Do you know Lord Hanuman had a son?

New Delhi: Devotees of Lord Hanuman know very well that Lord Rama's biggest disciple and Lord Shiva's 11th avatar, Hanuman was a bachelor. However, very few people know that he had a son too, whose mention is in the shastras. According to Shastras, the name of Hanuman's son is Makardhwaj. He was born from a fish. Makardhwaja name is derived from Hindu mythological creature Makara and depicted as part Makarā and part Vanarā (monkey). Makardhwaja is sometimes also spelled as Magar-dhwaja - depicted as part Magarā (crocodile) and part Vanarā. Makardhwaj too like his father was strong and very brave. He was also appointed as the guard of Patal lok. According to legends, when Hanuman took a dip in the waters of sea, after burning whole of Lanka with the fire burning on his tail, a drop of his perspiration fell in to mouth of a mighty fish. Out of this the Makardhwaja was born. According to another, slightly different version, when Hanuman took a dip in sea, for cooling himself after burning Lanka; a drop of his seed got discharged, due to extreme heat generated in his body and labor by him, which fell in to mouth of a giant fish-cum-reptile like creature, whose name was Makardhwaja, thus making it pregnant. The fish was caught by people of Ahiravana, who ruled Patala, the nether-world. The Markardhwaja, was discovered, when stomach of fish was cut open and named after it. Ahiravana, seeing his strength & virility gave him job of guarding, the gates of his Kingdom. According to Ramayana told by Valmiki, when Ahiravana took Rama and Lakshmana to Patala, Hanuman followed them to their rescue. He was challenged at the gate of Patala by a creature, who was part Vanara and part reptile - a Makara. He introduced himself Makaradhwaja and son of Hanuman, the mighty warrior. Hanuman was amused and said that, I am myself the Hanumana but he could not be his son, as he was born celibate. However, Hanumana then closed his eyes in dhyan to see the events described above of Makardhwaja's birth. Makardhwaja asked him for his blessings, however, he said to Hanuman, that he will have to fight him to enter Patala, as he cannot betray Ahiravana, his mentor. Hanuman defeats Makaradhwaja in a duel and binds him to proceed further to ultimately kill Ahiravana and rescue Rama & Lakshamana. Later on, upon Rama's advice he installed Makardhwaja, as King of Patala before returning to Lanka, to continue war with Ravana. The first temple of Hanuman and Makardhwaj is situated in a small place called Bhetdwarika in Gujarat. This place is around 2kms from the main Dwarika. This temple is known as Dandi Hanuman Temple. Some other noted temples in Gujarat are at Odadar village near Porbandar where idols of Makardhwaja and Hanuman are worshiped together. In Rajasthan, also there is temple known as Balaji Makardhwaja Temple at Beawar, which is dedicated to both father-son duo in form of Balaji Hanuman and Makardhwaja.