श्री हनुमान चालीसा
If there's one prayer that cuts across every region, language, and tradition in India, it's this one. Tulsidas wrote these forty verses in Awadhi, not Sanskrit, not for scholars, but for everyone. They tell the story of Hanuman: the one who leapt across the ocean, carried a mountain, and never once asked for anything in return. People chant the Chalisa when they're afraid, when they need courage, when nothing else works. Millions do it daily, especially on Tuesdays and Saturdays. There's a reason it's survived five centuries. These verses just work.
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Chant all 44 verses →The opening verses are below.
ಶ್ರೀ ಗುರು ಚರಣ ಸರೋಜ ರಜ ನಿಜಮನ ಮುಕುರ ಸುಧಾರಿ ವರಣೌ ರಘುವರ ವಿಮಲ ಯಶ ಜೋ ದಾಯಕ ಫಲಚಾರಿ
ಬುದ್ಧಿಹೀನ ತನು ಜಾನಿಕೇ ಸುಮಿರೌ ಪವನಕುಮಾರ ಬಲ ಬುದ್ಧಿ ವಿದ್ಯಾ ದೇಹು ಮೋಹಿ ಹರಹು ಕಲೇಶ ವಿಕಾರ
ಜಯ ಹನುಮಾನ ಜ್ಞಾನಗುಣಸಾಗರ
ಜಯ ಕಪೀಶ ತಿಹು ಲೋಕ ಉಜಾಗರ
ರಾಮದೂತ ಅತುಲಿತ ಬಲಧಾಮಾ
ಅಂಜನಿಪುತ್ರ ಪವನಸುತ ನಾಮಾ
ಮಹಾವೀರ ವಿಕ್ರಮ ಬಜರಂಗೀ
ಕುಮತಿ ನಿವಾರ ಸುಮತಿ ಕೇ ಸಂಗೀ
ಬುದ್ಧಿಹೀನ ತನು ಜಾನಿಕೇ ಸುಮಿರೌ ಪವನಕುಮಾರ ಬಲ ಬುದ್ಧಿ ವಿದ್ಯಾ ದೇಹು ಮೋಹಿ ಹರಹು ಕಲೇಶ ವಿಕಾರ
Chanting the Chalisa in the Kannada tradition
Karnataka carries two distinct Hanuman streams that often run alongside each other. The Madhva line, anchored by Vyasaraja in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, consecrated more than seven hundred Hanuman idols across South India, with the Yantrodharaka at Hampi being the most famous; Madhvas read Hanuman as the highest among liberated souls and as a form of Vayu, not as an avatar of any god. The broader Smarta and folk tradition, present everywhere from Anjanadri Hill near Hampi which many treat as Hanuman's birthplace, to Ragigudda in Bangalore which draws thousands every Saturday, reads him as a Rudravatara, a form of Shiva himself. Both readings live comfortably inside the Chalisa, since Tulsidas writes Shankar Suvan, Shankar's son. The Kannada script renders the Awadhi vowels with the same dīrgha markings as Sanskrit, so for anyone trained in Carnatic recitation the meter falls into place quickly.