Balaji is the presiding deity of the Balaji temple in Mehndipur village, Rajasthan, and is said to be a version of Hanuman, the monkey god.
Hanuman was often hungry as a child, and one day he tried to devour the sun.
Indra, the gods' monarch and ruler of heaven, gets furious with Hanuman's behavior and hits him with a thunderbolt, shattering his jaw (hanu).
To protest this penalty, Vayu, Hanuman's father, goes on a hunger strike.
- Vayu's strike implies that no one can live a normal life since winds are responsible for all internal processes in traditional Indian physiology, including digestion, breathing, and excretion.
- The gods recognize their situation after a short time and ask Vayu's pardon; the deity is appeased when each god pledges to offer Hanuman a heavenly gift.
- Hanuman gets tremendous strength as a result of his talents; he is not only very powerful, but also an excellent healer, thanks to his expertise in utilizing herbs and natural remedies, as well as his magical powers to defend humans from evil supernatural entities.
Hanuman is a powerful protective god with these abilities and healing properties, and he is often worshiped on days and periods considered inauspicious or unpleasant.
- Despite his supposedly intermediate position in the heavenly pantheon, these protective characteristics have made him immensely significant in modern Hindu life, and these qualities are particularly apparent in his form as Balaji.
- His temple has become renowned across the area as a healing facility for individuals who have been possessed by evil spirits known as bhuts and prets.
- The exorcisms are conducted in a quasi-judicial manner, with the demons being summoned before the heavenly court, tried, and expelled from the victim, with the underlying belief that these rituals are successful because to Balaji's unstoppable healing abilities.
When studied in the context of traditional Hindu culture, the vocabulary connected with possession and exorcism may be viewed as a means of expressing what contemporary psychiatrists would term the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness, as Sudhir Kakar has expertly shown in Shamans, Mystics, and Doctors.
You may also want to read more about Hinduism here.
Be sure to check out my writings on religion here.