Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 9

  Shri Hanuman Chalisa

By RahulKSaini - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=113402769

दोहा
श्रीगुरु चरन सरोज रज, निजमन मुकुरु सुधारि। बरनउं रघुबर बिमल जसु, जो दायक फल चारि।।
बुद्धिहीन तनु जानिके, सुमिरौं पवन-कुमार। बल बुधि बिद्या देहु मोहिं, हरहु कलेस बिकार।।
चौपाई
जय हनुमान ज्ञान गुन सागर। जय कपीस तिहुं लोक उजागर।।
राम दूत अतुलित बल धामा। अंजनि-पुत्र पवनसुत नामा।।
महाबीर बिक्रम बजरंगी। कुमति निवार सुमति के संगी।।
कंचन बरन बिराज सुबेसा। कानन कुण्डल कुँचित केसा।।
हाथ बज्र औ ध्वजा बिराजे। कांधे मूंज जनेउ साजे।।

Please find the links to the previous posts here - 

1. Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 1 - https://nitswe.blogspot.com/2024/12/shri-hanuman-chalisa-attempt-to.html
2. Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 2 - https://nitswe.blogspot.com/2024/12/shri-hanuman-chalisa-attempt-to_21.html
3. Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 3 -https://nitswe.blogspot.com/2024/12/shri-hanuman-chalisa-attempt-to_22.html
4. Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 4 - https://nitswe.blogspot.com/2024/12/shri-hanuman-chalisa-attempt-to_24.html
5. Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 5 -https://nitswe.blogspot.com/2025/01/shri-hanuman-chalisa-attempt-to.html
6. Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 6 -https://nitswe.blogspot.com/2025/01/shri-hanuman-chalisa-attempt-to_5.html
7. Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 7 -https://nitswe.blogspot.com/2025/01/shri-hanuman-chalisa-attempt-to_19.html
8. Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 8 -https://nitswe.blogspot.com/2025/02/shri-hanuman-chalisa-attempt-to.html

Today, let us look at the sixth couplet or Chaupai of Shri Hanuman Chalisa -  

शंकर सुवन केसरी नंदन। तेज प्रताप महा जग वंदन।।

“Sankar suvan

Kesari nandan.

Tej prataap

maha jag bandan.”

Goswami Tulsidas is continuing to praise Lord Hanuman and his qualities. In the same theme, the poet connects Hanuman with Shiva and praises the greatness of Lord Hanuman.

In this couplet, the poet suggests a connection between Hanuman and Shiva. By saying that though Hanuman is known as Kesari Nandan - the son of Kesari, Hanuman is also a part of Lord Shankar or Shiva. Hanuman's asceticism and disconnect from the worldly affairs makes this connection plausible. At the same time, this connection is also very important from the very fact that it tries to connect the divide between the Shaivite and Vaishnav sects of Hinduism. 

In the Ramayana, Ram who's is an incarnation of Vishnu kills Ravana who is a devotee of Shiva. This angers the people following the Shaivite thoughts. To counter, they suggested Hanuman is form of Shiva as he is celibate, content and has no wants and needs of his own. Hanuman's color is also white like camphor representing the white color of Shiva. There has always been a difference of opinions amongst the two sects, but during the Ramcharit Manas, Tulsidas has deftly shown occasions where Shiva is seen to be worshipping Rama who is a form of Vishnu. And Rama sets up the Shiva idol for worshipping at Rameshwaram. In the Hanuman Chalisa, Tulsidas ji continues this attempt displaying how Hanuman, being a form of Shiva is a devotee of Rama and considers himself in a perennial service of his Lord Rama. 

As the stories have it, when Shiva saw the Mohini incarnation of Vishnu, he got invigorated. The wind god Vayu, collected the Shiva's sweat and poured it in the ear of Anjana - a vanara woman. Anjana later gave birth to Hanuman and her husband Kesari brought him up as his own. Thus Hanuman has the names - Aanjaneya and Kesari nanadan. Besides a mortal father (Kesari) and a Vedic father (Vayu), Hanuman also has a Puranic father (Shiva). Besides a mortal mother (Anjani), Hanuman also has a celestial mother (Shakti).

According to the Shaivites, Shiva himself descended to kill Ravana - an errant Shiva devotee. As per their stories, Ravana offered his ten heads to Shiva and thus gained boons that made him very powerful. However, Rudra is the eleventh form of Shiva and Ravana's ten heads only satiated ten forms of Shiva. As the eleventh unhappy form Rudra took the form of Hanuman. Hence, Hanuman is also known as Raudreya. 

Vishnu worshippers argued that Hanuman obeyed Rama's orders or wishes. However, Shiva worshippers counter argue that Ram would've never been able to find Sita if Hanuman did not come to rescue. In one of the Telugu retelling of Ramayana, though Rama was informed that Ravana's life resided in his navel, Rama's nobility did not allow him to shoot the arrow below the neck. Thus when Ram shot the arrow at Ravana's head, Hanuman sucked the air into his nostrils causing the arrow to shift direction and hitting Ravana's navel. 

Hanuman's celibacy has also encouraged his association with Shiva, thus reinforcing him to be a great idol for the various ascetic schools of Hinduism, including the Natha-yogis, Vedantic maths who followed Madhavacharya and also Sant Ramdas who inspired Maratha warriors 400 years ago. It was later during the Bhakti movement, that Shiva became a householder Shankara and even ascetic Hanuman became an obedient devotee of Rama for the benefit of the society. 

At one point, women were not allowed to enter a Hanuman temple. It was said that his celibate radiance is so strong that it can make the women pregnant. Though the masculine nature of Hanuman has toned down over the centuries, the stories of his radiance are still boundless. Since there is no Shiva without Shakti, it is said that Hanuman's tail is a form of Shakti. She follows him wherever he goes and accompanies him always.