Shri Hanuman Chalisa: Introduction

Hanuman is an Ardent Devotee of Lord Rama

Hanuman also famed as Anjaneya and Maruti is an ardent devotee of Lord Rama in the Ramayana, a celebrated Indian epic.The eleventh incarnation of Lord Shiva (Rudra), Hanuman leads an army of monkeys to battle Ravana, the demon king who has abducted Sita. Having a body as strong as a thunderbolt (the weapon of Indra) and as fast as lightning, Hanuman is also adulated as Bajrang Bali. He is often called Pavan Putra because the Wind God had played an important role in Anjana's giving birth to Hanuman.

Goswami Tulsidas

Hanuman Chalisa is a devotional song consisting of forty or chalis chaupais (a quatrian usually printed as two rhyming lines of verse) composed by Goswami Tulsidas in the Awadhi language in the 16^th century.Singing the glories of Lord Hanuman as the model devotee, the poem expounds the monkey-god's parentage, physique, intelligence, valour, heroic deeds and devotion to Lord Rama and Sita.

Hanuman, the Eleventh Rudra, Loyal to Lord Rama

Lord Hanuman is a bachelor deity and millions recite the chalisa to seek his blessings.Hanuman Chalisa has gained tremendous popularity amongst Hindus in the new millennium. Many of them recite the composition as a prayer every day of the week or generally on Tuesdays and Saturdays, considered sacred days for devotees of Hanuman when bhaktas throng temples of the deity, offering sweets like bundi laddoos and Hanuman Vastras (red-coloured cloth for the idol.)

The Hanuman Chalisa

It is said that chanting the Hanuman Chalisa a hundred times for a span of 100 days, frees one from the cycle of birth and death. Soon after, one reaches the heights of elation and ecstasy as stated in the 38^th verse.

Forty Chaupais of The Chalisa

Each of the 40 chaupais or verses of the chalisa convey a distinctive blessing. Depending on the bhava (love flowing towards the Lord Hanuman) and the devotee's shraddha or implicit faith, the fruits of the particular verse are attained.The invocation, the main body (chalisa) and the final entreaty are the three parts of the Hanuman Chalisa, which have been identified after studying its structure and content.