Whenever we talk about devotion to God, the first name that comes to the mind is that of Lord Hanuman.

He is a great devotee of Sri Rama.

He is most courageous and greatest among warriors.

But, do you know how did he get the name Hanuman?

What is the meaning of Hanu?

Chin- the lower portion of your face the lower jaw.

Hanuman means somebody whose chin is special.

Do you know what is special about Lord Hanuman’s chin?

By the way, we can pronounce Hanuman or Hanooman, both are correct in Sanskrit.

Did you know that Lord Hanuman is an avatara of Lord Shiva?

Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu are great friends.

Whenever Lord Vishnu takes avatara on earth to save his devotees from trouble, as fish, as Vamana, as Rama, Krishna; Lord Shiva also takes avatara to help him.

So, when Lord Vishnu took avatara as Sri Rama, Lord Shiva also took avatara as Hanuman.

Lord Hanuman was the son of Vayudeva and Anjana Devi.

Since he is the son of Anjana Devi he is called as Anjaneya.

Vayudeva has got another name Maruth; son of Maruth is Maruthi.

Young boy Hanuman was very mischievous, like many of you.

Very active.

You will never find him sitting at one place.

You will find him along with his friends: playing, swinging from the branches of trees, running up hills, and shouting from there at the top of his voice.

He was loved by everyone.

One day, while playing in the forest, he was lost.

He couldn’t find the way back home and night approached.

Young Hanuman had to spend the night in the forest.

When he woke up in the morning, he was very hungry.

Then he saw the sun rising.

He thought it must be some tasty fruit.

He thought someone has kept the fruit in the sky.

It must be for me only, for my breakfast.

He leapt towards the rising sun.

Everyone was amazed by seeing young Hanumanji moving towards the sun through the sky.

What a lovely a child.

See how brave he is!

How adventurous he is!

His father Vayudeva got worried- doesn’t he know that Sun is very hot?

If he goes near the Sun he will be burned to ashes.

But when Suryadeva saw the cute boy coming towards him, he withdrew his hot rays.

Thus, Hanuman reached near the Sun.

But when he reached, there was no fruit.

It was only a chariot and someone riding that chariot.

Suryadeva rides through the sky in a chariot drawn by seven horses.

That is why we have seven days in a week, one day each of those horses.

And his charioteer here is Aruna.

Hanumanji started looking around for the fruit that he saw from below.

In another leap, he got inside the chariot.

Suryadeva lovingly lifted him and kept him on his lap.

Then he with his magical powers created a lot of sweet tasty fruits and Hanumanji started eating them.

Since Lord Hanuman was sitting on Suryadeva’s lap, his rays got partially blocked.

It looked as if an eclipse had started.

You will definitely know what an eclipse is.

In our ancient scriptures, eclipse is described in a beautiful way.

We know that it is when the Moon gets between the Sun and earth that solar eclipse happens.

The moon casts its shadow upon earth.

This shadow is described as a demon called Rahu in our scriptures.

Since it is not good to deprive the beings on earth of sunlight, Rahu is described as a demon.

In texts of Indian astronomy Rahu and Ketu are called shadow planets.

But only Rahu has been given the right to cause an eclipse.

Nobody else is allowed.

So Rahu thought someone else had taken away his right and was causing eclipse instead of him.

He went and complained to the king of Devas, Indra.

Indra mounted on his huge elephant called Airavata and along with his army and Rahu came to Surya Deva’s chariot.

When he reached there, he saw little Hanuman inside Surya’s chariot.

He thought someone was troubling Suryadeva.

Indra yelled: who are you?

How dare you come here?

Hanumanji was shocked.

He suddenly attacked Indra.

He didn’t know why he was being yelled at.

He thought he was going to be attacked.

So Hanumanji attacked first.

Indra has got a lethal weapon called Vajrayudha.

He hit young Hanumanji with Vajrayudha.

Vajrayudha struck him on his chin.

Young Hanuman fell down from the chariot, unconscious.

All these happened in a flash.

Surya became very upset.

He said: Oh! Lord Indra, what did you do?

That was an innocent child.

He is Vayudeva’s son.

I only took him inside the chariot.

Indra said: Oh! I didn’t know that.

I thought it must be some demon troubling you.

Anyway, don’t worry, his wound will heal quickly.

As Hanumanji was falling through the sky, his father Vayudeva held him with his hands.

Seeing that his son was hurt, Vayudeva became very angry.

He withdrew air from the whole world.

Nobody could breathe including the Devas.

They all went to Brahma.

Brahma said: Indra has done a very bad thing.

Now, you all have to go to Vayudeva, apologise to him and pacify him.

So they all along with Indra came to Vayudeva.

Vayu Deva said: what did you think, Lord Indra?

Your weapon can hurt my son?

No he is my son; as powerful as me.

By this time, young Hanuman also woke up.

When he saw Indra in front of him, he screamed: if you have the guts, come fight with me now.

Indra said: sorry, son.

It was my mistake.

I didn’t who you were.

I acted in haste.

Then, Indra gifted young Hanuman a gada, a mace.

Have you seen Hanumanji with his huge weapon called gada?

This was gifted to him by Indra then.

Indra said: this gada is hundred times more powerful than my own Vajrayudha.

And he also told young Hanumanji: because of the scar that my weapon has left on your chin, you will become famous as Hanuman.

Hanu means chin.

This incident of my interaction with you reveals your bravery, enterprise, adventure and strength.

This scar, which looks like a cut on your chin stands for all these qualities of yours.

Brahma who had accompanied them told Hanumanji: hereafter you can assume any form that you want whenever you wish.

Varuna, who is the lord of the ocean said: you can fly over, cross the ocean whenever you want.

All the other Devas who were there also blessed Hanumanji.

Young Hanumanji was pleased.

He became famous by his name so acquired, Hanuman.

With the power and blessings he received, he served Sri Rama as his most devoted bhakta.