How to Memorise the Hanuman Chalisa: A 40-Day Plan for Kids

The Hanuman Chalisa is probably the longest text most Indian children ever learn by heart, and it is one of the most loved. It is also the one parents most often give up on halfway, because it is long enough that a child who is learning it as one block of sound loses their place, gets frustrated and stops.

The solution is in its name. Chalisa means forty, and the hymn is made of forty chaupais, four-line verses arranged in pairs of lines, framed by dohas, couplets, at the beginning and the end. Forty verses suggests forty days. Learned one chaupai a day, with the earlier ones revised each time, the whole Chalisa can be held from memory in under six weeks without any single day being hard.

Before you begin: it is Awadhi, not Sanskrit

The Hanuman Chalisa is traditionally attributed to Goswami Tulsidas, and it is composed in Awadhi, an eastern Hindi language, not in Sanskrit. That matters for pronunciation. Children who have learned Sanskrit shlokas sometimes try to Sanskritise the Chalisa, and children from Hindi-speaking homes sometimes flatten it into modern Hindi. The aim is neither: chant it as it is written, with its own soft, flowing sounds.

For the same reason, a child who does not speak Hindi will find the Chalisa easier than a Sanskrit stotra of the same length. Many of the words are close to everyday speech, and the rhythm is very regular.

Days 1 to 3: the opening dohas

श्रीगुरु चरन सरोज रज निज मनु मुकुरु सुधारि । बरनउँ रघुबर बिमल जसु जो दायकु फल चारि ॥

Begin with the two opening dohas, one a day, and use the third day simply to say both together. The first asks the guru’s blessing: cleaning the mirror of the mind with the dust of the guru’s lotus feet, I describe the pure glory of Rama. The second is a humble prayer to Hanuman for strength, wisdom and knowledge. Let your child hear each one many times before trying it, and chant slowly; the dohas have a longer, more stately rhythm than the chaupais that follow.

Days 4 to 43: one chaupai a day

From day four, add one chaupai each day. The rule that makes this work is simple: every day, recite everything already learned, then add the new verse at the end. On day ten your child is chanting the dohas and seven chaupais; on day thirty, the dohas and twenty-seven. Because the earlier verses are said every single day, they become automatic long before the end.

If a day is missed, do not add a new verse the next day. Simply recite what is already learned. Never add two in one day to catch up; the plan works because each step is small.

Learn the story in sections

The forty chaupais are not random praise. They follow Hanuman’s life and qualities, and a child who knows roughly where they are in the story will rarely lose their place. Roughly speaking, the opening verses describe Hanuman’s form and strength; the middle ones tell his great deeds from the Ramayana, meeting Rama, finding Sita, burning Lanka, bringing the herb to save Lakshmana; and the later ones describe his protection of devotees and the benefits of the hymn itself.

Telling your child the story behind each section, before they learn it, turns the Chalisa from a long chant into a journey through a story they already love. The first chaupai, jaya hanumāna jñāna guna sāgara, praises Hanuman as an ocean of knowledge and virtue; by the time a child reaches the verse about crossing the ocean to Lanka, they know exactly what it is describing.

Pronunciation tips for children

Keep the pace slow and even. The most common mistake is speeding up through the familiar opening verses and then stumbling on the new ones. A steady pace from first line to last is both easier to learn and more beautiful to hear.

Mind the long vowels. Many words in the Chalisa depend on a held vowel, and a child who clips them will lose the rhythm. Clapping on each line can help a younger child hear where the beats fall.

Breathe at the end of each half-line, not in the middle of a word. Marking breath points on a printed copy, with a small tick, helps a great deal in the first two weeks.

Days 44 and after: keeping it

Once the closing doha is learned, the work changes from learning to keeping. Many families recite the Chalisa together on Tuesdays and Saturdays, the days traditionally associated with Hanuman, and that twice-weekly rhythm is enough to keep it fresh for life. Some children enjoy timing a full recitation; a steady, unhurried Chalisa usually takes somewhere around eight to ten minutes.

If your child is learning the Chalisa for a temple event or school competition, or would simply like a teacher to correct their pronunciation verse by verse, our Hanuman Chalisa classes follow this same one-verse-at-a-time method, with the meaning of each chaupai taught alongside it.