Hanuman and Betel leaves

When the war between Lord Rama and King Ravana was over, then it was time for them to return to Ayodhya along with Goddess Sita. But at the time of departure Hanuman was missing who played a key role in the victory of Lord Rama. Everyone searched for Hanuman. Eventually, Sita found Hanuma in a betel leaves garden .  When Hanuman saw Sita , he bowed his head down to seek the blessings.Sita was overwhelmed with his devotion. She plucked few betel leaves and showered on hanuman in order to bless him. Since then  this tradition of offering garland of betel leaves is follows

The Legend of Shishupal

Shishupal was the cousin of lord Krishna. He was born with three eyes and four arms.
This was the major concern for the mother. She approached Lord Krishna for the help along with the Shishupal. When lord Krishna held the Shishupal  in his lap, all of a sudden the Shishupal become normal as his extra eye and pair of arm vanished. The mother was very happy but at the same time she remembered warning given by the sage that the person who will be responsible for the Shishupal’s normalcy will also be the cause of his death in future.Mother of Shishupal begged Lord Krishna for the mercy. Krishna promised to forgive Shishupal’s 100 sins only. The time progressed. Shishupal became young. His friend was Rukmi. He wanted to marry his sister Rukmini, who was incarnation of goddess Lakshmi. But Rukmini wanted to marry Lord Krishna. This was the major cause of Shishupal’s rivalry with Lord Krishna. Once Yagya was organized by Yudhishter in which he invited all the mighty kings. When Yudhishter was about to welcome Lord Krishna, Shishpal started insulting Lord Krishna. In a moment he became unstoppable. On the otherhand Lord Krishna was counting every sin Shishupal was making by abusing him. When the total reached 100, Lord Krishna invoked his Sudarshan Chakra and killed Shishupal.In his previous birth Shishupal was King Ravana of Lanka who was again killed by another incarnation of Lord Vishnu, Rama.

Previous Birth of Ravana

Lord Brahma created 4 sons from the power of his mind. They were called as "Sankadi". Once they decided to met Lord Vishnu at his abode. The abode of Lord Vishnu had 7 gates. The successfully cleared the six gates, but when the came across the last 7th gate, they were stopped by the two gate keepers, Jaya and Vijaya. They did not allowed them to enter the abode of Lord Vishnu. After a long debate the ,four saints, Sankadis were upset and cursed Jaya and Vijaya for their arrogance that the two would be reborn as demon on earth for hundred births. Jaya and Vijaya prayed Lord Vishnu for intervention to have mercy. But it was too late . On seeing Lord Vishnu, the 4 saints agreed to mitigate the curse. So instead of 100 births, they reduced the curse for three births. In the first birth Jaya and Vijaya were born as Hiranyaksha and Hirankshyapa. In the second birth they born as Ravana and Kumbhakarana and in the final birth as Dantavakra and Shishupal. In all the births they were liberated by Lord Vishnu.

The curse of Vedvati

King Kushadhwaj was a powerful king and he was true devotee of Lord Vishnu. His wife gave birth to a daughter. At the time of birth the little girl was chanting the vedic mantras(prayer). This was a good omen for an extraordinary child. As a result her parents named her as “Vedvati”. Like her father she was also a true devotee of Lord Vishnu. She performed very tough tapasya(meditation) to please Lord Vishnu. As she grow older and older , she became adamant that she would marry to only Lord Vishnu. All the efforts of her parents of guiding her to marry some other king on earth went in vain. After the death of her parents , she preferred to stay in the forest and did meditation just to have a glimpse of lord Vishnu. Once the King Ravana, the ruler of Lanka visited her hermitage. He was stunned by the beauty of Vedvati and proposed her to marry him. But Vedvati rejected his offer. The angry King Ravana insulted her and destroyed her tapasya. She cursed Ravana that in her next birth she would become the cause of his death .She could not bear the insult , so she immolated herself . The vedvati reborn as Sita in the next birth. Due to all her merits which she acquired in previous birth she married to Rama(an incarnation of lord Vishnu). Later , Sita(vedvati , in previous birth) became the cause of destruction of the vast empire of King Ravana!

Shani ki drishti

When King Ravana succeeded in getting the control over all the nine planets, he installed them face downward on the nine steps that led to his throne. Each morning, he would step on their back to ascend his throne, causing insult and anguish to them. One day the sage Narada came to Ravana, and upon seeing the state of the nine planets asked Shani, how as the mightiest and the most terrible of the planets, he can bear this insult? Shani replied that because he is laying face downward he is helpless, if only he can cast his gaze on Ravana, matters would change. After Narada was shown around the magnificent palace of Ravana the proud king wanted his opinion. The wise sage replied that everything was excellent at the palace of Ravana, except for one. That was, how can Ravana get the pleasure of subduing the nine planets when they are lying face downward? It is better if they were to lay face upward so that when Ravana stepped over their chests, he could get the pleasure of seeing their discomfort on their faces. This suggestion appealed to the mighty king and he quickly ordered his staff to turn the nine planets around on their backs. As soon as that was done, Shani's gaze fell on Ravana and his reason abandoned him. Within a few months he kidnapped Sita, the wife of Lord Rama that led to Lord Rama's invasion of his kingdom. Ravana and his entire family was killed, all this during the seven and half year cycle of Shani.