The Mango Story

Once upon a time, in a timeless time, long ago- there lived a beautiful woman named Anjana. Anjana wanted to become a mother and every day offered a prayer to the divine asking for such a blessing. Vayu (God the Wind) had been watching Anjana perform her daily ritual and devised a plan. With the help of a cursed bird friend who had stolen fertility pudding (another story for another time), Vayu blew pudding through the air, which landed in Anjana’s up stretched hands. Upon consumption of the pudding, Anjana conceived Anjaneyan (Son of Anjana).

Anjaneyan, or Hanuman as most of us are more familiar- was quite the rambunctious toddler. You see he was half mortal/half divine. He had incredible capabilities to shrink down to the size of an ant or to expand to the size of a mountain. One day Hanuman looked up to the sky and saw the biggest, most delicious mango he had ever seen. Mangoes were indeed his favorite snack, so he immediately crouched down low and jumped up with his mouth open wide. Mistaking the sun for a mango, the entire world went dark. Indra (Kings of the Gods) saw what happened and threw a thunderbolt at Hanuman, breaking his jaw and causing him to fall to his death. When Vayu receives word that his son is dead, he is taken back and draws a deep breath in. His breath retention begins to suffocate the creatures of world and the Gods are forced to have an emergency meeting. In order to appease both Surya and Vayu, Hanuman is brought back to life but cursed to forget his greatness. If he believes himself to be merely mortal, how much trouble can he get it?