Hanuman Puja at Home: Complete Samagri List and Vidhi

Keep these items ready before you begin:

• Hanuman idol or photo, and a chowki draped with a red cloth
• Gangajal
• Sindoor and chameli or mustard oil, traditionally mixed together for the chola offering
• Red flowers and a garland
• A red cloth as vastra
• Agarbatti and dhoop
• A deepak with mustard oil or ghee, and a matchbox
• Naivedya: boondi laddoo or gud-chana (jaggery with roasted gram), his favourite offerings, and a banana
• Betel leaves, supari and a few coins
• Camphor and a small bell for aarti
• A copy of the Hanuman Chalisa

Even without the sindoor chola, a simple tilak, a flower and the Hanuman Chalisa recited with devotion make a complete offering.

Follow these steps in order:

1. Clean and bathe - tidy the puja area and bathe before beginning. 2. Sankalp - sit facing east, take a little water in hand, and silently state your intention. 3. Aavahan - with folded hands, invite Hanuman into the idol or photo. 4. Snan - bathe a metal idol with water; for a photo, sprinkle a few drops of Gangajal. 5. Vastra - offer the red cloth. 6. Sindoor chola - apply the sindoor-oil mixture if this is your family's custom, or simply apply a sindoor tilak. 7. Pushpa - offer red flowers and the garland. 8. Dhoop-deep - light incense and the lamp. 9. Naivedya - offer boondi laddoo, gud-chana or banana. 10. Mantra jaap - recite "Om Hanumate Namah" or the Hanuman Chalisa, traditionally in an odd number of repetitions such as one, three, five or eleven. 11. Aarti - perform aarti with a lit lamp or camphor, ringing the bell gently. 12. Closing - offer pranam and distribute the prasad.

Tuesdays and Saturdays are the days most widely observed for Hanuman puja, and Hanuman Jayanti is his most significant annual festival. Both morning and evening worship are common; many devotees particularly value reciting the Hanuman Chalisa at night for a sense of protection and calm before sleep.

If you are observing a fast on his day, avoiding non-vegetarian food and alcohol out of respect for his own disciplined, celibate nature is a widely followed custom, though fasting itself is a personal choice.

• Do not rush or mumble through the Hanuman Chalisa; clear, unhurried recitation matters more than speed.
• Fasting on Tuesday or Saturday is a personal choice, not a requirement.
• If you are applying a sindoor chola to an idol, keep it thin and neat rather than heavy, so the murti's features stay visible over time.
• Do not skip a small offering of jaggery and roasted gram just because time is short; it takes only a minute to prepare.
• Avoid an irritable or hurried mood while praying to him; calm sincerity matters more than the length of the ritual.

Hanuman's devotion to Rama is the model devotees look to for their own faith, steady, selfless and without hesitation. A short daily recitation of even a few lines of the Chalisa, offered with sincerity, is said to bring the courage and steadiness his devotees seek.