Pauranic · पौराणिकDhyana shloka

Hanumad Dhyanam (Markandeya Purana)

The Puranic dhyana of Hanuman, which describes him emerald-green rather than saffron-red.

Hanumad Dhyanam, Markandeya Purana verse 1edition

Sanskrit · संस्कृत

मरकतमणिवर्णं दिव्यसौन्दर्यदेहं नखरदशनशस्त्रैर्वज्रतुल्यैः समेतम् । तडिदमलकिरीटं मूर्ध्नि रोमाङ्कितं च हरितकुसुमभासं नेत्रयुग्मं सुफुल्लम् ॥

marakatamaṇivarṇaṃ divyasaundaryadehaṃ nakharadaśanaśastrairvajratulyaiḥ sametam । taḍidamalakirīṭaṃ mūrdhni romāṅkitaṃ ca haritakusumabhāsaṃ netrayugmaṃ suphullam ॥

Read in another script

No verified recitation yet. We publish audio only with a named reciter and a recorded licence, rather than files of unknown provenance.

Meaning

Of the colour of an emerald, his body divinely beautiful, armed with claws and teeth that are the equal of the thunderbolt, a spotless crown like lightning on his head, marked with hair, with a pair of wide-open eyes bright as green blossom.

This rendering is by a DharmSetu editor, not a quotation from a published translation. Compare with the public-domain translation.

A Hindi meaning has not been written for this mantra yet. Hindi is authored by a named editor rather than machine-translated, so it arrives more slowly.

How to recite

Four lines in *mālinī*, the first of three verses in the sequence. Slow, as a visualisation rather than a japa.

Pronunciation key — sounds commonly got wrong

ट ठ ड ढ ण · ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ: Retroflex — the tongue curls back and touches the roof of the mouth. Distinct from the dental त थ द ध न, where the tongue touches the teeth.
श ष स · ś ṣ s: Three different sounds: ś as in “shy”, ṣ retroflex and further back, s plain. Collapsing them changes words.
ः · ḥ (visarga): A soft outward breath echoing the preceding vowel — not a hard “ha”.
ं · ṃ (anusvara): Nasalises the vowel; the closing sound follows the consonant that comes next.
Long vs short vowels — a / ā, i / ī, u / ū: Vowel length is meaningful in Sanskrit. Hold the macron vowels roughly twice as long.
Aspirated consonants — kh, gh, ch, th, dh, ph, bh: A distinct puff of breath. ph is an aspirated p, never an English “f”.

Context

A dhyana verse carried in the *Markandeya Purana*, and a useful corrective to the assumption that Hanuman is always red. Here he is **मरकतमणिवर्णं** — the colour of an emerald — with eyes bright as green flowers. The saffron-and-sindoor Hanuman that dominates North Indian images is a devotional development, not the only textual description, and the Puranic verses preserve older and stranger colour schemes. The claws and teeth described as *vajra-tulyaiḥ*, equal to the thunderbolt, are his weapons in this verse; the mace comes later.

Shadanga — the six limbs

The traditional analytic frame for a mantra. Blank limbs are simply not recorded for this text.

devata: Hanuman

Recited at / traditionally recited for

Dhyana (meditation)

Classified as Pauranic — From the Puranas. Most widely recited deity mantras belong here. Basis for this classification.

← All mantras

Related mantras

VedicMantra

Aham Brahmasmi

The mahavakya of the Yajurveda — I am Brahman. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.10.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.106 syllables

VedicMantra

Ayam Atma Brahma

The mahavakya of the Atharvaveda — this self is Brahman. Mandukya Upanishad 2.

Mandukya Upanishad 27 syllables

PauranicMantra

Kayena Vacha Manasendriyair Va

Whatever one does with body, speech, mind or senses — offer all of it to Narayana. The verse recited to close a puja.

Bhagavata Purana 11.2.36Vishnu

VedicMantra

Om Ityetad Aksharam — the opening of the Mandukya

The definition of Om that opens the Mandukya Upanishad: all that was, is, and will be is Om — and what lies outside time is Om too.

Mandukya Upanishad 1

VedicMantra

Prajnanam Brahma

The mahavakya of the Rigveda — consciousness is Brahman. Aitareya Upanishad 3.3.

Aitareya Upanishad 3.36 syllables

VedicMantra

Tad Vishnoh Paramam Padam

The wise always see that highest step of Vishnu, spread out like an eye in the sky. Rigveda 1.22.20.

Rigveda 1.22.20Vishnu