The book is a translated, expanded, and annotated version of the acclaimed Mahaviri commentary in Hindi on the Hanuman Chalisa by Padma Vibhushan Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Swami Rambhadracharya, the polymath and ployglot Hindu Guru who has authored more than 100 books in Sanskrit and Hindi despite being without eyesight since infancy. Swami Rambhadracharya has been awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in Sanskrit and President's Certificate of Honour for Sanskrit, in addition to numerous other awards and honours.

The foreword of the book has been authored by Padma Vibhushan Dr. Karan Singh (Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha). The back cover features a blurb review by Prof. Philip Lutgendorf (Prof. of Hindi and Modern Indian Studies, University of Iowa), and blurbs from Padma Shri Anup Jalota (noted bhajan singer) and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (spiritual leader and humanitarian).

Contents

Transliteration Key

Sample pages and preview

A preview of the book with downloadable sample pages in PDF format are available on the publisher’s website:

Cover page

Dust jacket

Sample pages

Musical notation

Comments on the book

“Down through the ages a large number of hymns and stotra-s have been composed in honour of Hanuman—also known as Mahavir. Of these the most popular is Goswami Tulasi Das’s famous forty-verse hymn to Hanuman called the Hanuman Chalisa. This is recited by millions of Hindus everyday around the world. However, analytical work on this text is not easily available. In the present book Shri Nityanand Misra has translated and annotated the text based on the acclaimed Hindi commentary Mahaviri (1983) by Swami Ramabhadracharya. This throws a great deal of light on the deeper meaning of Tulasi Das’s famous work, and will be welcomed by scholars and laymen alike. I commend Shri Nityanand Misra for the devotion and dedication with which he has undertaken this work.“

“Inspired in equal measure by profound devotion and immense knowledge, the Mahaviri commentary on the beloved and revered Hanuman-Calisa will be welcomed by the many devoted reciters of this praise-poem who would like to explore its deeper meanings. Buttressing his insights with numerous citations of authoritative Sanskrit texts and the principal writings of Tulasidasa, Svami Ramabhadracarya both situates the calisa in the ancient Hindu literary tradition, and also shows it to contain a veritable distillation or essence of the Ramayana Katha. Nityananda Misra’s careful English translation, scholarly yet readable, will make these insights accessible to a broader audience.“

—Prof. Philip Lutgendorf

(Professor of Hindi and Modern Indian Studies, University of Iowa;

President, American Institute of Indian Studies;

Author, Hanuman’s Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey, OUP: 2007;

Translator: Tulsidas: The Epic of Ram, 7 vols., MCLI: forthcoming)

“One of the very few books which have inspired me to make positive changes in lifestyle. Gives a new dimension to the world of devotion. A must-read.”

“My love and blessings to Nityananda Misra for this effort.” 

“This elaborated edition of Hanuman-Chalisa titled as ‘Mahaviri: Hanuman-Chalisa Demystified’ comprising the text, its wonderful commentary, gloss, annotations, notes, etc. will certainly exhilarate hundred thousands of devotees and other readers also. The editor-translator Sri Nityanand Misra and the publisher Niramaya publishing house both deserve profuse felicitations on this new arrival. I send my cordial good wishes on this occasion.”