gadA

Indeed the gadA is a rather late iconographic element of hanUmat. It is missing even in the classical tantrika dhyAna-s for the key hanUmat-mantra-s & is not mentioned in the classic mAlA-mantra. It seems to have emerged only in the medieval period in any notable way from a west Indian locus and spread widely but not universally across the subcontinent. The kali~Ngan iconography for e.g. does not show him with one.

It might relate the vAyavIya traditions where he acquired this weapon either from his “brother” or as a patron of the malla-s.

In the older cult of the apes where he is worshiped along with sugrIva, nIla, nala, suSheNa, dvivida, mainda & the bear jAmbavant, he is only mentioned as holding a crag in the dhyAna for the mantra.