Shani Jayanti: Shani Dev is called the god of justice and this is why he is also known as Nyayakarta i.e. one who does justice. He is a god who gives the fruits of a person’s deeds be it good or bad on the earth itself during the lifetime of that person only. He is such a god who neither discriminates against anyone nor troubles anyone without reason. But do you know that Shani Dev himself was angry with his father Surya Dev?
Let us know about this story on the occasion of Shani Jayanti 2025.
Table of Contents
Surya Dev’s first wife
We get to learn about this story of Shani Dev’s birth in Skanda Purana and from this story we come to know why Shani Dev hated his own father.
The story is something like this, Surya Dev was married to Sangya, the daughter of Vishkarma, the chief craftsman of the gods. Sangya lived happily with Surya Dev for some time, but after some time due to the light and intense heat of Surya Dev, her body started burning and she could not bear that heat.
One day, Sangya told her problem to the Sun God and said that Swami, please reduce your heat a little, to which the Sun God said that if he does so, life on earth will become chaotic. Troubled by this, Sangya went to her father’s place and started complaining, even on this her father explained to her that the Sun cannot reduce its light and also explained that after marriage, one should not come to the mother’s house from the in-laws’ house without the permission of the husband and her father ordered Sangya to return to her in-laws’ house immediately.
The story of the Sun God and Chhaya
As per the father’s words, Sangya tried to spend some more time with the Sun God but she could not bear his heat and she decided to leave the Sun God.
Before leaving, Sangya created an image of herself whose name was Chhaya and told him that I am going but you should always take care of my husband and never let anyone know the secret that you are Chhaya. Saying this, Sangya went to do penance and in her place Chhaya started living with the Sun God.
Chhaya and Surya Dev had a son, but Surya Dev was not happy to see this son. While on one hand Surya Dev was full of light, his son was not bright at all, rather he was dark in complexion, due to which Surya Dev started suspecting that Shani was probably not his son and due to this reason Surya Dev started feeling inferior towards both Shani Dev and his mother Chhaya.
As Shani Dev was growing up, he also started realizing that his father did not love him and his mother and this was the reason why Shani Dev also started hating his father.
Reason for Shani Dev being dark
Two reasons are given for Shani Dev being dark in complexion;
First is that Shani Dev was not the child of a real woman but the reflection of a woman. Just as the color of a man or woman can be anything, but the color of the shadow of the same person on earth will always be black.
Another reason is that Devi Chhaya was a devotee of Lord Shiva and when she was about to have a child, she was doing penance for Lord Shiva. Devi Chhaya was so immersed in penance that she forgot to eat and drink and thus her own radiance started to diminish and her health also deteriorated. In such a state, when she gave birth to a son, that son was also like this, who had no radiance and was of dark complexion.
On the occasion of Shani Jayanti if you want to read the story of fasting on Saturdays’ to please Shani Dev, then do give a read to our this article.
Effect of Shani Dev on Sunlight
It is mentioned in mythological texts that when Shani Dev’s mind was filled with this anger, then his intense gaze effect started giving pain and weakness to the Sun God. The radiance of the Sun God started to decrease, his health started to deteriorate. The Gods understood this situation and called it the result of Shani’s gaze.
When the Sun God came to know that this has happened due to Shani’s neglect and distrust, then he repented for his actions. He apologized to Shani and accepted him as his son.
To know what should be done to please Shani Dev on Shani Jayanti and which mantra should be chanted, read our article
We sell Havan Cups at our product website. We use organic and fragrant material to produce these Cups so that they make your temple or divine space full of fragrance and your prayers more powerful. Thousands of people have tried our genuine products. If you also want to buy our puja products, do visit our website by clicking the this link.