Hanuman Jayanti

About Hanuman Jayanti

Significance

Hanuman Jayanti celebrates the birth of Hanuman, devotee and messenger of Rama, son of Anjana and the vanara chief Kesari and, by divine parentage, of Vayu, the wind god. Many devotees prefer the name Hanuman Janmotsav, since tradition counts Hanuman among the chiranjivis, those who live on through the ages.

In the Valmiki Ramayana, Kishkindha Kanda, Jambavan reminds Hanuman of his birth: how Anjana bore him by Vayu’s grace, and how as an infant he leapt toward the rising Sun, taking it for a fruit, and was struck on the jaw (hanu) by Indra’s thunderbolt, which gave him his name. His deeds in the Sundara Kanda, the leap to Lanka and the finding of Sita, are at the heart of his worship.

How and where it is observed

The Chaitra Purnima date is the popular North Indian tradition, kept in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat and Maharashtra. It is not the only date. Dharma Sindhu and the Ayodhya tradition keep Hanumat Jayanti on the Krishna Chaturdashi before Diwali; Tamil Nadu keeps Hanumath Jayanthi in the month of Margazhi, on the Amavasya; Odisha celebrates it on Pana Sankranti (the Mesha Sankranti); and Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh–Telangana have dates of their own, the Telugu observance commonly falling in Vaishakha. Each region’s temples follow their own calendar.

Rituals

Temples open before dawn, as many traditions place the birth at sunrise, and the image is bathed and dressed in sindoor mixed with jasmine oil (chola). Devotees recite the Hanuman Chalisa and the Sundara Kanda, offer laddus, gram and betel leaves, and many fast for part or all of the day. Processions (shobha yatras) with Hanuman’s image and saffron flags are common in North Indian towns.

How the date is fixed

In the tradition followed here, Hanuman Jayanti is Chaitra Shukla Purnima, the same month in both reckonings, kept on the day on which Purnima prevails at sunrise (udaya tithi). If Purnima is present at two sunrises, the first day is taken; if it touches no sunrise, the day that contains it. This is a popular date rather than a Dharmashastra ruling: the Dharma Sindhu date, Kartika Krishna Chaturdashi in Purnimanta reckoning (Ashvina Krishna Chaturdashi in Amanta calendars), and the regional dates above are not computed by this rule.

Sources

• Valmiki Ramayana, Kishkindha Kanda (Jambavan recounts Hanuman’s birth) and Sundara Kanda
• Dharma Sindhu, Pariccheda 2 (Hanumat Jayanti on Kartika Krishna Chaturdashi)
• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Hanuman

Customs differ between regions, communities and families; this description is background, not a prescription. The date above is calculated by the rule shown on this page.