vruth of the days of the week-saturday

SATURDAY-shanivar
shani is the son,of soorya and chaya devi (shadow goddess). he is the elder brother of yama. shani means slow moving because he is lame. saturn transits from one zodiac sign to another zodiac sign every two and half year. one will get good or bad effect as per their karma. he will observe our actions and punish or reward accordingly. To please him shani vruth , shanti , pooja is done.
as hanuman helped shani from ravana clutches, he promised hanuman that who so ever worships hanuman during shani dasa the effect of the shani will be reduced or removed.
lord shiva bestowed him with iswara title. once shani was waiting to catch shiva. lord knew this so he meditated in the middle of the pond. shani went there with a crocodile and caught shiva's legs. then lord shiva asked the reason for this. shani was scared as shiva's will open his third eye in case he gets angry. shani requested for the iswara title. shiva granted him .shani told him who so ever worships lord shiva during their shani dasa he will not come near him. since then he is called shaniswaran.
there are lot of temples for shani . in south india thirunallar is the place where people go during shani dasa take oil bath in the tank and worship. nala chakravarthy's one of south india king suffered the most in the hands of shani, he came to this place for pappa vimochana.
this vruth is observed in shukla paksha(after amavasya) first staurday of any month for 19 saturdays. black is the colour for shani. as shani was very dark in colour.. so seasmme laddoo is used on this day to please shani. with the shani photo, lord shiva, ganesh , rahu and kethu are also kept while worshipping. hanuman chalisa is chanted. black umbrella , blanket, iron vessles are given as dhan. dog is fed today. one time meals , with black urad dal or til is used taken.
story goes like this.
raja vikramaditya ruled over ujjain who was very religious, judicious, concerned about his people. there was happiness and prosperity in his kingdom. one day shani dev(saturn) came in his dream and warned him that two and a half years of shani dasa is coming , it is difficult days . but once it is over he will get back his good days. he woke up and worried as how to keep away his family and subjects from his bad time. ( raja 's bad time will affect everybody). early in the morning he got up , did shani pooja ,gave dhan to brahmans. he told his family and subjects that he is going out for some days. instructed the ministers to take good care of the people and his family.when enquired he did not reveal about his plan.
on horses back he left his kingdom. he travelled for quite some time suddenly horse got hurt and fell down and broke his leg. but raja was saved. he got up started to walk. he saw a village near by. so he went there. There was a merchant. he was also facing bad days. nobody returned the borrowed money . servants who went for collection came empty handed. he was not happy. raja vikramaditya came there. he was thirsty requested for water. he gave him water. immediately people started paying back the money . servants came with the collection. so he thought all this is because of this man. so he is lucky for him. he took that man home. he had a girl of marriageable age. he thought if he gets his daughter married to him and make them stay here then he can make more money..he did so and his business grew many folds. he became richer and richer.raja did shani vruth and pooja regularly .
one day there was a call from palace of the king of tamil nadu. queen's precious necklace got cut . so they called the merchant to weigh and fix the price .he brought it home .raja was sleeping in the room. merchant hung the nacklace on the wall and slept.that room was filled with different pictures. where this nacklace was hanging there the picture of a swan. raja woke up and saw that swan came out of the drawing and swallowed the nacklace. after some time merchant got up. he could not see the nacklace. he asked raja about it. he could not say anything. as what he saw no body will believe. but he had to give a reply so he told the truth. merchant got angry he did not believe him and took him to the king.
there he was questioned several times raja gave the same answer. he was put behind the bar. chained his leg and hands. little water and roti was given to him to eat. these were the bad days which he had to patiently undergo. he was worshiping shani dev and offered the food given to him afterwards he eat. he was happy in the jail like this. bad time got over.
his wife started doing all the seven days vruth. as the day went she became very week . Her father was worried about her health. one day when he was sitting in the room he saw that the swan from the picture came out and hung the necklace and went back. he was surprised . could not believe his own eyes. he rushed to the palace and told the king what he saw and gave back the necklace. king vikramaditya was called to the court. raja asked for pardon for wrong justice. he was released. raja vikramaditya gave his introduction and said no body is to be blamed it is the shani dasa of two and half year. he honoured king vikramadirtya . merchant was happy.
shani is the purifier. saturn will teach one to be more responsible and discipline.
when lord ganesha was born. all the devathas came to see him. everybody took the child and blessed him.lord shani was also there. he turned his face. pravathi gave ganesha to shani maharaj also for blessing. he said he is not a lucky person to look . she insisted and he saw the child, gahesha's face was chopped. immediately vishnu cut newly born elephants face and fixed it, since he is called gajamukha.
Singanapur has a temple for shani which is swayambu. There is no temple for the god. it is found on a raised platform. people do til oil abhishekam . it is very famous and visited by people of all religion. there is no door for the house . it is open. it is believed that no thief can harm these people of their belongings.