STO-315 – Hanuman Eats the Sun
A story explaining how Hanuman as born and how he received his name.
One day while watching monkeys play on the beautiful slopes of Kailash Mountain, the great god Shiva and his wife Parvati wanted to do the same. So they transformed themselves into monkeys and enjoyed swinging from the branches of trees and picking the juicy fruits in the forest. They stayed as monkeys only for a little while, but when they returned to their divine forms, Parvati received a great shock. She realised that she had become pregnant. A little while later she gave birth to a baby monkey.
Seeing his wife so upset, Shiva called for Vayu the wind god. “Take this baby away. Please find someone else to take care of him.” Because Vayu is the wind god and blows everywhere, he knows everything. He knew of a race of intelligent monkey people, the Vanaras, living deep in the Kishkinda forest. He also knew that their rulers, King Keshari and Queen Anjana, were unhappy at being childless. So, while the king and queen were sitting in the temple praying God for a child, the invisible Vayu placed the baby monkey on Queen Anjana’s lap. Overjoyed at having their prayers answered the king and queen called the baby prince Anjaneya”, (the son of Anjana).
The monkey child grew extremely fast, much faster than any normal child. His appetite also grew and his mother had a difficult time finding enough food to feed him. One day he cried, “I’m still hungry. What more can I eat?” His mother had no more food. But she thought that he was big enough to find fruits in the forest for himself. So she pointed at the sun in the twilight sky. “I have no food here for you, my son. But if you like you can search out fruits for yourself in the forest. You will know which fruits are good to eat because any fruit that is red like the sun will be ripe.”
Anjaneya was a clever boy. He said, “Thank you for your advice mother. But most of the fruits in the forest are so little. The sun is red; therefore, it must be ripe. And it is a very large fruit, isn’t it? Surely that will satisfy my hunger.”
His mother tried to explain that this was not a good idea, but Anjaneya did not listen to her. With the power of his father, Shiva, and Vayu, the wind god, he leapt high into the sky, growing to and enormous size.The sun god was speeding across the sky, seated on his fiery chariot pulled by eight shining horses. Anjaneya simply reached out, seized them all and thrust them into his mouth. The entire sky darkened.Indra, the king of heaven asked Agni, the fire god, “What’s caused this sudden darkness?” “Something must be blocking the sun.
Throw your thunderbolt at it,” Agni suggested.
So Indra unleashed his terrible thunderbolt weapon, sending it hurtling through the sky. Then, mounting his tusked elephant and guided by the light of the stars, he sped towards the sun.
The thunderbolt had struck Anjaneya on the side of his face, breaking his jaw. Anjaneya pulled the weapon from his cheek, still keeping the sun within his mouth. When Indra arrived he saw his gigantic monkey holding his thunderbolt weapon. Confused, he ran to Brahma, the grandfather of the gods.
But when he told Brahma what he had seen, Brahma smiled. “This monkey has the strength of Shiva – so you cannot force him to open his mouth. You can only ask him nicely if he would please give us back the sun.
So, Brahma, Indra, Agni and Vayu, along with millions of other demigods, approached Anjaneya. “Please,” they begged, “open your mouth”.
“Why should I?” the monkey replied through his clenched teeth.
“If you do, you will live a long life,” said Brahma
“If you do, you will become the most famous of all,” Indra said
“If you do, fire will not burn you,” said Agni.
“If you do, you will be as fast as the wind,” said Vayu
But Anjaneya, unimpressed, continued to hold the sun in his mouth; he did not care for their blessings. What he wanted right now was for his jaw to stop hurting.
Brahma could read Anjaneya’s mind. He said “Anjaneya, I know how to mend your jaw.” Anjaneya looked at him doubtfully – was this a trick? But Brahma poured water from his magical waterpot on Anjaneya’s cheek and at once it stopped hurting. Anjaneya smiled at him.
Then Brihaspati, the wise priest of the gods, stepped forward. “We know that you are hungry, Anjaneya, and that is why you have tried to eat the sun.”
Anjaneya nodded his head. He could still feel his stomach growling. Brihaspati said, “The sun is not good food. In fact, it is not food at all. We would like to give you the blessing that with ease you can gather fruits from all over the world to satisfy your hunger.”
Anjaneya still did not release the sun from his mouth, but he tilted his head to one side as if considering this offer. Brihaspati continued, “As well as this, we will benedict you with knowledge of the use of herbs. From these plants you’ll be able to make all types of medicine.”
Thinking these to be suitable blessings, Anjaneya consented to open his mouth. With a flood of light, the glorious sun god flew out on his blazing chariot. The sky became radiantly bright once more.
From that day on Anjaneya was called Hanuman, or “one with a mended jaw.” Hanuman indeed ate many wonderful fruits and knew all about healing herbs. He became famous throughout India, and throughout the world, as the bravest servant of the glorious King Ramachandra. But that is another story.