Anjanadri – The birth place of Lord Hanuman

The Lord of the universe, who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, takes up different forms or incarnations in order to remind the people of this world that there is one force called God that they always have to reckon with and ultimately be accountable for all their good deeds and misdeeds. In doing so He sanctifies the places of incarnation. The form of incarnation is always specific to the objective in His grand design.

All places like the ancient city of ayodhyaa have got their sacred status that way. ayodhyaa was the birth place of Lord shrii raama who was the embodiment of justice and dharmaa personified. The citizens of that place beam with pleasure and respect that they are fortunate to have been born there and be living there.

But unfortunately the natives of the place where shrii raamabhakta hanumaan was born, do not consider themselves fortunate that way. The reason was that they were totally unaware that hanumaan’s birth place is situated on the mountain of añjanaadri which is one of the seven mountains in the range where tirumala is located. The primary objective of this book is to present all the facts related to the birth place of hanumaan and prove it beyond doubt that that birth place is on the mountain añjanaadri.

The main reference standard which stands in testimony to the facts about hanumaan is the sacred magnum opus called “ paraashara samhita ” . This grantha was lying in the form of manuscripts , which were scattered throughout the country, in tattered and rotting condition for too many decades unknown to most people, in various places. My respected father, Dr. Annadanam Chidambara Sastry took up the task, as ordained by his revered Guru and toiled for decades to bring the manuscripts to light and present the importance of the añjanaadri. The research work began even before I was born and it continued even after I grew up and completed my education. He approached many pundits and oriental libraries to collect the different fragments of the grantha and finally succeeded in bringing out the whole book in Telugu.

During this decades-long period of research, he also investigated into the aspects related to ascertaining and deciding on the exact birth place of hanumaan. He made public the evidences in support of the statements that añjanaadri was the place where hanumaan was born, in the thesis submitted to the Andhra University for which the Ph.D. degree was awarded.

In those days, when everyone was ignorant of the importance of the place, not many used to frequent the kShetra. The temple was in ruins. The archaka of the temple, who belonged traditionally to the “Hathiram Math” never could accept it, when he was told that, that was the birth place of hanumaan and hence it was a very holy place. Dr. Sastry then decided that it was very important to restore the sanctity and pride of place to the kShetra.

Dr. Sastry, then wrote many letters and submitted many representations to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam ( TTD ) to renovate the temple. He preached and spread word during his lectures and discourses that añjanaadri should be the destination for holy worship for every bhakta of hanumaan. He reiterated that the “hanumaddiikshaa” a strict disciplinary code for worship of hanumaan should be practised as per the guidelines in the book of the same name and the worship should culminate in the temple on añjanaadri. With this many of the devotees responded quickly by proceeding to añjanaadri at the end of the period prescribed for worship for the termination of the protocol and submission to the Lord.

Dr. Sastry’s representations and the pleas of the devotees visiting the temple – whose number suddenly increased – made the officials concerned to open their eyes and take note of the situation. The temple was renovated during the tenure of Shri Vinayaka Rao as the Executive Officer. The influx of devotees to the temple has increased many fold not only during holidays or festival days but also on normal days to worship the incarnation that was hanumaan. But many devotees still face hardship due to lack of basic amenities, accommodation and public transport. If such facilities are in order, all the devotees having darshan of Lord veŋkaTeshwara, will not hesitate to go to añjanaadri. Dr. Sastry took it up as a challenge to have the infrastructure created and for the renovation of the entire holy place. The movement for restoration of the glory of the kShetra began in right earnest. Definitely, when all the devotees come forward and participate in the movement, the objectives will be achieved.

You are all requested to become part of the movement along with your family, relatives and friends by sending as many representations as possible. The signature campaign in this regard and other details are available on the website www.jayahanumanji.com . Also please tell everyone to read this book and undertake the holy trip to have darshan of hanumaan in his birth place on añjanaadri. You and all the others who do so will definitely deserve the blessings of shrii raama bhakta hanumaan in the process.

Devotee of hanumaan,
A.V.N.G. Hanumat Prasad.