All Blogs · Theology Thursday ·Apr 27, 2021

The Story Behind Hanuman Jayanti

This is the story of how Hanuman was born. But first, let's meet the characters:

One day, Anjana decided to descend upon earth. As she was roaming around, she came upon a Rishi, but in the form of a monkey. He was in a deep meditation.

She thought, "LOL, what's a monkey doing meditating?"

She began to act really obnoxious and laugh and throw rocks at him, in hopes of breaking his concentration.

Well, not only did she succeed, but she really pissed him off. So the Rishi put a curse on Anajana:

"You, too, will take on the form of a monkey. Only after you give birth to an avatar of Shiva, will your curse be lifted."

As soon as Anjana saw her body getting covered in fur and sprouting a tail, she panicked and began frantically running through the forest.

She came upon a hermitage, where she met Kesari, who she would eventually marry.

Once their "happily ever after" began, they decided to devote their time to worshipping Lord Shiva 24/7.

Meanwhile, in a land far away, there was a religious ceremony being performed to help married couples bear children. (Check out last week's #TheologyThursday on Ram Navami to see the mindblowing connection!)

Just as the priest was about to offer the couple prasad (a cup of pudding), Lord Shiva summoned Vayu to give a portion of the pudding to Anjana.

Vayu told her to eat it so she could be blesed with an avatar of Shiva. Nine-ish months went by and Hanuman was born to Kesari and Anajana.

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