Myths, Religions & Legends Power Ranking TOP100
I wrote a book ranking the most powerful gods, monsters, and heroes from world mythology, religion, and legend in order of strength! Of course, the rankings reflect a great deal of my own subjective judgment, but the reasoning behind each placement is grounded in the lore and episodes of each mythology, so I think it’s a book that will feel reasonably convincing.
This time I’d like to introduce some of the characters featured in the book’s ranking. Of course, many more characters appear in the ranking beyond those introduced here, so I think anyone interested in mythology, religion, and legend will enjoy it!
Rank 50: Hanuman (Indian Mythology, Hinduism)
Overview
Hanuman is the most powerful Vanara (monkey deity) who appears mainly in the epic “Ramayana,” and is said to have been the inspiration for Sun Wukong in “Journey to the West.”
Even in his childhood he possessed extraordinary power, including the wild episode of trying to eat the sun, mistaking it for a fruit.
However, when Indra struck the young Hanuman with his Vajra in anger, Hanuman died. This enraged Hanuman’s father Vayu, who stopped all the winds in the world — so the gods revived Hanuman and appeased Vayu.
Moreover, when they revived him, they also bestowed upon him powerful immortality, strength, and wisdom.
In particular, regarding immortality: Indra granted resistance to lightning, Agni granted resistance to fire, Varuna granted resistance to water, Yama granted resistance to punishment, Shiva granted immunity to attacks and powers derived from Shiva, Brahma granted immunity to Brahmastra and divine weapons — gifts from the gods representing the highest level of resistance conceivable in Indian mythology.
This could be called a “resurrection bonus” rather than a “reincarnation bonus,” but it is an episode in which Hanuman, already born with great power, became even stronger.
Hanuman fought alongside the human Rama (an avatar of Vishnu) in the war against Ravana’s army and defeated many enemies.
Among them, he especially stood out in battle against powerful Rakshasas including Aksha, one of Ravana’s children, and in one account he fought a fierce battle against Ravana’s son Indrajit (Meghanada) that ended with no clear victor.
When he was captured through Indrajit’s stratagem (technically he let himself be captured) and sentenced to be burned alive, he survived unharmed thanks to Agni’s protection (and Yama’s?), further demonstrating his remarkable immortality.
The most impressive episode showing Hanuman’s extraordinary nature is when he went to Mount Kailash to find herbs for the critically wounded Rama and his companions, but couldn’t tell which were the right medicinal herbs — so he simply picked up the entire mountaintop and flew back to Rama’s location.
As this shows, Hanuman appears in many scenes flying through the air, and as the son of the wind god Vayu, he is said to “fly at the same speed as the wind” — capable of high-speed flight that covers the distance from India to Sri Lanka in a short time.
Reason for This Ranking
Hanuman possesses “the highest-level immortality in Indian mythology,” “superhuman strength capable of lifting a mountaintop,” “flight capability that can cover distances of roughly 100 km in a blink,” “special abilities to grow huge or shrink small,” and various other powers.
Basically, with his superhuman physical abilities alone he could easily dispatch an average war god, but against the highest-tier gods he seems to lack a decisive finishing move.
Because of his high immortality, the chances of him being killed are low, but a god with superior power should be able to restrain or seal him — so a scenario where he is effectively neutralized and loses is quite plausible. Taking all of this into account, I placed him at this position in the ranking.
