Hanuman Jayanti 2018 – Hanuman Jayanti Stories, Dates, Celebration

Hanuman Jayanti 2018 in short

Hanuman Jayanti 2018 Significance

Hanuman Jayanti means the birthday of Lord Hanuman, the immortal. Generally in most part of India, Hanuman Jayanti is celebrated on the full moon day (Purnima) of Chaitra month. This falls somewhere in March or April. Hanuman Jayanti 2018 is going to fall on 31st March.

In some parts of the country there is different timing for the celebration of Hanuman Jayanti. In Andhra Pradesh, it is celebrated for 41 days starting from the purnima of Chaitra month, known as Chaitra Purnima, and concludes on the 10th day of Krishna Paksha in Vaishakha month. This whole 41 days period is celebrated by Diksha.

In Tamil Nadu, Hanuman Jayanti is called by another name, Hanumanth Jayanthi. It is celebrated in the month of Margashirsha on Amavasya or Margashirsha Amavasya. In Karnataka, Hanuman Jayanti is celebrated on Shukla Paksha Trayodashi of Margashirsha month.

Hanuman Jayanti 2018 Stories

Lord Hanuman is immortal. When Lord Rama was leaving His body, He asked Hanuman ji to stay on earth and protect all the saints from evils. He blessed lord Hanuman with immortality. All supernatural beings like ghosts, demons, goblins, evil spirits, phantom scare with the name of Hanuman ji.

“Bhoot Pishach Nikat Nahi Aawe,

Mahaveer jab naam sunave”

It means, ghosts and goblins won’t come near to you when you call the name of super powerful Hanuman ji (A famous excerpt from Hanuman Chalisa).

Hanuman ji is considered to be the most powerful among all the creatures in all worlds. There are several stories associated with the birth of Hanuman ji. He is known as Pavan Putra (son of lord of air) and the reincarnation of lord Shiva, the supreme god.

Birth story of Lord Hanuman – Austerity by Anjana

Hanuman Jayanti 2018 story is – There was a kingdom named Sumeru. It was ruled by a monkey king, Kesari. According to the Valmiki Ramayana, Kesari was the son of Brihaspati. He was married with a nymph, Anjana. Due to a curse, she was born on earth. Anjana worshiped lord Shiva for 12 years to get blessed with a son. By the intense prayers of Anjana, lord Shiva happily ordered deity of wind, Pavan Dev, to bless Anjana and Kesari with a fraction of Shiva himself and powers of wind in the form of a son.

Anjana gave birth to a child who she named, Maruti. Later with an incident with Sun and king of deities, Indra, he got the name Hanuman. The mountain where Hanuman ji took birth, was known as Anjaneri mountain. Hanuman ji is the reincarnation of lord Shiva and He has powers of Pavan dev too, so He is also known as Pavan Putra.

Birth story of lord Hanuman – Putrakamana Yajna by King Dashrath

There is another story behind Hanuman Jayanti 2018. The king of Ayodhya, Maharaja Dashrath, was performing a yajna to get blessed with son. This yajna was known as Putrakamana Yajna (yajna with the desire to get blessed with son). After the prayers, he got some pudding in prasad to feed his wives. The queens of King Dashrath (Kaushalya, Kaikeyi, Sumitra) shared the pudding and gave birth to Rama, Laxman, Bharat, Shatrughana. When Dashrath was bringing the pudding to his kingdom, a kite picked up some pudding from his hands. Due to the will of supreme lord wind started blowing and kite dropped it in the hands of Anjana who was praying lord Shiva for son. She ate the pudding and gave birth to Hanuman.

Curse of Sage Narada

There is a story which creates the foundation of why lord Hanuman was born. According to Vishnu Purana and Narada Purana, Narada was infatuated with a princess. Being a hermit, he was attracted towards her. Narada is one of the prime devotee of lord Narayana. Since god loves their devotees a lot, they never let them take a wrong path. Narada was trapping into illusions and Narayana didn’t want this.

On the day of groom choosing ceremony (Swayamvara) of princess, Narada went to Narayana and asked to bless him with Hari Mukh (face like Hari). Hari means Vishnu. In sanskrit, Hari means monkey. Narada wanted the super attractive face like Vishnu but Narayan gave him the face of monkey. Narada didn’t notice anything and rushed to Swayamvara. The princess laughed at him and Narada was embarrassed in front of lots of kings. Being furious he cursed Narayana, “Because of you everybody is laughing at me. You think monkeys are inferior. I curse you that one day when you will be in dire need of help only monkeys will come for your aid.” Lord Vishnu smiled and accepted the curse. He then explained Narada, “You are my most loved devotee. You are a hermit. I couldn’t let you leave your path of devotion. You already left the materialistic love of the world.” After hearing this, Narada repented for the curse but Vishnu said, “Don’t repent. Its for the welfare of the world. This is the destiny and you were only the medium.”

In this way, lord Hanuman took birth as a monkey and helped lord Rama (incarnation of Narayana) in the war with super powerful devotee of lord Shiva, Ravana.