Macchanu ( km, មច្ឆានុ - ''Mach-chha-nu''), ( th, มัจฉานุ; ) is son of

Hanuman Hanuman (; sa, हनुमान, ), also called Anjaneya (), is a Hindu god and a divine '' vanara'' companion of the god Rama. Hanuman is one of the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He is an ardent devotee of Rama and on ...

that appears in the

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

n, Thai and other versions of the Ramayana.http://www.learnnc.org/lp/multimedia/2588 http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/ramayana/1189 As per these versions of

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

, during one of the battles with

Ravana Ravana (; , , ) is a rakshasa king of the island of Lanka, and the chief antagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'' and its adaptations. In the ''Ramayana'', Ravana is described to be the eldest son of sage Vishrava and rakshasi Kaikesi. ...

's army, Hanuman encounters one powerful opponent, who looked like vanara from waist-up but had tail of a fish. After a fierce battle, as Hanuman was about to hit the creature with his weapons, a golden star shining in the sky above, reveals by way of aakashwani that the enemy, whom he is going to harm is his own son born by his union with Suvannamaccha, the

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes ass ...

daughter of Ravana. Hanuman, immediately holds his weapons in mid-air and father-son duo recognize each other. Another version of story tells, while following Maiyarab in order to find

Rama Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...

and

Laxmana Lakshmana ( sa, लक्ष्मण, lit=the fortunate one, translit=Lakṣmaṇa), also spelled as Laxmana, is the younger brother of Rama and his loyalist in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He bears the epithets of Saumitra () and Ramanuja (). ...

, who have been abducted by Maiyarab and taken to his kingdom in netherworld, Hanuman reaches a pond, where he encounters Macchanu. The fight between them is indecisive, therefore, Hanuman is surprised and asks his opponent, who is he. Macchanu introduces himself as son of Hanuman and Suvannamaccha and so they finally identify and embrace each other. He tells Hanuman that Maiyarab is his foster father, who had picked him up lying on sea shore, where his mother had left him. Although, he does not want to betray Maiyarab but tells Hanuman through a riddle the entrance to the netherworld lies inside the lotus in the pond he was guarding.

References

{{Reflist Vanara in the Ramayana Characters in the Ramayana Mythological human hybrids Animals in religion

See also

References