I thought for a moment, and told her what my own mother had told me when I said that I was afraid of the dark as a child. "Think of Hanuman," my mother said. "He will protect you." With that, she taught me a sloka (chant) that I could repeat whenever I was afraid. I taught my daughter, Ranjini, the same four lines and told her to repeat it before she went to sleep at night to prevent against bad dreams. It seems to work. It's not that my daughter has never been afraid again. It is that she now has a solution that she can apply against her fear. Often times, when I put her to bed, she will say in a small voice, "Mom, let's say Manojavam together." Hanuman, had in a sense become my daughter's guardian angel. He protected her and soothed her fears when she was afraid.

While angels play a strong role in Judaism and Christianity, there are no angel-like figures in Hinduism. Rather, Hindus use an array of Gods, minor Gods (devas), planets like Sani (Saturn), Gurus (teachers), and ancestors, all of whom can play a protective role, depending on the situation. Many Hindus have favorite Gods and Goddesses or Ishta Devatas, who they call upon to help, guide and protect them. When Hindus face unexplainable hurdles in life, a typical reaction would be to ask the astrologer to examine one's horoscope and appease the various planets. I still recall my brother wearing a black amulet as a child because my parents wanted the planet Sani (Saturn) to protect him. Sani held a strong position in my brother's horoscope and was therefore called on to protect. My own mother turned to her Gurus who were her guardian angels, guides, and soothsayers all in one. She gave us the sacred ash blessed by her Guru and asked us to wear it on our foreheads before we ventured out of the house. The blessed sacred ash in a sense played the role of a guardian angel. My father still says that he overcame the hardships in his life because of the benevolence and protection of his ancestors. He performs a yearly shraadam (ancestor worship) with diligence to sustain the support of his ancestors.

For children, the playful God Krishna or the monkey-God Hanuman are easy to relate to. Hanuman in particular is a favorite protector because he is strong and benevolent. A story that is told often about Hanuman relates to Lord Rama's battle against the evil king Ravana. When Rama's brother, Lakshmana fell unconscious in the battlefield, the physician was summoned. On examining Lakshmana, the physician asked for the Sanjeevini herb which would instant cure Lakshmana. Being the strongest, Hanuman was asked to fly to the faraway mountain and procure the herb. When Hanuman landed on the mountain, he faced a bewildering array of herbs all of which looked alike to him. Realizing that time was of the essence, he uprooted the entire mountain and carried it back to the battlefield. The physician plucked out the herb, Lakshmana was cured, and Rama's battle against the evil king, Ravana, continued.

Similarly, Krishna is called upon very often in times of crisis because of the role he plays in Hindu mythology as a savant and protector. The Bhagavad Gita, arguably Hinduism's most famous religious text came from Krishna. In the Mahabharata, one of Hinduism's most famous epics, Krishna protects Queen Draupadi from being disrobed by the evil Dushasana in court. As Dushasana pulls her sari, Draupadi calls, "Krishna" and lo and behold, the sari grows endless. As Dushasan futilely pulls, the sari grows and Draupadi's chastity is saved. This is another story I frequently tell my daughter mostly because she related easily to Krishna. Unlike stereotypical Gods, Krishna is not perfect. As a child, he used to steal butter, and play tricks on his mother and father. But he also holds the Sudarshana chakra, a flying discus that, as I tell my daughter, "will protect her from Mark's teasings and tauntings in the playground" or whatever that day's crisis might be.

As a practicing Hindu, I believe that such protective figures are especially important after September 11th. They provide children a certain amount of psychological comfort. If nothing else, calling on angels and Gods gives children, and indeed adults, a weapon against the monkey wrenches that life throws in our paths. Now, more than ever, we need such amulets, armors and mythological weapons. As my 7-year-old nephew told me a few months ago, he was going to pray to Lord Krishna to throw his Sudarshana chakra at the terrorists.