Hanumān Chālīsā

हनुमान चालीसा

HanumanDevotion

Sanskrit Text

श्रीगुरु चरन सरोज रज, निज मनु मुकुरु सुधारि। बरनउँ रघुबर बिमल जसु, जो दायकु फल चारि॥ बुद्धिहीन तनु जानिके, सुमिरौं पवन-कुमार। बल बुधि बिद्या देहु मोहिं, हरहु कलेस बिकार॥ जय हनुमान ज्ञान गुन सागर। जय कपीस तिहुँ लोक उजागर॥ राम दूत अतुलित बल धामा। अंजनि-पुत्र पवनसुत नामा॥ महाबीर बिक्रम बजरंगी। कुमति निवार सुमति के संगी॥

Transliteration

śrīguru carana saroja raja, nija manu mukuru sudhāri| baranau~ raghubara bimala jasu, jo dāyaku phala cāri|| buddhihīna tanu jānike, sumirauṃ pavana-kumāra| bala budhi bidyā dehu mohiṃ, harahu kalesa bikāra|| jaya hanumāna jñāna guna sāgara| jaya kapīsa tihu~ loka ujāgara|| rāma dūta atulita bala dhāmā| aṃjani-putra pavanasuta nāmā|| mahābīra bikrama bajaraṃgī| kumati nivāra sumati ke saṃgī||

Meaning (English)

The Hanumān Chālīsā is a 40-verse (chālīsā = forty) devotional hymn in Awadhī composed by Tulsīdās around 1575 CE, framed by two dohas at start and end. Opening with "śrīguru charan saroj raj" — "I cleanse my mind-mirror with the dust of the guru's lotus feet" — the hymn praises Hanumān as Rāma's messenger, son of the wind (Pavana), ocean of wisdom and strength (jñāna-guṇa-sāgara), and remover of all suffering. It is the most recited Hindu hymn of the modern era and is traditionally chanted on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Only the opening verses are shown above — the full 40 chaupais and 2 dohas are available in the Ramcharitmanas tradition.

Meaning (Hindi)

तुलसीदास रचित 40 चौपाइयों और 2 दोहों का स्तोत्र जो हनुमान की स्तुति करता है — राम के भक्त, पवन के पुत्र, ज्ञान और बल के सागर। कलियुग में सबसे अधिक पाठ किया जाने वाला हिंदी देवता-स्तोत्र।

Benefits

•Protection from evil and negative forces
•Courage and strength in difficulty
•Removal of obstacles
•Mental clarity and focus
•Divine grace from Hanumān and indirectly from Rāma

Best Time

Tuesday & Saturday, dawn or dusk

Chant Count

108 times

Source

Hanumān Chālīsā by Goswāmī Tulsīdās, c. 1575 CE

Scholarly Context

Origin & Textual Home

The Hanumān Chālīsā was composed by Goswāmī Tulsīdās around 1575 CE in the Awadhī dialect of Hindi, during the same creative period that produced his monumental Rāmacharitamānasa. A chālīsā is a hymn of forty (chālīs) quatrains — in this case, forty chaupāis framed by two dohās at beginning and end, so 42 verses total. The opening dohā, "śrīguru charan saroj raj," is a standard Bhakti-era invocation of the guru's lotus feet, and the second dohā asks for strength, wisdom, and knowledge. Tulsīdās stands in the Rāmānanda lineage of North Indian Vaiṣṇavism; his choice to write in Awadhī rather than Sanskrit was deliberate — the hymn was meant to be accessible to farmers, artisans, and women who had no access to Sanskrit education.

How to Chant

Traditional practice involves 108 recitations on Tuesdays and Saturdays, the two days astrologically associated with Hanumān and Mars. A full reading of the 42 verses takes approximately 9-10 minutes; 108 readings is therefore an 18-hour practice, typically broken into 8-11 rounds over the day. Many practitioners pair the Chālīsā with a small ghee lamp offered before a Hanumān image (orange sindoor is traditional), and some add the Bajrang Bāṇ — a more urgent petition-hymn also attributed to Tulsīdās — when specific urgent obstacles are present.

Traditional Benefits

The Chālīsā is most widely recited for protection against what Hindu tradition calls bhaya (fear), vighna (obstacle), and graha-doṣa (planetary afflictions, particularly Saturn). Hanumān is the protector of Rāma-bhaktas, and his Chālīsā is considered the quickest route to his grace in the Kali Yuga. The hymn itself (in verse 37) promises that anyone who reads it a hundred times gains release from bondage and great joy — a claim many practitioners have tested with their own lives. Beyond spiritual benefit, the cultural reach is unmatched: the Hanumān Chālīsā is the most-viewed religious song on YouTube (over 7 billion views across all uploads) and the most-sold religious booklet in India.

Deeper Meaning

The Chālīsā is more than a devotional lyric — it is a compact theological treatise on Hanumān's dual nature as servant-god (dāsa) and as divinity in his own right. Verses 17-25 explicitly list Hanumān's cosmic functions: removing the obstacles Rāma himself cannot address directly, leaping across ontological boundaries (from Lanka to Himalaya in a single bound), dissolving the fears that tether the soul to the body. Verse 30's aṣṭa siddhi nava nidhi kai dātā — 'giver of the eight yogic powers and nine treasures' — places Hanumān in the rarefied category of tantric siddhi-dispensers alongside Gaṇeśa. Modern devotional scholars including Philip Lutgendorf (Hanuman's Tale, 2007) read the Chālīsā as evidence that Hanumān's popularity eclipsed even Rāma's in the North Indian Kali Yuga — the servant became more accessible than the master.