Hanumān
Strength and devotion — the son of the Wind who leapt the ocean for Rāma, carried a mountain, and asked for nothing but to serve.
Before an exam, before a journey, on a Saturday evening when life feels heavy, millions of Hindus turn to Hanumān. He is the most approachable of the great deities: strong enough to carry a mountain, humble enough to kneel at Rāma’s feet, and always, his devotees say, quick to come when called. He began as a character in the Rāmāyaṇa — Rāma’s messenger and servant — and became, over the centuries, a god worshipped in his own right from the Himalayas to Kuala Lumpur.
Son of the Wind
Hanumān is the son of Añjanā, an apsaras born as a monkey, and her husband Kesarī; but his true father is Vāyu, the Wind. So he is Āñjaneya, “son of Añjanā” — in Tamil, Āñcanēyar — and Māruti or Pavanaputra, “son of the wind.” In Vālmīki (Kiṣkindhākāṇḍa 66; Uttarakāṇḍa), the elder Jāmbavān tells the story of his birth: as a baby he saw the rising sun, took it for a ripe fruit, and leapt into the sky to eat it. Indra struck him with his thunderbolt, breaking his jaw (hanu) — hence the name Hanumān, “the one with the (strong) jaw.” Vāyu, grieving, withdrew the air from the world until the gods revived the child and showered him with boons.
Popular tradition Some Purāṇas and many later tellings make Hanumān a form or portion of Shiva, born to serve Vishnu as Rāma. In Vālmīki’s own Uttarakāṇḍa (canto 36), sages he annoyed as a boy curse him to forget his powers until someone reminds him — which is why Jāmbavān must remind him before the great leap.
Historians note that in Vālmīki Hanumān is a heroic and wise ally rather than a deity, and that his worship as a god grows strongly in the second millennium CE, especially from the 16th century in North India with Tulsidas and the Rāmānandī ascetics, who made him their patron. In Maharashtra, Samarth Rāmdās founded many Māruti shrines in the 17th century. Some scholars also connect him with older village guardian deities. For devotees, he has always been divine.
His great deeds
Step through Hanumān’s story as Vālmīki and the later tellings give it:
The fifth book, the Sundarakāṇḍa, “the beautiful book,” is Hanumān’s own. Community practice Reading it, alone or in a group, is a devotional practice in its own right — in times of illness, trouble or before an important undertaking — and many families, in India and Malaysia, keep a regular Sundarakāṇḍa pārāyaṇa. Tulsidas’s Awadhi Sundarkāṇḍ is sung weekly in many North Indian homes and temples.
The perfect servant
Hanumān is the model of dāsya, the devotion of a servant, one of the ninefold ways of love on Bhakti Yoga. A well-known saying, popular across India, has Rāma ask him how he sees their relationship, and Hanumān reply: when I identify with the body, I am your servant; as a soul, I am a part of you; and when I know the Self, you and I are one. Popular tradition The verse is widely quoted, but its source is uncertain.
What makes his service so loved is that it joins the greatest power with the least self-importance. He crosses the ocean, burns a city, carries a mountain — and claims nothing for himself. “Rāma’s work,” he says, is all he has. His devotees ask for both gifts: bala, strength, and buddhi, wisdom, together with humility.
The Hanuman Chālīsā
The forty verses (cālīsā means “forty”) of the Hanuman Chālīsā, in Awadhi, are attributed to Tulsidas. It may be the most recited prayer in North India today, and is known by heart by millions. After two opening couplets, the body of the hymn begins:
जय कपीस तिहुँ लोक उजागर ॥ jaya hanumāna jñāna guna sāgara,
jaya kapīsa tihũ loka ujāgara Victory to Hanumān, ocean of wisdom and virtue! Victory to the lord of the monkeys, who lights up the three worlds! Hanuman Chālīsā, first chaupāī (attributed to Tulsidas, 16th century)
A traditional Sanskrit verse also counts Hanumān among the seven cirañjīvins, “long-lived ones,” who remain alive through this age:
कृपः परशुरामश्च सप्तैते चिरजीविनः ॥ aśvatthāmā balir vyāso hanūmāṃś ca vibhīṣaṇaḥ,
kṛpaḥ paraśurāmaś ca saptaite cirajīvinaḥ Aśvatthāman, Bali, Vyāsa, Hanumān and Vibhīṣaṇa, Kṛpa and Paraśurāma — these seven live on. A traditional verse recited in morning prayers (source text uncertain)
Popular tradition Because of this, many believe that wherever the Rāmāyaṇa is read, Hanumān is present, unseen, listening — and some leave an empty seat for him.
How he is shown
Hanumān is shown as a monkey-faced, powerfully built figure, usually reddish or orange — in North India his images are smeared with vermilion (sindūr) and oil. He holds a mace (gadā) and often the mountain of herbs on his palm. As Dāsa Āñjaneya he stands or kneels with joined palms before Rāma; as Vīra Hanumān he strides as a warrior. Popular tradition The famous image of him tearing open his chest to reveal Rāma and Sītā comes from the coronation story above. Five-faced Pañcamukha Hanumān, with the faces of Narasiṃha, Garuḍa, Varāha and Hayagrīva beside his own, is worshipped as a fierce protector.
He is honoured as a lifelong celibate (brahmacārin) and a great yogi; wrestlers in North Indian akhāṛās take him as their patron, and he is called on against fear, illness and evil spirits.
Āñjaneya in the south and in Malaysia
In Tamil Nadu, Āñcanēyar stands in his own great shrines — at Namakkal, an image some 18 feet high under the open sky, and at Suchindram and Nanganallur, among others — and has a shrine in most Vishnu temples, often facing Rāma. Community practice Tamil devotees offer him garlands of vaṭai (savoury lentil rings) or of betel leaves, and a coating of butter (veṇṇey kāppu). The day of worship varies: Saturdays in much of the south, Tuesdays in the north. Hanumān Jayantī is kept on different dates in different regions — in the Tamil country in the month of Mārkaḻi. Hanumān temples also keep Rāma Navamī, the birthday of his Lord.
In Malaysia, the Sree Veera Hanuman temple on Jalan Scott in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, is known for the tail that coils around its tower. At Batu Caves, a Hanumān statue some 15 metres high stands at the entrance to the Ramayana Cave, beside his own shrine. Many Malaysian Tamil families keep a Hanumān picture by the door for protection, and pray to him before travel and examinations; customs vary.
Other Hanumāns
Southeast Asia knows a different Hanumān. In the Thai Ramakien he is a dashing, witty warrior and something of a ladies’ man — not celibate at all. He loves the mermaid Suvannamaccha, a daughter of Rāvaṇa (Thotsakan), and their son Macchanu is born with a monkey’s body and a fish’s tail; he appears in the Emerald Buddha temple murals and in Khmer and Thai masked dance. Regional telling In the Malay Hikayat Seri Rama, as scholars summarise it, Hanumān is even the son of Seri Rama and Sita Dewi, born while they had been changed into monkeys. These are not errors to be corrected but other ways of telling the story — see The Ramayana on its “many Rāmāyaṇas.”
Learn the short nāma-mantra oṃ śrī hanumate namaḥ, “Om, salutation to Śrī Hanumān,” and say it eleven times before something you are afraid of. Or, on a Saturday or Tuesday, read the Hanuman Chālīsā with a translation beside it — one sitting takes under ten minutes — or a single chapter of the Sundarakāṇḍa.
Check your knowledge:
Why is he called Hanumān?
As a baby he leapt at the sun, thinking it a fruit, and Indra struck him.
Which book of the Rāmāyaṇa is Hanumān’s own?
The fifth, “beautiful” book: the leap, Sītā in the Aśoka grove, and Laṅkā in flames.
The Hanuman Chālīsā is in which language?
An eastern dialect of Hindi, the language of Tulsidas.
In the Thai Ramakien, Hanumān…
Unlike the celibate Hanumān of India; his son Macchanu is half-monkey, half-fish.
Questions people often ask
Why do people pray to Hanumān on Saturdays?
Popular tradition A widespread story says Hanumān once freed Śani, the planet Saturn, from Rāvaṇa’s prison, and Śani promised not to trouble his devotees. So those anxious about Saturn’s influence turn to Hanumān.
Can women worship Hanumān?
Yes — and they do, in great numbers. Some temples and families keep a custom that women do not touch the image or recite certain texts, because of his celibacy; many others do not. These are customs, not scripture, and they vary.
Is Hanumān a monkey or a god?
In the story he belongs to the vānaras, forest beings in monkey form. For devotees he is divine, and the monkey form is part of his charm: the Lord’s greatest servant is not a king or a sage but a creature of the forest.
॥ Pause and reflect
- Hanumān needed to be reminded of his strength. Who reminds you of yours?
- What would it mean to do your work as “Rāma’s work,” claiming nothing?
- Strength and humility: which do you find harder?
Your notes are saved privately in this browser.
Key terms on this page
Sources & further reading
- Robert P. Goldman and Sally J. Sutherland Goldman (trans.), The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki, vol. 5: Sundarakāṇḍa (Princeton University Press, 1996).
- Philip Lutgendorf, Hanuman’s Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey (Oxford University Press, 2007).
- Paula Richman (ed.), Many Rāmāyaṇas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia (University of California Press, 1991).
- Tulasīdāsa, Hanumān Cālīsā, Awadhi text with translation (Gita Press, Gorakhpur).
- Frank E. Reynolds, “Ramayana, Rama Jataka, and Ramakien: A Comparative Study of Hindu and Buddhist Traditions,” in Paula Richman (ed.), Many Rāmāyaṇas (1991).