The origin of Sri Panchamukhi Hanuman can be traced to a
story in Ramayana. During the war between Lord Rama and Ravana. Ravana took
help of Mahiravana who is the king of patala. Lord Hanuman in order to
protect Lord Ram and Lakshman formed a fortress with his tail. Mahiravana took
the form of Vibeeshana and took Lord Ram and Lakshman to patala loka. Hanuman
entered patala loka in search of Rama and Lakshmana, He found out that to kill
Mahiravana he had to extinguish five lamps (life of Mahiravana is in 3 places,
lamps are one of them) burning in five different directions at the same time,
so he has taken the Panchamukha form with Hanuman, Hayagriva, Narasimha, Garuda
and Varaha faces and extinguished the lamps and killed Mahiravana.
Hanuman is a great yogi (mystic) having transcended the five
senses (Pancha Indriyas). In Kamba Ramayanam (in Tamil), the significance of
number five is beautifully narrated as follows: The son of one of the five
elements (son of wind - Pavana Thanaya) crossed one of the five elements (water
– the ocean), through one of the five elements (sky), met daughter of one of
the five elements (daughter of earth - Sita Devi) burnt down Lanka by one of
the five elements (fire). Sundara Kandam, which highlights the heroic exploits
of Lord Hanuman at Lanka is the fifth canto in the Ramayana. Therefore, it is
considered auspicious to go around His idol 5 times, 14 times, 23 times, 32
times or with such numbers the digits of which add to five. The pancha mukha
hanuman is rare idol of Hanuman.
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