Hanuman Jayanti 2027
20 April 2027

In most of North India, Hanuman Jayanti is kept on Chaitra Shukla Purnima, remembering the birth of Hanuman to Anjana and Kesari, blessed by Vayu, the wind god, as the Valmiki Ramayana tells in the Kishkindha Kanda. Devotion to Hanuman, honoured as Bajrang Bali, the embodiment of strength, devotion and selfless service to Rama, is kept together with Rama’s: in most Hanuman temples Ram naam is sung alongside his bhajans.

The day is kept above all with the Hanuman Chalisa, Tulsidas’s forty verses in his praise, recited widely; many devotees offer sindoor and chola, a paste of oil and vermillion, to his idol, a custom tied to the popular story that Hanuman once covered his whole body in sindoor on learning it would lengthen Rama’s life. The day is also kept in a spirit of seva, service, which Hanuman is remembered for as much as for strength.

• Sindoor
• Mustard or til oil for the chola
• Boondi laddu and bananas
• Til (sesame)
• A red flag or cloth
• Red flowers
• Hanuman Chalisa book

Source: Birth: Valmiki Ramayana, Kishkindha Kanda. The sindoor story: popular tradition, not found by that name in the Ramayana’s text

Anjana, an apsara born as a vanara under a sage’s curse, did long penance for a son; Vayu, the wind god, is held to have granted her Hanuman, who grew into a child of immense strength, mistaking the rising sun for a fruit and leaping towards it, as Hanuman himself recounts to Rama in the Kishkindha Kanda.

A popular story, told widely but not found by this name in the Ramayana’s own text, says that Hanuman once saw Sita applying sindoor and asked why. She answered that it was for Rama’s long life. Taking this literally and completely, Hanuman covered his entire body in sindoor, moving Rama deeply when he saw it; many devotees offer sindoor and chola to his idol in memory of that devotion.

What to do

• Recite the Chalisa with attention rather than haste; even once, said with devotion, is what is kept to matter.
• Give some seva or help someone in need today, since Hanuman is remembered for service as much as for strength.

What to avoid

• Many devotees keep a vrat today without meat or alcohol, as a mark of discipline rather than a rule for everyone.
• Avoid harsh words or impatience at a crowded Hanuman temple or its queue, since the day is kept in a mood of devotion, not haste.

North India keeps Hanuman Jayanti on Chaitra Purnima; this is a regional, not universal, date. Many Hanuman temples in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka instead keep it in Margashirsha, after a forty-one day Hanuman Vratham, and parts of Odisha and Tamil Nadu keep it on a different day again in Vaishakha. Your own temple’s date is the one to follow if it differs from this page’s.