The verse and its meaning · Hanuman Chalisa · Hanuman Chalisa — Who Hanuman Is

Weapon, Banner, Sacred Cord

Hanuman Chalisa 7

हाथ बज्र औ ध्वजा बिराजै। काँधे मूँज जनेऊ साजै॥

Meaning · English

In your hand shine the thunderbolt and the flag; across your shoulder the sacred thread of munj grass adorns you.

Bajr is the vajra, the thunderbolt; many devotees picture it as the heavy mace Hanuman carries. Dhvaja is a banner, the flag raised over an army on the march. Kandhe means shoulder. Janeu is the sacred thread worn across the chest, and munj is the coarse grass it is twisted from, the kind given to a boy when he begins his studies. So Tulsidas sets two things on one body: the gear of a fighter and the plain thread of a student under discipline.

Picture a firefighter walking out of the station with an axe in one hand, and on his shirt a small pin from the night classes he still attends. The axe is for the work in front of him. The pin says he has not stopped learning. Hanuman's weapon and flag are the axe; his grass thread is the pin.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

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