Long long ago, there lived an Apsara by the name of Punjikasthala. Apsaras are celestial beings, extremely beautiful women who live up in the skies in heavens amidst Gods. They are dancers in the court of Indra. Punjnikastha was also very pretty and she was fully aware of her beauty and proud of it.
One day, to amuse herself, she came down to Earth and was walking in the forests enjoying the nature. There she saw a monkey faced Sage sitting in lotus pose under a tree in deep meditation. Punjikasthala found it funny that a a monkey is praying to Lord’ she laughed loud. But her laugh didn’t have any effect on the sage, his senses were well under control.
She didn’t stop at that, she started throwing fruits and small stones on the monkey sage. One of the stones hit the forehead of the sage, who now opened his eyes in rage. He was very angry that his tapasya / penance was broken.
As he saw Punjikasthala giggling and throwing fruits at him, the sage flew into a wild fury and cursed her. “Oh vane woman, You are so proud of your own good looks that you found a Monkey Faced Sage funny? I here by curse you that you would be reborn as a Monkey on this Earth”
As soon as she heard the words of the sage, Punjikasthala came to her senses and begged the sage for forgiveness.
“Oh please forgive me, great sage. I was being silly. Please don’t turn me in to a monkey and punish me for my foolishness. Have mercy on me” She started crying pleading to the sage.
Watching the apsara cry to and beg for mercy, the sage lost his anger and took pity on her. But a curse once uttered, cannot be taken back. So the sage said “Oh I cannot take back my words, but I assure you that you would meet the love of your life in your next life and to you both
a mighty son shall be born, an avatar of Lord Siva himself. And then when you get the son, you would be freed from your curse and can attain back the form of Apsara. “
Thus Punjikasthala was re-born on Earth as a Monkey girl, daughter of Ahalya and Sage Gautama. When she grew older, she fell in love with the king of Monkeys, Lord Kesari. As the sage had predicted, he was the love of her life. They got married and led a very happy life. Both were great devotees for Lord Siva and Parvati and prayed to them
daily for a child.
Meanwhile in Ayodhya, King Dasaratha was doing PutraKamekshi Yagna to bear children. Toward the end of the Yagna, Lord Agni offered some Payasam to the King. The King was to share the Payasam
among his three wives, Kausalya, Kaikai and Sumitra. He gave a portion of the Payasam to his first wife Kausala, the 2nd portion to Kaikai. While he was about to give the third portion of the payasam to Sumitra, a bird mysteriously appeared and stole away the payasam and flew away.
Thus, Queen Sumithra did not get the payasam. But both Kausalya, and Kaikai gave one half of their Payasam each to Sumithra. Kausala later gave birth to Rama, Kaikai to Bharath and since Sumithra had the portion of payasam from each of the other queens gave birth to twins, Lakshman and Shatrugnan.
Now our bird flew far away with the Payasam that was stolen. The Payasam dropped from the bird’s claws was falling to the ground. The Wind God, Vayu on following Siva’s instructions, blew the payasam softly without spilling straight towards the forest where Anjana and Kesari were staying.
Anjan and Kesari had just finished their mornings when Anjana felt something in her hands. It was the Payasam. Suddenly there was a voice from up above.
“Take the offering, Anjana. It has the power of the Wind God and the essence of Siva inside. You would soon give birth to a brave boy, who is the Lord Siva himself”
Anjana took the Payasam and soon she had a beautiful baby boy. He was then known as the Anjaneya (Son of Anjana) , PavanaPutra (Son of Wind God) , and Kesarinandan (son of Kesari)
Anjana was freed of her curse as she had given birth to the reincarnation of Siva and got back the form of Apsara.
