You patiently gave a great reply! Thanks! Anyways, I think that it’s perfectly natural that the Oriental cultures depict Hanuman with ethnic features that resonate with the local populace. But these Saxon features that I’m seeing on a lot of Hindu dolls offends me a bit, because the ethinc features that they have does NOT correspond to the local populace of India. Hanuman has been Germanified to “Hanselmann”, as if the artist were to say “We’re a Germanic people.” NOTE: Some Indians feel that they are Germanic (please see the post that I did a few weeks ago stating that ‘Germans are the greatest race of the world’ from a Gujarati site).

DizzyDesi, basalt (not granite) is in great abundance in South India and was utilized to make statues of all gods, not just Hanuman or the supposedly dark-skinned ones. We have plenty of black Vishnus, Parvatis, Lakshmis and Saraswatis down there. White marble is aplenty up north which accounts for the white marble Hanumans, Sivas and RadhaKrishnas I’ve seen in Gujarati mandirs.

Your fathers hanuman was a “>kick ass wrestler

… at least he is brown-eyed and brown-skinned like me

Brown hanumans are common, but so are many other depictions

Most temples in South India have granite statues: Anjeneya (hanuman) becomes correspondingly black

A line of thought is that to clearly differentiate some gods, artists gave them non-human colors Many hanuman depictions I saw growing up were in blue , green , etc

Thais call hanuman the white monkey.

One of their stories is that the Lankan fishes led by the fish queen (ravan’s daughter) tried to destroy Ram Setu. Hanuman kicked their ass and got to some monkey business with the queen – quite different from the Indian Bachelor view of hanuman

The Chinese have their Buddhist influenced depictions of hanuman in Wu Kong. This influence spread to the Japanese as well through the Chinese literature and manifested itself Son Goku. Japan put their own take on hanuman, which has even crept into cheesy anime (and decent ones as well)

So what is the color of hanuman – loko bhinna ruchi – it really depends on what a persons conception of him should be.

Here is a list of different views of hanuman from different places.

Yep – langurs

This is Mahender from Kridana.

Thanks to Abhi for the great post and to all of you for the fantastic discussion. We’re thrilled that so many mutineers like our toys!

While we’re starting with Hanuman and Rama, there are more figures in the works (assuming you keep buying ‘em). There’s a decision that we’re facing now, and I thought why not open it up to you.

What shade of brown should Ravana be? Does it matter to you? As Boston Mahesh hinted at above, this question is fundamentally about cultural identity. We’ve already received a wide range of reactions (some quite surprising), and would love to add your feedback to the mix.

Cheers!

Thanks for asking me my input. (1) What color should Ravana be, and (2) does it matter to me? For (1), it should be a skin-complexion which is NOT alien to the majority of Indians! Another words, white-skinned (ala Spanish or Germanic) is, indeed, alien to the majority of Indians. (2) This matters, not only to me, but to every self-respecting BROWN-SKINNED Indian, but I’m one of the only ones who will stand up for this injustice.

Will you guys make a chess set for children of all ages??

This is Mahender from Kridana.

Thanks to Abhi for the great post and to all of you for the fantastic discussion. We’re thrilled that so many mutineers like our toys!

While we’re starting with Hanuman and Rama, there are more figures in the works (assuming you keep buying ‘em). There’s a decision that we’re facing now, and I thought why not open it up to you.

What shade of brown should Ravana be? Does it matter to you? As Boston Mahesh hinted at above, this question is fundamentally about cultural identity. We’ve already received a wide range of reactions (some quite surprising), and would love to add your feedback to the mix.

Cheers!

Between this ripped Hanuman action figure and the Who You Callin’ Macaca? tshirts, I’m all set w.r.t. Festivus gifts.

You are awesome! How do I get you my postal address?

Gruhastu, thanks so much, that’s just all what I was looking for.