Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
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A tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
- Tuesday, 20 April 2027
- Sunday, 9 April 2028
- Saturday, 28 April 2029
Where Hanuman Jayanti falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 20 Apr
- 2028: 9 Apr, 10 days earlier
- 2029: 28 Apr, 18 days later
The dates, year by year
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The birth of Hanuman on the full moon of Chaitra, as the North Indian and Karnataka almanacs reckon it. Temples are given sindoor and oil at dawn, the Hanuman Chalisa and the Sundara Kanda are read through the day, and boondi, laddu and a vadamala are offered.
- Deity
- Hanuman, Rama
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Hanuman was born to Anjana and Kesari by the grace of Vayu, the wind, and the story every north Indian child hears is of the infant leaping at the rising sun to eat it like a ripe fruit, until Indra's vajra struck his jaw, the hanu, that gave him his name. When he saw Sita put sindoor in her parting for Rama's long life, he is said to have covered his whole body in it, which is why his images wear the chola of sindoor and chameli oil, and why that is the offering of the day. The north holds him to be chiranjivi, still living and present wherever the Rama story is told, so the Hanuman Chalisa of Tulsidas is less a text than a household habit, said in trouble, before a journey and at night by children afraid of the dark. Families keep the day for Sankat Mochan, the remover of trouble, for courage and health, and the akharas honour him as the wrestlers' own god. Some lineages, Ayodhya among them, also keep his birth on the Chaturdashi before Diwali, so traditions vary.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Hanuman Jayanti: how it is kept
Keep ready
- a picture or image of Hanuman, with Rama and Sita
- sindoor and chameli oil for the chola
- a red cloth and a janeu
- red flowers and a garland of aak leaves or tulsi
- boondi or besan laddoos
- gur and roasted chana
- bananas and a meetha paan
- a lamp of chameli oil or ghee
- camphor for the arti
- the Hanuman Chalisa and the Sundar Kand
The steps
0 of 9 done
What is cooked
Boondi laddoos, besan laddoos and gur-chana are the north's bhog, with bananas and a meetha paan, and the Sankat Mochan and Hanumangarhi temples give out boondi and halwa; those who fast take fruit and milk until evening. Karnataka offers butter and the vadamala, a garland of urad vadas, and Maharashtra gives out sunthavda after the birth kirtan at dawn.
The hour
Clock times for Tuesday, 20 April 2027 at Chennai
Chaitra Purnima at sunrise; the puja is at sunrise, the hour of the birth, and again in the evening.
The main rite. Chaitra Purnima holding the sunrise; the birth is held to have been at dawn, so the chola and the first arti are offered at sunrise, and the fast closes after the evening arti.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 05:54 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 05:54, sunset 18:22, UTC+5.5. These are the instants the rule is read at, not the temple's own puja times, which every temple prints for itself.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Shukla Pournami from previous day 06:09 until next day 03:57 | then Krishna Prathamai until 2 days later, 03:31 |
| Nakshatra | Chitra until next day 04:29 | then Swati until 2 days later, 04:44 |
| Rahu kaal | 15:15 to 16:49 (1 h 34 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 09:01 to 10:34 (1 h 34 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 12:08 to 13:42 (1 h 34 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:43 to 12:33 (0 h 50 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 17:55 | moonset next day 05:48 |
For Tuesday, 20 April 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
Devotees keep a fast, often on fruit and milk, and break it after the evening arti. Tuesday and Saturday are Hanuman's weekdays, and many keep a partial fast on them through the year.
What is avoided
Meat, eggs, alcohol, onion and garlic are kept out, and the day is kept in brahmacharya by those who fast. Women traditionally do not apply the chola or touch the image themselves in many north Indian temples, though they may offer everything else; traditions vary.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
The north and Karnataka keep Chaitra Purnima; Andhra and Telangana keep Vaishakha Krishna Dashami; Tamil Nadu keeps Margazhi Moolam. There is no single Indian date for it.
In other regions
- Telugu
- The Telugu country takes the forty-one day Hanuman deeksha on this full moon and gives it up on Vaishakha Krishna Dashami, its own Hanuman Jayanti.
- Kannada
- Karnataka keeps the same Chaitra Purnima with a full abhishekam, butter and the vadamala at the Anjaneya temples, and many also keep the Hanumad Vratam in Margashira.
- North India (the dates above)
- The north keeps Chaitra Purnima, with the dawn chola at Sankat Mochan in Varanasi, Hanumangarhi in Ayodhya, Salasar and Mehandipur Balaji in Rajasthan and the Hanuman Mandir at Connaught Place in Delhi; Sundar Kand readings run in homes and temples through the day.
- Maharashtra
- Maharashtra keeps the birth at sunrise with a kirtan that ends at the moment of the birth, a cradle rocked in the Maruti temple, and sunthavda given out.
The dates above are the North India reckoning, because that is the calendar this key belongs to. Switch the tradition on the calendar page to see how another one dates the same day.
Greeting
What is said to family and friends on the day
हनुमान जयंती की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएंHanuman Jayanti ki hardik shubhkamnayein
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Saturdays and Hanumath Jayanti are its days
- Namakkal Anjaneyar Temple 308 kmTamil Nadu
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Saturdays and Hanumath Jayanti are its days
- Uttar Pradesh
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Tuesdays, Saturdays and Hanuman Jayanti are its days
Your family's own temple comes first, and its calendar is the one that decides.
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A temple is listed here only where the gazetteer's own line names this day, or where this day's own entry names the town, or where the day belongs to the ancestors or the nagas and the temple is recorded for that rite. Where neither table says anything, nothing is listed as kept for the day; where fewer than three are, the nearest temples of the day's own gods are added under a heading of their own.
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
- Hanuman Chalisa: the opening dohas
- Manojavam Marutatulyavegam
- Sundara Kandam of the Ramayana
- Sri Rama Jaya Rama
A name without a link is a long reading, read in full from the family’s own copy or at the place of worship; the library prints the shorter prayers.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules for a puja held alongside, whose day the family chooses
Hanuman Jayanti's own date is set by the rule in "The hour" above, and no muhurtham moves it. For a temple visit around it, whose day the family does choose, the finder below applies these rules.
A temple visit, or the first darshan at a new temple. No weekday is ruled out: Tuesday belongs to Murugan and the Amman, Saturday to Perumal and Sani, so the day usually follows the deity rather than the almanac. Ashtami and Chaturdasi are the two tithis held back for darshan, with the standing exceptions of Sivaratri on Krishna Chaturdasi and Kala Bhairava Ashtami, which are kept on those very days. Rahu kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika kaal are not scored here; the panchangam page prints them for the day you pick, and most families simply wait them out.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
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A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.