Hanumān Jayantī

When it falls

Most of India keeps the full moon of Caitra, in late March or April. Andhra and Telangana keep the tenth day of dark Vaiśākha, about six weeks later; Karnataka keeps the full moon of Mārgaśīrṣa in December; Tamil Nadu the new moon of Mārgaḻi.

The Phala almanac gives the exact day for your own city; the lunar and solar rules above are what it computes from.

The story

Hanumān is the son of the wind god Vāyu and Añjanā, and the greatest of Rāma's devotees. As a child he leapt for the sun, taking it for a fruit, and was struck down by Indra's thunderbolt; the gods made amends with the gifts that made him unstoppable.

In the Rāmāyaṇa he crosses the sea to Laṅkā in one leap to find Sītā, burns the city with his tail, and carries a whole mountain back because he cannot tell which herb will save Lakṣmaṇa. He asks for nothing but to serve. Strength placed wholly at the service of love is what the day honours.

How the day is kept

• The Hanumān Cālīsā, Tulsīdās's forty verses of praise, is recited, often 108 times in a temple over the day.
• Images are anointed with sindūr (vermilion) mixed in oil, since Hanumān once covered his whole body in it after learning that Sītā wore it for Rāma's long life.
• Wrestlers and gymnasts keep the day; the akhāṛā (traditional gymnasium) is his shrine.
• Readings of the Sundara Kāṇḍa, the book of the Rāmāyaṇa that is Hanumān's, run through the day.

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