The One Who Almost Swallowed the Sun!

Hanuman was the son of Kesari (a Vanara Chief) and his wife, Anjana. During his early years, he was a lively and mischievous child. He was gifted with great power, intelligence and the ability to fly! He grew in size much faster than ordinary children, but with this, his hunger grew too. 

One morning, a hungry baby Hanuman saw the bright, red, rising sun, and his eyes lit up. He thought he had spotted the most ripe and beautiful fruit he had ever seen! Unable to find his mother around, he decided to go eat the fruit to satiate his hunger.

Off he flew, soaring higher and higher into the sky. The birds were surprised to see a flying baby monkey! He grew in size to catch the sun but just as he reached for it, Lord Rahu cast his shadow and the sun disappeared. Unwilling to give up, he found his way around Lord Rahu and grabbed the sun. This infuriated Lord Rahu, who then sought Lord Indra for help. 

On hearing about this incident, Lord Indra rushed to the scene, only to see a monkey swallowing the Sun! In his anger, Lord Indra threw his weapon, his thunderbolt, at Hanuman and hit his jaw with it. Unable to bear the pain, Hanuman released the sun and fell through the sky unconscious, only to be saved by his divine father, Lord Vaayu.

Seeing Hanuman hurt, the infuriated Lord Vaayu, the God of the Wind, stopped the flow of air, thus suffocating everyone. Seeing this, all the gods assembled to request Vaayu to allow the air to flow again. Upon hearing their pleas, Lord Vaayu agreed, but on one condition, that each God bless Hanuman with divine powers.  One by one, each God blessed Lord Hanuman and finally Lord Vaayu restored the flow of air so all of humankind and the Gods could breathe again.

This incident is how Lord hanuman got his name, Hanu-man, the one with the disfigured jaw.