Hanuman Chalisa in English

The traditional maṅgala-śloka: the guru's grace removes the mind's impurities; only a cleansed mind can reflect Rama's glory, which yields dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa — the four puruṣārthas.

Humility before devotion: confessing one's limitations, the poet seeks bala (strength), buddhi (intellect) and vidyā (knowledge), and the removal of kleśa (afflictions) and vikāra (mental impurities) — the inner enemies.

The opening proclamation: jñāna (knowledge of the Vedas and grammar, per the Rāmāyaṇa) and guṇa (virtue) are boundless in Hanuman as in an ocean; his fame pervades svarga, pṛthvī and pātāla.

The verse establishes identity through lineage and service: Rāma-dūta (his defining mission), Añjanī-putra (born of Anjana, the apsara Puñjikasthalā), and Pavana-suta (empowered by Vayu, hence his swiftness and strength).

Bajraṅgī — limbs hard as vajra (Indra's thunderbolt), a nod to the boon after Indra's strike. Beyond physical might, he is the dispeller of kumati (perverse thinking) and friend of sumati (right-minded souls).

A dhyāna-śloka in miniature: kāñcana (golden) complexion — the auspicious hue of Hanuman smeared with sindoor; subeṣa (well-adorned); kuṇḍala and kuñcita keśa completing the iconographic form for meditation.

The warrior-scholar: vajra (thunderbolt mace) and dhvajā (banner) in hand; the muñja-grass yajñopavīta marks him as dvija — initiated into Vedic study, the learned devotee-warrior.

Śaṅkara-suvana: Hanuman as the eleventh Rudra's aṃśa (plenary portion); Kesari-nandana by earthly fatherhood. His tejas (radiance) and pratāpa (majesty) command universal veneration.

Bidyāvān (master of the Vedas and grammar), guṇī (virtuous), ati cātura (supremely resourceful in diplomacy — as shown in Lanka); yet all learning bows to one eagerness: Rāma-kārya.

Rasiyā — the aesthete-devotee who savours Rāma-kathā wherever it is sung (yatra yatra raghunātha-kīrtanam). The heart-enshrined triad: Rāma, Lakṣmaṇa, Sītā — as revealed when he tore open his chest.

The two līlās of the Sundara-kāṇḍa: sūkṣma-rūpa — the discreet emissary comforting Sītā in the Aśoka grove; bikaṭa-rūpa — the cosmic terror whose tail-fire consumed golden Laṅkā, sparing only Vibhīṣaṇa's home.

Bhīma-rūpa: the awe-form that crushed Laṅkā's rākṣasa champions; every act ordered toward one end — Rāma-kārya-siddhi, the accomplishment of Rama's mission.

The Sañjīvanī episode: unable to identify the herb, Hanuman bore the entire Gandhamādana peak through the night sky; Lakṣmaṇa revived, and Rāma's embrace (hṛdayālingana) sealed the devotee's glory.

The highest honour: Rāma places the devotee beside Bharata — the emblem of selfless fraternal love. Bhakti here attains the intimacy of kinship; sevā becomes bandhutva.

'Sahasra vadana' — even Śeṣa's thousand mouths are inadequate to thy glory; the embrace (kaṇṭha-lagāvana) is the Lord's own seal upon the devotee's fame.

The cosmic choir: the Sanakādi kumāras, Brahmā and the munīśvaras, Nārada, Śāradā (Sarasvatī) and Ahīśa (Śeṣa) — the entire learned and celestial order attests his glory.

The digpālas themselves — Yama, Kubera and the quarter-guardians — are but the preface; kavi (poets) and kovida (scholars) confess the inexpressible. Glory beyond rhetoric.

The Kishkindhā episode: Hanuman as the diplomat who forged the Rāma-Sugrīva alliance (the fire-witnessed pact), restoring Sugrīva to the throne — upakāra as the devotee's gift of friendship.

Hanuman's counsel turned Vibhīṣaṇa from Rāvaṇa's brother to Rāma's śaraṇāgata; the mantra (refuge in Rāma) made him Laṅkeśvara — the world knows this transformation.

The beloved bāla-līlā: the infant Hanuman leapt toward the sun (juga-sahasra-jojana — the vast cosmic distance) mistaking it for a ripe fruit — the audacity of divine childhood; Indra's vajra and the subsequent boons follow.

The mudrikā (signet ring) as pramāṇa of the messenger; the hundred-yojana leap over the ocean — 'no marvel,' for the Lord's grace makes the impossible natural. The Sundara-kāṇḍa in a line.

The devotee's confidence: durgama (impassable) tasks turn sugama (easily passable) through anugraha (grace). The theological promise of the Chalisa — grace as the solvent of difficulty.

Dvāra-rakṣaka: the theological gatekeeper — access to Rāma comes through Hanumān. Hence the tradition: Hanuman's grace precedes Rama's darshan; the devotee approaches the Lord through the servant.

Śaraṇāgati's fruit: saba sukha — every felicity — in his refuge; the rakṣaka (protector) dissolves bhaya (fear). The verse devotees whisper in anxious hours.

Tejas beyond measure: only he can 'samhāro' (restrain) his own radiance — lest creation be scorched; his hāṅka (war-cry) makes the triloka tremble. Power perfectly self-mastered.

The protective mantra-shakti: bhūta-piśāca (malefic spirits) cannot approach where Mahāvīra's nāma resounds. Hence Hanuman's name is invoked for rakṣā in homes and at cremation grounds.

Nāma-japa as cikitsā: rogā (disease) and pīṛā (suffering, physical and mental) dissolve through nirantara japa — unbroken remembrance of Hanumat Vīra. Faith as healing.

Sankat-mochan: the deliverer from perils — for one who meditates with mana (mind), karma (action) and vacana (speech) unified. The triad of sincere devotion.

Rāma the tapasvī-rājā — sovereignty wedded to asceticism; and Hanumān the perfect instrument — every undertaking brought to fruition. The ideal of niṣkāma sevā.

Manoratha (heart's desire) placed before Hanuman yields amita phala — the imperishable fruit: not merely the wish fulfilled, but life's ultimate fulfillment.

Cārõ juga: Hanuman's pratāpa spans Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali — the ciranjīvī (immortal) promised by Sītā to remain till the Rāma-kathā endures; jagat-ujiyārā, the world's illumination.

The dual office: rakhavāre of sādhu-santa (protector of the virtuous) and asura-nikandana (uprooter of demonic forces); crowned by Rāma-dulāre — the beloved of Rāma.

Sītā's boon: aṣṭa-siddhi (aṇimā, mahimā, garimā, laghimā, prāpti, prākāmya, īśitva, vaśitva) and nava-nidhi — Hanuman as their dātā, dispenser of yogic attainments.

Rāma-rasāyana: the alchemical elixir — Rāma-nāma as the supreme medicine for the disease of saṃsāra; and the eternal vow: sadā Raghupati-dāsa — servanthood as the highest bliss.

The upāya and the upeya: Hanuman-bhajana as the means, Rāma-prāpti as the end; janma-janma-duḥkha — the accumulated sorrow of saṃsāra — dissolved in that attainment.

Anta-kāla: the promise of sadgati — attaining Raghupura (Sāketa, the divine abode); and should rebirth occur, it is as Hari-bhakta — the blessed continuity of devotion.

Ekāgratā (one-pointedness): not the denial of other devatās, but the sufficiency of Hanumat-sevā — sarva-sukha-kara, the granter of all felicity. The devotee's exclusive refuge.

The celebrated abhaya-vākya: saṅkaṭa-kaṭai — perils 'cut away'; the remembrance (sumiraṇa) of Hanumat-balabīra as the unfailing refuge in crisis, chanted in every Hindu household.

The triple jaya — victory over evil, fear, and the ego; the devotee begs Hanuman's kṛpā as a gurudeva's: the guru's grace that dispels darkness and grants jñāna.

Śata-bāra pāṭha: the phala-śruti begins — a hundred recitations; bandi (bondage, outer and inner) falls away; mahā-sukha — supreme felicity — dawns. The traditional anuṣṭhāna.

The seal of authority: siddhi (accomplishment) for the reader, with Gaurīśa (Śiva) as sākṣī (witness). The Hanuman-Shiva identity (Rudra-aṃśa) underwrites the guarantee.

The poet's signature (bhaṇitā): Tulasīdāsa sadā Hari-cerā — perpetual servanthood; and the closing prayer — hṛdaya-ḍerā: 'pitch your tent in my heart, O Nātha.' The devotee's heart as Hanuman's temple.

The maṅgala-closing: Pavana-tanaya, saṅkaṭa-haraṇa, maṅgala-mūrti — and the final installation: the divine quartet (Rāma, Lakṣmaṇa, Sītā, Hanumān) enthroned in the devotee's heart. Hṛdaya-mandira.