Mumbai: Last week, as Mumbai celebrated with extra fervour the first Ram Navami after the consecration of the grand temple in Ayodhya, the city also celebrated lord Ram’s supreme devotee Hanuman’s birth anniversary on a bigger scale. The city’s temples celebrated Hanuman Jayanti with recitals of Sundarkand, Hanuman Chalisa and Ramayana.
For many, the best way to pray to Lord Hanuman is to identify him through his devotion to Lord Rama. On Tuesday, the city's Hanuman temples as well as Ram temples flooded with devotees on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti. People participated in the religious ceremonies from early morning to celebrate the birth of Lord Hanuman, which is observed at twilight, when both the sun and the moon are visible in the sky.
“Hanuman Jayanti is celebrated on the day of Chaitra Shukla Paksh Purnima as the birth anniversary of Lord Hanuman. Lord Hanuman is considered as the bhakta of the highest order. On this day, people enact Hanuman Janma, perform abhishek, fast, recite Hanuman Chalisa and listen to Ramayana,” said a pandit.
Hanuman temples across the city, the idols of Hanuman were given a bath with panchamrit and dressed up with new clothes and ornaments. At 6.17 am, Hanuman Janma was observed and the idols were worshipped to celebrate the festival and different delicacies such as fruits and nuts were offered as bhog to the god and distributed among the devotees.
At the Ram temple in Padhye Wadi, Dadar, devotees flooded the temple in early morning and again in the evening post office hours to worship the supreme devotee of Lord Rama. Devotees also participated in the kirtan organised by the temple trust early in the morning.
Karishma Salunkhe from the temple management said, “We celebrated Hanuman Jayanti with Hanuman Janma and also organised a kirtan by Suresh Pawar. There were special items prepared to offer the god and the same was distributed as prasad among the devotees. Since it was not a government holiday, devotees visited the temple in the morning and then in the evening after the office hours.”
On the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti, a sand artist created a giant statue of lord Hanuman at the Juhu beach. Sand sculptor Laxmi Goud created a ten feet long sand sculpture of Hanuman to celebrate the festival through her art. The giant sculpture became the centre of attraction for tourists who visited the beach throughout the day.
