Hindu Mythology Story: Why is Shani Dev Such Staunch Enemy of his Father Surya? Know the Complete Story

Fear is the first emotion that comes to mind when people hear the name of Shani Dev. He is said to be the judge and the cruelest planet among all the planets.

In Hindu religion, he has been called the god who gives results according to the deeds of the individual. Therefore, the penal system of the world is in the hands of Shani Maharaj only.

On the day of Shani Amavasya, people offer mustard oil lamps to Shani Dev after sunset in the evening and pray to him to shower his blessings on them. He gives us the fruits of whatever work we do. Blessings for good work and punishment for bad deeds.

But did you know that Shani Dev has deep enmity with his own father Surya Dev since his childhood? Let us know story behind this father-son enmity.

The enmity of Surya and Shani Dev

Despite the father-son relationship between Surya Dev and Shani Dev, why was there never a relationship between the two? How the two become such staunch opponents of each other? According to the story narrated in Kashikhand, ‘Sandhya’, the daughter of Lord Vishwakarma, was married to the Sun God, the king of the planets. The brilliance of the Sun God, who gave light to the whole world, was so much that even his wife used to be frightened by that brilliance. After some time of marriage, Suryadev and Sangya had three children named Manu, Yamraj and Yamuna.

Surya Dev could not recognize Shani Dev as his son

According to mythological belief, Shani Dev is the son of Sun God. Sun God was married to Sangya Devi. One day Yamraj and Yamuna Devi appeared from him. Due to the brilliance of Sun God, Sangya Devi manifested her own form of Chhaya and put him in the service of Sun God.

Even after becoming the mother of three children, her fear of her husband Surya Dev’s brilliance did not diminish. To be able to tolerate the radiance of the sun, Sangya decided to do penance and she created her own lookalike Sanvarna i.e. Chhaya. Then Sangya handed over the responsibility of looking after her children to Chhaya herself and went to her father’s house. On the other hand, when the father did not support the noun, she took the form of a mare in the forest and got absorbed in penance. On the other hand, due to the shadow being a form, Sanvarna did not have any problem with the brilliance of the sun god.

Surya Dev had insulted Shani Dev’s mother

According to mythological beliefs, when Shani Dev was in Chhaya’s womb, Chhaya did such a severe penance of Lord Shiva that he did not even care to eat or drink. During penance, due to hunger-thirst, sun and heat, it also affected Shani, who was in the womb of the shadow, and his complexion became black. When Shani Dev was born, seeing his complexion, Sun God doubted Chhaya and insulted him and said that this cannot be my son.

The power of mother’s tenacity had also come in Shani Dev and seeing his mother being humiliated, he got angry and looked at his father Surya Dev, then the Sun God turned completely black and the movement of his horses also stopped. After getting upset, Suryadev had to take shelter of Lord Shiva, then Lord Shiva made him realize his mistake. After which Suryadev apologized for his mistake. Then he again got his true form back. This is the reason that between the Sun God and Shani Dev, there was always enmity between the father and the son, not having a cordial relationship.