The Bal Hanuman , Who played With The Sun

 The Untold Devine Stories of Hanuman

The Bal Hanuman , Who played With The Sun 

What kind of a baby would leap up into the sky to try and eat the sun? That great big golden ball in the sky spells fire and flames. As for touching it - ouch! But for one special baby, blessed with mighty powers, the sun looked like a tasty fruit! Let's find out who this baby was, and how he met the sun.

Ages and ages ago, one of the most beautiful apsaras in the court of Indra, the lord of heaven, was Punjikasthala. She once laughed in the presence of a rishi, or sage, who had been praying and doing tapasya for many years. This meant that he had learnt to be without food and water, not moving for years and thinking only about God. All this made him very powerful indeed.

When he heard Punjikasthala laughing, the rishi was enraged, and thought she was laughing at him. He turned to her in anger and said, "You mischievous imp! You laugh and make fun of me because I am just skin and bones after my tapasya! I banish you from heaven. You shall have to live on earth, and that too, as a monkey!" 

Poor Punjikasthala stood trembling before the rishi. "Indeed I did not laugh at you, respected sage," she said. Her eyes were full of tears, and her hands folded in prayer. "Please don't send me to earth, and make me live as a m-m-monkey!"" she pleaded. The rishi looked at her tearful face and his heart melted a little. He decided to punish her a little less. Perhaps she really wasn't so naughty after all. all

"You shall truly be a most beautiful monkey!" he said. "And you shall also have the power of turning into a human when you wish. But you still have to honour my words, leave heaven and go to earth." Saying this, he turned to leave, and Punjikasthala knew she had to soon come down to earth from heaven.

Some time later, Punjikasthala was born on as the baby daughter of a great monkey chief called earth Kunjar, who decided to name her Anjana. Anjana was a pretty child, and as she grew up, her kind and sweet nature made all the monkeys around her very happy.

When it was time for her to get married, her father gave her away, to a famous monkey warrior named Kesari. It was a grand and lively monkey wedding.

Kesari and Anjana lived with many other monkeys in the forests on the mountain of Kanchangiri. There was plenty to eat, they had no enemies, sages lived in ashrams all around them, and they had a very happy and comfortable life together. But for many years they had no children, and this made Anjana sad and worried. She longed for a child whom she could hold, and feed, and bathe, and tell stories to.

She began to pray very hard, for God to give her the gift of a child. Meanwhile, unknown to Kesari and Anjana, all the gods in heaven had approached Shiva, who sat in Mount Kailash with his wife Parvati, and had asked him for help in saving the people who lived on earth.

"A lot of terrible things are happening on earth. You must help to save the lives of the good, the innocent and the brave," they said.

Shiva seemed as if he was still deep in meditation. He opened his eyes just a fraction, and said, "I am aware of the happenings on earth." His voice sounded like the slow rumble of thunder in the heavens. "But Vishnu shall shortly be taking a human form, and living on earth, He shall know how to deal with the evil, the cruel and the unjust!"

The gods were still agitated. They continued to plead, "We feel it would be good if you too could be a part of this, O Vishveshvara!" they said. They were calling Shiva by the name that describes him as the Lord of the Universe. Shiva spoke again. "So be it," he said. "A part of me shall join Vishnu against earth's evil forces, Parvati too, shall lend her 'shakti' to this form, and this will be of great help to Vishnu to complete his task."

Satisfied, the gods turned away, but they were left wondering. Who would be this assistant to Vishnu, this combination of Shiva and Shakti's strength?

Anjana continued to pray for a child. She was advised by a sage named Matang, who told her to pray on the Vrishabhachal hill before Lord Venkateshwara. The famous Tirumala Tirupati temple is situated on this hill. Anjana prayed so hard that even the sages doing tapasya around her began to look on her with respect. She stopped eating food or drinking water, and twelve years passed as if it had been a moment.

One day, she felt the breeze blow in a great gust over her as she sat, and opened her eyes. Vayu, the God of Wind, stood smiling before her. "What is it you want after so much prayer?" asked Vayu.

"O God, please let me have a child" said Anjana. Her voice sounded hoarse and strange to her own ears, since she had not spoken in a long time.

"Most devoted Anjana! You deserve the best possible child!" said Vayu. "I am pleased to bless you and Kesari with a child who shall have my speed, my ability to leap long distances, and my strength. I shall guard over this child, and he shall ever be in my protection."

Vayu blessed Anjana with these words, then disappeared from sight. A happy Anjana returned home to reside once more at Kanchangiri with Kesari, close to the lake of Pampa, where the forests were green and the monkeys frolicked around them.

Some days later, the whole monkey community was very excited, because Anjana was going to have a baby. There was much chattering and delighted 'whoo- whoo' sounds among them, because they knew this child would be very, very, special.

On a Tuesday in the month of Chaitra (between March and April), on a full moon day, Anjana's baby was born. All nature, and the entire planet seemed to be smiling upon this much awaited and blessed infant.

Mountains stood taller, as if trying to look at the baby by standing on tip-toe. Brooks gurgled down mountain sides in sheer delight. Trees blossomed, sending out new shoots, and buds burst into bloom as beautiful flowers. A contented air reigned among all the animals - even the small dung beetle hummed as he rolled a ball of cow dung!

Happiness was visible everywhere, and no wonder, Anjana's child was here!

He was tiny, as babies should be, but his little fist clutched a powerful weapon - the Vajra. He already wore the sacred thread, and his head had a small, glittering crown on it. His ears had golden 'kundal' or earrings in them. But more than all his ornaments, it was he himself who was extremely beautiful. His fur was golden in colour, so that he looked as if he glowed in the light. His ears were like small rose petals.

He opened his tiny mouth in a yawn to reveal small, perfect teeth. These were later to become big, fearsome teeth, but now they looked like pearls. His eyes were large, and brown. He looked at his mother, and she felt thrilled. Of course, the baby would take time to talk. but already, as he looked at her, his eyes shone with a great intelligence, as if he understood everything.

He was Anjana's son, so they named him 'Anjaneya'. but his beauty caused him to be instantly given another name too, Sundar, meaning beautiful. Later, as he performed many acts of great courage, he would earn many other names. Now, while all who surrounded him were still under the spell of his beauty, he cried for the first time. Anjana lifted him up to comfort him. In a moment, he was content again in her warm hug.

Anjana and Kesari's happiness knew no bounds. Anjana was a most attentive and loving mother, but little Anjaneya was growing fast, so she had to go farther into the forest every day to collect fruits and special berries. One morning. Kesari was away, and Anjana too, had left her sleeping infant for a short while. When he awoke, and did not find her nearby, he began to throw about his arms and legs and cry to draw attention. When this did not work, he tumbled out of his cradle, and began to crawl on the forest floor on his dimpled, podgy knees.

He crawled to a clearing, from where he saw the sun shining above - an orange ball in the sky. Anjaneya thought this ball looked most tasty, exactly like the ripe and delicious fruits his mother had told him about. He reached out his plump arms to touch the ball. But it seemed to be quite far away. He knelt on the forest floor and thought, perhaps. I should jump towards it. One leap launched him into the sky. He was blessed with the powers of Vayu, after all! Anjaneya was delighted. He looked down at the green forest below him and the open sky all around him. To be floating free like this felt great! Now he began reaching towards the sun again, and his body began moving towards it with great speed.

Vayu saw Anjaneya speeding like a meteor towards the sun. He became very worried about the little infant getting burned by the rays of the sun if he got too close to it. He began blowing cool and icy breezes. to protect the baby's skin from getting blistered.

The sun himself, whom the gods call Surya, was surprised to see Anjaneya come rushing towards him. He did not want to burn this most unusual infant either, So he dimmed his brightness, and turned pale and watery, so that Anjaneya would not be hurt.co

Helped by the cooling winds of Vayu, Anjaneya arrived to where Surya was riding in the heavens on his chariot, driven by Arun. When he finally saw the sun, like a typical child, he forgot his original hunger for the 'sun fruit'. Instead, he began playing with Surya, who lifted him up and threw him up into the air while Anjaneya gurgled. After some time, he wanted to sit up in front of the chariot with Arun. He wanted to hold the reins of the vehicle that never stops moving in the sky.

Rahu, the dragon planet, arrived in the middle of this jolly scene. Rahu is permitted to make a meal of the sun and swallow him on Amavasya or new moon days. This happened to be one such day.

Rahu approached the playful threesome, snorting fiercely, and preparing to swallow the sun. Little Anjaneya did not like the way this stranger was coming towards his new friend. He swung his small fist and landed a nice blow on Rahu's face!

'A-a-a-h! Rahu yelled, reeling at this mighty blow from a tot! As if to repeat his feat, Anjaneya now got off the speeding chariot of the sun and began toddling towards the stricken Rahu. He had just raised his fist again when Rahu ran away, yelping. Surya chuckled and Anjaneya and he began playing again.

A sulking Rahu reached the court of Indra, the king of the gods. 'What injustice is this?" he asked Indra. 'You have awarded me the right to swallow the sun every month. but now it looks as if you have given this right to someone else too."

'Have I?' asked a puzzled Indra. He was even more puzzled when Rahu related his whole tale of woe. He decided to climb on his heavenly white elephant, Airavat, and go and see the scene for himself. Rahu, muttering angrily under his breath, accompanied him.

When they reached the sun, Anjaneya immediately recognized Rahu as his old enemy and gave chase. Rahu ran towards the sun, trying to swallow him. Airavat got startled at these sudden movements and harrumphed and raised his front legs. Anjaneya pulled his tail, picked him up in a single movement, and began swinging him around!

Indra was scared by the superhuman strength displayed by Anjaneya, a mere baby, and decided to use his most powerful weapon, the thunderbolt. He aimed this at Anjaneya, and it hit the baby on his chin, Instantly, baby Anjaneya fell down, unconscious, his chin broken by the impact of Indra's weapon.

The winds howled around this awful scene as Vayu realised what had happened to his beloved charge. He rushed and picked up the still form of Anjaneya, and went into a cave and shut himself up. He wept over the baby, sad that he had failed to protect Anjaneya when he had promised he would. When Vayu disappeared like this, the breeze stopped blowing in all the three worlds-earth, heaven and the lower kingdom of 'patal", where the demons lived. There was no air anywhere, and not a leaf, or a creature moved. Everything was suspended, like a film that has suddenly gone still.

Anjana and Kesari became still where they were. They had no idea of all that was happening up in the sky. The gods rushed to Brahma, the creator of the worlds, and asked him to make Vayu blow the winds again. Brahma, accompanied by all the gods, entered the cave, where Vayu sat.

"Why are you here?" asked a distraught Vayu. "Where were you when this little infant was being unjustly attacked by the strongest weapon Indra has?" Brahma patted Vayu's back to soothe him. He then

placed his hand on Anjaneya's forehead. The still, small infant began to move. In another moment, Anjaneya blinked, and sat up. All the assembled gods applauded. Vayu too, smiled in relief. The flow of air began to bring creatures everywhere to life once again.

Now Brahma blessed this special infant. "This child shall never be hurt by the 'Brahma shaap' (a terrible curse)," he said. "His body can never be destroyed by even the strongest weapons."

He turned to the gods and said, "Come forward and bless this extraordinary child. It is he who will protect you tomorrow from the evil might of demons and cruel people!"

Indra stepped forward and garlanded Anjaneya with a garland of heavenly lotuses. "My "Vajra' (thunderbolt) has broken this poor child's hanu' (chin). Because of this. I am naming him Hanuman, and he shall be famous by this name. Never again will my thunderbolt work against him, and his body will be as hard and invincible as the vajra

Surya stepped forward and said. "He shall be brilliant like me, and I promise to complete his education and teach him all I know." Varuna, the God of Water, stepped forward and said. "He need never fear any harm from water."

Kubera, the God of Wealth blessed Anjaneya with, "He shall never be defeated in battle. My 'gada' (the heavy mace) shall be his weapon, and he shall never be harmed by my armies of 'yakshas' and 'rakshasas"."

The blessings poured forth from all the gods, till a deep rumble announced the speech of Shiva. "So all of you have taken a liking for this infant! This is as it should be! He is that same assistant to Vishnu, that you had asked me to provide, with your prayers."

The gods were amazed to discover that this little child was to grow up and help save the earth from the cruel and the unjust. Now they looked with new eyes at the beautiful infant. He yawned, and fell asleep.

When he awoke, his mother was next to him, and he made a monkey sound of contentment. Soon he was settled in her lap.

So this is how Anjaneya got his powers. He was born gifted, but now he was blessed with gifts from all the gods, which gave him all their special qualities.

Little Anjaneya was already the mighty Hanuman!