana, his boon allows him to gain considerable strength over time to the point where he would become invincible and invulnerable to the opponent through consistently gaining half of the enemy's strength and power.)
  - Powers Via Amulet (In some tellings of the Ramayana such as the Valmiki variant, he is said to have a golden pendant-like amulet that grants him his boon though this is disputed by iconography of the monkey as well as the traditional tellings of the epic)
  - Indeterminacy (Irrational eventually by nature of his boon)
- Meta Combat (It was said that no one could defeat Vali in head-on battle)
- Supernatural Strength and Lifting (Lifted rocks, boulders and ripped tree trunks from the ground during his final fight with Sugriva; Already Vali was extremely powerful with his power almost equal to that of 7500000 elephants)
  - Absolute Condition (He even defeated Ravana and wrapped him in his tail in some stories around his armpit and roam around the world to make fun of him till Ravana accepted vali is most powerful ape in the world and made a friendly bond with him... "Then that elephantine monkey Vali took that mountain-similar Dundubhi by horns, and booming highly he whirled and bumped him onto ground.")
  - Supernatural Leap (Similar to Hanuman)
- Complete Mastery (Over the gada)

Associations[]

Limitations[]

The user may or may not be immortal except for those who use the abilities of Hanuman.
The user might find it difficult to strike a balance between his human and Vanara forms without proper control and training.
Going out of control can lead to serious consequences due to the presence of both human and ape/monkey traits in the user.

Vanara Physiology

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