When it is sung
Sung at the close of Hanuman worship, almost always straight after the Hanuman Chalisa — on Tuesdays and Saturdays, which are his days; at Hanuman Jayanti; and at any moment of fear or difficulty, since Hanuman is the deity people turn to for courage. In Hanuman temples it is the evening aarti every day of the year.
Full text, with meaning
Each line of the verse, with its romanisation beneath and what the verse says after it.
Tek (the refrain)
आरती कीजै हनुमान लला की।
Aarti kije Hanuman Lala ki
दुष्ट-दलन रघुनाथ-कला की॥ टेक॥
Dusht-dalan Raghunath-kala ki
Meaning
Perform the aarti of the child Hanuman — the crusher of the wicked, the art of Raghunath. Lala is the word for a beloved boy; the fiercest god in the pantheon is addressed as a child. Kala means Rama’s power made visible, his instrument.
Verse 1
जाके बल से गिरिवर काँपै। रोग-दोष जाके निकट न झाँपै॥
Jaake bal se girivar kaanpai. Rog-dosh jaake nikat na jhaanpai
अंजनि-पुत्र महा बलदाई। संतन के प्रभु सदा सहाई॥
Anjani-putra maha baldai. Santan ke prabhu sada sahai
Meaning
At whose strength the great mountains tremble; near whom no disease or fault dares come. Son of Anjani, giver of great strength, the lord who always stands by the good. This is the only verse of pure description; from here the aarti starts telling the Ramayana.
Verse 2
दे बीरा रघुनाथ पठाये। लंका जारि सिय सुधि लाये॥
De beera Raghunath pathaye. Lanka jaari Siya sudhi laaye
लंका सो कोट समुद्र-सी खाई। जात पवनसुत बार न लाई॥
Lanka so kot samudra-si khai. Jaat Pavansut baar na laai
Meaning
Given the betel of commission, Raghunath sent him; he burned Lanka and brought back news of Sita. A fortress like Lanka, a moat like the ocean — and the son of the wind took no time at all to cross. Beera is the paan a king hands a champion who accepts an impossible task.
Verse 3
लंका जारि असुर संहारे। सीतारामजी के काज सँवारे॥
Lanka jaari asur sanhare. Sita-Ram ji ke kaaj sanvare
लक्ष्मण मूर्छित पड़े सकारे। आनि सजीवन प्रान उबारे॥
Lakshman moorchhit pade sakare. Aani Sajeevan pran ubare
Meaning
He burned Lanka and destroyed the demons, and set right the work of Sita and Rama. Lakshmana lay unconscious at dawn — he brought the Sanjeevani and saved his life. The herb story is the reason he is worshipped for health: he did not know which plant it was, so he carried the whole mountain.
Verse 4
पैठि पताल तोरि जम-कारे। अहिरावन की भुजा उखारे॥
Paithi patal tori Jam-kare. Ahiravan ki bhuja ukhare
बायें भुजा असुरदल मारे। दहिने भुजा संतजन तारे॥
Baayen bhuja asurdal maare. Dahine bhuja santjan taare
Meaning
He entered the underworld and broke the bonds of Yama; he tore the arms from Ahiravana. With his left arm he killed the armies of demons; with his right he carried the good across. The two arms are the whole point of Hanuman: destruction and rescue in one body, sorted by hand.
Verse 5 (closing)
सुर नर मुनि आरती उतारें। जय जय जय हनुमान उचारें॥
Sur nar muni aarti utaarein. Jai jai jai Hanuman uchaarein
कंचन थार कपूर लौ छाई। आरति करत अंजना माई॥
Kanchan thaar kapoor lau chhai. Aarti karat Anjana maai
जो हनुमानजी की आरति गावै। बसि बैकुंठ परम पद पावै॥
Jo Hanuman ji ki aarti gaavai. Basi Baikunth param pad paavai
Meaning
Gods, men and sages perform the aarti and cry out jai jai jai Hanuman. On a golden plate the camphor flame spreads its light; it is his mother Anjana who circles it. Whoever sings this aarti of Hanuman lives in Vaikuntha and gains the highest state. The camera pulls back at the end: after the wars, his mother is holding the lamp.
About this aarti
Hanuman worship in north India has a fixed shape: the Chalisa first, forty verses of praise, then this aarti to close. Together they take about ten minutes and are the most widely memorised devotional texts in Hindi. Many people who could not say where either came from can sing both without a book.
What makes this aarti unusual is that it narrates. Verses 2 to 4 are the Sundara Kanda and the war of Lanka compressed to eight lines — the commission, the crossing, the burning of the city, the Sanjeevani, the underworld, Ahiravana. An aarti normally describes a god standing still; this one describes what he did.
The verse everyone remembers is the fourth: left arm for the demons, right arm for the saints. It is the clearest statement in devotional Hindi of what Hanuman is for. Strength alone is not the point; strength sorted correctly is.
The attribution to Tulsidas rests on the closing couplet found in many printings — tulsidas swami kirti gaai, “Tulsidas sings the master’s glory” — which the Gita Press edition followed here does not carry. Whether or not he wrote it, the language is his Awadhi and the aarti has been sung with his Chalisa for as long as anyone has recorded either. It is in the public domain in either case.
A note on the text
The text follows the Gita Press Aarti Sangrah, the standard printed collection, from the scanned copy cited below; scanning errors have been corrected against the same copy (the scan reads “दुष्टटलन” for दुष्ट-दलन and “कीट” for कोट). Other collections, including the Aarti Chalisa Sangrah also cited, carry a further closing couplet, लंक विध्वंस किये रघुराई, तुलसीदास स्वामी कीर्ति गाई, and read the Lakshmana line as लक्ष्मण मूर्छित पड़े धरणी में rather than पड़े सकारे. Those are genuine sung variants; the Gita Press text is given here because it is the shorter, older form.
Sources
- Aarti Sangrah (Gita Press) — scanned copy, Internet Archive
- Aarti Chalisa Sangrah — scanned copy, Internet Archive (variant with the Tulsidas signature)
These texts are in the public domain. The verse is reproduced from the cited source; the English meaning and the background notes on this page are original writing.