Hanuman · 20–30 minutes
Hanuman puja — Tuesday & Saturday
Tuesdays & Saturdays; Hanuman Jayanti; times of fear or heaviness
In the simplest words
Tuesday-Saturday devotion to Hanuman: sindoor, boondi or besan laddoo, the Chalisa read with heart — strength asked from the strongest.
Hanuman is strength that serves — power with folded hands. His worship is famously uncomplicated: sindoor, a diya of til oil, something sweet, and his names said with a whole heart. Fear does not argue with him; it simply leaves.
Tuesday is his birth-day of the week, Saturday the day he shields devotees from Shani's weight — the tradition gives him both. His worship needs no priest and no expense: sindoor because he once covered himself in it for Rama's long life, and the Chalisa because Tulsidas packed forty verses with everything Hanuman can carry.
Samagri — what you need
0/5 gatheredThe vidhi, step by step
0/6 doneShuddhi & diya
Bathe; light the til-oil lamp before his image. Tuesday and Saturday evenings are his traditional hours.
Sindoor arpan
Offer sindoor mixed with a drop of chameli oil — his best-loved offering — then the red flowers; light the agarbatti.
The core jaap
A mala of his bija-name, unhurried. This is the sitting's heart — let it be most of your time.
ॐ हं हनुमते नमः
Oṁ Haṁ Hanumate Namaḥ
Om — Ham — salutations to Hanuman. Ham is the seed-syllable tradition attaches to his name; it is also the out-breath of the haṁsa breath-mantra, which suits the son of the wind. The bija form of his mantra is used when what is needed is not a story but a surge — one syllable, repeated until fear runs out of air.
Source: Traditional bīja-mantra of the Hanuman worship corpus
Manojavam dhyana
Recite the Manojavam verse — mind-swift, wind-born, senses mastered — and hold his image a few breaths.
मनोजवं मारुततुल्यवेगं जितेन्द्रियं बुद्धिमतां वरिष्ठम् । वातात्मजं वानरयूथमुख्यं श्रीरामदूतं शरणं प्रपद्ये ॥
Manojavaṁ māruta-tulya-vegaṁ jitendriyaṁ buddhimatāṁ variṣṭham, vātātmajaṁ vānara-yūtha-mukhyaṁ śrīrāma-dūtaṁ śaraṇaṁ prapadye
I take refuge in the messenger of Shri Rama — swift as thought, fast as the wind, master of the senses, foremost among the wise, son of the wind, chief of the vanara hosts. Every epithet is superlative, yet the verse ends by calling him dutam, messenger: the greatest speed in creation, defined by whose word it carries. Taking refuge in him is taking refuge in strength that has already surrendered.
Source: Rāma Rakṣā Stotra (Budha Kauśika) — among its closing verses
Chalisa or Buddhir-balam
If you know the Hanuman Chalisa, sing it now. Otherwise offer the Buddhir-balam verse — asking wisdom, strength, fame, courage, fearlessness, health, alertness, and eloquence — which carries the Chalisa's whole prayer in one shloka.
बुद्धिर्बलं यशो धैर्यं निर्भयत्वमरोगता । अजाड्यं वाक्पटुत्वं च हनुमत्स्मरणाद्भवेत् ॥
Buddhir balaṁ yaśo dhairyaṁ nirbhayatvam arogatā, ajāḍyaṁ vāk-paṭutvaṁ ca hanumat-smaraṇād bhavet
Intelligence, strength, honour, courage, fearlessness, health, freedom from dullness, and skill in speech — all these come from remembering Hanuman. The list is a curriculum: the first gifts build a person, the rest keep one — and smaranat is the entire fee: mere remembering. That is why this is the verse parents plant in children before examinations and journeys.
Source: Traditional Hanumat-smaraṇa verse; source text uncertain (not part of the Rāma Rakṣā Stotra)
Bhog & aarti
Offer the sweet and banana; aarti with the family if evening. Share the prasad — his strength is for giving.
Note: Shani's weight is traditionally lightened by Hanuman bhakti — hence the Saturday pairing (see the Shani puja guide). Customs about who handles his murti (Hanuman being a brahmachari) vary by family and temple; yours is right.