Hanuman Chalisa
The Hanuman Chalisa is a devotional hymn of forty verses addressed to Hanuman, attributed to the poet-saint Tulsidas, who wrote in the sixteenth century and is best known for the Ramcharitmanas.
The name explains the form. Chalis means forty in Hindi, and a chalisa is a hymn of forty verses. The Hanuman Chalisa opens with two dohas, couplets in which the poet asks for clear understanding before beginning, continues through forty chaupais, and closes with a final doha.
It is written in Awadhi rather than Sanskrit. That choice matters: Awadhi was the spoken language of the region, and composing devotional verse in it placed the hymn within reach of people who had no Sanskrit. The same decision shaped the Ramcharitmanas and is part of why both works spread so widely.
The verses recount Hanuman's strength, his learning, his service to Rama, and the episodes devotees know best — the leap to Lanka, the carrying of the mountain, the burning of the city.
Tuesday and Saturday are the days most associated with Hanuman, and the Chalisa is chanted on both, as well as during Hanuman Jayanti and at times when devotees seek courage or protection.