Why Shani is called ‘Shanishwara’

The Navagraha or the Nine Planets are central to the Indian Astrological System and they cover the planets from Mercury to Saturn, includes the luminaries – The Sun & Moon & the shadowy planets – Rahu & Ketu. Among them, however, only Shani has a special status and is called ‘Shanishwara”. Notice that Shani is the only graha having the title “Ishwara” and no other graha is referred to by this title. All the other planets are just referred to by their name only. So then, why is the ‘title’ of Ishwara given to Shani only? There is an interesting tale behind this. For those who are not aware, the word ‘Ishwara’ means someone who governs over; or simply the “Lord”.

Shani was the son of Lord Surya and Chaaya Devi. His mother, Chaaya Devi was a clone of Sandhya, the first wife of the Sun God. Chaaya Devi had taken over Sandhya’s place as she was forced to leave, unable to bear Lord Surya’s heat any longer. Lord Surya was not aware of the fact that Sandhya was away and that secretively, Chaayadevi had taken her place. Sandhya’s children Yama & Yamuna were thus being taken care of by Chaaya & they grew along with her own children, Shani & Tapti. However, during one occasion, when Chaaya cursed Yama, Lord Surya realised that she couldn’t be her true mother, since no mother would ever curse her child. Now that he became aware of this fact, Surya began to ignore Chaaya and her children. He began to ignore his fatherly duties. This resulted in Shani developing a feeling of hatred towards this father. The hatred grew to an extent where Shani’s mere sight was enough to slow down Surya’s chariot.

The father-son hatred only grew over the years, and all the negativity only affected Shani badly. This continued, Until one day, Shani decided to pray to Lord Shiva to guide him out of the hatred & the negative emotions and provide him with a purpose to his life. His years of hard penance finally bore fruit and Lord Shiva appeared before him and granted him a boon. Shani was elevated to the status of a Navagraha, and entrusted with the task of rewarding or punishing people according to their good or bad karma in their lives. Shani had a powerful gaze, and whoever he sets his eyes on, will endure difficulties and hardships, & will suffer for all the sins and wrongdoings in their life.

Shani took to his task with utmost honesty & sincerity. With Shiva’s blessings, Shani had a very important role and a now a purpose to his life – that to judge the actions of all beings and bring them to discipline. In fact none, why only mortals, not even the Gods could escape the wrath of Shani.

Such was his dedication to his job, that once he even set his eyes on Lord Shiva himself, his own Guru. Well, in the eyes of Shani, everyone has to suffer the consequences of their sins. In atoning for their sins, God and mortals are all alike. There could be no room for any bias, whether God or Man.

So, he went to Lord Shiva’s abode and informed him of his intention. The lord was terrified of his disciple. The only way to escape Shani’s gaze was to run and hide. And so, Lord Shiva ran as fast as possible, looking everywhere for a place to hide. Finding no place to hide in heaven, he descended to earth and took shelter in the bottom of a lake. Here, he was sure he would not be found and so he stayed there for as long as he could. After a long wait, he was convinced that by now, Shani would have left. He had somehow escaped from his gaze. It was only later that he realised what had happened. Shani had forced the all powerful Lord to leave the comforts of his home, his abode, and run away to the land of mere mortals where he had to spend the night at the bottom of a lake! So that, was his punishment!

Having finished his ordeal and having realised it, the Lord smiled. He had seen the utter dedication of his disciple and he was really pleased with Shani. He knew that when it came to doing the job entrusted, Shani was totally uncompromising. Totally pleased with his sincerity, Lord Shiva blessed him and conferred upon Shani, the title of “Ishwara”. Among the Navagrahas, only He has this title and only He has the complete power to control & discipline Man and God alike. This is the reason why we call him “Shanishwara”.

No matter what, everyone in his lifetime would have to endure the period of harsh adversities and discipline, the period of Shani. The ‘Sade-Sati’ period or, the 7½ years of Shani’s transit is said to be the most challenging in several instances. Usually twice, but sometimes more than twice in a lifetime, there will be this period when he would set his sight and bring adversities or rewards, as the case may be. It is also good to note that those who are born with a strong Saturn in their charts, are highly dedicated, disciplined, & are uncompromising in performing their tasks, however demanding or tough they maybe. On the other hand a badly placed Shani, can result in a totally lazy, wayward attitude & lack of discipline.

Since Lord Shiva is said to be Shani’s Guru and the one who guided him with a purposeful life, it is said that prayers to Shiva can to a certain extent alleviate the suffering and bring some peace.

|| OM NAMAH SHIVAYA||