ANJANEYA CAME TO BE KNOWN AS HANUMAN

When he was a child, his mother, Anjana, had assured him that he would never be destroyed and whenever he feels hungry he can have fruits as red and ripe as the rising sun. There is a story behind it and a phrase from Hanuman Chalisa dohaBal samay rabi bhakhshi liyo meaning In his childhood Hanuman swallowed the sun; describes it well.

One day mother Anjana stepped out after putting Hanuman to sleep. Soon he woke up and started feeling very hungry,he started looking around for his mother and when he saw the bright red sun in the sky he remembered his mothers word and thinking that the glowing sun was a delicious red fruit he mistook it as an apple and leaped towards it. Hanumanji was a divine child and being born to Anjana and Kesari he inherited their magical powers and because of that he leaped towards the sky at the speed of wind and the severe heat of the SUN had no effect on him. He caught hold of the sun and kept it inside his mouth. It was a day of solar eclipse and Rahu was coming to posses Sun. Seeing Rahu, Hanumanji thought that this is some kind of a black fruit and he ran towards Rahu, and Rahu rushed to seek help from Lord Indra.

Rahu said,Lord, who is this other Rahu who has come to posses Surya? I ran away from there as that thing leaped toward me. Indra was surprised to hear this and on his consort Airavata (Indras white elephant) he left to solve the situation. He saw a monkey faced kid playing in the sky with sun in his mouth. On seeing Indras elephant Hanumanji thought, its a yummy white fruit and tried to attack him. Seeing this attempt of that valorous monkey, Indra got angry and used his thunderbolt (vajrayudha) which hit the childs chin and hurled him to the earth. As a result of this hit Hanumanjis mouth remained open.

Vayu, the Wind god, rushed towards his sun Hanuman. With affection he carried him in his arms and took him to Paatal lok. Seeing his condition his mother Anjana started crying. Due to anger Vayu, the wind stopped flowing and due to this life on earth came to a standstill in the absence of air. Living beings felt breathless and started to faint. All the three worlds were in a tough situation. Worried Brahmaji along with Indra and other devtas approached Vayu, the wind god. They requested Vayu to start blowing again but seeing his son condition Vayu refused.

Brahma blessed the monkey child with immortality, invulnerability, enduring devotion to God, and prowess (bravery). Agni blessed him, Saying, Fire will never burn you. Kaal was no less generous, May not death overcome you. Vayu blessed him with more speed than he himself had. Indra said, No weapon of any kind shall wound you or hit your body and since your chin(Hanu) was broken as a result of my hit so from today on you will be known as HANUMAN one with the broken jaw. All the gods,blessed him saying that, None will ever equal you in strength and speed. Surya gave him two siddhis of yoga namely laghima and garima. With laghima he could attain the smallest form and with garima he could attain the biggest form of life.It is from this event that Anjanas monkey son came to be known as Hanuman. After this Vayu, wind god started flowing like before and life in all three worlds were back to normal.