Namast,
Yajvan, I read this passage the day before you posted your question about Arjuna's banner. Though it's the opinion of a scholar linking Vedic symbols to later religious rituals and writings, rather than a devotee's spiritual considerations, I thought to add it here since it is somewhat relevant to the question asked, and also seems to support your thought of Hanumān-as-Sugrīva being a subtle reference to Arjuna's father (as well as to Kṛṣṇa).
The earlier part of the chapter discusses war symbols and then enters a section entitled "The Banner and Indra," from which this analysis is excerpted. (Not all of it is relevant, but I've left in most of the discussion so that it reads more clearly than a bunch of choppy segments would. Offered without commentary, as I am fairly new to Mahābhārata and thus nowhere near competent to express opinion on it.)
"...In this connection the banner of Arjuna poses an important point and appears to be only another form of the banner of Indra. Arjuna is said to have a monkey on his banner. It is important to note that, in spite of the account of how Hanumān took his position on the banner of Arjuna, the latter is never called Hanūmat-dhvaja, the usual epithet being only monkey-bannered. Now looking to the close association of Arjuna with Indra, it will be well to see if there is any connection between the monkey and Indra. Indra is actually said to have assumed the form of monkey, when he stole soma from the sacrifice of Naimiṣa. He is also said to have been propitiated with an oblation when he ran away with soma and sat upon a tree. Now the banner of Indra has more than the monkey. It is said to be having the tail of a lion and a fierce face. This tallies with the description of the banner of Aśvatthāman which also has the tail of the lion and is said to be like the banner of Śakra. The epithets ugra and bhīma are primarily used in RV for Indra, with the few exceptions of Brahmaṇaspati and Agni who are also war-gods. He is also often compared with the lion (X.180.2; IV.16.14, etc.). It seems probable, hence, that the idea in the war-banner of Arjuna or of Aśvatthāman is that of the Śakra-dhvaja...."
He discusses a bit more about banners in RV, then adds this:
"...In the verse VIII.61.12, the terrible Indra is said to be employed in war as he is the destroyer of the enemies. Probably, this employment refers to the actual ritual of hoisting some sort of an image - possibly on a banner - prior to the advance....
It is easy to understand that it is not the banner, in itself, that protects; it is the deity that it represents! The deity in the banner, thus, has a twofold purpose - (i) to protect the army; and (ii) to keep defeat away. In the second is the germ of the custom of making the banner look fierce, or imposing, by means of various figures. We have already noted how the monkey and the bird Garuḍa are associated with the war-banner. We learn from the Mb. that the banner of Arjuna was not merely kapi-dhvaja, but also, it was terrible. It had a terrible face and the tail of a lion. It is said to protect the army of Arjuna, causing fear in the minds of the enemy. The same idea is reflected in the speech of Hanumān, who says that he would roar terribly from the banner of Arjuna so as to cause death in the rival army (Mb. Vana-149.17, 18). This belief in the divinity that the banner represented is to be marked from the account of the army of Porus, according to which it was an offense punishable by death to discard the image in the field of battle, for it was the god that would take revenge if so insulted. The point gets support in RV in the fact that the arrows or the weapons were directed at the banners (dhvajeṣu didyavaḥ patanti - VII.85.2), obviously to smash the banner and nullify the divine support of the enemy."
-Sadashiv A. Dange, from ch. 13 ("Aspects of War"), Images from Vedic Hymns and Rituals, pp. 174-176.
Indraneela
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Oṁ Indrāya Namaḥ.
Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya.
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