Hanuman Jayanti हनुमान जयन्ती

Hanuman Jayanti marks the birth of Hanuman, the son of Anjana and Kesari and, in tradition, of Vayu the wind god in a spiritual sense. Because the story of his birth is retold in different ways across the Puranas and regional folk accounts, the date itself is not uniform in India. The full moon of Chaitra is the north Indian reckoning, whereas in Tamil Nadu Hanuman Jayanti is observed in the month of Margazhi on the day of the Moola nakshatra, and in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka other dates are followed.

The tales told on the day are the familiar ones: the child Hanuman mistaking the sun for a fruit and leaping toward it, the leap across the ocean to Lanka, the carrying of the Sanjeevani mountain, and above all his unwavering service to Rama. These stories make him the model of devotion joined with strength and humility, which is why wrestlers, athletes and students often hold him as a patron. Hanuman is also traditionally regarded as a chiranjivi, one of the immortals, which gives the festival the feeling of a celebration of a presence rather than a memory.

Temples often open before sunrise with abhishek and a heavy coating of sindoor and oil, and the Hanuman Chalisa of Tulsidas is recited, sometimes many times in a row. Tuesdays and Saturdays are the regular days of his worship, so the festival is a concentrated version of an ordinary weekly habit. Wherever sindoor is used, it is best to follow the custom of the local temple.