Forty short verses and three couplets praising Hanuman, Ram's messenger, in old Awadhi. Here is every word, with the stories it assumes you already know.
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Tap any word for its meaning. A doha is a couplet, and a chaupai is a short verse.
Shri guru charan saroj raj nij manu mukuru sudhari
With dust from my teacher's lotus feet, I clean the mirror of my mind.
baranaun Raghubar bimal jasu jo dayaku phal chari
Then I describe Ram's spotless fame, which the verse says gives life's four fruits: duty, prosperity, pleasure and liberation.
buddhihin tanu janike sumiraun Pavan kumar
Knowing how little sense I have, I call to mind the Son of the Wind.
bal budhi bidya dehu mohin harahu kales bikar
Give me strength, intelligence and learning, and take away my suffering and my flaws.
jai Hanuman gyan gun sagar
Victory to Hanuman, an ocean of wisdom and goodness.
jai Kapis tihun lok ujagar
Victory to the lord of the monkeys, who lights up all three worlds.
Ram doot atulit bal dhama
You are Ram's messenger, the home of a strength nothing can match.
Anjani putra Pavan sut nama
You are Anjana's son, known by the name Son of the Wind.
Jambavan tells Hanuman the story of his own birth to remind him what he can do. Anjana, a celestial woman living in a monkey's body because of a curse, is the wife of the monkey chief Kesari. The Wind god embraces her, and Hanuman is born as his son.
Source: Valmiki Ramayana, Kishkindha Kanda, sarga 66
Mahabir bikram Bajrangi
Great hero, brave, with limbs as hard as a thunderbolt.
kumati nivar sumati ke sangi
You drive off bad thinking and keep company with good thinking.
kanchan baran biraj subesa
Gold in colour, you shine in fine clothes,
kanan kundal kunchit kesa
with earrings in your ears and curling hair.
haath bajra au dhwaja birajai
A thunderbolt and a banner shine in your hands.
kandhe munj janeu sajai
A sacred thread of munj grass sits on your shoulder.
Sankar suvan Kesari nandan
You are a son of Shiva and the joy of Kesari.
tej pratap maha jag bandan
Your radiance and might are so great that the whole world bows to you.
The verse gives Hanuman two kinds of parent. In Valmiki, Kesari is the husband of Anjana, and the Wind god is Hanuman's father. The link to Shiva comes from other traditions, where Hanuman is an aspect or incarnation of Shiva. Some printings read 'Shankar svayam' here, 'Shiva himself', instead of 'Shankar suvan', 'son of Shiva'.
Source: Valmiki Ramayana, Kishkindha Kanda, sarga 66 (Kesari and the Wind); Shiva Purana (Hanuman as a form of Shiva)
bidyavan guni ati chatur
You are learned, gifted and very clever,
Ram kaaj karibe ko aatur
and always eager to do Ram's work.
prabhu charitra sunibe ko rasiya
You love nothing more than hearing your Lord's story.
Ram Lakhan Sita man basiya
Ram, Lakshman and Sita live in your heart.
sukshma roop dhari Siyahin dikhava
Taking a tiny form, you showed yourself to Sita.
bikat roop dhari Lank jarava
Taking a fearsome form, you set Lanka on fire.
Hanuman slips into Lanka small enough to go unnoticed and finds Sita in the Ashoka grove. Later he is captured, his tail is set alight to shame him, and he uses the burning tail to set the city on fire.
Source: Valmiki Ramayana, Sundara Kanda
bheem roop dhari asur sanhare
Taking a terrifying form, you destroyed the demons,
Ramchandra ke kaaj sanvare
and brought Ram's tasks to a good end.
Hanuman kills Ravana's son Aksha in Lanka, and in the great war he kills commanders including Dhumraksha and Akampana.
Source: Valmiki Ramayana, Sundara Kanda and Yuddha Kanda
lay sajeevan Lakhan jiyaye
You brought the life-giving herb and revived Lakshman.
Shri Raghubir harashi ur laye
Overjoyed, Ram pulled you to his chest.
Lakshman lies near death on the battlefield. Hanuman flies to the Himalaya for healing herbs and, when he cannot pick them out, carries back the mountain peak itself.
Source: Valmiki Ramayana, Yuddha Kanda; Tulsidas, Ramcharitmanas, Lanka Kand
Raghupati kinhi bahut badai
Ram praised you highly:
tum mam priya Bharatahi sam bhai
"You are my dear brother, the equal of Bharat."
When Hanuman comes back with news of Sita, Ram embraces him and says he has no way to repay him. We have not traced the comparison with Bharat to this scene. The closest line we've found is in the Ramcharitmanas, Uttar Kand, where Ram says it to Guha, the Nishad chief: "तुम्ह मम सखा भरत सम भ्राता".
Source: Valmiki Ramayana, Yuddha Kanda; Tulsidas, Ramcharitmanas, Sundar Kand
sahas badan tumharo jas gavain
"A thousand mouths sing your fame," (many take this as Shesha, the thousand-headed serpent)
as kahi Shripati kanth lagavain
Saying this, Ram hugged you close.
Sanakadik Brahmadi munisa
Sanaka and his brothers, Brahma and the great sages,
Narad Sarad sahit ahisa
Narada, Saraswati and the king of serpents,
Jam Kuber digpal jahan te
Yama, Kubera and the guardians of the directions all fall short of saying it.
kabi kobid kahi sake kahan te
So how could poets and scholars ever tell your glory?
tum upkar Sugrivahin kinha
You did Sugriva a great favour.
Ram milay raj pad dinha
You brought him to Ram, and that gave him back his throne.
Sugriva, driven out by his brother Vali, sends Hanuman to find out who the two strangers in the forest are. Hanuman brings them together. Ram kills Vali, and Sugriva becomes king of Kishkindha.
Source: Valmiki Ramayana, Kishkindha Kanda
tumharo mantra Bibhishan mana
Vibhishana took your advice,
Lankeswar bhae sab jag jana
and became lord of Lanka, as the whole world knows.
Ravana's brother Vibhishana leaves Lanka to join Ram. In Tulsidas, Hanuman meets him inside Lanka and they talk before he goes. In Valmiki, Hanuman speaks up for accepting him when Ram's camp debates whether he can be trusted. After Ravana's death, Vibhishana is crowned.
Source: Tulsidas, Ramcharitmanas, Sundar Kand; Valmiki Ramayana, Yuddha Kanda
jug sahasra jojan par Bhanu
The Sun stands an unimaginable distance away, “yuga, thousand, yojanas” in the hymn's words,
lilyo tahi madhur phal janu
and you swallowed it, thinking it was a sweet fruit.
Jambavan tells this to Hanuman. As a baby in the forest he sees the Sun rising, takes it for a fruit and leaps into the sky, travelling three hundred yojanas before the heat throws him back. Indra, angry, hurls his thunderbolt. The child falls onto a mountain peak and his left jaw (hanu) breaks, and that, the text says, is how he came to be called Hanuman. The Wind god, furious, stops blowing until the gods make amends. Valmiki does not say the child swallowed the Sun. The hymn's word, 'swallowed', goes further than Valmiki does.
Source: Valmiki Ramayana, Kishkindha Kanda, sarga 66 (4.66.21-25)
Honest check
“This line gives the exact distance from the Earth to the Sun.”
It is easy to see why this claim is appealing, and the sum does come close. But it works only if the units are picked to fit. A yuga is 12,000 divine years in one scheme (Manusmriti 1.71), but that same period is 4.32 million human years if you convert it, a single Kali Yuga is 1,200 divine years, and the Vedanga Jyotisha uses a yuga of just 5 years. The word can also simply mean a pair. A yojana has no single length either: it changes from text to text, and Indian astronomers themselves used different values. Choose differently at any step and the answer changes enormously. Nothing in the verse says to multiply. The natural reading is poetic: the Sun is unimaginably far away, and this child still reached for it as if it were fruit on a branch. Valmiki's own telling has him fly three hundred yojanas before the heat turns him back, with no figure for the Sun's distance at all. The distance reading is a modern claim. The verse is moving without it.
prabhu mudrika meli mukh mahin
With your Lord's ring held in your mouth,
jaladhi langhi gaye acharaj nahin
you leapt across the ocean, and no wonder you could.
Ram gives Hanuman his ring so that Sita will trust him. Hanuman then leaps across the ocean to Lanka. The picture of him carrying the ring in his mouth comes from this verse; we have not traced that detail to Valmiki.
Source: Valmiki Ramayana, Kishkindha Kanda (the ring) and Sundara Kanda (the leap)
durgam kaaj jagat ke jete
However many hard tasks the world holds,
sugam anugrah tumhare tete
all of them turn easy by your grace, the hymn says.
Ram duare tum rakhvare
You stand guard at Ram's door.
hot na aagya binu paisare
No one gets in without your permission.
sab sukh lahai tumhari sarna
Whoever takes shelter with you finds every happiness, the hymn says.
tum rachchhak kahu ko dar na
With you as protector, why be afraid of anyone?
aapan tej samharo aapai
Only you can hold back your own power.
teenon lok hank ten kanpai
The three worlds shake when you roar.
bhoot pisach nikat nahin aavai
The hymn says ghosts and evil spirits stay away
Mahabir jab naam sunavai
when the great hero's name is spoken.
nasai rog harai sab peera
The hymn says illness is destroyed and all pain taken away
japat nirantar Hanumat beera
for anyone who keeps repeating the name of brave Hanuman.
sankat ten Hanuman chhudavai
The hymn says Hanuman frees from trouble
man kram bachan dhyan jo lavai
anyone who turns to him in thought, action and word.
sab par Ram tapaswi raja
Above everyone stands Ram, the king who lived as an ascetic.
tin ke kaaj sakal tum saja
You carried out every one of his tasks.
aur manorath jo koi lavai
Whatever other wish anyone brings to you,
soi amit jeevan phal pavai
the hymn says, they receive life's boundless fruit.
charon jug partap tumhara
Your might runs through all four ages.
hai parsiddh jagat ujiyara
It is famous, a light for the whole world.
sadhu sant ke tum rakhvare
You protect the holy and the good.
asur nikandan Ram dulare
You destroy demons, and Ram adores you.
asht siddhi nau nidhi ke daata
You can give the eight powers and the nine treasures.
as bar deen Janaki mata
Mother Sita granted you this boon.
In the Ashoka grove, Sita blesses Hanuman and wishes that he be ageless, deathless and rich in virtue. We have not traced the eight powers and nine treasures to that scene, so they may be the hymn's own summary of what the blessing came to mean.
Source: Tulsidas, Ramcharitmanas, Sundar Kand
Ram rasayan tumhare pasa
You hold the elixir of devotion to Ram.
sada raho Raghupati ke dasa
May you always remain his servant.
tumhare bhajan Ram ko pavai
The hymn says that by singing to you, a person reaches Ram
janam janam ke dukh bisaravai
and lets go of the sorrows of lifetime after lifetime.
ant kal Raghubar pur jai
At the end of life, the hymn says, that person goes to Ram's city,
jahan janma Hari bhakt kahai
and wherever they are born again, they are known as a devotee of Hari.
aur devata chitt na dharai
One who keeps no other god in mind,
Hanumat sei sarb sukh karai
the hymn says, gains every happiness by serving Hanuman.
sankat katai mitai sab peera
Trouble is cut away and all pain fades, the hymn says,
jo sumirai Hanumat balbeera
for whoever remembers Hanuman, the mighty hero.
jai jai jai Hanuman Gosain
Victory, victory, victory to Hanuman, my master!
kripa karahu gurudev ki nain
Be kind to me, the way a beloved teacher is.
jo sat baar path kar koi
The hymn says that whoever recites this a hundred times
chhutahi bandi maha sukh hoi
is freed from bondage and finds great happiness.
jo yah padhai Hanuman Chalisa
Whoever reads this Hanuman Chalisa,
hoy siddhi sakhi Gaurisa
gains success, the hymn says, and it calls Shiva to witness that promise.
Tulsidas sada Hari chera
Tulsidas is forever God's servant.
kijai nath hriday manh dera
Lord, make your home in my heart.
Pavan tanay sankat haran mangal murati roop
Son of the Wind, remover of trouble, you are blessing itself in visible form.
Ram Lakhan Sita sahit hriday basahu sur bhoop
King of the gods, live in my heart, along with Ram, Lakshman and Sita.
Ask your elders
“Who taught you the Hanuman Chalisa, and is there one line you still say to yourself when you are worried?”
The Hanuman Chalisa is a hymn to Hanuman, the monkey hero of the Ramayana and Ram's devoted helper. Chalis means forty: there are forty verses in the chaupai metre, with two couplets (dohas) before them and one after. Many people know it by heart, and many homes recite it on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Tradition credits Tulsidas (c. 1532-1623), the poet of the Ramcharitmanas, and the last chaupai names him. That attribution is traditional, not proven. A poet's name in a closing verse doesn't settle who wrote a poem, the hymn is not among the twelve works biographers widely accept as his, and some writers doubt it is his. Many printed versions also differ by a word or two here and there.
It is hard to follow today for two reasons. Awadhi, the eastern Hindi speech of the Ayodhya region, has its own verbs and endings, and Sanskrit words are worn into forms like jasu for yaśas. The hymn also expects you to know the Ramayana already: half a line can stand for a whole episode. Some verses promise protection, relief or reward. We translate what they say and mark that the hymn is speaking. That is a report of the text, not a promise from us.