Hanuman Chalisa

Opening Doha 1

श्रीगुरु चरन सरोज रज, निज मनु मुकुरु सुधारि। बरनउँ रघुबर बिमल जसु, जो दायकु फल चारि॥ śrī guru charana saroja raja, nija manu mukuru sudhāri baranaũ raghubara bimala jasu, jo dāyaku phala chāri With the dust of my guru's lotus feet I polish the mirror of my mind, and recite the unblemished glory of Raghubar, who grants the four fruits of life.

Opening Doha 2

बुद्धिहीन तनु जानिके, सुमिरौं पवन-कुमार। बल बुद्धि बिद्या देहु मोहिं, हरहु कलेस बिकार॥ buddhihīna tanu jānike, sumiraũ pavana-kumāra bala buddhi bidyā dehu mohĩ, harahu kalesa bikāra Knowing this body to be without wit, I call to mind the son of the wind. Grant me strength, intelligence and knowledge, and remove my afflictions and impurities.

Chaupai 1

जय हनुमान ज्ञान गुन सागर। जय कपीस तिहुँ लोक उजागर॥ jaya hanumāna jñāna guna sāgara, jaya kapīsa tihũ loka ujāgara Victory to Hanuman, ocean of knowledge and virtue. Victory to the lord of monkeys, who illumines the three worlds.

Chaupai 2

रामदूत अतुलित बल धामा। अंजनि-पुत्र पवनसुत नामा॥ rāmadūta atulita bala dhāmā, anjani-putra pavanasuta nāmā Messenger of Rama, abode of immeasurable strength; known as the son of Anjani and the son of the wind.

Chaupai 3

महाबीर बिक्रम बजरंगी। कुमति निवार सुमति के संगी॥ mahābīra bikrama bajarangī, kumati nivāra sumati ke sangī Great hero, mighty as a thunderbolt, remover of wrong thinking and companion of those who think well.

Chaupai 4

कंचन बरन बिराज सुबेसा। कानन कुंडल कुंचित केसा॥ kanchana barana birāja subesā, kānana kuṇḍala kunchita kesā Golden-hued and beautifully adorned, with rings in your ears and curling hair.

Chaupai 5

हाथ बज्र औ ध्वजा बिराजै। काँधे मूँज जनेऊ साजै॥ hātha bajra au dhvajā birājai, kā̃dhe mū̃ja janeū sājai The thunderbolt and the banner shine in your hands; the sacred thread of munja grass adorns your shoulder.

Chaupai 6

शंकर सुवन केसरीनंदन। तेज प्रताप महा जग बंदन॥ śankara suvana kesarīnandana, teja pratāpa mahā jaga bandana Son of Shankara, delight of Kesari; your radiance and majesty are honoured by the whole world.

Chaupai 7

बिद्यावान गुनी अति चातुर। राम काज करिबे को आतुर॥ bidyāvāna gunī ati chātura, rāma kāja karibe ko ātura Learned, virtuous and exceedingly clever — and eager to be about Rama's work.

Chaupai 8

प्रभु चरित्र सुनिबे को रसिया। राम लखन सीता मन बसिया॥ prabhu charitra sunibe ko rasiyā, rāma lakhana sītā mana basiyā You delight in hearing the Lord's deeds; Rama, Lakshman and Sita dwell in your heart.

Chaupai 9

सूक्ष्म रूप धरि सियहिं दिखावा। बिकट रूप धरि लंक जरावा॥ sūkṣma rūpa dhari siyahĩ dikhāvā, bikaṭa rūpa dhari lanka jarāvā Taking a minute form you appeared to Sita; taking a terrible form you burned Lanka.

Chaupai 10

भीम रूप धरि असुर सँहारे। रामचंद्र के काज सँवारे॥ bhīma rūpa dhari asura sãhāre, rāmachandra ke kāja sãvāre Taking an immense form you destroyed the demons and set Ramachandra's work in order.

Chaupai 11

लाय सजीवन लखन जियाये। श्रीरघुबीर हरषि उर लाये॥ lāya sajīvana lakhana jiyāye, śrīraghubīra haraṣi ura lāye You brought the life-giving herb and revived Lakshman; Raghubir joyfully embraced you.

Chaupai 12

रघुपति कीन्ही बहुत बड़ाई। तुम मम प्रिय भरतहि सम भाई॥ raghupati kīnhī bahuta baṛāī, tuma mama priya bharatahi sama bhāī Raghupati praised you greatly: you are as dear to me as my brother Bharat.

Chaupai 13

सहस बदन तुम्हरो जस गावैं। अस कहि श्रीपति कंठ लगावैं॥ sahasa badana tumharo jasa gāvaĩ, asa kahi śrīpati kaṇṭha lagāvaĩ A thousand mouths sing your glory — saying this, the Lord of Sri drew you into an embrace.

Chaupai 14

सनकादिक ब्रह्मादि मुनीसा। नारद सारद सहित अहीसा॥ sanakādika brahmādi munīsā, nārada sārada sahita ahīsā Sanaka and his brothers, Brahma and the great sages, Narada, Sharada and Shesha —

Chaupai 15

जम कुबेर दिगपाल जहाँ ते। कबि कोबिद कहि सके कहाँ ते॥ jama kubera digapāla jahā̃ te, kabi kobida kahi sake kahā̃ te — Yama, Kubera and the guardians of the directions: if they cannot describe you, how could poets and scholars?

Chaupai 16

तुम उपकार सुग्रीवहिं कीन्हा। राम मिलाय राज पद दीन्हा॥ tuma upakāra sugrīvahĩ kīnhā, rāma milāya rāja pada dīnhā You did Sugriva a great service, uniting him with Rama and restoring him to his throne.

Chaupai 17

तुम्हरो मंत्र बिभीषन माना। लंकेस्वर भए सब जग जाना॥ tumharo mantra bibhīṣana mānā, lankesvara bhae saba jaga jānā Vibhishana heeded your counsel and became lord of Lanka, as the whole world knows.

Chaupai 18

जुग सहस्र जोजन पर भानू। लील्यो ताहि मधुर फल जानू॥ juga sahasra jojana para bhānū, līlyo tāhi madhura phala jānū The sun stood a distance of yuga-sahasra-yojana away, and you swallowed it, taking it for a sweet fruit.

Chaupai 19

प्रभु मुद्रिका मेलि मुख माहीं। जलधि लाँघि गये अचरज नाहीं॥ prabhu mudrikā meli mukha māhī̃, jaladhi lā̃ghi gaye acharaja nāhī̃ Holding the Lord's ring in your mouth, you leapt across the ocean — and in that there is no wonder.

Chaupai 20

दुर्गम काज जगत के जेते। सुगम अनुग्रह तुम्हरे तेते॥ durgama kāja jagata ke jete, sugama anugraha tumhare tete Whatever hard tasks there are in the world become easy through your grace.

Chaupai 21

राम दुआरे तुम रखवारे। होत न आज्ञा बिनु पैसारे॥ rāma duāre tuma rakhavāre, hota na ājñā binu paisāre You are the guardian at Rama's door; without your leave none may enter.

Chaupai 22

सब सुख लहै तुम्हारी सरना। तुम रच्छक काहू को डर ना॥ saba sukha lahai tumhārī saranā, tuma rachchhaka kāhū ko ḍara nā All happiness is found in your shelter; with you as protector there is nothing to fear.

Chaupai 23

आपन तेज सम्हारो आपै। तीनों लोक हाँक तें काँपै॥ āpana teja samhāro āpai, tīnõ loka hā̃ka tẽ kā̃pai You alone can contain your own power; at your roar the three worlds tremble.

Chaupai 24

भूत पिसाच निकट नहिं आवै। महाबीर जब नाम सुनावै॥ bhūta pisācha nikaṭa nahĩ āvai, mahābīra jaba nāma sunāvai Ghosts and malign spirits do not come near when the name of the great hero is uttered.

Chaupai 25

नासै रोग हरै सब पीरा। जपत निरंतर हनुमत बीरा॥ nāsai roga harai saba pīrā, japata nirantara hanumata bīrā Illness is destroyed and all pain removed by constant repetition of the name of brave Hanuman.

Chaupai 26

संकट तें हनुमान छुड़ावै। मन क्रम बचन ध्यान जो लावै॥ sankaṭa tẽ hanumāna chhuṛāvai, mana krama bachana dhyāna jo lāvai Hanuman frees from difficulty those who hold him in mind, in deed and in word.

Chaupai 27

सब पर राम तपस्वी राजा। तिन के काज सकल तुम साजा॥ saba para rāma tapasvī rājā, tina ke kāja sakala tuma sājā Rama, the ascetic king, is sovereign over all — and you set all his work in order.

Chaupai 28

और मनोरथ जो कोई लावै। सोइ अमित जीवन फल पावै॥ aura manoratha jo koī lāvai, soi amita jīvana phala pāvai Whoever brings any other longing to you obtains the boundless fruit of life.

Chaupai 29

चारों जुग परताप तुम्हारा। है परसिद्ध जगत उजियारा॥ chārõ juga paratāpa tumhārā, hai parasiddha jagata ujiyārā Your majesty runs through all four ages; your renown lights up the world.

Chaupai 30

साधु-संत के तुम रखवारे। असुर निकंदन राम दुलारे॥ sādhu-santa ke tuma rakhavāre, asura nikandana rāma dulāre You are the guardian of the good and the holy, destroyer of demons, beloved of Rama.

Chaupai 31

अष्ट सिद्धि नौ निधि के दाता। अस बर दीन जानकी माता॥ aṣṭa siddhi nau nidhi ke dātā, asa bara dīna jānakī mātā Mother Janaki granted you this boon: that you may be the giver of the eight attainments and the nine treasures.

Chaupai 32

राम रसायन तुम्हरे पासा। सदा रहो रघुपति के दासा॥ rāma rasāyana tumhare pāsā, sadā raho raghupati ke dāsā The elixir of Rama's name is with you; may you remain always the servant of Raghupati.

Chaupai 33

तुम्हरे भजन राम को पावै। जनम-जनम के दुख बिसरावै॥ tumhare bhajana rāma ko pāvai, janama-janama ke dukha bisarāvai Through devotion to you one attains Rama and forgets the sorrows of birth after birth.

Chaupai 34

अंत काल रघुबर पुर जाई। जहाँ जन्म हरि-भक्त कहाई॥ anta kāla raghubara pura jāī, jahā̃ janma hari-bhakta kahāī At the end one goes to Raghubar's city, or is born where one is called a devotee of Hari.

Chaupai 35

और देवता चित्त न धरई। हनुमत सेइ सर्ब सुख करई॥ aura devatā chitta na dharaī, hanumata sei sarba sukha karaī One need hold no other deity in mind; serving Hanuman brings every happiness.

Chaupai 36

संकट कटै मिटै सब पीरा। जो सुमिरै हनुमत बलबीरा॥ sankaṭa kaṭai miṭai saba pīrā, jo sumirai hanumata balabīrā Difficulty is cut away and all pain ended for whoever calls to mind the mighty Hanuman.

Chaupai 37

जै जै जै हनुमान गोसाईं। कृपा करहु गुरुदेव की नाईं॥ jai jai jai hanumāna gosāī̃, kṛpā karahu gurudeva kī nāī̃ Victory, victory, victory to Lord Hanuman! Be gracious to me as my own teacher would be.

Chaupai 38

जो सत बार पाठ कर कोई। छूटहि बंदि महा सुख होई॥ jo sata bāra pāṭha kara koī, chhūṭahi bandi mahā sukha hoī Whoever recites this a hundred times is released from bondage and attains great happiness.

Chaupai 39

जो यह पढ़ै हनुमान चालीसा। होय सिद्धि साखी गौरीसा॥ jo yaha paṛhai hanumāna chālīsā, hoya siddhi sākhī gaurīsā Whoever reads this Hanuman Chalisa attains accomplishment — Gaurisha is witness to it.

Chaupai 40

तुलसीदास सदा हरि चेरा। कीजै नाथ हृदय महँ डेरा॥ tulasīdāsa sadā hari cherā, kījai nātha hṛdaya mahã ḍerā Tulsidas is ever the servant of Hari. O Lord, make your dwelling in my heart.

Closing Doha

पवनतनय संकट हरन, मंगल मूरति रूप। राम लखन सीता सहित, हृदय बसहु सुर भूप॥ pavanatanaya sankaṭa harana, mangala mūrati rūpa rāma lakhana sītā sahita, hṛdaya basahu sura bhūpa Son of the wind, remover of difficulty, whose very form is auspiciousness — dwell in my heart, together with Rama, Lakshman and Sita.

Who wrote the Hanuman Chalisa and when?

Tulsidas, the poet-saint best known for the Ramcharitmanas, composed it in the sixteenth century. The exact date is not established; it is generally placed in the later part of his life. Tulsidas is usually dated c. 1511–1623, though his birth year is debated. The Chalisa is the shortest and by far the most widely recited of his works.

What language is the Hanuman Chalisa in?

Awadhi, an Indo-Aryan language of the Awadh region of what is now Uttar Pradesh — not Sanskrit, and not modern standard Hindi. It is often loosely called Hindi because Awadhi is treated as a Hindi dialect, but the distinction matters: Tulsidas deliberately wrote in the spoken vernacular, which is the reason the text spread by memory rather than by manuscript.

How many verses does the Hanuman Chalisa have?

Forty-three in total: two dohas (couplets) at the start, forty chaupais (quatrains) in the middle, and one doha at the end. The name comes from chālīs, forty, which counts only the chaupais. Recitation takes roughly three to five minutes.

What does 'yug sahasra yojan par bhanu' actually mean?

Verse eighteen says the sun stood a distance of yuga-sahasra-yojana away and that the infant Hanuman swallowed it, mistaking it for a sweet fruit. A widely circulated modern claim multiplies yuga × sahasra × yojana to arrive at roughly 96 million miles and presents this as the poem encoding the Earth–Sun distance. The arithmetic works only with one particular set of values among several attested ones, no premodern commentator reads the line numerically, and the phrase reads most naturally as a poetic 'an immense distance'. It is a devotional image about a child reaching for the sun. Treat the astronomical reading as a twentieth-century interpretation rather than as the text's intent.

What does 'ashta siddhi nau nidhi' mean?

The eight siddhis are the classical yogic attainments — including the powers to become minute, vast, weightless and irresistible. The nine nidhis are the legendary treasures of Kubera. Verse thirty-one says Sita granted Hanuman the boon of being their giver. The grammar is worth noticing: he is described as the one who bestows them on others, not as one who accumulates them. The verse is frequently quoted as a promise of personal wealth, which is not what it says.

What is the meaning of the opening doha?

It says that the poet takes the dust of his guru's lotus feet and uses it to polish the mirror of his own mind, and only then recites the pure glory of Rama, who grants the four fruits of life — dharma, artha, kama and moksha. The image is precise: a mirror shows nothing useful until it is cleaned, and the poet is saying his mind is in that state before the teacher's help.

Is the Hanuman Chalisa in the Ramayana?

No. It is an independent devotional poem by Tulsidas, not part of Valmiki's Sanskrit Ramayana and not part of Tulsidas's own Ramcharitmanas. It assumes familiarity with the Rama story — particularly the events of the Sunderkand, Hanuman's journey to Lanka — but it narrates almost none of it. This is why the two are so often recited together.

Why is it recited 108 times, or 100 times?

Verse thirty-eight states that one who recites it a hundred times is released from bondage and attains great happiness — that is the text's own source for repeated recitation. The number 108 comes from elsewhere: it is the standard count across Indian devotional practice, matching the beads on a mala. Both counts are used, and multiples of 11 are also common in group settings.

When should the Hanuman Chalisa be recited?

There is no rule in the text itself. In practice it is most often recited in the early morning or at dusk after bathing, and Tuesday and Saturday are the days most associated with Hanuman across North India. Many people recite it before travel, during illness or exams, and at bedtime. The tradition's own emphasis is on regularity rather than on timing.

Do I need to understand Awadhi to recite it?

Almost nobody who recites it daily can parse every line, and the tradition has never required it. Most reciters learn it aurally as children. That said, the reason this page exists is that the poem repays being understood — several of its best-known lines say something noticeably different from what they are popularly taken to mean.

Are there commentaries on the Hanuman Chalisa?

Very few, and they are recent. Rambhadracharya's Mahaviri commentary of 1983 is generally cited as the first substantial one. For a text recited daily by hundreds of millions of people for four centuries, that is a remarkable gap — and it explains why so much of the interpretation circulating today, including the arithmetic reading of verse eighteen, is modern rather than transmitted.

What are the most famous recordings?

Renditions by Hari Om Sharan, M.S. Subbulakshmi and Amitabh Bachchan are among the best known. A Hariharan recording became the first devotional song on YouTube to pass five billion views, in November 2025 — a scale that makes the Chalisa one of the most performed pieces of religious poetry in any language.

Can non-Hindus recite the Hanuman Chalisa?

There is no textual restriction, and in practice it is recited by many people outside Hindu communities, particularly in India and the diaspora. It is a devotional poem addressed to a specific figure within a specific tradition, so reciting it is a devotional act rather than a neutral one — but no gatekeeping attaches to it in the way it historically did to certain Vedic mantras.