SFS Contest! Picture of the Day Week 37

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Panchamukha is a sanskrit word meaning five-faced.

Sri Hanuman manifested himself in panchamukha or panchamukhi avatar to kill Ahiravan. Ravan approached his brother Ahiravan for help. He was the king of the underworld or pathal lok.

When Bibhishan came to know about this, he rushed once Ram and Lakshman. Bibhishan asked lord Hanuman to stay alert and not let anyone enter the premises where lord Rama and lakshmana reside.

Ahiravan tried so hard to enter the premises but couldn't succeed. Lord hanuman foiled each and every attempt. At last Ahiravan decided to disguise himself in the form of Vibhishana. Hanuman couldn't recognize him and he let him enter the room where Ram and Lakshman were staying. Once Ahiravan entered the room he abducted Ram and Lakshman and took them to the underworld. When hanuman came to know about the incident he rushed to Vibhishana and informed him about this.

Vibhishana asked Hanuman to rescue them. Hence hanuman went on a rescue mission to save both Ram and Lakshman. When hanuman reached the door of pathal lok he was stopped by a strange creature. The creature had half the body of a human and half of a reptile. He was the guard of the door Hanuman asked for his introduction to which he said that he was Makardhwaja the son of Hanuman.

Makardhwaja explained that when Hanuman took a dip in the ocean after burning down the whole of Lanka with his inflamed tail a drop of his blood fell into the mouth of a crocodile the crocodile later gave birth to his son Makardhwaja who went on to become the gatekeeper of partha lok under Ravan's cousin Ahiravan.

After a brief fight hanuman defeated Makardhwaja and entered the pathal lok. Ahiravan was backed by a strong army Chandra sena informed him about the secret of killing Ahiravan that his life force is in the five different candles which had been kept in five different directions.

The only way to kill Ahiravan was to blow off all the candles at the same time.

Hanuman appeared in the five faced form and extinguished the five candles and killed Ahiravan

He then rescued lord Ram and Lakshman who were in an unconscious state by a magic spell.

In the Panchmukhi Avatar each face of Lord Hanuman represents a god and has its significance. The face towards the east is Sri Anjaneya which removes all blemishes of sin and confers purity of mind. The south facing mukha is Sri Narasimha removes fear of enemies and confers victory. The west facing mukha is of Sri Garuda that drives away evil spells black magic influences and removes all poisonous effects in one's body. The north facing mukha is of Sri Lakshmi Varaha that wards off all the troubles caused by bad influences of the planets and confers all prosperity of ashtarish warriors. The face looking upwards is of Sri Hayagriva grievous which confers knowledge victory progeny and mukti.

Panchamukha can be interpreted as the five ways of praying for a god in hindu philosophy.

The most commonly celebrated Hanuman Jayanti fell in the month of Chaitra (March-April), on the full moon day known as Chaitra Purnima and happened yesterday.

Before I conclude I would like to invite three fellow Steemians to participate in the contest
@zulbahri
@eveetim
@georgitsachev

Thank you for reading my post.