As per the story narrated from Bhavishya Puran, Sun is the father and Chhaya is the mother of Lord Shani. Chhaya has been called as Vikshubha or Suvarana also. In ‘Ganapati’ section of this Puran it has also been made clear that since his childhood, Lord Shani was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu and Lord Krishna.
Since his childhood, he remained absorbed in the devotion and the dedication of his deity, Lord Krishna. It is said that Lord Shani, remaining absorbed and thoughtful of his deity makes people deprive of their sins and pains through his three pronged lance and grants them the knowledge of their true form, thus breaking off the shackles of their misdeeds. Our Epics speak of Lord Shani, riding over the vulture, wearing blue cloths carrying bow and a trident (three pronged lance). As per Vedic astrology, Lord Shani owns seven riders i.e. an Elephant, the Horse, the Deer, an Ass, a Dog, a Buffalo and the Vulture. Its a slow moving planet having four arms. As per ‘Bhavishya Puran’, his face is looking polite and the eyes are half-opened. He always remains absorbed in the thoughts of Lord Vasudev (Lord Krishna). His pours are wet in deep thoughts of Lord Krishna. Lord Shani always remain in the prayers of his deity, he has lustre on his face like that of the burning fire, and he is a blackish beauty in complexion and wears the yellow cloths.
He also has a most important and the righteous post among planets just because he acts as a courtier of the God. He owes the ideal role of Guru by purifying people through making them to bear with the results of their misdeeds, thus making them the pious and the pure ones.