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Photo: Natasha Khaitan · CC BY-SA 4.0
The devas

Shri Hanuman

हनुमान्

The vanara son of Vayu and Anjana, Shri Rama’s greatest devotee and messenger, who crossed the ocean to find Sita; a chiranjivi who lives on wherever the Ramayana is sung, and in Shaiva tradition an avatar of Rudra.

Anjaneya, son of AnjanaMaruti, Pavanaputra, son of the windBajrangbaliSankat Mochan, remover of distressMahavira
Abode
Wherever Rama’s name is sung; Gandhamadana and Kimpurusha-varsha in the Puranas
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Cite

MLA

“Shri Hanuman.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/devata/hanuman/. Accessed .

APA

Hindu History. (2026). Shri Hanuman. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/devata/hanuman/

How they are shown

Vermilion-coated murtis with a mace (gada) over the shoulder, often holding up the Dronagiri mountain with the sanjivani herb; or kneeling with joined palms before Rama (Dasa Anjaneya). The five-faced Panchamukhi form adds the faces of Narasimha, Garuda, Varaha and Hayagriva.

01The Sundara Kanda

Valmiki gives a whole book of the Ramayana to Hanuman. In the Sundara Kanda he leaps from Mahendra hill across the ocean, passes Mainaka, outwits Surasa and kills Simhika, searches Lanka by night and finds Sita under a tree in the Ashoka grove. He gives her Rama’s ring, takes her jewel back as a token, and lets himself be bound so that he can see Ravana face to face. When they set his tail on fire, he burns Lanka. Many homes read the Sundara Kanda in full on Tuesdays and in times of trouble.

02The Chalisa and the vow

Goswami Tulsidas wrote the Hanuman Chalisa in Awadhi in the sixteenth century, forty chaupais that more Hindus know by heart than perhaps any other text. Tradition credits him with founding the Sankat Mochan temple at Varanasi. Tuesdays and Saturdays are Hanuman’s; devotees offer sindoor mixed with oil, jasmine oil and boondi, and read the Chalisa or the Bajrang Baan. Hanuman Jayanti is kept on Chaitra Purnima in the north, while Tamil Nadu, Andhra and Odisha keep it on other dates by their own reckonings.

03Where Hanuman is worshipped

Hanuman Garhi in Ayodhya is climbed before Rama’s darshan, for he guards the city. At Salasar in Rajasthan he has a beard and moustache; at Mehandipur Balaji people come for release from troubles of the spirit. At Prayagraj he lies reclining by the Sangam. On the Jakhu hill above Shimla and on Anjanadri near Hampi, held to be his birthplace in Kishkindha, the monkeys are treated as his own. Nearly every village in north India has a small Hanuman shrine at its edge.

In the texts

  • Valmiki Ramayana, Kishkindha and Sundara Kandas
  • Ramcharitmanas and Hanuman Chalisa of Tulsidas
  • Shiva Purana, Shatarudra Samhita

Utsav: festivals

Hanuman JayantiChaitra Purnima in most of North India; other dates by regionTuesdays and SaturdaysBada Mangal (Lucknow, Jyeshtha Tuesdays)

Temples on this site 20

Hanuman Garhi, AyodhyaStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Hanuman Garhi, Ayodhya

The hilltop fort-temple of Hanuman in Ayodhya, reached by 76 steps, where by custom pilgrims take Hanuman’s leave before darshan of Shri Ram Lalla. It is held by the Nirvani Akhara of the Ramanandi bairagis.

Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple, VaranasiStanding
The Mughal era and the resistance

Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple, Varanasi

The Hanuman temple of Tulsidas on the Assi stream, where, by the Kashi tradition, he had darshan of Hanuman. A bomb exploded here on 7 March 2006; the temple held aarti that evening and its music festival a few weeks later.

Salasar Balaji TempleStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Salasar Balaji Temple

A Hanuman temple in the Shekhawati sand country, built around a murti a farmer’s plough struck at Asota in 1754. It is one of the most visited Hanuman shrines in north India.

Mehandipur Balaji TempleStanding
Independent Bharat

Mehandipur Balaji Temple

A Hanuman shrine in a narrow valley between Dausa and Karauli, where people come to be freed of sankat, afflictions of spirits and the mind. Three deities sit in court here: Balaji, Pretraj Sarkar and Bhairav, the kotwal.

Bade (Lete) Hanuman Temple, PrayagrajStanding
The Mughal era and the resistance

Bade (Lete) Hanuman Temple, Prayagraj

The shrine of the reclining Hanuman beside the fort at the Sangam, where a murti some six metres long lies below ground level. In the monsoon the Ganga rises into the shrine, and Prayagraj takes it as the river bathing Hanuman.

Jakhu Hanuman Temple, ShimlaStanding
Independent Bharat

Jakhu Hanuman Temple, Shimla

The Hanuman temple on Jakhu, the highest point of Shimla at 2,455 m. A tall orange murti of Hanuman, 108 feet high, rises above the deodars and can be seen from most of the town.

Anjanadri Hill, Hampi (Kishkindha)Standing
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Anjanadri Hill, Hampi (Kishkindha)

Across the Tungabhadra from Hampi, in the country the Ramayana calls Kishkindha, a white shrine on a boulder hill marks where the Kishkindha tradition holds that Mata Anjana gave birth to Hanuman.

Mahavir Mandir, PatnaRebuilt
Independent Bharat

Mahavir Mandir, Patna

The Hanuman temple at the gate of Patna Junction, the busiest temple in Bihar, famous for its naivedyam laddu. Its trust, long led by Acharya Kishore Kunal, runs cancer and children’s hospitals from the offerings.

Kashtbhanjan Dev Hanuman Temple, Sarangpur (Salangpur)Standing
Company rule and the war of 1857

Kashtbhanjan Dev Hanuman Temple, Sarangpur (Salangpur)

A Hanuman temple of the Vadtal Swaminarayan diocese in the village of Sarangpur, where people come for release from afflictions. Hanuman here crushes a demoness under his foot.

Prachin Hanuman Mandir, Connaught PlaceStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Prachin Hanuman Mandir, Connaught Place

The old Hanuman temple on Baba Kharak Singh Marg, older than New Delhi itself, where Hanuman is worshipped in his child form. The chant of Shri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram has gone on here without a break since 1 August 1964.

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, NeasdenStanding
Independent Bharat

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Neasden

The first traditional carved-stone mandir in Europe, opened in August 1995 in a London suburb. Its white marble and limestone were carved in India and assembled here.

Bhaktivedanta Manor, WatfordStanding
Independent Bharat

Bhaktivedanta Manor, Watford

A Hertfordshire manor that the Beatle George Harrison bought for the Hare Krishna devotees in 1973 is now the largest Hindu pilgrimage place in Britain at Janmashtami. Srila Prabhupada lived and taught here, and it bears his name.

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