Anjanadri: The Hill Above Hampi Where Hanuman Is Said to Have Been Born

The katha of Hanuman's birth is told in several Puranic sources with variations, and the version repeated at Anjanadri runs like this.

Anjana was an apsara who, under a curse, was born on earth. She married Kesari, and the couple had no child. Anjana undertook long and severe tapas, praying to Shiva for a son.

At the same time, King Dasharatha of Ayodhya was performing the putrakameshti yagna, and the sacred payasam produced by it was distributed among his queens. In the telling, a portion of it was carried away by a bird and dropped where Anjana was performing her tapas. Vayu, the wind, is described as delivering it to her, and she accepted it as prasad.

Hanuman was born from that, which is why he carries three parentages in tradition:

• Son of Anjana, from which he is Anjaneya
• Son of Kesari, from which he is Kesari Nandan
• Son of Vayu, from which he is Pavanputra and Marutinandan
• Regarded in Shaiva tradition as an amsha of Shiva, which links his birth to Anjana's prayers to Shiva

The connection to Dasharatha's yagna is important for devotees. It means Hanuman's birth and Ram's birth come from the same act, which is the traditional explanation for why his life is bound to Ram's from the beginning.

The ascent is the main physical experience of a visit to Anjanadri.

• Around five hundred and seventy steps run up the hillside from the base, cut and built along the rock
• The climb takes most people thirty to forty five minutes, longer in heat
• There is little shade on the way, and the rock radiates heat through the afternoon
• Monkeys are present in numbers along the route, and food carried openly will be taken
• At the top stands a small white temple, with Hanuman worshipped on a rock relief, and a shrine to Ram alongside in most descriptions

What draws people as much as the shrine is the view. From the summit the Tungabhadra, the paddy fields of Anegundi, the boulder landscape of Hampi and the ruins across the river are all visible at once, and sunrise from the top is among the best known sights in the region.

Practical notes:

• Go at sunrise or in the last hours before sunset. Midday climbs in summer are genuinely difficult.
• Carry water, but keep food packed away because of the monkeys
• Footwear must be removed near the temple, and the rock is hot in the afternoon
• The steps are uneven in places, so those with knee trouble should assess before starting

Devotees usually recite the Hanuman Chalisa at the top, and on Hanuman Jayanti and Saturdays the summit fills with groups singing together.

Anjanadri near Hampi is not the only place that identifies itself as Hanuman's birthplace, and it is better to state this plainly than to leave a devotee surprised later.

The main claims are:

• Anjanadri at Anegundi, Karnataka - the Kishkindha identification described here
• Anjaneri, near Nashik in Maharashtra - a hill associated with Anjana, with an old temple complex
• Anjanadri at Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh - a claim advanced with reference to the Tirumala hills
• Gokarna, Karnataka and other coastal claims
• Anjan Dham near Gumla, Jharkhand - where local tradition places Anjana's cave

Each has its own textual references, local traditions and devotees, and the debates between them have at times been vigorous.

What is worth saying for a devotee planning a visit:

• The Ramayana itself does not fix a modern map location, and different Puranic accounts allow different readings
• Local traditions at each site are genuinely old and are not modern inventions
• Hanuman devotion has never depended on settling this question, and the Hanuman Chalisa, which most devotees recite daily, does not mention a birthplace at all

The practical position most devotees take is straightforward: visit whichever site you can reach, offer worship there sincerely, and leave the question of geography to those who wish to argue it.

Anjanadri is best visited as part of the Ramayana landscape around Anegundi and Hampi rather than on its own.

• Pampa Sarovar - the lake associated with Shabari, who waited here for Ram, and with Parvati's tapas. A short drive from Anjanadri.
• Rishyamukha hill - where Sugriva sheltered from Vali, and where Ram and Lakshman met Hanuman
• Anegundi - the old settlement, considered older than Hampi itself, with the Ranganatha temple and the Nava Brindavana nearby on an island in the river
• Hampi across the river - the Vijayanagara capital, with the Virupaksha temple in continuous worship and the Vitthala complex with its stone chariot
• Yantrodharaka Hanuman temple, Hampi - associated with the saint Vyasaraja and holding a well known Hanuman yantra image
• Chintamani and Sugriva's cave on the Anegundi side

The crossing between Hampi and Anegundi is part of the experience, made by road bridge upstream or by the local boat crossing, depending on the season and current arrangements.

For a devotee interested in the Ramayana rather than in architecture, the Anegundi side is the more meaningful half. Hampi is where the Vijayanagara empire built. Anegundi is where the Kishkindha episodes are placed, and the landscape there has changed far less.

Worship at the hill is simple, since everything has to be carried up.

• Coconut, flowers, sindoor and a lamp are the usual offerings
• Devotees offer vada mala and sweets at the temple where arrangements allow
• The Hanuman Chalisa is recited at the summit, often by whole groups together
• Saturdays and Tuesdays are the busy days, and Hanuman Jayanti is the largest occasion
• Many devotees make the climb as a vow, particularly for strength during a difficult period, for children's health and before examinations

The wider Hanuman practice that devotees keep at home applies here as well:

• Hanuman Chalisa daily, or a fixed number of paths on Tuesdays and Saturdays
• Sundarkand path, undertaken during difficulty, often as a weekly or fortnightly practice
• Bajrang Baan and Hanuman Ashtak, recited by those who keep a more intensive practice
• Oil and sindoor offerings at the local Hanuman temple on Tuesdays

What devotees say about Anjanadri specifically is that the climb changes the recitation. Reading the Chalisa at home is one thing. Reading it at the top of a hill in the middle of Kishkindha, after five hundred and seventy steps, with the Tungabhadra below, is what people come back describing.