Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Know our Gods - Hanuman (part 1)

There is no person in India whom I think don't know Hanuman. He was a hero to children, inspiration to elders and a friend to everyone.

The story of hanuman begins with a curse on his mother Anjana devi. She is cursed to be born a monkey and will be relieved only after she gives birth to an incarnation of lord Shiva. So, she started chanting the lords name until he assured her that he will be born as his son. The wind god 'Vaayu' was attracted to her and soon a boy was born to Anjana devi and was relieved of her curse. But since the boy was born to a monkey, he got the monkey form.
The wind god ' Vaayu' was very happy seeing his son and arranged a function where he was named ' Maruthi'. He grew just like other boys doing naughty things. His strength is tremendous. One day, while Maruthi was sleeping, his mother went to do some work. Then hunger woke Maruthi and he was searching for his mother when he saw a very ripe fruit on a mango tree. It was actually evening sun shining between the leaves which Maruthi mistook as fruit. He immediatelyy jumped high in the sky to reach the 'sun'. Indra, the lord of heavens got panicked and struck Maruthi with his vajrayudh. The blow broke the jaw of Maruthi which gave him the name 'Hanuman' and he fell to the ground. Vaayu was upset seeing the critical position of his son and he stood still on earth. The living beings are dying due to lack of air. All the Gods then met Vaayu and granted him with boons. Indra gave him protection from all weapons, Brahma gave him the power to die at will, Kuber gave him the mace and other Gods too gave him the power to transform at will. Due to the mischevious things of Hanuman, he was cursed to forget all his powers, however, foreseeing his role in killing demon god Ravana, he was said to get the curse lifted up when someone reminds him of his powers.
Hanuman was student of Sun. The Sun god taught him the scriptures which Hanuman learnt in 60 hours. The Sun god, when asked some thing in return, told hanuman that the concentration with which he learnt his enough. But hanuman didnt accept, so Sun asked him to serve as a minister for his son Sugreev.
cont...

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