Skip to main content

On the track of a story!

Alter Idem turns fourteen today!
Last year, I'd said "I will post the short story  asap".....  and, forgot about it 😞
This won't happen again!

Early this year, I was on a short trip to Hampi - the erstwhile capital of the Vijayanagara Empire. It is also supposed to be Kishkindha - the kingdom of the Vanaras. 
I have no words to describe the unique landscape, the awesomeness of this city in ruins. Here's a picture I took from Matanga Hill, the highest peak in Hampi.


 If the stones could speak, it would be interesting to hear the stories hidden in the nooks and crevices!


The Vijaya Vittala temple complex in Hampi houses the famous stone chariot found in our 50 rupee note.

In addition, this complex has other buildings, stone reliefs...

This particular stone relief was very fascinating, because I had not come across any story involving Hanuman and babies (other than Makaradhwaja). 

And, thus started my hunt for a story that could fit this relief.

There are a few stories on the internet that associate the planet Shani at the foot of Hanuman. Zooming in, I realised that because of the bulging eyes, the 'baby' could be Shani! Shani is Soorya's son, and this creature has hair that looks like an  artist's impression of the sun's rays 🌞

Now, the story -

To prevent the ill effects of Shani in his life, Ravana had imprisoned Shani. 

After setting Lanka on fire, Hanuman sought his father Pawan's help to cross the ocean quickly so that he could reach Rama (waiting at Kishkindha) at the earliest - with the news of Seeta's presence in Lanka. 

As a return favour, Pawan asked Hanuman to release Shani from Ravana's prison and bring him along.

Sitting on Hanuman's shoulder, Shani felt suffocated because of the speed and requested him to slow down. Hanuman refused to do so, and Shani decided to hold on to Hanuman's foot.

Soon, Hanuman had to speed through forests, thorny shrubs and boulders. Poor Shani ended up bruised and battered. He begged to be set down and promised that Hanuman would be safe from the ill effects of Shani. As a bonus, he added that anyone praying to Hanuman on Saturdays would be spared from Shani's harm to a large extent....

By the way... there's a Hanuman temple in Gujarat with Shani in a female form, seeking refuge at Hanuman's foot - another day, another lore 😊
Labels:

Comments

  1. Swarna Bhat13 November, 2023

    Happy Birthday, Alter idem! ❤️ Interesting story!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yamini14 November, 2023

    Happy fourteenth! Looking forward to many more birthday stories :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ash gourd & beliefs

Whenever a farmer comes to my doorstep selling vegetables, I buy them. The other day, one of the regulars dropped in. This time, he had only ash gourds. Since my own ash gourd vine was looking good, I had to tell him that I didn't want any. He then expressed a desire to see the vine - to check out the variety, etc... Soon after seeing it, he told me that the vine would produce only one gourd and that I should be offering it to some temple instead of using it! Well! I hadn't heard this one before! Though nobody knew why, every single person advised me against using the ash gourd if it turned out to be the only yield from that vine. And, 'Give it to some temple' was the final line that everyone added! You know, as far as vegetables and beliefs go, the ash gourd is one that has many attached to it... each one of them, meaningless and without logic. My mother believed that a whole ash gourd should not be cut with a knife by people whose parents were alive. Fortunat
17 comments
Read more

Ganesha's water-pot!

You will not find this place on the tourists' list of places to visit in Chikmaglur. However, you'll find it on my list of favourite places in Chikmaglur. Let me take you there..... A half-an-hour's drive from home will take us to the not-so-sleepy town of Koppa. From here, onto  the road to Kesave village.  About 3-4 kms on this road, to the right - a rusty arch and the mud track beyond welcome us. Blink, and we'll miss the place! We are now on private property. This part of the estate is open to all. Because, it is here that the river Braahmi has her origins. The Braahmi is a small tributary of the river Tunga. Infact, she joins the Tunga within 20 kms. from her place of birth. The presence of an idol of the elephant-headed God lends some piety to the place.    Someone has done a neat job -  making it seem like the water is gushing out of a water-pot. This, and the presence of God Ganesh... the place is locally known as 'KamanDala Ganapati'. Lik
69 comments
Read more

Temple Ponds

Temple ponds, or, 'Pushkarni's are such an integral part of ancient temples. I just can't get over the idea as well as the efforts that must have been made to build them.  Often, these ponds are quite polluted. But for the presence of some stagnant water, some of them look like dump yards :(  So, it was a pleasure to come across this clean one at the Janardhana Swami Temple at Yermalu on the Udupi- M'lore highway. Dakshina Kannada & Udupi districts can be called the temple districts of the world- there are so many temples that one would need a lifetime to cover all of them! So, not surprisingly, this was our first visit to this temple. If the M-S wedding didn't take place here, we would have missed this one. The idol here was installed by Saint Madhavacharya- social reformer & philosopher who lived 700 years ago. This pond has obviously been renovated since, but, surely, the origins date back to the 13th century, or, earlier? You know, according to t
Post a Comment
Read more