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In many Hindu temples and pictures, Sri Anjaneya Swami is portrayed with gadha (mace / club) on one of his hands. I am seeking to understand the origin of this depiction.

As far as I know nowhere in The Valmiki Ramayana there is a clear reference to Sri Anjaneya Swami using gadha as the preferred weapon. Even during the war, HE fought with fist, trees etc. But it is certainly possible I overlooked some part of The Ramayana.

So my question to my friends here is as follows -

Where in the scriptures (Itihasa or even Puranas) can we find the support for Sri Anjaneya Swami using / holding Gadha? I'd prefer a reference from The Valmiki Ramayana, but I can accept references from any of the 18 Main or Upa Puranas or The Mahabharata (or any research publications no matter how recent it is).

I do not consider Sthala Puranas to be authentic, but for the sake of awareness, please leave a comment if you know of a sthala purana that supports this depiction of Sri Anjaneya. As for answers I like to see in the Itihasas or Puranas or in the corpus of published indological research.

Many thanks in advance for responding.

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  • yes - the Ramanand Sagar production of Ramayana shows the monkeys with a Gada. youtube.com/…
    – S K
    Commented Aug 24, 2023 at 11:59

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Radhe Radhe,

It looks as if this might be of some help to you- What is Lord Hanuman's weapon of choice from scriptures?

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  • Thank you for the cross link. That helps in the way of adding a lot of references. But the question is slightly different, so I will look for more answers. The question you are referencing asks for the primary weapons of choice for Hanuman, and my question is where in the scriptures do we find support for Sri Hanuman holding Gadha. The premise here is there may be some text that seeded this notion, so I am interested in that. It could also be hearsay or imagination, in which case I am interested in that reference as well. The questions are related for sure, but a bit different.
    – Vidyarthi
    Commented Aug 30, 2023 at 23:42

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