Hanuman Jayanti: What, Why, When, How

What it is

Hanuman Jayanti celebrates the birth of Hanuman, the devoted servant of Rama, known for his strength, his learning and his humility. Families read the Hanuman Chalisa, go to a Hanuman temple, and many fast or do some act of service in his name.

Regions keep his birthday on different days of the year. In North India it is the full moon of Chaitra, in spring. Telugu families in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana keep it about forty days later, on the tenth day of the dark half of Vaishakha. Tamil families, and many in Kerala, keep it in the solar month of Margazhi (Dhanu), in December or January, and Karnataka keeps a Hanuman Vratam in Margashirsha. In Odisha it is Pana Sankranti, the Odia new year. Each of these is a true Hanuman Jayanti for the families who keep it.

Some families prefer the name Hanuman Janmotsav, "birth festival", because tradition counts Hanuman among the chiranjivis, the ever-living ones.

Why it is kept

The birth. Valmiki's Ramayana tells Hanuman's birth story in the Kishkindha Kanda. The vanaras have reached the shore of the ocean and do not know how to cross it to Lanka. Hanuman sits silent and apart, so the old bear-king Jambavan reminds him who he is. His mother Anjana, a heavenly nymph born on earth as a vanara, was loved by Vayu, the god of the wind, and Hanuman was born as Vayu's son. The Hanuman Chalisa remembers him in the same way, as Anjani's son, Pavansut (son of the wind) and the son of Kesari, Anjana's husband.

The leap at the sun. As a baby Hanuman saw the rising sun and took it for a ripe fruit. In Griffith's translation: “Up leapt the child, a wondrous bound, Three hundred leagues above the ground”. Indra's thunderbolt struck him and he fell, hurting his jaw (hanu), and so he was “Named Hanumán thenceforth by all” (Book 4, Canto 66). Vayu, grieving, stopped the winds, until the gods made peace with him and gave the child their blessings. The Chalisa tells the same story in one line: he swallowed the sun, taking it for a sweet fruit.

Remember your strength. Jambavan tells this story for a reason: he wants Hanuman to remember his own strength. Hanuman then rises, grows great, and makes the leap across the ocean to find Sita (the opening of the Sundara Kanda). Many families read the Sundarkand of Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas on this day for that reason.

Hanuman and Shiva. Some traditions hold that Hanuman is a form of Shiva: in the Deccan, where Maruti (Hanuman) is the chief village god, he is held to be an incarnation of Shiva, and of the eleven Rudras (Enthoven, 1923); the Chalisa calls him "Shankar suvan". Vaishnava families honour him above all as Rama's perfect devotee. Both readings live side by side in many homes.

Why the days differ. The texts and traditions give different days for his birth, and no single text settles the question for everyone. North Indian calendars take Chaitra Purnima and the hour of sunrise; Telugu tradition ends a 41-day vow of Hanuman worship (Hanuman Deeksha) on Vaishakha Krishna Dashami; Tamil tradition takes the new moon of Margazhi with the Moola nakshatra; Karnataka keeps a Hanuman Vratam on Margashirsha Shukla Trayodashi; and some North Indian temples, for example in Ayodhya, also celebrate his birth on the Krishna Chaturdashi of Kartika in their purnimanta calendar (Ashvin in the amanta calendar), the day before Diwali.

The texts behind the story

• Valmiki, Ramayana, Book 4 (Kishkindha Kanda), Canto 66: Jambavan tells the story of Hanuman's birth. R. T. H. Griffith (tr.), The Rámáyan of Válmíki (London: Trübner, 1870–74), Project Gutenberg transcription. Griffith died 1906: public domain. Quoted verbatim. (Book IV, Canto LXVI "Hanumán")
• Hanuman Chalisa, chaupai 2 (Anjani's son, Pavansut)
• Hanuman Chalisa, chaupai 6 (Shankar suvan, Kesari's son)
• Hanuman Chalisa, chaupai 18 (the sun swallowed as a sweet fruit)
• R. E. Enthoven, The Folklore of Bombay (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1923), chapter V, "Hanuman or Maruti": Maruti held to be an incarnation of Shiva (p. 188) and of the eleven Rudras (pp. 189-190). Enthoven died 1952: public domain. Checked on the page images by the Learn page review (learn/who-is-hanuman); summarised in our own words. (pp. 188-190 (leaves n192-n194))

When it is kept

The North Indian Hanuman Jayanti is Chaitra Purnima, the full moon of Chaitra, kept on the day on which Purnima is present at sunrise at your location, because tradition holds that Hanuman was born at sunrise. If Purnima is present at sunrise on two days, or on neither, the first day is taken. The app also computes the regional days, each by its own rule: Telugu, Vaishakha Krishna Dashami present at sunrise (engine id hanuman-jayanti-telugu); Karnataka's Hanuman Vratam, Margashirsha Shukla Trayodashi present at sunrise (hanuman-vratam); Tamil, the Amavasya of the solar month Margazhi present at sunrise (hanumath-jayanthi-tamil); and Odisha, Pana Sankranti, the day of the Sun's entry into Mesha (pana-sankranti).

The date, from the calendar engine

• Hanuman Jayanti 2027: Puja falls on Tuesday, April 20, 2027 in Washington DC (computed for this city). The date is the same in New Delhi.

The date depends on your city. Every city we cover is on the year page.

Traditions and regional customs

• North Indian: Chaitra Purnima at sunrise
• Telugu (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana): Vaishakha Krishna Dashami, ending the Hanuman Deeksha
• Kannada: Hanuman Vratam on Margashirsha Shukla Trayodashi
• Tamil and Malayali: Margazhi Amavasya, with Moola nakshatra in Tamil practice
• Odia: Pana Sankranti (Mesha Sankranti)
• Some North Indian temples, for example in Ayodhya: also Kartika Krishna Chaturdashi (purnimanta; Ashvin in amanta), the day before Diwali

Why the day can differ

The biggest difference is between traditions, not cities: the same family year can hold four or five Hanuman Jayantis. Choose your tradition in the app's settings and it will show your day; it can also show the others.

Within one tradition, cities can still differ. The North Indian rule looks at sunrise, so when Purnima begins close to sunrise, cities east and west of each other can keep different days, and a city abroad can differ from India by a day. Tamil practice also asks for the Moola nakshatra on the day; the app uses the Amavasya alone, so a Tamil temple may in some years keep the next or previous day. The Kartika Chaturdashi celebration kept in some North Indian temples has no separate rule in the app.

How to keep it at home

1. Wake early, bathe and wear clean clothes; many choose red, orange or saffron. Many families begin with a short prayer to Rama, since Hanuman's devotion is to Rama.
2. Place a picture or murti of Hanuman, often with Rama, Sita and Lakshmana, on a clean cloth. Light a lamp of ghee or sesame oil and incense.
3. Offer a tilak of sindoor, red flowers or a garland, tulsi leaves, and simple food: jaggery with roasted chana, boondi or besan laddoos, or bananas. In North Indian temples devotees offer sindoor mixed with oil (chola); in Tamil temples, garlands of vadas and butter.
4. Read the Hanuman Chalisa, once or as many times as your family's custom asks (7, 11 or 108 times are common). Many families or temples read the whole Sundarkand of the Ramcharitmanas. Other prayers often said are the Bajrang Baan, the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Ashtak, the aarti "Aarti kije Hanuman Lala ki" and the name of Rama: "Shri Ram, jai Ram, jai jai Ram".
5. Do an aarti, and share the offered food as prasad. Many temples hold a procession and a community meal (bhandara); families who cannot go can join a recitation at home with friends or by video call.
6. Do one act of service (seva) in Hanuman's spirit: help someone, feed someone, or give time or food to a temple or a charity.

Fasting

Many devotees fast until the morning puja and prasad; some fast the whole day, eating only fruit and milk (phalahar) or one simple meal, and keep the day calm and disciplined. Telugu devotees who kept the 41-day Hanuman Deeksha complete it on their Hanuman Jayanti. Anyone who is pregnant, unwell, diabetic, elderly or on regular medicine should keep a light fast, or none, and talk to a doctor first.

Food

Boondi and besan laddoos, jaggery with roasted chana, bananas, puri with halwa, and in South Indian temples vadas and sweet pongal. In Odisha, Pana Sankranti is named after pana, a cool drink of bael fruit, jaggery and curd shared on the day.

Prayers read at this time

• Hanuman Chalisa

For children

When Hanuman was a baby, he saw the bright orange sun rising and thought it was a ripe fruit. He jumped so high that he flew up into the sky to grab it. The gods had to stop him, and he fell and hurt his chin, which is why he is called Hanuman. Years later, when his friends had to cross the wide ocean, wise old Jambavan reminded him: "You are strong!" Hanuman remembered, took a giant leap and crossed the sea to find Sita.

Something to do together

Learn the first two lines of the Hanuman Chalisa together, a few words at a time. Then sit in a circle and take turns telling each person one strength you see in them, as Jambavan did for Hanuman.

Sources

• Panchang engine rules hanuman-jayanti, hanuman-jayanti-telugu, hanuman-vratam, hanumath-jayanthi-tamil and pana-sankranti (packages/panchang/data/festivals.json), with the sources each rule lists, including the note that Tamil practice also asks for Moola nakshatra.
• R. T. H. Griffith (tr.), The Rámáyan of Válmíki (1870–74), Book 4, Canto 66. Public domain.
• Hanuman Chalisa
• Office Holidays, "Mahabishuba Sankranti" in Odisha, 2020–2027: the Odia new year as published, which the app's rule for Pana Sankranti follows (the day of the Mesha Sankranti if it falls before that day's Hindu midnight, else the next day).